Review – Rick and Morty #1 (Oni Press)

Publisher: Oni Press
Writer: Zac Gorman
Artist(s): CJ Cannon, Ryan Hill
Release Date: 1st April, 2015

Being a fan of the Adult Swim TV show I had high hopes that the Oni Press book would be more of the same, and while it does meet most of my expectations it does falter slightly in some places.

The book plays out like the first half of any episode, but it does feel in places that they were struggling for content. This gap is actually a set-up that pays off quite well later. The story, Rick and Morty becoming intergalactic stock brokers, feels like it was taken directlyfrom the show creator’s storyboard, who then decided that it wasn’t quite right for the show.

The dialogue and pacing was in keeping with the show and I’m glad they didn’t try to shoehorn in a lot of fan favourite stuff from the show such as Rick’s catchphrase. The dialogue matches the show so well that you’ll definitely be able to hear Rick and Morty’s voices as you read. Some comic adaptations of TV shows have a tendency of losing something in translation, become stilted in the process, but that’s definitely not the case here as the distinctive humour is the exact same as the show.

The artwork was probably the worst part of the book even though, admittedly, the majority of it was spot on. In some panels however, the characters just don’t quite look like themselves. There’s definitely something ‘off’ about them and I can’t quite put my finger on it, this is particularly true with Rick. I hope that this was just 1st issue teething problems and that the book will continue to improve.

The issue also includes a few cameos from a fan favourite character, but thankfully Jerry doesn’t need two strokes off his game anymore. There’s also a secondary story at the end of the book about Summer, but the joke at the end of the 3 page build up just doesn’t feel worth it.

Overall though, I would say that this is a good start to the run and that I am definitely looking forward to find out the nature of the ‘dire consequences; hinted at towards the end of the main story.

Rating: 4/5.

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