Comic Review: Rick and Morty: Ever After #1

 

 

Overview:

Morty is struggling to complete his reading for school. The depressing book of folklore is proving too difficult to consume. Even though Jessica is finally giving Morty the time of day as she tries to connect with him over the book.

Thankfully, Rick as just finished completing his latest invention, a machine that allows someone to absorb all of the information of a book within seconds. However, things are bound to go wrong as the technology does not work as it is supposed to, transferring Morty and Rick within the book itself.

Rick wakes up as a sorcerer surrounded by his alchemist equipment and books. While Morty awakes as a squire locked high within a castle. Both of them are about to embark on an adventure unlike any they have seen in the multiverse.

 

Our Take:

The Rick and Morty comics just keep rolling out. Despite the fact that the long-running ongoing self-titled series shut down shop earlier this year. No one is complaining, as Rick and Morty titles are some of the most underappreciated material you can grab at your local comic book shop. One-shot Rick and Morty Presents books continue to trickle in and we just recently received the final issue of Rick and Morty: Go to Hell.

Rick and Morty: Ever After will include four issues released monthly starting today. The collected paperback is expected to be released in May of next year. The synopsis of the series promises to take our favourite dysfunctional characters into a world of fairy tales.

The story is written by beloved Canadian geek superstar Sam Maggs. Not only does Maggs have an eclectic bibliography in comics and video games, but she also represents the face of nerd fandom across the great white north. Though we lost comic-cons greatest panel moderator/geek journalist to the US, we forgive her as she is landing some dream jobs, as is evident with her scribing her own Rick and Morty mini-series.

Providing the artwork for the series is Sarah Stern. Stern is a veteran when it comes to illustrating Rick and Morty comic books as well as many other adaptations such as Power Rangers, Invader Zim, and Star Wars.

Ever After #1 sets the stage with Morty’s inability to talk to girls and his dysfunctional relationship with his grandfather. There is much to look forward to with the fairy tales described in the book, Tales of Avalonia: Sad Stories for Bad Children, in which the characters have found themselves. And for the first time in one of these spin-offs, the remainder of the family won’t be filling up the plot; this will be a journey for Rick and Mortimer.

The dialogue is at times mishandled and a dumbed-down version of these characters. Rick does not make mistakes as is presented in this story. Neither would he be by happenstance working on the exact invention that will help Morty out that day. Thankfully, the remainder of this series should not be taking place in the garage, and the characters can behave in ways we do not expect.

The set-up is here. The first issue lays the groundwork for this story to go in a billion different directions. Based on the artwork of the various covers featuring many creatures of folklore, we can expect some interesting things to occur. For an introduction, this story worked a bit slow and predictably and could have spent some time tightening up the characters to match expectations.