Rick And Morty Verses Dungeons & Dragons: The Meeseeks Adventure #1 - IDW Publishing

RICK AND MORTY VERSES DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: THE MEESEEKS ADVENTURE No. 1, February 2022

Whilst there are arguably few followers of the animated television series “Rick and Morty” who haven’t fast become fans of the blue-skinned humanoids universally known as Mister Meeseeks, Jim Zub’s decision to pen an oversized one-shot starring them somehow battling their way through Gary Gygax’s role-playing game probably had many of them scratching their heads in utter bemusement. Indeed, this comic’s opening perhaps unsurprisingly just depicts the short-lived ‘task completers’ as mindless Djinn successfully achieving the physical burdens metered out to them by a couple of fairly unimaginative, low-level thieves; “Carry that sack of loot back to town.”

Happily however, “The Meeseeks Adventure” soon shows just how badly misused a Meeseeks Box can be when Crinious Ravenscry takes a shine to her partner-in-crime’s brand new, Keltar-leather boots and asks for her own pair. The sheer hilarity which then ensues is tremendously well-penned by the Canadian author, and debatably few within this book’s audience will be able to stifle a genuine belly laugh as Blodgette Blaggard fights to keep his footwear intact – at least until the shocking moment when the determined Meeseeks turns murderously homicidal so as to achieve his goal.

The rogue’s disconcertingly brutal downfall really is incredibly impactive, and establishes an increasingly dark-humoured theme which eventually turns the lonely Meeseeks into such a dangerous killer, that even a trio of die-hard adventurers ultimately turn their back on the now foul-smelling, heavily-bearded creature before it leads their increasingly battle-weary party to a ghastly end. This ‘snowball effect’ makes for an enthralling read, especially once the bulbous headed creature summons an army of his own people and, following a tremendous attack upon an adult Blue Dragon, subsequently storms Castle Kludgemire in an effort to seize the King’s crown.

Delightfully, the Joe Shuster Canadian Comic Award-winner’s thirty-page script is made all the more amusing by some terrific tongue-in-cheek pencilling by Troy Little. The cartoonist does a tremendous job of showing each individual Mister Meeseeks wearing their respective hearts upon their sleeves, so as to ensure each member of “the cobalt-coloured death” all display their own unique personalities. In addition, the animator seems to have the perfect sense of timing when it comes to a character being ‘dispatched’, with both the demises of Ravenscry and the Castle’s Royal Guardsman doubtless catching many a bibliophile completely off-guard.

Written by: Jim Zub, Art by: Troy Little, and Colors by: Leonardo Ito