Roarin' Rick's Rare Bit Fiends

Roarin' Rick's Rare Bit Fiends #1

"It's all so neurotic and Freudian" I love the work of a creative and constantly moving mind. I'm intrigued by the dream focus, but nervous that it'll be so loose that it'll be hard to discern meaning from it.

Roarin' Rick's Rare Bit Fiends #2

This is very crazy. In a good way? In a bad way? I cannot tell. I think I like the concept and the discussions surrounding the work more than the work itself, but the comic is being used as a medium to explore dreams, so it's hard to remove that. Just a lot of thoughts going on and none at the same time. Just pure emotional expression is what I'm bouncing off.

Roarin' Rick's Rare Bit Fiends #3

I wonder why the recurring Tiger. Why the same clothes for Rick?

Roarin' Rick's Rare Bit Fiends #4

A lot of focus on comics, writers, and drawing (I wonder why...)

Roarin' Rick's Rare Bit Fiends #5

This must be so cathartic. I wonder how he chooses the direction.

Roarin' Rick's Rare Bit Fiends #6

More cats, heavy animal focus. A lot of guests.

Roarin' Rick's Rare Bit Fiends #7

More comics and war imagery.

Roarin' Rick's Rare Bit Fiends #8

Maybe the mystical nature of cats really speaks to Rick. I feel like the war stuff is so specific. Also the planes. I wonder if Rick travels a lot.

Roarin' Rick's Rare Bit Fiends #9

A lot of death. I wonder if he feels guilty. Or powerless.

Roarin' Rick's Rare Bit Fiends #10

Really all I can say is: psychedelic.

I wish there were more deciphering or at least discussions.

Roarin' Rick's Rare Bit Fiends #11

I have to admit, I tried to make connections and see possible themes, but I am completely lost.

Roarin' Rick's Rare Bit Fiends #12

I feel like this was just too much information that the visual medium of a comic book should have portrayed. This was more like a Wikipedia dump.

Roarin' Rick's Rare Bit Fiends #13

Is his writing and dream journaling influencing the same dreams?

Roarin' Rick's Rare Bit Fiends #14

The Nanna childhood dream is intense. I wish there was more introduction of the dreams like that one, because without it, I don't think I would have viewed it as powerful at all.

Roarin' Rick's Rare Bit Fiends #15

How, if it did, did his perspective change from 22 to 44? If I'm getting a good read on his dreams, it seems like there was a fear/uncertainty of if he could make it as a cartoonist.

Roarin' Rick's Rare Bit Fiends #16

Feeling like an outcast? A lot of sexual desire.

Roarin' Rick's Rare Bit Fiends #17

Dreams in dreams? Is this reflection?

Roarin' Rick's Rare Bit Fiends #18

These dreams do feel nostalgic, with people and scenes from a younger Rick.

Roarin' Rick's Rare Bit Fiends #19

The cat appears again.

Roarin' Rick's Rare Bit Fiends #20

Cats, sex, and comics? What's in your heart, Rick?

Roarin' Rick's Rare Bit Fiends #21

I feel like this series was more of an expression for Rick than for an audience. Or at least, the audience's benefit seems to mostly come through the sharing of their own experience with dreams and the emotional impact of them. I don't think the exploration of dreams was truly expressed in this comic, at least not in a way that was coherent for an outside source to understand. It's unfortunate, but this was not a fun read. There should be the untangling of the strangeness of dreams, while also accepting that they're intrinsic to drams. Instead, I felt like there was just the depiction of all the weirdness that are a part of dreams. All of this to say that I was hoping for more, something more thoughtful.