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By Jonathan Klotz
| Published
Parody is hard to get right; for every Space ballsthere is An Epic Movie a A Disaster Moviebut in the late 80s, teenager Ben Edlund created a big blue generic superhero called The Tick and accidentally launched one of the most successful superhero parodies. Despite having no powers even remotely resembling a tick, the muscle-bound big blue hero quickly became a success, going from local comic shop mascot to leading his own series in just a few years. Although you can still find the first series in black and white, the 90s Fox Kids cartoon that made The Tick a generational favorite is almost impossible to find today.
Lampooning The Grim And Gritty 90s
The Tick for the first time in 1994, a period when superhero films included The Phantom a Meteor Manbut the comic book industry was still going through a boom period. Thanks to speculators buying comics expected to increase in value, image comics provide creative writers with an outlet for the stories that DC and Amazed He would not say, and the rise of major events, including The Death of Superman and the arrival of The Age of Apocalypse, the comic book bubble was at its peak. This meant that a superhero who poked fun at the dark and gritty heroes of the day was a breath of fresh air for frustrated fans who missed when superheroes were fun.
And there is no doubt about it: The Tick it was fun. Episode 7, “The Tick vs. The Tick,” pits the blue guy against a much more literal Tick-themed hero during a superhero party, and it’s all the greatest villain ever, The Evil Midnight Bomber What Bombs At Midnight , plans to blow it up all up at midnight. Not only does it overshadow how the Tick’s name makes no sense, but it also features most of the supporting cast getting progressively drunker for a children’s show, with the kind of smallness and silence is the classic. International Justice League the 80’s streak was known for.
Pick any episode from the show’s three-season run, and there will be at least one great comedic moment, even if the gags are sometimes very silly; that’s the point. Like Swiss spies who use giant swiss army knives on their missions, while in the background, a large bi-polar whale runs across the city, and in context, it makes sense. Kind of. But The Tick also showed continuity in a time when most cartoons couldn’t even spell the word, thanks to the egomaniacal Chairface trying to write his name on the Moon. The villain got as far as “Cha” before he was stopped, leaving the letters to be seen in later episodes.
In Danger Of Being Lost Forever
The Tick is a success, even expand to Comedy Central later in its run, but so far, it is also the only successful version of the hero. Two live-action series, although very popular, failed to catch on in both in 2001, despite the perfect casting of Patrick Warburton as the big blue hero, and the Amazon series in 2016, with Peter Serafinowicz as the titular hero and “Downtown” Griffin Newman as his sidekick, Arthur. Both live action shows were canceled early, after one and two seasons.
Although popular, the 1994 series is becoming harder to find as the years go by, and is in danger of becoming lost media. The Tick DVD collections, released in between, are incomplete, with one episode missing from Season 1, “The Tick vs. The Mole Men,” and Season 2 is missing “Alone Together.” At one point, the series was also available to stream, but has since been relegated to video on demand YouTube. The animated series is in danger with DVDs getting harder and harder to find every year and very limited streaming options.
This is a shame, because today, decades after the most recent superhero movie boom, audiences are ready for a superhero parody that doesn’t take itself too seriously, especially when D-list villains like The requirements have their own films. The world needs The Tick, his bright blue suit, and his signature rallying cry: “Spoon!”
