Spunkyyyyyyyyy!!!
Creative Staff:
Story: Ryan Ferrier
Art: Ian McGinty
Colors: Fred C. Stresing
Letters: Jim Campbell
What They Say:
Ryan Ferrier (Regular Show) and Ian McGinty (Adventure Time) continue BOOM! Studios’ partnership with Nickelodeon with all-new stories about everyone’s favorite wallaby! When Rocko faces unemployment, a terrible living situation, and increasingly slim job prospects, he is forced to find out just how far he is willing to go to get a job. Includes a bonus short story by KC Green where Ed Bighead finds himself in the dentist chair of Dr. Hutchison!
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Reviving older franchises as comics is slowly becoming the comfy middleground between getting rebooted as a Blockbuster-level movie, and not being re-made at all. The medium of comics seems to be far more open to maintaining the cheesy, chaotic nature of the source material, while the creative teams themselves more often than not end up being fans of the original work themselves, having grown up with it and serving as a memorable influence in their childhood.
And while the creative team has been very vocal about their appreciation of the Rocko’s Modern Life cartoon, the first issue was lukewarm at best.
We’re dropped into Rocko’s mundane world at a call center helping with difficultly inept customers. And before we can even fully absorb the handful of done-to-death call center tropes, Rocko ends up unceremoniously fired. Now in need of some money fast, Rocko rents out his room to a complete stranger—Chalmers. While I’m completely open to the idea of introducing new characters to the already chaotically diverse world of Rocko, Chalmers feels like the type of character that’s clearly meant to be introduced early on in a story to eventually be used to springboard the plot to where it truly wants to be. His built-in persona of an ungrateful millennial DJ that throws loud parties and is just overall obnoxious is again a joke that’s been done to death by this point, especially when you stop to consider the original cartoon already played up the obnoxious roommate trope with Heffer. All the while, the issue’s pacing is so slapdash that you can never really feel for Rocko or appreciate the return of other lovable cast members (the Bloaty and Squirmy cameos were especially welcome).
Regardless, the issue’s cliffhanger and reveal of another past Rocko character is enough to keep me hoping for the next issue to pick up the pace and salvage what this opening issue’s set up thus far.
As a silver lining, I will say that the issue’s bonus comic by KC Green was a delight from beginning to end. Not only is Green capable of controlling the pacing of a gag through tight paneling/page layout, but his sense of well-timed chaotic visual humor feels more in line with the original series. The fact that he’s able to make the most of both Bighead and Hutchison’s very specific idiosyncrasies proves that he’s a fan of the source material, stretching both characters to their absolute silliest limits. Mr. Bighead’s deep-seated childhood traumas coming back to haunt him in his adult life has always been one of the better, downplayed aspects of the original series, and I’m glad that Green was able to pull his humor from that same well of influence.
In Summary:
Rocko’s Modern Life’s first issue feels like a standard re-introduction to a series. The jokes feel unimpressive, the scenarios were repeated in past episodes, and the pacing is too quick to really give you a chance to regain your footing in the series. And yet I remain hopeful that later issues will improve. The concept of a wallaby immigrating to the US only to be constantly screwed over by life’s realities is far too entertaining not to give it a second chance.
Grade: C+
Age Rating: 12+
Released By: BOOM! Studios
Release Date: December 6th, 2017
MSRP: $3.99
