Adam Graham's Blog: Christians and Superheroes - Posts Tagged "the-tick"

The Tick: Karma Tornado, The Complete Works by Chris McCulloch

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is the second collectionof Tick Comics, collecting Karma Tornado 1-9 and Tick's Back -4 to -1, a lead up to the Big Blue Destiny series.

Issues 1-4 were written by Chris McCulloch and were meant to be set out of continuity for when Ben Edlund promised to return to continue on the Tick with Issue 13 when the cartoon was done. This never happened.

The first two issues featured the Tick competing in some intergalactic for unknown prizes. It was a surreal parody of stories like Secret Wars. Not as funny as Edlund's best, but still pretty good.

The next two have Tick sidetracked on his way home by a space monkey and the fantastic Galactus parody Nigh Omniputus as Tick becomes his personal assistant until realizing he's up to no good. The story ends on a cliffhanger which is never resolved.

Issue 5 begins completing ignoring the last four issues as Clay Griffith goes on a comic tour de force, with some pretty solid satire. In Issue 5, he features the, "League of Justly Compensated Heroes." Issue 6 makes fun of politics and media coverage in "Mr. Tick Goes to Washington" which leans a little left but not too far in its parody. Issue 7, "The Night of the Living Tick" is a great horror comic parody. Issue 8, "C-Spandex" has Tick signed to a variety of roles on a Superhero TV network.

Then Griffith left and we were left with LC Cheverett to close out the series with the mostly unfunny, "Tick's Life in the Day" which seems like typical sitcom fare and unfunny sitcom fare at that.

The Comet Club one-page stories were mostly okay, but sometimes slightly underdeveloped. The four Tick's back stories are short 4-6 page stories that feature the Tick and are of mixed quality.

Overall, there's some solid issues. Issues 5-8 are my favorite, but I wouldn't discount 1-4 either.



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Collected Paul the Samurai by Beb Edlund

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Ben Edlund is best known in comicdom as the creator of the Tick. However, Edlund also created three spin-off series from the Tick. Among them was Paul the Samurai. This older book collects the character's first three Issue series from 1990-91.

After Paul's appearance in the Tick, he sets out to become a private detective but finding work sparse, he becomes a night watchmen in a mall. Skulduggery has been afoot as several night watchmen have disappeared while patrolling the boiler area. While his fellow guards are apathetic, Paul sets out to find the truth and he has to match wits with Reverend Billy, an insane boiler man who has become leader of the boiler men as well as the other boiler men.

Paul the Samurai is nowhere near as zany as the Tick. (Though perhaps that would have gone without saying.) The humor of the book doesn't rest on Paul's behavior. Paul is the straight man to the book's cast of characters. He's truly an honorable hero though he does struggle with self-doubt in Issue 3. He still is loyal, courageous, and honorable.

The book is actually quite good and given that the biggest plot point deals with mad boiler men, it's pretty good. In the Paul the Samurai #3, we see a Superhero dive that predates the Comet Club which was one of the most iconic places in the Tick Universe. This bar caters exclusively to down on their luck superheroes, so it's not quite the same, still the seeds of the idea for the Comet Club are in this section.

Overall, this a wonderful book about an overlooked hero in the big blue world of the Tick.



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The Tick: The Complete Edlund by Ben Edlund

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Before the Tick became a popular Saturday morning cartoon character, he was a popular Independent comic book character created by Ben Edlund. Here we get to basque in the glory of this wacky superhero parody through its initial run by its creator.

The Complete Edlund collects The Tick Issues 1-12, Pseudo Tick #13, and a bunch of bonus Edlund material.

Edlund began working on the tick when he was when he was high school with a cartoon and character profile in New England Comics news letter #14. The character profile is interesting for many reasons. First, it's reprinted with a big typo. Second, it establishes the Tick as a divorced French-speaking concert pianist while claiming to be clueless as to the characters' nationality.

Tick #1 features the Tick's escape from the city and the famous scene where the Tick is interrogated about whether he sucked blood. This was an okay issue overall, but it should be noted that it contained a lot of swearing, mostly milder stuff but a lot of it, and there was a barnyard expletive thrown in. Edlund cuts this way down in future issues, as he matured as a writer.

Issue 2 was an okay Superman parody that was just a little too obvious.

To me, Issue 3 is where the Tick truly hits hits his stride with a 3-part Ninja-fighting story parodying Frank Miller's Daredevil as he battles a ton of Ninjas to help out a woman named Oedipus who became a ninja due to her being and responding to an ad to the newspaper for ninja training. The Ninjas and the Tick all work hilariously. The Tick Universe expands with the introduction of Paul the Samurai and more importantly, Arthur.

In Issue 6, Edlund introduces the concept of Supervillains Incorporated which finds the world so full of superheroes that in order for a superhero to establish himself he has to hire a villain to fight. Hilarity ensues when the Tick meets up with the villain instead.

In Issue 7, Tick goes out to get some Pez but ends up fighting alongside a Dick Tracy-like crimefighter against the arch-criminal Chairface Chipendale in a plot that would be mostly borrowed for the cartoon series.

In Issue 8, Chairface's men are out for vengeance but are stopped by the man-eating cow as Tick and Arthur decide to go to New York to make it big as superheroes.

Issues 9 and 10 finds the Tick and Arthur on the road to New York and run into chainsaw vigilante and and a band of mad scientist hillbillies under an evil spell.

Issue 11 has the Tick arriving in New York and having to defend his Tickhood against a man named Barry who has been using the name the Tick. The two duel in the Comet Club while Author experiences the horror of a visit to the sidekick's lounge.

In Issue 12, the Tick has secured the rights to the name and gets a lot of cool stuff with it, but Barry is plotting revenge. This issue was the last that Edlund drew and it did seem to be getting a little weirder and the humor a little tired. This comic was in 1993, 9 months after the previous issue and was left unresolved.

This book allows Marc Silva to resolve the story line in Pseudo Tick #13 which merited a couple laughs and managed to close up the story line with Edlund and make it consistent with other books that had been produced since. The concept art and extras were unusual like an obscure art film.

The new edition (not by Edlund) extends a detail from Issue 1 in an amusing story.

The meat and the best part of the book are Issues 3-11 and mere synopsis doesn't do the book justice. There are some magic moments such as when the Tick coins the battle cry, "Spoon" or discovers he has pockets. It gets a little weird and sometimes too weird for my taste, but when it's not too weird, it's hilarious.





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This 1994 television series easily lands on my list. How could it not with the influence it's had on my own work.

The Tick as a Superhero parody was simply top notch. The series couldn't take itself too seriously but one thing I'll say for the Tick. It had better continuity than Darkwing Duck. When Chairface Chippendale put his initials on the moon they stayed there, and when a partial repair was made (and more damage done by Galactus parody Omnipotu) that was reflected too.

The show carried over many gags from the Comic books but came up with quite a few that were original to the Animated Series. The show had zany concepts. What other hero has been beat up by his own mustache or has faced down a team of Swiss terrorists, or had to struggle against the evil of the world's most comfortable chair.

Admittedly, not all their humor worked, but when it did, it was golden. "Alone Together" (sadly not released on US Region 1 DVD) was hilarious Galactus parody.

I'll add that the one big thing on my wish list is to see all ten of Season 3's episodes on DVD, and it's a shame that it hasn't been. Is there anything else left to say about The Tick.

Oh yes.

Spoon!!!

Bonanzai by Ben Edlund

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Paul the Samurai return after the Ben Edlund written mini-series returns for a proper continuing series. This book collects Paul the Samurai (Vol. 2) Issues 1-4.

Clay Griffith takes over the writing chores and there's a clear shift from Edlund. Edlund's portrayal of Paul was of a character who was truly noble whose comedy came out of the situations he was in. Here, much of that nobility is somewhat more superficial though only somewhat. The world around Paul is still the source of entertainment.

Some of the ideas in the book are quite fun. Paul battles the Miti Men, a group of Manga/Anime inspired characters in Issues 1 and 2. (Kudos to artist Dave Garcia for making this incongruous set-up of traditional American comic and Japanese comic art in the same picture actually work). Issue 3 sees Paul battle a mad mastermind dog and Issue 4 has Paul beginning to face an environmental extremist anti-hero.

On the negative side, some of the humor is quite dated. This comics were written in 1992 during the tale end of Japan's economic ascendancy and American anxiety over such as represented by Issue 1's other villain the Detroit Fury, a giant car robot created by a laid off auto worker. Paul's position as an apolitical Japanese warrior who'd rather just hit things with a sword was nice comedy but readers who the humor doesn't age well.

The book ends on a cliffhanger that will be resolved in Volume 2.

Overall, this is a fun series very much in the spirit of the Tick and worth a read.



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PAUL THE SAMURAI BONANZAI 2 by Clay Griffith

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This second volume of Paul the Samurai comics collects Issues 5-8 of the ongoing series.

The book begins by introducing a superhuman lumberjack Paul Bunyan and his female sidekick Babe as the story wraps up a previous line regarding a parody of environmental comics and segways back into Paul's rivalry with the evil Sagin, which dominates Issues 6-8.

The comics are a laugh a minute as the book features parodies of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turltes (I.e. The Galapagos Boxing Tortoises) and Japanese monster films. Issue 7 features a Japanese village that tries to trick Paul into awakening the monster Gomorra to build up tourist trade and filming.

The book has flaws. Even for a parody, it feels like there are too many characters running around and too much going on at times. Paul does seem to be getting harder to like compared to how Edlund wrote him in the Tick comics, as well as in the original mini-series.

Still, it's hard to dislike a book that's this funny. I should be clear that this book also ends in a cliffhanger, which hopefully will be resolved in Tick Omnibus Volume 5.



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The Tick Omnibus 5 by Ben Edlund

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Tick Omnibus Volume 5 features, "The Crisis on Finite Tick Spin-offs" and collects the final two issues of Tick spin-offs Paul the Samurai and Man-eating Cow guest starring the Tick and a whole lot of other heroes and villains from the TIck Comics as well as the spin-offs. Overall, this was a very fun and satisfying volume. I never read Man-eating Cow but having read all the Paul stories, I enjoyed this and found it a satisfactory conclusion to the series. It's a pitch perfect parody as the book manages to feature everything from heroes misunderstanding and fighting each other, the introduction of technology for plot convenience purposes, and a hero turning evil for a time. Clay Griffith did a good job capturing the essence of the Tick, though I think this book have used a little more Arthur. Overall, I thought this was a fun adventure, though I recommend reading at least the early Paul the Samurai books to really get the best enjoyment out of it.



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The TICK and ARTHUR The Complete Works by Sean Wang

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book collects a year worth of Tick comics. Durihng this year, Sean Wang's regular Tick series, "The Tick and Arthur" alternated with issues of the anthology series, "Tick: Heroes of the City."

The first three Issues of "The Tick and Arthur" begins as an epic crossover event featuring Paul the Samurai and a host of villains and heroes, the return of Oedipus (now wanting to be called Ashley) and the Ninjas from the original Tick series. It includes a few retcons and a host of villains. The ninjas are hilarious but from a fan perspective, it was probably not the best way to start given that the Tick Luny Bin mini-series had just come before that.

Issues 4 and 5 are a lesser story in which the Tick and Arthur find they have some imitators-the Flea and Doyle. (Yes, really.) The story has some fun moments around side kickers and some somewhat uncomfortable moments with a superhero abducting a child to be a sidekick which is meant to parody Batman. I'm borderline on it.

Issue 6 finds the new Superhero team the Tick and Arthur formed being confronted by Chainsaw Vigilante, but they all have to team up to fight an invasion of killer intelligent trees. It's inspired Tick goofiness.

The first three issues of, "Heroes of the City" features three stories. The first is the Tick, prompted by Arthur complaining he doesn't understand what it's like to be a sidekick, renting himself as a sidekick to weird superheroes. Essentially each story is the same as the Tick totally undermines the existing hero. Thankfully, it doesn't long enough to become repetitive.

The second are solo stories with Arthur, which are actually quite fun. It's nice to see Arthur taking a lead role, even kicking a bit of tale.

Finally, are the tales of Myndi, the Pom Pom Protector. It's an absolute hilarious story of a cheerleader themed superheroine. I enjoyed it and was disappointed with an ending that suggested, "It was all just a dream."

Issues 4 and 5 featured a two part story featuring Paul the Samurai and Ashley, each featured a two page Tick and Arthur story, and two other features with miscellaneous heroes.

The Paul the Samurai and Ashley story had some good moments, but Paul just doesn't work as a regular team. The Tick story for Issue 5, "The Savage Tick" was kind of ordinary, but Issue 4's Brunch is probably one of the most hilarious short Tick features I've ever read. The other features with characters ranging from Red Eye to the Crazy Blue Rocket, Hand Grenande Man, and Man-Eating Cow were merely okay.

Issue 6 is an all Tick and Arthur issue that has the Tick concluding that he and Arthur need secret identities and day jobs. In many ways, this hails back to the earliest Tick stories. It was actually pretty fun.

Overall, this book is a real mixed bag in terms of quality and style. I didn't enjoy it as much as, "Big Blue Destiny," but there are still some good moments. There's one story where having read The Tick Specials The Complete Works would have made it easier to understood, so I do recommend that.



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The Tick: Specials by Sean Wang

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


The Tick Specials is a sprawling Seventeen Comic collection chocked full of Big Blue goodness as we're given several Tick Yule Log specials and Halloween specials as well as specials for other seasons such as "Summer" and "Tax Time."

The first seven issues in the book are my favorite. All of them are very self-contained stories without the trappings of comic book continuity. We have a short with Arthur trying to teach the Tick about Hanukkah, Arthur going to Sidekick Summer Camp, old Tick foes Barry Hubris and Chainsaw Vigilante teaming up (and eventually battling it out), the Tick and Arthur in a haunted house, and the has the Tick trying to teach the true meaning of Christmas to a stranded alien overlord. It some ways it reminds me of the cartoon series.


The second half of the book is not bad, but has some problems. The first seven specials of the year 2000 (Big Ydear 2000 Spectacle, Tax Time Terror, Mother's Day Special, Father's Day Special, the two massive Summer Vacation Spectacles, and the Big Cruise Ship Vacation special are essentially another ongoing series masquerading as a series of specials and the last issue leads into the Tick Color series. There are strengths and weaknesses in the series. The Father's Day Special with Kid Tick is hilarious and the idea of criminals making rules with heroes in the Summer Time spectacles is hilarious and very clever. The Year 2000 special was a little hard to follow and the Mother's Day special was a bit odd.

The book closes with a hilarious Halloween special with the Tick battling killer Pumpkins, and then an okay Yule Log special with the male members of the Tick's superhero team on vacation. It's okay but ends a bit weird.

Overall, this is one of the better Complete works books with a lot of fun. If you're wanting to keep right with continuity I'd recommend purchasing this one after Big Blue Destiny but before the Tick and Arthur. Overall, this is a very nice collection for fans of our big blue hero.



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The Tick: Color Series 1 by Gabe Crate

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


The Tick was originally published as an exclusively black and white publication. This book collects the first ten Color issues and I have mixed feelings on it.

Gabe Crate's, "The Tick's Incredible Internet Comic #1" is a delight. It's classic Tick stuff as Arthur deals with a brother-in-law whose a supervillain while the Tick goes on patrol alone and then buys a gift from a supervillain in the back-up story.

However, Mark Silva's run on, "The Tick Color #1-6" are probably the least fun material I've read. I've thought about the reason for some time and I've come up with this. Silva focuses the bulk of the story on the Tick's superhero team. The problem with that is that unlike the Tick and Arthur, the superhero team is a collection of one-note jokes (one of them's a drunk, one of them's crazy, one is as as fast as ten very fast men, etc.) and it can be okay to have them feature in an issue when they dominate an entire series, it just really sucks the life out of it. It's not all bad, but it's again very weak.

"The Tick's Big Halloween Special #1 2001" by Clay and Susan Griffith's is a little too weird for my tastes but okay.

"The Tick's Big Red and Green Christmas Spectacle #1 2001" by the Griffiths is really the best story in the book as the Tick teams up with a retired movie cowboy to save Christmas from an evil tycoon who bought all the presents. It's a hilarious tale that saved this book from being two stars.

"Introducing the Tick #1" by Silva is a somewhat trying comic book and is it presents a very dry retelling of all the Tick stories that have happened until now. As I've read all the stories referenced, it's somewhat depressing to read this and the attempts at humor as the originals were so much more lively and interesting.

So, overall, I'm not terribly impressed with the Tick and Color, but it has less to do with the color and more with Mark Silva's writing.



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