The covers: Another twosome for y-y-you to — URRRRRP — find. The Regular cover is by CJ Cannon and nicely teases the main story for this issue. Morty and Jessica are posing for a photo at a school dance, but giant spiders have invaded, with one above the backdrop drooling on the youngest Smith. But if this is happening, how is there another Morty off to the left, sporting a big gun? Next to this other Morty is Summer, also with a weapon, and Rick is on the right, aiming his gun at the arachnid above the door. Too many spiders and too many Mortys. This is going to be good! The Variant cover is by Justin Peterson. On this cover Rick and Morty have their lower legs in a portal, while above them a portal has opened with their legs emerging. What makes this particularly amusing is that both characters are stepping on Morty’s head, who looks pained by the experience. Very nice. Overall grades: Both A
The stories: The main story is an eighteen pager by Kyle Starks that begins with the aftermath of a battle against a kaiju. Jessica is telling Morty that she can’t go with him to the dance that night since she’s already been asked by Brad. Morty asks if it’s because the beard he now has, which prompts Rick in the background to say, “I told you not to touch that meteorite.” Luckily, Martian Princess Decoria won’t be picked up for a few days and she’d love to go with Morty. Taking her back home, Jerry gives Rick grief for bringing home a Martian, and Beth starts to add to it until Rick shuts her down. “That’s Morty’s little date for the dance.” Clasping her hands together and looking skyward, Beth says, “Oh, Morty! Yay!” However this moment of joy disappears when Beth realizes that she has to give Summer “the talk.” Starks nails every characters’ behavior, with Jerry making the worst comments, Morty screwing up, and Rick making wrong choices. The highlight is Summer’s date that Rick gets for her. “For legal reasons,” he explains to her, “it one hundred percent is not who you’re going to say it is. W-W-We’ll just call him Buster Jiebens.” This character is hilarious in his overly familiar dialogue and what he ends up doing. This story has solid laughs on every page, even when it takes an expectedly dark turn. The four page second story is also by Starks, titled “Look Cthulhu Talking Now!” This has Rick taking Jerry to see who it is that really runs the world. Hint — it’s in the title. This, too, is funny, with the men on Page 2 painfully entertaining. Overall grades: Both A
The art: Artist CJ Cannon gets to draw a lot of freaky things in the opening story: a dead kaiju, a Martian princess, Morty with a beard, Buster Jiebens, and all the strangeness that happens at the dance. Princess Decoria looks great, alien, yet human enough to make Morty happy. Buster is hilarious from his first appearance, looking very similar to a famous Canadian, but different enough not to create a lawsuit. Page 12 is my favorite page for Buster, who really lets himself go. Looking at Rick and his grandchildren run around firing futuristic weapons is both cool and funny, and there’s quite a bit of that in this tale. The most disturbing image of the issue is the third panel on Page 17. The image is enough to make one shudder and the dialogue only increases its disgusting awkwardness. The final panel of the story is a laugh out loud visual that has no dialogue but speaks volumes. Marc Ellerby is the artist of the four page story and he does an excellent job on showing the anger tearing through Rick and Jerry as they argue. The highlight of the story were the men who appear on the second page, who are in an unexpected state. The individual that’s revealed on the third page is more cuddly than expected, and there’s an excellent action from this character in the second panel on the fourth page. Make sure you look at Jerry on the final page, who’s obviously feeling very different than how he began this tale. Overall grades: Both A
The colors: The first four pages of the first story are very brightly colored. Considering the carnage that happened before the story began, brights mirror Morty’s pleasure at being able to take a date to the dance. The last panel on the fourth page goes very dark as Beth realizes she has to do something incredibly important. The colors remain dim after this to strengthen the seriousness of what has to be said. Before he goes to the dance, Morty is shown in the dark to emphasize the stupidity of what he’s done. The dance is rightfully dark, so teens can dance free of embarrassment, but colorist Katy Farina wonderfully goes bright when Buster lets himself go. The colors make the event startling, gross, and spit-take funny. The next three pages are an explosion of bright colors to match the excitement that follows. The final story, also by Farina, has two stand out colors: violet and green. The first color is used for a dark interior and the second color for a character’s skin. Both look great. Overall grade: A
The letters: Crank! creates dialogue, sounds, yells, signage, a scream, the title of the second story, and a character’s unique speech for this issue. His dialogue is clear and easy to read, even if someone is burping, and the sounds are epic at the dance. My favorite work by him in this issue is the unique font used for the character’s speech on the final two pages. It’s appropriately epic. Overall grade: A
The final line: Grab a cold one and enjoy the unbridled insanity that is Rick and Morty. You’ll never go to a dance, listen to a Canadian pop star, or read the news the same way again. Recommended. Overall grade: A
To order a print copy go to https://oni-press.myshopify.com/collections/new-releases/products/rick-and-morty-27
To order a digital copy go to https://www.comixology.com/Rick-and-Morty-27/digital-comic/516591?ref=c2VhcmNoL2luZGV4L2Rlc2t0b3Avc2xpZGVyTGlzdC90b3BSZXN1bHRzU2xpZGVy
To see both covers go to my Instagram account: patrickhayesscifipulse
Share this:
