Each with their own silly, yet distinguishing haircuts, the Council of Ricks were the somewhat-democratic rulers that banded together across multiple dimensions to protect Ricks at The Citadel. The power-hungry (but now slain) council were made up of a six-member group of Ricks that governed over a hub where the infinite versions of Ricks from across the multiverse could be safe. The comics revealed this union of Ricks was created to ensure one autocratic leader didn’t become compromised by outside forces.
The one-shot comic Rick and Morty presents: Council of Ricks - by Jake Goldman, Marc Ellerby and Phil Murphy - expands on the Citadel homeworld, specifically focusing on the founding of the Council of Ricks. A private eye Rick - because every alternate version of Rick has a gimmick - is pulled into the fray by a “royal” Rick, as explained by a hilarious exposition robot. Private-eye Rick doesn’t find it so hilarious and shoots the exposition robot through a wall. While it’s a one-off joke, the scene also serves as a smart bit of meta humor. With Rick pointing his gun toward the reader, it’s a less-than-subtle visual gag that features a literally broken (fourth) wall.
Private-eye Rick sets off to capture a rogue Morty that is selling weapons. But it’s just an elaborate and convoluted plot that is in actuality about cloned Ricks. The autocratic ruler of the Citadel, the “Prime Rickminister,” who lives at “Rickingham Palace,” asks the detective Rick to stop this rogue Morty. But after this clone plot is uncovered, the story shifts focus to a six-member crew of Ricks tracking down clones and killing them, resulting in the reevaluation that the “Prime Rickminister” is himself a clone. He is turned into a gory smear and now the Ricks have to figure out who will run the Citadel.
It’s sort of glossed over in a couple quick lines, but the former prime minister was pretty easily compromised and not that good of a ruler to begin with. It’s assumed here that all these genius Ricks were just fine with what was essentially a non-democratically elected autocrat making all decisions with zero input from Citadel citizens. So the Ricks decide to form a council, this way, if even one member is compromised, the remaining council can still operate.
But as was shown in the show, this council of geniuses were highly fallible. The TV show’s Rick is one of only two Ricks that condemn the Citadel. TV Rick was therefore vilified by the council, though he eventually infiltrates and kills its members. In the comics the council doesn’t really begin governing and spends the bulk of the comic hunting replicants (Ricklicants in this case) in a Bladerunner rip off, which becomes an in-joke as the council members note the plot is similar to some “80s movie … With all the running. And the blades … but you know, legally distinct.”
The former flawed way of governing with a single Rick as a leader head that could easily become a puppet government shows just how easily leadership can be hijacked in the Citadel. But the council is no better. The comic prefaced the show nicely since the council went down similar to how the prime minister was destroyed, showing any form of government is easily toppled with infiltration. This comic is a hilarious take-down of governmental rule, highlighting how even the smartest minds can fail their way up to a high office and tend not to rule for the people, but over them. The Citadel is marked by its tyrannical and overzealous police state that hates any aberration from conforming to what the council wants. And that eventually becomes its downfall when the aberrant Rick slaughters the Council of Ricks.