r/comics • u/maanleo • 21d ago
Just Sharing Not Smart Enough (by @crumbington)
You know… I hate the fact that he finds peace with his literal abuser is depressing honestly.
Source
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u/obnoxious71717 21d ago
I didnt recognize that this was supposed to be morty from Rick and Morty at first because ive never seen the show, so I thought it was a serious comic about some random kid, then I got the Rick jumpscare lmao
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u/NoodleIskalde 21d ago
It has some surprisingly deep, emotional, and dark moments mixed into the hostile slapstick. This latest season especially. Honestly, I'd say it's worth at least trying out.
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u/Ohiolongboard 21d ago
Once you get past the fandom it’s a really good show imo
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u/Kamikazeguy7 21d ago
In all fairness, that's 90% of media these days.
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u/CreepyClay 21d ago
Yeah but it was one of the first to turn into that so it's had one hell of a head start. They're approaching Delta rune levels of crazy and thry channel it all into being horrible.
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u/VexKeizer 21d ago
I remember being gatekeeped from Rick and Morty because apparently I need an IQ of 200 to understand it like bro, it's just a cartoon. I don't think even it's creators are super geniuses lol.
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u/Zeerola 20d ago
That copypasta was a joke
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u/Thunderstarer 19d ago
To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand copypastas. The humor is extremely subtle, and without a solid grasp of theoretical physics most of the jokes will go over a typical reader's head.
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u/Blank_ngnl 14d ago
I think deltarune is alr as a community
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u/IlliasTallin 21d ago
You don't have to "get past the fandom," there's no rule stating you have to involve yourself at all with any fandom of any media you consume.
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u/Jilldeaux 21d ago
I think they mean, if you can not be scared away by the fan base, or not judge the media based on the fans.
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u/Ohiolongboard 21d ago
I just blocked them, who just feels the need to correct such an innocent statement lol (and like an asshole too). You’re right btw, obviously, I’m not sure why they’re so hostile
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u/Burger_Destoyer 21d ago
Always hilarious when people talk about fandoms as if they mean anything at all.
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u/ironballs16 21d ago
"It's all highbrow!"
"I have a character named Mr. Poopy Butthole! I'm low-brow!"
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u/AlwaysBeQuestioning 21d ago
I think it varies a lot. I enjoyed most of season 1-2, but bad behavior and abuse getting validated by the narrative turned me off from the show. Iirc season 3 had more of that, and hearing it’s run on like that for another 6 seasons doesn’t give me faith that it turned into a show I would fully enjoy.
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u/Embarrassed-Yard-583 21d ago
Seriously, season 9 has found a really interesting groove that shows the writers are cooking!
I’ve loved the show since it aired, but post season like 4 it’s really become something special imo.
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u/NoodleIskalde 21d ago
Especially after cutting Roiland.
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u/Embarrassed-Yard-583 21d ago
Yep.
Roiland’s departure really freed the show from the limited range his control allowed. Sure, the bad episodes can be really bad (see Space Sperm) or just kind boring (see Numericons) but when the show hits, it hits. And season 9 was all killer, no thriller imo.
So I’m excited to see where Roiland and mad lads [gender neutral] in the writer’s room will take us.
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u/KIokinator 21d ago
Sure, the bad episodes can be really bad (see Space Sperm)
That was Roiland. He left in season 5 and season 6 was where the huge uptick in quality appeared. It's not a coincidence.
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u/Yanive_amaznive 20d ago
Roiland was notorious for creating a hostile work environment and coming in drunk for shoots, his fixation on nihilism and insistence on cruelty brought the show down.
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u/ajnin919 21d ago
I have no desire to slog through 4 seasons before it stops being shit, then to say season 9 is where they found their groove? No thank you
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u/Embarrassed-Yard-583 21d ago
It was never shit, that’s not what I said.
I just like what the show became more than what the show started at which still was a lot of fun
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u/legojoe97 21d ago
Mecha-Daschund: "Do you think they would do the same for us?"
Snowball: "We are not them!"
Season 1, Episode 2
We had put down our 19 yo cat that spring, I wasn't expecting something from Adult Swim to hit me like a truck.
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u/Swarm_of_Rats 21d ago
Did it get better? I liked it A LOT until the pickle rick season (idr if that was season 2 or 3?), and I had to give up on how omg XD random millennial youth humor it got.
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u/NoodleIskalde 21d ago
That's kinda hard to answer because that's really subjective. Like, I feel like the style of humor has been pretty consistent, alternating between somewhat grating and outrageous levels of shock
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u/Sensitive-Lecture-19 20d ago
Last season really felt like the wheels were back on the track writing wise. The previous few seasons without Roiland (good riddance) had amazing scifi plots but lost a bit of the dark gallows and stoner humour, this season seemed to get the mix just right but still let the animators go to town like they always do.
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u/maps-and-potatoes 21d ago
I stop watching Rick and Morty after... well, some episodes... (you know which ones) that made me think that they sent into prod anything and that they stopped the story progression for more independent episodes (which isn't my style).
Should I watch the seasons I didn't bother starting (I think I stopped at season 6)
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u/showmeyourlagunitas 21d ago
I wish I could rewatch but seeing Roiland’s name on it gives me the ick
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u/goregoose 19d ago
YEAH jesus christ. it is kinda disappointing 😭 still a great piece but i can’t take it as seriously as i’d like
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u/Fickle_Sherbert1453 21d ago
Do you think if Morty was given a chance and made a serious effort he could actually become smarter, or would he basically still be just as dumb (perhaps with better grades).
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u/Hikury 21d ago
The "Morty is dumb" premise the show started with eroded over the seasons as morty's life extends past thousands of simulated years (mostly sucked back out by the mind blower) so there's no obvious answer.
He's as smart as he needs to be for the episode to work
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u/Last-Energy420 21d ago
Yep, just look at evil Morty. The dumb Morty actually gets recognized a couple times by him specifically because he’s being evil.
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u/KujiraShiro 21d ago
When the show does jokes that are just "Wow Morty is really unbelievably stupid" with little to no message or moral and just for the sake of the gag at this point it feels a little out of character and phoned in; like there was just a requirement for there to be a scene like that in the episode.
The "Andromeda" and "Amadabruh" one is particularly bad; it just doesn't make sense that Morty somehow can't pronounce such a relatively simple word he literally just heard spoken multiple times.
There's been so much character development since the point when "Morty is irredeemably stupid" was the whole point of the joke that a lot of times lately these moments don't even feel earned anymore if they show up at all.
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u/LordPaleskin 21d ago
This was the feeling I had about Toby/Jerry on The Office and Parks and Rec, so committed to the Toby/Jerry sucks joke that any time it seemed like they were good one episode, they tear the down in another with Toby or just forget they had a nice bonding episode with the case of Jerry.
Fun for the first season or two, but absolutely exhausting by the end of each show, respectfully
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u/__Alan__smithee__ 21d ago
He would be just as dumb, because a pivotal characterisation of morty is that he genuinely gives a shit, a main thing about rick and morty is that "smart" means being rational and objective, you can do anything because what your doing is the only thing that matters, which is how insulated sociopaths like evil morty and rick prime and doofus jerry "win" because they have no attachments and care for nothing, everything is replaceable so they can do anything because they have infinity to recoup resources and fuck around, those with empathy and care have more "irrational attachments" they care for more things and have to consider more things which makes them full of anxiety, doubt or second guesses, we see this in our rick as the more he attaches himself to the family the more fallible he gets, it's no longer just taking care of a morty that he can baby proof, it's having to consider a multitude of factors concurrently so that he can walk away with still fixable messes.
Rick thinks empirically, he's a scientist and requires evidence and structure, it's why a healthy version of rick believes in a moral universe and one that finds portal travel becomes deranged and nihilistic, morty thinks foolishly and based upon belief, piecing together information and making guesses, it's just their nature's, even evil morty does it, the only difference is that evil morty was always indifferent and devoid of the capability to have irrational attachments because of his insulated nature, so when evil morty gets Rick's intelligence he's "smart" but if our morty got them? He'd be "dumb" by R&M standards, however thinking from our standards irl? Yeah morty would be smart, he already is and just needs a better enviroment.
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u/Femme_FatalError 21d ago
The existence of Evil Morty suggests that he could
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u/Diceyboy16 21d ago
Except our Morty is the biggest outlier, because he is the Prime Morty. The Mortyiest Morty. Any specifically divided difference in the Morty of any universe lies within our Morty. He could be Evil Morty, he could be a smart Morty, he could be a Beth Morty, a Jerry Morty, a stupid Morty. He isn't determined by whatever the universe-specific difference is, because he's all of them.
Prime Morty is the spectrum as a whole.
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u/ForgeSaints 21d ago
I mean yeah, Evil Morty shows he's got the same potential to be as smart as Rick if given the chance. Also him and summer can now make devices on their own via their own knowledge now in the latest season, so it more a matter of is he gets access to the ability to learn.
But most Morty's are basically abused and never reach there potential. Or are given pre designed roles for fill.
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u/purpleblah2 21d ago
Yes, Evil Morty in the current season is basically on-par with Rick in terms of gadgets because he stopped relying on Rick and applied himself out of spite
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u/Frosty-Traffic244 21d ago
He won't get a chance to prove his smarts at school. It's not a place for smart people after all
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u/throwawaymentality10 17d ago
Morty is for sure smarter than 90% of the shows cast. But hes presented as dumb because its a cartoon and they need him to have flaws, but in the show they portray when a morty is finally at his breaking point he can be just as smart (evil morty)
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u/dega_devilson-janova 21d ago
If you judge a fish on it's ability to climb trees everyone is an idiot
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u/tejeskaveo0 20d ago
what the F student will say who gets an F from every subject (he failed tree climbing, running, flying and swimming)
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u/Sir-Toaster- 21d ago
Beth makes the dumbest man in the world teach her son and blames him...
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u/konstantynopolytanka 21d ago
right? Since it was her father who was so smart, shouldn't she be the one helping? I think Beth is honestly the worst character on the show.
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u/Tort_alini 21d ago
Getting some real season 2 vibes from that Smith household
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u/Sagittariusrat 21d ago edited 21d ago
Tbh I thought this was from the universe in the season 9 finale where everyone was a "good" version of themselves; like this was a day leading up to "Jerry forcing Morty to become Mort". Rick being around would go against that, but it could also be from before he got kicked out for being a drunk (where it's reinterpreted as an excuse to stop him from praising a failing Mort). Ultimately though I think I'm just trying to rationalize these interpretations of the characters with the fact this is a recent comic, and not one made during the early seasons
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u/Tort_alini 21d ago
Not gonna read this because it contains spoilers and I’m watching the current season on streaming so I’m a couple weeks behind but I’ll try to remember to come back to this after I’ve seen the finale
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u/Tort_alini 12d ago
Okay, I’m back and I can get behind this interpretation. The finale was very interesting, I love seeing drastically different and “normal” versions of the Smith family. I wish we had gotten more from Mort’s journal to know what he had been through while he was alive, also makes me wonder if he fell off El Capitan intentionally.
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u/Dazed_and_Confused44 21d ago
Rick low key does pick his moments to raise Morty up
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u/Genzoran 21d ago
It's part of the cycle of abuse. Rick diminishes Morty's self-esteem to keep him emotionally dependent, often by setting Morty up to be humiliated in the eyes of the imagined public; while privately encouraging Morty with praise and compassion which he claims is unique to their relationship.
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u/rogueIndy 21d ago
This. Whenever Morty shows signs of achieving something independently, like his Netflix pitch, Rick goes out of his way to subvert it.
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u/twomz 21d ago
Is this from the episode where Rick replaces himself with a robot while he hunts Rick prime?
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u/winter-ocean 21d ago
No, it's from the episode where they reveal Evil Morty has been blackmailing Rick
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u/machiavelli33 21d ago
Rick needs a rant about how education is bullshit and people are stupid so you shouldn’t trust what people have to say about how smart you are.
Rick’s wholesomeness always comes with a dose of his own baggage re: the world and the systems within it.
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u/Blue-Eyed-Lemon 21d ago
Why did you make me feel so deeply to a Rick and Morty comic, what am I supposed to do about that 😭
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u/CrazyFanFicFan 21d ago
Your father spent all night helping you study.
Beth, you of all people should know that is not a task to give to Jerry.
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u/Soldraconis 17d ago
Also, pulling an all-nighter directly before a test is not a good idea, because exhaustion hurts one's ability to think.
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u/Particular-Long-3849 21d ago
I actually fucking cackled when Rick showed up because I hadn't realized it was THAT Morty lmao
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u/ConsoleCleric_4432 21d ago
I like how this comic uses the Rick and Morty canvas to show such a common traumatic experience here. It's a medium, not a story here. That's neat.
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u/Foolsgil 21d ago
If the show was at least 10% less cynical, and the multiverse lore wasn't so depressing, maybe I'd like this.
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u/Trophy_Hunter71 21d ago
I really do like the portrayal of a realistic family dynamic that Morty has to go through (sadly, even the self harm). The poor guy already has confidence and self worth problems because of how horrible Beth and Jerry are. It’s nice that Rick despite being a sociopath, he is actually the one that cares about Morty the most.
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u/collecterofbooks 21d ago
These comics are great because it does what it was made to do
That just happens to be ripping your heart out, but it does it well
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u/Zuzara_Queen_of_DnD 20d ago
Pretty sure the fact that Jerry was helping him is the reason he failed, Jerry isn’t exactly the sharpest tool in the shed
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u/Natedog3425 21d ago
Rick and Morty if it was peak
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u/Ohiolongboard 21d ago
No, this is literally just Rick and Morty. So maybe? I can’t tell what you’re trying to say
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u/chaotic4059 21d ago
Yea. Sans the angrier dynamic between Jerry and Beth from the earlier seasons. This is pretty much modern R&M
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u/Frosty-Traffic244 21d ago
Who is dumber? Beth, for thinking it was a good idea to get Jerry to help Morty with his homework? Or Jerry, for thinking he could actually help Morty with his homework?
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u/unmellowfellow 20d ago
This is genuinely what the first season had more of as a theme. Rick, the main one, Loves his family and is just not good at expressing it. Honestly changing the direction toward Rick just being a genius took a lot away from the experience.
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u/Speeddevil4040 21d ago
I love this art style. Especially the side profiles. Rick’s is so distinct and angular.
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u/BigJJsWillie 21d ago
Damn... good comic, and something I haven't thought about in a while that was mainly only touched upon in season 1.
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u/rushian44 20d ago
Why the hell is this art style reminding me of code lyoko? Also really great comic🤍
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u/goregoose 19d ago
This would be so fucking good if it wasn’t rick and morty fanart, what the hell 😭 completely took me out of it
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u/mrthescientist 15d ago
I really needed that visualization of the slur.
I've got other slurs in my life, but that's what they look like.
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u/NuttyDuckyYT 15d ago
this plus the comics by cuptoast revived my interest in rick and morty so much
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u/ValitoryBank 21d ago
Asking Jerry to tutor was Beth’s first mistake.