The Tick

The Tick is a comedic superhero, created by Ben Edlund in 1986.

Contents

Character profile and history

A square-jawed, muscular man in a bright blue bodysuit, with antennae sticking up from his head, the Tick is a surreal parody of superheroes. The Tick is high-spirited, frequently obtuse, and is prone to making odd, dim remarks and "inspirational" speeches filled with confusing, bizarre metaphors. His superpowers are nigh-invulnerability, which allows him to crash and bang about without injury, super strength, and something referred to as "drama power", or basically a tendency for the Tick's powers to increase as the situation becomes more dramatic. He could also survive out in space without a suit and apparently either could breathe out in space or does not need oxygen. Oddly, his battle cry is "Spoooooon!".

Like many superheroes, The Tick has a sidekick: an accountant named Arthur, who wears a white moth suit that allows him to fly, although he is often mistaken for a rabbit due to the long ear-like antennae of his costume and the fact that his wings are often folded up inside a backpack. The Tick is impulsive, and Arthur serves as a sort of conscience; the hero often irks his sidekick. Arthur's "battle cry" is "Not in the face! Not in the face!" (a famous quote from the 1984 film Repo Man)

Originally featured in an independent comic book series, The Tick and Arthur were made popular by an animated television series (1994–96) and a live action television series (2001–02). Both series aired on the Fox Network. According to the live action series The Tick is 6'6" weighs 230lbs and has blue hair and eyes.

In all of his incarnations, The Tick is surrounded by a cast of equally absurd superheroes and villains, many of them parodies of popular comic book characters and character types. The Tick lives in a city called "The City". In the animated series, The Tick was assigned to the city after his "Cabinet of Terror", billed by Tick as the best destruction device 1974 had to offer, exploded during his city alignment selection trials at the National Super Institute Convention in Reno, Nevada. According to the series' companion book, Mighty Blue Justice!, at least one of the judges was amazed by this (perhaps by The Tick's survival), giving The Tick a 10 of 10. People have postulated that The City was a home for "reject" heroes and villains; this account flies in the face of that.

In the original comic books, the Tick is/was apparently legally insane, an escapee from a mental institution (possibly for super-powered individuals) located not too far from The City.

Franchise history

In 1986, 17-year-old Ben Edlund created The Tick as a mascot for the newsletter of New England Comics in Boston, where he was a customer on occasion. The character, which bore an uncanny resemblance in costume and personality to The Cockroach from Cerebus the Aardvark, became popular and the store financed a few black and white comic books, written and illustrated by Edlund and featuring the character. In 1989, The Tick #4 introduced Arthur.

The Tick became extensively popular in the underground comics scene. Soon New England Comics published a regular series in color which featured the character. Spinoffs followed which featured characters such as Paul The Samurai, Man-Eating Cow, and Chainsaw Vigilante. Edlund continued to write and illustrate these projects through his years as an undergraduate film student at Massachusetts College of Art.

The Tick: Mighty Blue Justice!

In 1994, the Fox Network licensed The Tick as a Saturday morning cartoon show, which Edlund wrote and co-produced. The Tick was voiced by Townsend Coleman, and his sidekick Arthur by Micky Dolenz in season one, with Rob Paulsen taking over the Arthur role in seasons two and three. The series also featured Die Fledermaus, a shallow, self-absorbed Batman parody; Sewer Urchin, a Rain Man-like version of Aquaman; and American Maid, a more noble superheroine featuring aspects of Wonder Woman and Captain America. Reruns on Comedy Central helped make the series a cult hit with adults and it lasted three seasons. The 1997 book The Tick: Mighty Blue Justice! by Greg Hyland was published as a tie-in with the animated series.

In 1995, Fox Interactive published a scrolling fighter video game based on the animated series for the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis. They were criticized for having very long stages with a ridiculous amount of generic enemies to combat.

In 2001, Fox introduced a live-action TV series (Produced by Columbia-TriStar Television), written and executive produced by Edlund. The series starred Patrick Warburton as The Tick, David Burke as Arthur, Nestor Carbonell as Batmanuel (a Eurotrash Latin lover Spaniard version of Die Fledermaus) and Liz Vassey as Captain Liberty (a version of American Maid). These changes were due to copyright issues—characters created specifically for the cartoon series could not be reused, but ones from the comic were allowed. Once again, the series found a cult audience, but this incarnation failed to find a larger audience.

The live-action series was released on DVD through Sony Pictures Entertainment in 2003. Ben Edlund says on one of the DVD commentary tracks that he hopes the sales of the DVD might spur development of either a revived series or a movie, similar to the fates of other cult TV series, such as Firefly. As of 2005, this has yet to happen.

In June 2005 the Toon Disney network began to air episodes of the animated series along with such other shows as X-Men in an attempt to counter Cartoon Network's popular Adult Swim block. The Tick now airs at 10:30 PM Eastern time, opposite Futurama on Adult Swim. It also occasionally airs on the ABC Family channel as part of the Jetix block.

According to TVShowsOnDVD, Disney Home Video will release the first season of The Tick on DVD on August 29, 2006 [link]. According to Disney's press release, the boxset will contain only 12 of the 13 first-season episodes. On May 31st, 2006, Disney released the following statement regarding the missing episode: "Due to creative considerations episode 11 ("The Tick vs. The Mole Men") is not included. However, we hope to include it in future Tick releases." [link] The set is available for pre-order at online retailers.

Comic book

Characters in the comic book

Superheroes

The Ant
The Cape ("golden age" hero)
The Caped Wonder (a.k.a. Clark Oppenheimer) (Superman parody)
Captain Academia
The Civic Minded Five
* Feral Boy
* Fernslinger
* Mr. Envelope
* Oddman
* Radio King (leader)
Crested Grebe
Crime Cannibal
Hand Grenade Man
Hollowpoint (Punisher parody)
Man Eating Cow
Mighty Agrippa
The MITI Men (Japanese superhero team)
* Dr. Bonsai
* The Dubbed One
* Salaryman
* Zen Man
Dr. Mung-Mung
* Tung-Tung - creation of Dr. Mung-Mung
Oedipus (Elektra parody)
Paul the Samurai
The Running Guy (Flash parody; he's "as fast as ten really fast men")
Shing
The Sultan ("golden age" hero)
The Tick
* Arthur
Ulysses Bang ("golden age" hero)
The Visible Man ("golden age" hero)

Supervillains

Barry Hubris, a.k.a. "The Tick"
The Chainsaw Vigilante (although he later becomes a member of the "As Yet Unnamed Superteam" in more recent issues of the comics)
Chairface Chippendale
The District Manager
The Evileers
* The Fuzzy Person
* Mr. Tragedy
* Multiple Santa (known as "Evil Multiple Santa" in the show)
* The Terror
* Tuun-La, Not of this World
Gomorra (Godzilla parody)
King Crime ("golden age" villain)
Lord Byron
The Ninjas
The Red Eye
The Red Scare (villain for hire from Villains, Inc.)
Sagin
Seven Hearts ("golden age" villain)
Thrakkorzog

Animated series

The Tick animated series

Characters in the animated series

Superheroes

American Maid (Wonder Woman parody)
Big Shot (Punisher/Deadshot parody) By his second appearance, he has undergone anger management therapy.
Bi-Polar Bear - Never shown fighting; he is literally a bipolar man in a bear suit.
Caped Chameleon (a.k.a. Crusading Chameleon) - A man in a suit with the powers of a chameleon (can change color to match his surroundings, and stick to walls). He cannot, however, replicate plaid, and attempting to do so causes him to pass out.
Captain Lemming - A man dressed like a lemming who blindly jumps off of rooftops.
Carmelita Vatos (wears a moth suit similar to Arthur's)
The Civic-Minded Five (parody of both the Avengers and the Fantastic Four)
* Captain Mucilage - A man armed with, well ... mucilage-spraying nozzles.
* The Carpeted Man - A man dressed entirely in carpet for the purpose of rubbing his feet on the ground to produce minor static shocks. He refuses to leave his thick suit, even in the hottest weather. His real name is Gary.
* Feral Boy (who, amusingly, drives the group's car)
* Four-Legged Man
* Jungle Janet - Perhaps the most competent member of the team, she is athletic and skilled in combat.
The Decency Squad ("golden age" team)
* Captain Decency
* Johnny Polite
* The Living Doll "I'm full of tinier men!"
* Sufferage Jet
* The Visual Eye
Éclair (superheroine of Belgium, named after the French word for lightning, not the pastry)
* Blitzen (Éclair's sidekick, superheroine of Belgium, named after the German word for lightning, not the reindeer)
Fighting Genius Time Commandos (group of historical figures kidnapped by the villain, the Mother of Invention)
* George Washington Carver
* Thomas Edison
* Benjamin Franklin
* Leonardo da Vinci
* Mona Lisa
* Wheel - cavewoman creator of the eponymous object
Fishboy - Lost Prince of Atlantis
Die Fledermaus (Batman parody, named after the German word for bat)
Human Bullet - Fires himself from a huge cannon in his backyard. As a running gag, he will fire himself at the first sign of trouble, but somehow always manages to make the situation worse.
* "Fire Me Boy" - sidekick and son of Human Bullet
Jet Valkyrie
Jim the Doorman - Doorman at the Comet Club, a superheroes-only nightclub; powers include levitation and the ability to detect a sidekick entering the club
Little Wooden Boy (not actually a superhero, but a wooden toy made by the Tick, who the Tick believed was speaking to him)
The Mighty Agrippa, Roman God of the Viaduct
Sewer Urchin - A Rain Man parody who lives in the sewers. He is unpopular with other heroes because of how he smells because of his choice of living space.
The Tick
* Arthur, The Tick's sidekick.
* Speak, a capybara from Mexico who becomes The Tick's pet when he mistakes the animal for a dog.
Uncle Creamy - former ice cream company mascot, transformed into an elemental being of pure "Triple Ripple Vanilla Road Monkey." Can create vast amounts of said ice cream, and control and shape it.
Members of The Tick's superhero class:
* Baby Boomerangutang - A man dressed like an orangutan who throws baby dolls that ricochet back at him.
* The Flying Squirrel - Despite the name, she cannot fly. She just "likes squirrels" and can summon them to do her bidding.
* Gesundheit - allergic to almost everything, capable of sneezing gale force winds.
* Mr. Exciting - musclebound, hyperactive athlete with excessive positive attitude. "It's great to be alive!"
* Sarcastro - Man who resembles Fidel Castro. Not really a superhero; his power is apparently his ability to be sarcastic.

Supervillains

The Angry Red Herring
Baron Violent
Barry Hubris (a.k.a. "The Tick") He uses the name "The Tick", unaware that a hero exists with the same name. He claims to be a hero himself, but is only in it for the fame.
Betty: Queen of the Ants
The Breadmaster - A sinister baker who was kicked out of baking college. He can bake bread that expands exponentially (with lethal and delicious results), exploding biscuits, and any number of other sinister baked goods.
* Buttery Pat (sidekick of The Breadmaster) - A man inexplicably made entirely of butter. He uses parts of his own body as vital ingredients for Breadmaster's creations
* The Gingerbread Men (henchcookies to The Breadmaster)
Charles (a.k.a. Brainchild) - A young boy with an oversized brain, visible because he purposely gave himself a glass skull so he could show off how large his brain is. He acts as a villain on principle alone, and has no real motivation.
* The Mad Nanny (Charles' controlled henchwoman)
* Skippy (Charles' robotic dog) - Originally a normal puppy, to save Skippy from a near-fatal car accident Charles implanted the dog's brain into a robot body.
*Amelia - Charles' sister and lab assistant. Though she has no interest in evilness, she is reluctant to assist Charles in his lab. Her only pet peeve toward him is too much of his "explaining".
Chairface Chippendale - A sinister crime boss who, almost inconsequently, has a chair for a head.
* Boils (henchman of Chairface Chippendale)
* The Forehead (henchman of Chairface Chippendale)
* Zipperneck (henchman of Chairface Chippendale) - The zipper on his neck can be unzipped to reveal the interior of his esophagus, which is so grotesque that heroes will cease fighting just to avoid looking at it.
* Dean (henchman of Chairface Chippendale)
* Professor Chromedome (Chairface Chippendale's mad scientist)
The Crease
The Deadly Bulb (a.k.a. Pigleg)
* Socket and Watt (The Deadly Bulb's henchmen)
The Deadly Nose - a man with a gun for a nose.
Dinosaur Neil
Dynamole - a dwarf who talks like Peter Lorre and is continually ensconced in sticks of dynamite.
Eastern Bloc Robot Cowboy
El Seed - An anthropomorphic sunflower wearing a green matador uniform. His name is the Anglicized spelling of the historic Spanish hero El Cid.
* The Bee Twins (El Seed's henchwomen)
* Rosebud (El Seed's henchplant)
The Evil Midnight Bomber What Bombs at Midnight - A crazy man with a cockroach-like body structure. He was listed in Wizard Magazine as their all-time favorite villain from the series. He plans to blow up a superhero hangout to prove that he is a real villain. Yeah baby!
Eyebrows Mulligan
The Fin (a.k.a. Mr. Smarty Pants) - a dolphin
The Guy With Ears Like Little Raisins
Harriet Curse - figures prominently in the first issues of the comic, but is only seen in a crowd scene in the cartoon. She is Oedipus' stepmother.
Headless Henderson
The Heys - Evil aliens that worship "nothing" and plan to destroy the universe. Their bodies resemble Arthur's moth suit. Their language consists of a single word: "Hey."
*The Infinity Ball - The Heys' supposed "ultimate weapon", which resembles an eight ball, which The Tick later dismisses as being "Pretty lame".
The Hotel Manager
The Human Ton and Handy - An enormous dim-witted man and his verbose, intelligent hand puppett who longs to be "A real boy."
The Idea Men - A group of men wearing suits, white gloves, and large metal masks that muffle their voices to the point that their ransom demands cannot actually be heard. They travel via zeppelin
The Indigestible Man
Jack Tuber, The Man Of A Thousand Faces - essentially a person with a Mister Potato Head in lieu of a real head.
Jim Rage, Agent of S.H.A.V.E. - A parody of Nick Fury, he's a renegade ex-spy assigned to various aspects of espionage involving facial hair and facial-hair related superweapons.
Joseph Stalingrad - Not actually a supervillain, but rather a graduate student in Stalinist studies from Moscow University, mistaken for Joseph Stalin by The Terror, and forced to join his new Evileers.
Lava Man
Lou Salazar: The Sewer Czar
* Filth (Lou Salazar's mutlitudinous henchmen)
The Man Eating Cow
Mr. Mental (a.k.a. Mel Mental)
* Minda (sidekick of Mr. Mental)
The Mother of Invention - an androgynous character who attempts to use Time Travel so he/she/it can steal the credit for every invention ever made.
Evil Multiple Santa
The New, Improved Uncle Creamy
Octo Paganini (from Belgium)
* The Fortissimo Brothers (Octo Paganini's henchmen)
Octo-Raymond
Omnipotus (Galactus parody)
The Ottoman Empress
Pineapple Pokopo - The leader of a small nation known as Pokoponesia (known for two things: Sharks, and pineapples). His head resembles a pineapple.
Proto Clown - The Ultimate Clown, something like an Incredible Hulk parody.
Sheila Eel
The Sub Human
Swiss Industrial Spies
The Terror - "The greatest villain of the 20th century...and maybe some of the 19th." Once punched out President Teddy Roosevelt.
* Terry (The Terror's grandson. He's not actually a supervillain, but rather a retired insurance adjuster who decided to "Try and get close to" his grandfather.)
Thrakkorzog
* Mucus Tick (Thrakkorzog's creation)
* The Evil Arthur Clone (Thrakkorzog's creation). The Evil Arthur Clone can only say the words "I Arthur." In Episode 8, The Tick confuses the clone for the real Arthur, and from that point on in the series, Arthur uses that incident as a running joke to illustrate The Tick's stupidity.
Tuun-La: Not of this Earth
Venus
* Milo (sidekick of Venus)
* Arthur-Bot (Venus' creation)
* Tick-Bot (Venus' creation)
Wally
Whirling Scottish Devil
The Yes Men

List of episodes in the animated series

Season 1

1 "The Tick vs The Idea Men" (originally aired 10 September 1994)
2 "The Tick vs Chairface Chippendale" (originally aired 17 September 1994)
3 "The Tick vs Dinosaur Neil" (originally aired 24 September 1994)
4 "The Tick vs Mr. Mental" (originally aired 1 October 1994)
5 "The Tick vs The Breadmaster" (originally aired 8 October 1994)
6 "The Tick vs El Seed" (originally aired 15 October 1994)
7 "The Tick vs The Tick" (originally aired 22 October 1994)
8 "The Tick vs The Uncommon Cold" (originally aired 29 October 1994)
9 "The Tick vs Brainchild" (originally aired 5 November 1994)
10 "The Tick vs Pineapple Pokopo" (originally aired 12 November 1994)
11 "The Tick vs The Mole-Men" (originally aired 19 November 1994)
12 "The Tick vs The Proto Clown" (originally aired 4 February 1995)
13 "The Tick vs Arthur's Bank Account" (originally aired 11 February 1995)

Season 2

14 "The Little Wooden Boy and the Belly of Love" (originally aired 9 September 1995)
15 "Alone Together" (originally aired 16 September 1995)
16 "Armless but Not Harmless" (originally aired 23 September 1995)
17 "Leonardo da Vinci and His Fightin' Genius Time Commandos!" (originally aired 30 September 1995)
18 "Coach Fussell's Lament" (originally aired 7 October 1995)
19 "Bloomsday" (originally aired 21 October 1995)
20 "Evil Sits Down for a Moment" (originally aired 4 November 1995)
21 "Heroes" (parody on the TV show COPS) (originally aired 11 November 1995)
22 "Ants in Pants!" (originally aired 18 November 1995)
23 "The Tick Loves Santa!" (originally aired 25 November 1995)
24 "Tick vs The Big Nothing" (originally aired 3 February 1996)
25 "Tick vs Reno, Nevada" (originally aired 10 February 1996)
26 "Grandpa Wore Tights" (originally aired 17 February 1996)

Season 3

27 "That Mustache Feeling" (originally aired: 14 September 1996)
28 "Tick vs Dot and Neil's Wedding" (originally aired 21 September 1996)
29 "Sidekicks Don't Kiss" (originally aired 28 September 1996)
30 "Tick vs Arthur" (originally aired 6 October 1996)
31 "Devil in Diapers" (originally aired 12 October 1996)
32 "Tick vs Filth" (originally aired 26 October 1996)
33 "Tick vs Europe" (originally aired 2 November 1996)
34 "Tick vs Science" (originally aired 9 November 1996)
35 "Tick vs Prehistory" (originally aired 16 November 1996)
36 "Tick vs Education" (originally aired 30 November 1996)

Live-action series

The Tick Live action series DVD

Interestingly, Arthur is one of the rare characters in the live-action series who appears out of costume the most, and he is considerably the most "normal." Captain Liberty, for example, appears out of costume once. Unlike the cartoon series, Sony Pictures Television owns the rights to the live version.

Characters in the live-action series

Superheroes

The Tick
* Arthur
Batmanuel (Batman parody and loosely based on Die Fledermaus)
Captain Liberty (Wonder Woman parody and loosely based on American Maid)
The Cape
League of Superheroes (Justice League of America parody)
* The Champion (Superman parody)
Fiery Blaze
Fishboy: Lost Prince of Atlantis (Aquaman and/or Sub-Mariner parody)
Friendly Fire (sidekick to Fiery Blaze, not to be confused with Friendly Fire, a member of the DC Comics superhero team Section 8 that appeared in Hitman)
The Immortal (deceased)(died following a sexual interlude with Captain Liberty)
Johnny Republic
Kid Caboose
Medusa
Metcalf
Tiny Man

Supervillains

Cast shot

Apocalypse Cow
Destroyo (real name: Leonid Kasparov Destroyovitch)
The Red Scare (robot)
The Terror

List of episodes in the live-action series

The episodes are listed here in their intended order (according to the DVD release). When they were originally aired on the Fox Network in the United States, they were aired out of order.

1 "Pilot" (originally aired 8 November 2001)
2 "The Terror" (unaired but included on the DVD)
3 "Arthur, Interrupted" (originally aired 24 January 2002)
4 "The License" (originally aired 6 December 2001)
5 "Arthur Needs Space" (originally aired 13 December 2001)
6 "Couples" (originally aired 5 December 2001)
7 "The Funeral" (originally aired 15 November 2001)
8 "The Tick Vs. Justice" (originally aired 17 January 2002)
9 "The Big Leagues" (originally aired 21 December 2001)

Sources

The Tick: Circus Maximus, NEC Comics, 2004.
The Tick: Mighty Blue Justice!, Hyland, Greg, Berkley Boulevard Books, New York, 1997

External links

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