Nickelodeon’s beloved “Nicktoon” series Rocko’s Modern Life is getting a new “life” of sorts.
The series, which originally aired on Nickelodeon from 1993-1996 (and got a new 45-minute special on Netflix in 2019) will get a brand-new comics anthology late next month in the form of Rocko’s Modern Life…and Afterlife. Set for publication Aug. 20 through kaboom!, the children’s division of Boom! Studios, the anthology is a largely successful offering for longtime fans of the original series. That is due in part to its writing. This will be addressed shortly. While the writing is certain to appeal to the noted audiences, the presentation does have at least one shortfall that deems noting. It comes through the separation of its stories. This will be addressed a little later. Speaking of the stories, the short stories that accompany the primary tales really are bonus content of sorts and put the finishing touch to the whole of the presentation. They work with the primary stories and their writing to make the whole of Rocko’s Modern Life…and Afterlife a mostly positive new offering from kaboom! and Boom! Studios.
Rocko’s Modern Life…and Afterlife, the forthcoming collection of adventures from Nickleodeon’s beloved “Nicktoon,” series is a presentation that longtime fans are sure to enjoy. That is due in part to its writing. While the collection (which culls stories from the previously released Rocko’s Modern Life and Rocko’s Modern Afterlife comics series – also released through kaboom! –) is being published through a children’s imprint of Boom! Studios, the writing is pointedly aimed at grown-ups. That is proven through the trademark edginess that made the cartoon series so great way back in the 1990s. Case in point is the writing in the collection’s lead story, which sadly has no title. Rocko gets fired from his job and ends up selling his soul to Peaches, the evil hooded lord of the underworld. However, thanks to Rocko’s friend Filburt, Rocko’s figures out how to get his soul back while also getting rid of a houseguest who has proven to be more trouble than he is worth. Longtime fans of Rocko’s Modern Life will recall Peaches from the Rocko’s Modern Life TV series. And Filburt’s neurotic personality, along with Heffer’s deadbeat comedic relief persona, make for so much familiarity. The overall edginess in the writing of this story’, which spans four of the collection’s 12 total chapters, is so familiar for the noted audiences. This even as it takes an odd turn and follows Rocko’s attempts to help his neighbor, Mr. Bighead, get back with his wife. The transition from the initial story to this aspect of the story is a little bit of a head scratcher, as it feels so random. Even with that in mind, it is still wonderfully edgy as it takes on social media and dating.
Speaking of social media, it becomes a central thread in the collection’s writing. Case in point, the second story finds Rocko learning an invaluable lesson about the pitfall of social media when his dog Spunky becomes a social media star. He becomes obsessed with getting “friends” and “likes.” Luckily, so does Spunky, as the whole leads to a big, epic showdown between Rocko and Ralph Bighead in the story’s finale. The story in whole is a direct indictment of how obsessed humanity has become with social media and all that comes with it.
Social media sits at the center of the collection’s final story, “Rocko’s Modern Afterlife.” The story, which spans the collection’s final four chapters, is a wonderfully biting spoof of AMC’s now ended zombie-based series, The Walking Dead. The zombies in question here though, are not just the living dead. Rather they are living beings who, as it is revealed, were turned into “zombies” by a virus delivered through social media. The virus was created by none other than Conglom-O. This is important to note because for the longest time, audiences of The Walking Dead wanted to know how the zombie apocalypse happened in the first place but never got that satisfaction. So, getting the explanation here is actually a stab of sorts at the writers behind The Walking Dead. It is another example of the importance of the writing incorporated into the collection’s stories. Between that and the overall familiar edgy approach, it further shows the importance of the writing in this collection. Getting back on the subject at hand, what is really interesting, as it pertains to the writing, is the important lesson that is delivered at the story’s end. The lesson in question involves balancing the negative of the internet with the positive. It is tied into how Rocko finally managed to defeat Conglom-O’s virus.
The writing in the collection’s third story (which also has no title) incorporates social media as it indicts massive corporations and their greed. Rocko discovers in this story, that (fittingly) a group of snakes is controlling Conglom-o as its bots auto-order products “for” customers even when the customers have not ordered anything, thus draining people’s bank accounts and giving full control of O-Town (and the world) to the snakes. It is another great familiar edgy story that older readers will really appreciate because of this indictment and because of the laughs that it will bring as people told what to think about it all by social media. The story and its overall dialogue here and in the collections’ other stories, makes for so much great engagement and entertainment. It builds a solid foundation for the collection in whole.
While the overall writing in these stories is solid from one to the next, there is one thing that weakens the foundation established by the writing. That one thing is the separation of the stories. As noted, most of the stories in this collection do not have titles. As a result, it takes a few moments for readers to have to figure out the separations and continuity. Case in point is the continuity in the first story. As noted, the turn from Rocko’s job issue to helping Mr. Bighead is random. It takes a moment to go back and make sure the two sections are part of the bigger story to know for certain that they are connected. At least the connection in the two chapters that make up the second story is clearer.
On a related note, the total count of stories featured in this collection is four. The first story spans four chapters, the second and third two each and the fourth “Rocko’s Modern Afterlife,” spans the final four chapters. At the same time, the table of contents only lists two sections and the short stories section. In other words, there is a disconnect of sorts between the table of contents and the actual content featured within the collection. This also plagued kaboom!’s recently released Rugrats comics collection. Keeping that in mind, one would think someone would take this into account at kaboom! and Boom! Studios and make sure this issue does not repeat again in another collection of comics from Nickelodeon.
Luckily the concerns raised through the issue of the noted content inconsistencies and the table of contents is not enough to doom the presentation in whole. It is definitely of concern, though, due to the aesthetic impact caused therein. To that end, there is at least one more positive to note. That positive comes in the form of the short stories that accompany the primary stories. They are for all intents and purposes, bonus content. They are definitely shorter, spanning only a couple of pages at the most. At the same time, they have the same edginess along with some great comic aspects and unique artistic approaches in each tale. This gives readers a great look at how Rocko could look (and could have looked) and been presented in general. At the same time, having had to dedicate so much time to the primary stories in this set, the much shorter tales are a nice change of pace. Getting to them is like a reward for having gone through the other, much longer stories. The entertainment that those short stories offer through their unique art styles and writing put the final touch to that reality. All things considered the short stories included in this collection make for great bonus content while also providing even more stories for readers to enjoy. It makes for a great final accent to the presentation that when considered along with the primary stories, makes the whole of Rocko’s Modern Life…and Afterlife a mostly successful new offering from kaboom! and Boom! Studios for every longtime fan of Rocko’s Modern Life.
Rocko’s Modern Life…and Afterlife, the forthcoming comics anthology from kaboom! and Boom! Studios, featuring more tales from the beloved “Nicktoon,” is a largely successful presentation. The set’s success comes in large part through the writing. The writing gives a familiar edginess to the stories in the original cartoon while also creating stories that themselves are biting and edgy. In large part, the stories are an indictment of social media and corporate greed. The writing forms a solid foundation for the presentation. Weakening the foundation is the issue of the stories’ separation and the lack thereof in the collection’s table of contents. This is not the first time a Nickelodeon-based comics collection from kaboom! has posed this issue. Thankfully it is not enough to doom the collection, but hopefully will be the last time it happens. The short stories that accompany the collection round out its most important elements. That is because they serve as a reward of sorts for readers who dedicated so much time to the collection’s primary stories. This is evidenced through the unique artistic styles and the writing, as well as the short span for each tale. Each item examined here is important in its own way to the whole of Rocko’s Modern Life…and Afterlife. All things considered they make the anthology a mostly successful new offering for any longtime fan of Rocko’s Modern Life.
Rocko’s Modern Life…and Afterlife is scheduled for release Aug. 20 through kaboom! More information on this and other titles from kaboom! and Boom! Studios is available at:
Website: https://boom-studios.com
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