It's THE comics event of 2021: Rick's New Hat! No really. It's a thing. See, there's a hat. And it's Ricks. And it's NEW. Also time, space, and reality are unravelling and nobody seems to care.
When Rick and Morty buy the greatest hat in all the multiverse, it attracts an evil so banal that even our intrepid adventurers may not be able to stop it. In true comics event tradition, this one features everyone from Rick and Morty, to Mr. Poopybutthole, Pickle Rick, and MORE. A faux-crossover event from the evil geniuses behind Rick and Morty Presents: Birdperson.
Another lifeless comic book tie-in to the animated series. Literally. Somehow a trick hat designed to make Rick less intelligent results in a tour of various afterlife mythologies.
My local library doesn't have any more Rick and Morty books, and that's a good thing because I could use a break from the disappointing things. At least it's only a couple months until I can stream the next season of the real thing on HBO Max.
FOR REFERENCE:
Contains material originally published in single magazine form as Rick and Morty: Rick's New Hat #1-5.
A wild ride through an insane mind. The three laws of science bring it back to 'normal.' Trust the Accident All Things Want to Live All things Must Die
Our Podcast The Geek Awakens was given early access to this bind up in exchange for a review.
This Rick and Morty did not hook me like most of them have. Normally reading these is like watching an episode of the show, however this one was almost too confusing with the bouncing back and forth. I missed the snarky comments and the intelligent humor that was exchanged for fourth wall breaks in this issue.
As a man with a Pickle Rick tattoo I can pretty much say I'm a bit of a Rick and Morty fan. I can now also say I'm a fan of Alex Firer, Fred C. Stresing and the rest of their crew. Ricks New Hat is a story told with love and care of our favorite characters with wonderful words and art and a new hat. Ricks New Hat now in it's complete form will sit proudly on my bookshelf next to the collected Swamp Thing and other works of art and Funko Pops. Wubba lubba dub dub. p.s. Bird Person is also very good.
The title of this mini-series didn't exactly get me excited but I'm too much of a completist to ignore it entirely. But the resulting book, while on the surface centered around a silly concept of a mind-altering hat, turned out to be very much in theme with how actual Rick and Morty episodes go.
The whole story centers around an entity who pretty much represents knowledge and somehow he's part of the "origin" of how Rick became to be so intelligent. And various forces try to interfere with Rick's role of being the smartest guy in any room with this silly little hat. Enter the Council of Dunces, Rick getting dumbed down, and then the big mission to recover his smarts by following a contingency plan he had prepared for such an eventuality.
The story is pretty bonkers and includes multiple versions of the afterlife, different incarnations of Rick across history, and a variant timeline for Morty while we're at it. Surprisingly fun despite the initial premise sounding very weird.
Very interesting story. I am looking forward to seeing where Rick's attempt to rectify his problem will bring them. Certainly plan to continue reading.
I think this may be the first of the comics I've read since the licence moved to Oni, and my initial impressions were not good. The creators now are nobody I've heard of; the dialogue felt more like an imitation of the show than a continuation; and while one might charitably say the layouts were trying to pack more story in, they just felt cramped. The back cover suggests the series is a spoof of comics crossovers, but where the previous run had pulled off a similar gag when it brought in the show's spoof superheroes, here it didn't seem to extend much beyond throwing random shit and gratuitous callbacks in every three pages in place of an actual plan. But then we get to #4, where Morty decides he wants to be in a serious comic instead - "Fishing for that...two stars from the Comics Journal". Which runs through a perfect parody of that miserable, self-serious garbage before spiralling off through spoofs of various other genres including, of all things, the late work of Steve Ditko. Leaving me wondering, if they can hit the weird shit that well, how on all the alternate Earths did they so thoroughly miss the low-hanging fruit?
Now I for one am hooked on the Rick and Morty comics, no doubt! Right? But this one took it up a notch, like for real. This comic was about Rick losing his intellect and as the smartest man in the universe, all that genius had to have came from somewhere. What I wasn’t expecting was the invisible fence that Morty treads on daily while being Rick’s accomplice. Morty wants to live his own life and make his own mistakes, but he knows he’s devout to Rick. In addition, another part that stuck out to me was when Rick and Morty kept dying. Like they visited all the places of Hell, that we as humans often imagine. That was so dope! And the comic pictures were so detailed and cool! Lastly, I feel like Rick going on this journey of finding his mind/3 Laws of Science was to tie in the fact, that although Morty may be his camouflage, he needs him.
So, I just wrapped up "Rick and Morty: Rick's New Hat." Huge fan of the TV show, but I gotta say, this graphic novel didn't quite hit the mark for me. I was hoping the Rick and Morty charm would seamlessly transfer to the comic world, but sadly, it didn't. The jokes felt a bit forced, and it just didn't capture the essence of what makes the show so great. Honestly, I wouldn't recommend picking this one up if you're a fan. Stick to the TV series for your dose of interdimensional shenanigans.
Fun and crazy, but it gets a little hard to follow at times. An interesting delve into the origins of Rick's genius and the relationship between Rick and Morty. An enjoyable read for any Rick and Morty fan! Wubba lubba dub dub!
Self referential meta-humor where every problem can be solved with a 'look what I made up' deus ex machina has reached it's limit for entertainment value.