Illustrated by Austin Baechle (Titan Books)
ISBN: 978-1-80336-598-5 (PB)
Multi award-winning Adult Swim (the grown-up after-dark division of Cartoon Network) animated comedy science fiction series Rick and Morty was created by Justin Roiland & Dan Harmon. It was developed from the former’s parody short of Back to The Future in 2006, and with Harmon’s eventual collaboration was unleashed on the universe – arguably all of them – in December 2013. We’re up to Season 7, with 3 more contracted for.
The show combines edgy domestic comedy with outrageous fantasy spread across all of reality, as moral and impressionable Rick Smith is consistently lured into incredible and upsetting situations by his grandfather Morty Sanchez: an alcoholic and extremely brilliant mad scientist who lives with the Smith family. It’s all very funny, wildly imaginative and better read than talked about. (Un)Naturally, there’s a comic book tie-in too, and even a crossover series with the Dungeons & Dragons franchise that you can try too…
This decidedly peculiar and utterly interactive tribute to a strange time all around offers over 60 lusciously large and madly memorable images inspired by the show. Ranging from bizarrely disturbing to profoundly comic, these cartoon confabulations include weird places, odd characters, the Smiths in all their hoary glory, icky, sticky things, dragons, monsters and so much more, all delivered by animator Austin Baechle (Pre Fab), who preloads the magic of the grand parade through time, space, parallel dimensions and the backyard and bedroom in seductive style to delight the already dedicated and entice the uninitiated…
It’s never too soon or too late to unhinge your personal reality and get in touch with your visually expressive side, and the only way this wonderfully whacky experience could be improved is with crayons, paints and pens. Or maybe glue, glitter, fur and precious metals? No digital edition as yet, so if you want to play on a computer, you’ll need to get scanning. However, if you can work a keyboard and acclimatise to Rick and Morty’s many worlds you can surely get by…
Irreverent, subversive and appallingly addictive, the combination of great characters, compelling pictures and mirthful attention-seizing is a welcome way to while away the hours between life and the beyond…
Forget video-games – buy this (renewably resourced) book. If you’re worried about exercise, do the colouring-in standing up and if a mess (or winged dinosaur invasion) ensues, you can boost your cardio rate by cleaning it all up.
Challengingly eccentric and modernistically retro wonderment, this is a fun you can’t imagine …but can purchase.
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