Well, everyone’s heard about the Tick, it’s some sort of “cult classic” cartoon that used to be on Fox. But have any of you Tick fans out there ever considered the humble beginnings of the character? Where did this overnight sensation come from? Ok, fine, so maybe 3 people have given it a thought, but that doesn’t matter. The Future is here to answer unasked questions. I have a mind containing more knowledge than the Library of Alexandria, but it’s all useless knowledge. I have yet to find a person who cares that I know the win-loss record of former WWF superstar Jim Powers, or the real names of all the founding X-Men. Uh… I guess I’m rambling. Ok, this is an experimental stream of consciousness review like all the kids who hang around Starbucks do. Errr… I’m gonna go to sleep and write this article later.

Ok, I feel better. The Tick, for those of you not cool enough to watch Saturday morning cartoons, is a “special” (i.e. mildly retarded) superhero in a big blue suit. His sidekick is Arthur, a chubby loser dressed up as a moth. The Tick has the zaniest of adventures, and said cartoon show is pretty funny. I also hear there’s a big hoopla about a forthcoming live-action series. But things were not always such, oh no true believers. The Tick was once a black & white comic book published in the late ‘80s by a tiny comic group called New England Comics. It took off pretty quickly, but Tick creator Ben Edlund is quite the procrastinator, and people eventually got sick of waiting 8 months for the next issue to come out. Despite his dishonorable tardiness, the Tick cultivated a devoted following (more loyal than MvsR fans, but less fanatic than Heaven’s Gate). The Omnibus reprints issues 1-6 of the series in all its’ two-tone glory.

Synopis: The Tick is an escaped lunatic with superhuman power, said powers being nigh-invulnerability. In other words, he takes a lickin’ and keeps on tickin’ or some such. Tick runs around The City (it’s in capitals, because The City is the name of the city….don’t worry, it makes my head hurt too) scaring people and trying to convince them that he is indeed a real-life super hero. Nobody’s biting, but that doesn’t deter our spandex-clad pally. He eventually comes into conflict with Clark Oppenheimer, a Superman parody. Tick attempts to join Clark in his fight against evil, but all he succeeds in doing is make Clark’s personal life hell. People start thinking strange things when you hang out with costumed mental patients. Tick gets bored and wanders off (a recurring motif of Edlund’s used to advance the plot), but things are just starting to get fun.

The next three issues deal with Tick’s epic war on ninjas. Forget drug dealers and hoods, ninjas are the true scourge of peaceful society. It’s about time someone decided to do away with the awful buggers. Ninjas…they suck (the statements expressed in this article are solely the opinion of The Future and do not reflect those of MvsR inc.-ed) Tick’s not the only one who wants to wipe out those rascally ninjas, oh no. A disgruntled ex-ninja named Oedipus, and Paul the Samurai (samurais hate ninjas almost as much as monkeys hate robots) are both after the ninja’s and their leader, the District Manager…the diabolical District Manager. The ninja culture has a proud tradition, but it’s degenerated into a million dollar merchandising kingdom. Whored themselves out for the sake of a few quick bucks? No one with the slightest bit of integrity would do that…I mean who would ever sacrifice quality for cash? Certainly not Bend Edlund (hint, hint). More on that later. Arthur also gets introduced here, and the Tick adopts him as a sidekick. Arthur is an everyman who’s become jaded with the 9 to 5 banal existence that most of us are shackled to. He recognizes the Tick as a beacon of fun in an otherwise tiresome world. 

The last issue introduces the Red Scare and Villains, Inc. The City has an overabundance of heroes, so Villains, Inc. offers pre-manufactured, sanitized villains available to fight at a modest fee. See, you can’t be a famous super-hero if you don’t save the world (or at least your neighborhood) from menaces like The Red Scare. It’s all about the fame. Fame – makes a man take things over. Fame – lest him loose, hard to swallow. Fame – puts you there where things are hollow….Yeah, it’s kind of a throwaway issue, but it’s still extremely amusing.

Edlund shows remarkable progress in his craft in these issues. Granted, they came out over the course of 14 years (I think) but there is still some dramatic changes between issue 1 and issue 6. The drawings get much more smooth and easy on the eye (aside from issue 5 which Edlund doesn’t even draw; it’s apparently illustrated by an amputee). Whimsical, I guess that sums up the drawing style. The Tick comic also develops a unique identity outside of the realm of parody

If you know the cartoon, you know the essence of the comic. Ben Edlund’s Tick is a parody of the super-hero genre of comics, a genre sorely in need of a few sardonic pokes and prods. Yes, all the characters are ridiculous (Running Guy, Brachiating Man, etc), but numerous super-hero conventions are also put under scrutiny. Sidekicks for example; for some reason super-heroes always have to acquire a young boy in tights to run around fighting alongside them. It’s kind of inappropriate, don’t you think? Well, occasionally the Tick questions his relationship to Arthur (Super-Heroes shouldn’t be… you know… funny). The Tick also has the moronic super-hero notion that nobody will ever get hurt. Property damage? Eh. Widespread destruction? It’s keen. And what exactly is a person’s motivation for being a super-hero? Tick 3:16: “I don’t want to stop crime. I just want to fight it!!” As much as I like comics, and yes even super-heroes; you have to admit that it’s a pretty ridiculous concept. Trust me, if I can accept that, so can everyone else.

Super-heroes---a stupid idea

Remember that comment I made about whoring one self out, and losing artistic vision? Ok, let me get on the soapbox for a minute, if you will. There’s an interesting note in the introduction… “our most fervent hope is that the country’s single-minded devotion to The Tick will be so staggering we’ll have to create a merchandising empire that would make the New Kids on the Block look sincere.” Interesting, and very prophetic. Surely the Tick has yet to reach the popularity of NKOTB or Stray Cats, but there sure has been landfills worth of crappy Tick products in the last few years. Numerous amusing yet inferior spin-offs were published (Paul the Samurai, Man Eating Cow). Not only that, but I don’t believe that Edlund even has anything to do with the creative work on the Tick comics currently being published. Granted, given the opportunity I’d do the same thing, but integrity has never been my strong suite. I guess you might even call me a weasel. Ah, I expected better from Ben though. Maybe I’m making too big an issue about this, but whatever. Screw you Ben, you SOLD OUT (and I’m green with envy).

Bottom Line: Ok, bitching and moaning aside, this is a damn funny book. If you grew up reading super-hero comics, you’ll appreciate it more; there’s ‘inside’ jokes and such that a non comic-dork wouldn’t understand. Buy this book and like it.

3 out of 5 monkeys

Buy the Tick:
Amazon.com
GraphicNovels.com

More Information on the Tick:
The Tick