Rick and Morty & The Pocket Mortys in: Pocket Like You Stole It!, marketed simply as Rick and Morty – Pocket Like You Stole It and Pocket Mortys – Pocket Like You Stole It, is a limited series graphic novel, written by Tini Howard, illustrated by Marc Ellerby, and colored by Katy Farina, which was published in five parts in 2017 by Oni Press, as an adaptation of Pocket Mortys, a Pokémon-inspired free-to-play role-playing video game set in the Rick and Morty franchise by Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon. Part 1, Horrible Freedom, was released on July 5; Part 2, Collect Yourself and Move On, was released on August 16; Part 3, Crisis on Infinite Dads!, was released on September 13; Part 4, Tama-Gotchya!, was released on October 18; and Part 5, F**ck-Save!, was released on November 22 (all in 2017). Each issue of the series was published with a collection of Pocket Mortys trading cards, with characters created exclusively for the series later being made available as playable characters in the Pocket Mortys video game.
The series is notable for featuring a possible origin story for "Evil Morty", an alternate version of Morty Smith and the perennial antagonist of the first five seasons of the Rick and Morty television series, receiving a generally positive critical reception. The series' name is a reference to the Gary Clark song "Drive It Like You Stole It", from the soundtrack of the 2016 Irish coming-of-age comedy-drama film Sing Street.
Overview
Based on the same multiple timeline concept as described in the Rick and Morty first season episode "Close Rick-counters of the Rick Kind" and the video game Pocket Mortys. Pocket Like You Stole It is set in the plains surrounding the original Citadel of Ricks, where alternate 'wild' versions of Morty Smith are collected by versions of their grandfather Rick (of a human-like species of "Pocket Ricks", separate from the human Rick of the television series), who battle them against one another with a variety of 'Trainers' in the form of Ricks, one Jerry-training Beth Smith and several supporting characters, with the series following the story of Plain (later "Evil") Morty Smith of C-594 as he seeks to free all other versions of himself from servitude.
Premise
Part One: Horrible Freedom
Part Two: Collect Yourself and Move On
Morty thinks he’s hit the jackpot when he stumbles upon a secret Morty haven, run by Crazy Cat Rick. All the food and cozy body pillows he could want! But he soon discovers that there’s a dastardly reason that the Mortys are so docile, and stumbles upon the grand secret of Morty battling.
Part Three: Crisis on Infinite Dads! Aw gee, Morty’s on his way to stop the Council of Ricks! Morty battling just isn’t right, and we’ve gotta stop it! That is, until he gets stopped by Beth, and her team of Pocket Jerries! Swimming Jerry! Wizard Jerry! Buff Jerry! They’re all here, and they’re all out to stop Morty!
Part Four: Tama-Gotchya! CAPTURED ONCE MORE! Morty is back in Rick's clutches… but could he be an ally in the fight against the Council of Ricks? Maybe! Or maybe he just wants to see Morty fight a bunch of other Mortys on the way. We'll find out!
Part Five: F**ck-Save!
Development
In December 2016, a comic book adaptation of the Pokémon-inspired role-playing video game Pocket Mortys was announced to be in development at Oni Press, who previously published the Rick and Morty ongoing comic series. Titled Pocket Like You Stole It, the limited-run series, written by Tini Howard, illustrated by Marc Ellerby, and colored by Katy Farina, would see "cut to the bleak truth of what [Pokémon] actually means", and be released July 5, 2017 (after a free preview would be included in the Free Comic Book Day issue of Rick and Morty on May 6, 2017). Described as having "cinematic" art, with "every shot [being] full of hilarious background Mortys" inspired by Where's Wally? (in excess of 300 an issue), and named in reference to the Gary Clark song "Drive It Like You Stole It", from the soundtrack of the 2016 Irish coming-of-age comedy-drama film Sing Street, the series follows the evolution of "a plain ol’ Morty" from "our Pikachu" into (President) "Evil Morty", the perennial antagonist of the first five seasons of the Rick and Morty television series, "fight[ing] in the name of his Mortimer brethren", with each individual issue containing trading cards inspired by Magic: The Gathering.