Rick And Morty Verses Cthulhu #3 - Oni Press

RICK AND MORTY VERSES CTHULHU No. 3, February 2023

For those readers unacquainted with Lovecraftian lore or at least the creator of the Cthulhu Mythos’ 1936 novella “The Shadow Out Of Time”, Jim Zub’s plot for this twenty-two page periodical possibly didn’t land all that well, considering it’s predominantly set inside “the glittering, triumphant city of the Yith.” In fact, Rick Sanchez’s sedentary sojourn at Pnakotus and subsequent slow-time exploration of the metropolis’ Great Archives, communal Nutrition Service Area and Privilege-Deprivation Cell may strike many a bibliophile as a strange way to build-up the anticipation for this mini-series’ upcoming final instalment; “Day Nineteen, I think. Time has no meaning in this f**king place. There’s sunrise and sunset, but most of the time these bobble-headed f**kwits just want to spend all day underground talking philosophy 101…”   

Mercifully though, things do finally start to heat up once one of the “twenty-foot tall, cone-shaped, alien plant-crustacean-librarians” falls in love with the Smartest Man in the Universe and helps him outwit the “Sacred Guards of The Bad-Bad Door!” Sure, the scene is pretty gruesome as Sanchez utilises one of the Buff Yiths’ box-shaped weapons to blow their insectoid heads clean off in a gratuitous display of gore and blood. But the subsequent release of a deadly Flying Polyp from beneath the castle-like conurbation leads to some much-needed adrenalin-fuelled antics for this comic’s finale.

In fact, the sheer chaos caused by the floating extra-terrestrial is arguably as riveting as it is utterly insane, and simultaneously leads into a genuinely touching moment when Rick loses his multi-eyed lover to the grotesque alien despite his best efforts to drag Huey’s mutilated body to safety. The poor love-struck pawn of the deranged scientist’s desire to escape is sympathetically shown to be highly dubious as to his partner’s anarchic actions. So it comes as something of a shock to see the timid bookworm’s fears fully realised as its quite literally torn apart within the polyp’s frighteningly-fanged maw.

Undeniably capturing the flavour of Lovecraft’s imaginary "intellectual utopia" with his proficiently pencilled panels is Troy Little, whose ability to imbue Sanchez’s strange-looking, multi-limbed Yith physique with all the insane inventor’s recognisable mannerisms, is one of the highlights of the publication. Furthermore, the artist does a splendid job in making Huey an incredibly sympathetic character, so when the long-necked curator does die, Rick’s evident remorse is actually made all the more impactful.

The regular cover art of "RICK AND MORTY VERSES CTHULHU" #3 by Troy Little