'Rick & Morty' Comics From Oni Press To Feature New Head Writer

Rick & Morty has been sort of a slow burn love affair for many of us. It’s a killer show, but there have been so few episodes that we’re really depending on the extended universe to tide us over between seasons. The Pocket Mortys game is a real delight, and the comic books are starting to get there. Now, with a third new writer at the helm, things are looking brighter (and darker) than ever.

Previously, we covered Zac Gorman’s first season run for Oni Press and how it lacked all of the signature humor of the show, choosing to instead focus on a multidimensional sci-fi adventure with a serious tone. Tim Fowler took over for the second “season” of the comic adventure, and now, today, we have word that Kyle Starks, author of SEXCASTLE, is coming aboard for the next season of the comics, picking up from a cliffhanger moment.

The interview with the LA Times has some great discussion about taking over a comic run as complicated and multi-media based as this.

Some highlights include the limitations of the form versus the show:

In the pilot episode, there’s a bit where Rick and Morty are running through the sort of dimensional airport and there’s an alien spit and the spit starts running next to them and it goes through all the cycles of life, and Rick just says to Morty, “Don’t think about it.” You can’t do that in the comic. You can’t do that gag. That gag is six pages in the comic book. So you’re limited. Because ultimately you want the comic to be fun and have momentum. Theres action and there’s a compelling enough storyline, but I think it’s not “Rick and Morty” unless you try to do that one little thing. I’d like to do more. If I had like 40 pages of book, I could maybe pull it off.

Also a Breaking Bad comparison:

I wanted to show that Rick is both a villain and not a villain, and I felt like at the time when I was thinking about it, the closest equivalent was like “Breaking Bad.” I wanted to show Rick become this, Rick be who he is, which is universally terrible. But at the same time it comes back around again that it’s just Rick being Rick; it’s neither good nor bad, it’s just him being him, which I think is one of the great things about Rick. Of course Morty is always trying to get him to do the opposite of that because Morty is ultimately good. So I’m excited about that.

Personally, I like how the new guy thinks.

If you’re excited about the new comic book run, the first official plot synopsis has arrived:

“Morty is sick and tired of Rick always being a big selfish jerk, so he convinces Rick to go harvest some ‘space medicine’ on an alien planet. They even bring Summer, even though she won’t stop crying about having her heart broken or whatever. But while on the planet, they get interrupted by robobros and some heavy-cologne-wearing dude named Peacock Jones, so Morty might have to resort to some truly unspeakable tactics in order to get the medicine and get home safely. Plus: backup comics written and drawn by Marc Ellerby!”