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!
Writing
In their effort to bank on nostalgia, Boom! Studios has released another comic based on a cartoon from the 90s. This time around its Rocko’s Modern Life, a series which is set to have a revival in 2018 thanks to a new special. So is this the ideal way to keep the love for Rocko, Heffer, and the other residents of O-town alive? Seems like a pretty good place to start.
Writer Ryan Ferrier perfectly captures the voices of the originally characters. This is especially true in the case of Rocko, who still can’t catch a break with anything he does. The poor guy just wants to keep job but finds it’s a nightmare to accomplish. An ideal which everyone can relate too. The issue really is trying to make it more the “modern life” aspect of the title but still finds a way to weave in the zaniness which the original cartoon was known for.
Artwork
The illustrations by Ian McGinty really helps to capture the style of the original cartoon. Every character is immediately recognized and none of their manerious seem outside of what the characters would do.
With Fred C. Stresing on the colors the book offers an insane reincarnation of the animated series. It’s so on point, panels could easily be compared to the original cartoon and it would be hard to determine which is which.
Finally the lettering by Jim Campbell also helps the story capture the feel of the show. The different business fonts are exactly as they appeared in the show.
Conclusion
This series is an entertaining romp into a cartoon which helps to tell more stories from a show which was canceled too soon. Between this comic and Rugrats, Boom! Studios really has a great thing going. Now if they can only give us more Danny Phantom. Maybe then the fans can get the future adventures the series creator was hinting about.
