Rocko's Modern Afterlife #1 (A Family Comic Friday Extra)

Another beloved all-ages franchise adds zombies to the mix and gets gritty in this Family Comic Friday Extra. First it was Archie. Then Scooby-Doo went on to battle the walking dead. Now from your friends at Nickelodeon and Kaboom, it’s Rocko’s Modern Afterlife!

Rocko’s Modern Afterlife #1
Created by Joe Murray
Story by Anthony Burch
Art by Mattia Di Meo
Published by The Boom! Studios Imprint Kaboom
Retail: $3.99

A zombie apocalypse has infected the residents of O-Town. It’s unsafe to be out on the streets. But that’s a-okay with Rocko as he’s not really big on technology or large crowds of people. Yet, when his food supply suddenly runs low and the fate of one of his best friends hangs in the balance, our hero wallaby will have to risk his neck to save the day!

A story involving a monster doesn’t necessarily mean that the adventure isn’t for kids. Children literature is full of age appropriate tales of vampire bunnies and elementary school workers who are witches or werewolves. The same goes for this 4-issue mini-series written by actor and writer Anthony Burch (A Bug’s Life). Rocko’s Modern Afterlife is a book that can be enjoyed by some children; just not all.

The experience of seeing characters change from a normal everyday job to brain-eating ghoul can be unnerving. Plus, having the undead attack, bite and even feast on others is also quite intense for younger readers. Back issues of sister series Rocko’s Modern Life are aimed for readers aged 8-12. I would advise the age range for this series to be for readers 10 and up. But as always with Family Comic Friday, I make parental suggestions and not demands. Besides, those of you who grew up watching Rocko in the 90s know that the show was never one to shy away from pushing the envelope with double entendres or satirical social commentary.

Mattia Di Meo’s art is very well done. The Rugrats and Adventure Time artist does a fabulous job of rendering the characters are they looked on the TV screen. And the zombies are extremely menacing. I believe that Di Meo’s stunning art is one reason why Rocko’s Modern Afterlife might not sit well with the youngest of comic book fans.

This new take on Rocko’s Modern Life keeps the quirky spirit of the franchise alive and well, even if some of your favorite characters aren’t. It’s a little more mature that the 90s cartoon. But unlike Afterlife with Archie and Scooby Apocalypse, the Rocko franchise has not gone into the realm of teen plus. With the subtle scares, this series would have been perfect for a September/October drop just before All Hallow’s Eve.

If the younger reader in your life isn’t quite old enough to enjoy this mini- don’t worry. They’ll grow up. And when they do, as Marty McFly would say, ‘Your kids are gonna love it!’

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Rocko's Modern Life #7 (Family Comic Friday)

This week's selection for Family Comic Friday should make Mom and Dad smile… along with the kiddies too. It’s the return of a Nicktoons classic- Rocko’s Modern Life. But with this issue, I wasn’t sure if this was supposed to be a nostalgic trip for just the parents or was it supposed to be fun for the whole family?

Rocko’s Modern Life #7

Written by Ryan Ferrier, K.C. Green

Art by Ian McGinty, Jorge Monlongo (Cover)

Published by Kaboom! Studios

First of all, I would like to point out that the story listed by Previews and other sites is false. Issue #7 does not have our favorite wallaby, Rocko, going to his high school reunion. Instead, Rocko’s job at Conglom-o Corporation is causing him great stress. It turns out that the company’s biggest seller, the Pi-Hole, is malfunctioning. The Amazon Echo-like device keeps ordering stuff that people didn’t ask for and in mass quantities as well.

When Rocko goes to complain to the head of the Conglom-o Corporation, the wallaby learns of a conspiracy in which the company wants to enslave the people of earth to the useless goods and wares sold by the company. Thus, always in debt, the customers of Conglom-o would be beholden forever to the company.

The manic nature of Rocko’s Modern Life which ran from 1993-96 is still present in this comic book from kaboom! Studios. Ian McGinty’s art overtakes not only panels but pages, just like in the classic Nickelodeon series. And the characters of Heifer and Filburt are as neurotic and dumb as usual. But was Rocko also such an adult oriented cartoon???

True, the cartoon of Rocko’s Modern Life had some dirty Easter eggs in the background. Things like strategically placed initials of businesses that spell out bad words and other inside jokes. But properties like Disney and Warner Brothers have been guilty of the same thing for years. No, when I talk about RML being adult, I am talking about the overt subject matter.

When Rocko discovers that Conglom-o is trying to take over the world through some free enterprise sleight of hand, the protagonist goes on a rant. He tries to warn all of the citizens of O-Town of the dangers of capitalism. Earlier, there’s also some pretty unsubtle talk about the lack of privacy on social media. Plus, it’s not lost on this comic book reader that the Pi-Hole and it’s malfunctions is a satire of the many faults of Amazon’s all-purpose home assistant Alexa.

So with these cases in point, was the cartoon this comic is based on so brazen in it’s social commentary? I really don’t remember it being like this. Maybe I was too young to notice. Or maybe I have a good point!

Reboots are all the rage right now in the entertainment industry. Some of  these returning properties are aging right along with the viewers who grew up with them. Is that the plan of the editors at Kaboom!? If so, maybe they shouldn’t have released this series under the all-ages imprint of Kaboom!, but under the more adult oriented Boom! Studios.

I don’t really have a problem under which imprint that the put Rocko. But I do think that a lot of the social commentary in this storyline isn’t geared for an all-age audience. Let’s say all of the things covered in this tale was occurring in real life 25 years ago. If this story was done as a cartoon in 1993, I think my sister, who is 12 years younger than me, would have gotten a lot of laughs out of Rocko’s frantic behavior. But I don’t think she would have understood why he’s so upset about capitalism and data breaches.

This comic book doesn’t have a rating on it. The Kaboom imprint is supposed to be for a younger audience. But I wouldn’t go too young. I think readers under the age of 10 will enjoy the silly aspects. Those aged 11-15 might get some of the deeper concepts. But mom and dad, they’ll be the ones to get all the inside jokes. They’ll also feel old knowing that Rocko’s Modern Life debuted back when Bill Clinton was President, Nicktoons was a Saturday night rite of passage and Amazon was little more than a jungle in South America.

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

Rocko's Modern Life #2

It’s been a long time since I saw an episode of Rocko’s Modern Life, but this trip down memory lane was the perfect substitute. The zany plots abound with Rocko’s pet dog having a severe stomach issue and then Rocko and his cow-pal Heifer crash their annoying neighbor’s house and become the life of his office party.

 

The gross jokes, off-the-wall puns, and bizarre look at Australian wild-life are captured in living color. Sadly, much of the art looks nothing like the characters of this classic Nickelodeon cartoon of the mid-90s.

 

Despite that, it’s still worth consuming.

WORTH CONSUMING!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.