ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, April 4, 1996 TAG: 9604040101
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MIKE HUDSON STAFF WRITER
The Tick looks into the camera with all the self-assurance of a 7-foot-tall, 400-pound half-man/half-bug superhero who can squeeze into a blue, skin-tight body suit.
"I'm sure millions of viewers out there are wondering what it's like to wear the Tights of Justice. Well it's tingly, it's uncomfortable."
The Tick is no ordinary superhero. And his show - oddly enough also named "The Tick" - is no ordinary Saturday morning cartoon.
Since "The Tick" (10 a.m., WJPR/WFXR Channel 21/27) debuted 18 months ago, it's become one of television's top-rated children's programs - and drawn impressive numbers of adults to Saturday morning TV. This quirky half-hour show has done it by poking fun at cartoons' crime-fighting superhero tradition.
The Tick has been described in many ways: "a thick-as-a-brick superhero ... Unstoppable, uncrushable ... nigh invulnerable ... a bright blue body sock ... as sweet as he is stupid ... a literary device gone mad .. a Dudley Do-Right with antennae ... no more a real tick than Batman is a real bat ... entirely committed but barely coordinated ... not as disgusting as he sounds."
Tick and the rest of his superhero pals - Four-legged Man, Sewer Urchin and American Maid, to name a few - take on the strangest collection of supervillains you'd want to meet.
There's Chairface Chippendale, a criminal mastermind, despite having a chair for a head. And El Seed, a walking, talking flower-headed meglomaniac who wants to lead a "plant revolution" against the "plant-eating oppressors." And Proto Clown, a honking-nosed behemoth run amok.
Always front and center are The Tick and his sidekick, Arthur, an ex-accountant who wears a flying moth outfit he found at an estate sale. Tick often wins the day thanks to his knack for stumbling into the action at just the right moment. When things get too complicated, however, he has to rely on Arthur's quick thinking.
"My mind has always been my Achilles heel," Tick admits.
This spoof of the superhero genre is a hit among kids - and also among viewers in their 20s and 30s who grew up with Batman and Spiderman.
Ron Thigpen, 31, a buyer with the Record Exchange in Blacksburg, likes The Tick because "he's just a big stumbling blue guy who's not too bright. .. It's like: Wow, what if I knew someone who wore tights? It's as if friends of yours decided to be superheroes. They all hang out at the cafe and don't have jobs. They're sort of like slacker superheroes, with all sorts of personal problems."
It's a very democratic message: Anyone, no matter how nerdy or troubled, can become a superhero if they have the right outfit, the right equipment and the right gimmick.
Thigpen and his girlfriend, Lisa Bachelder, a librarian in Roanoke County, are devoted fans. They have the new Tick board game (``Hip Deep In Evil") and some of The Tick toys, including the "Bounding Tick" action figure. It has a spring in it, and when you push down on his head and let go, "it's supposed to sort of jump," Thigpen said. "But he just falls on his face. Which is appropriate."
On the small screen, Tick has a tendency to fall - and fall hard - on his face. "Gravity is a harsh mistress," he likes to say.
The Tick comes from modest origins. Ben Edlund was a teen-ager growing up around Boston, reading comic books, sketching his own superheroes and playing pickup football. As Edlund told a newspaper interviewer last year, one sandlot football opponent was so "unstoppable, uncrushable" that Edlund started calling him "The Tick." Edlund would go home after getting stomped and draw one-panel situations of, say, The Tick hurling himself off a building, oblivious to gravity.
New England Comics' publisher saw one of Edlund's doodlings on a bulletin board at one of his stores. He asked Edlund to do a comic book. In 1988, at age 19, Edlund completed the first of 12 sporadically published issues of "The Tick."
New England Comics has printed a quarter million copies so far. They get snapped up quickly whenever reprints - or Edlund-approved spinoffs by other writers - appear in Roanoke and New River valley comic-book shops.
Edlund started getting offers to turn the comic book into TV show, but didn't take them seriously. "I thought The Tick as a character was a little too edgy or offbeat for the industry," Edlund has said. "I viewed it as an opportunity to see how negotiations work - and to get a lot of free lunches."
In the end, Fox signed Edlund to work on the show and gave him surprising freedom to bring his vision of The Tick onto TV.
The show debuted in the fall of 1994 and soon shot up to the No. 3 children's show in the February 1995 Nielsen ratings. TV Guide selected it as the "best new cartoon" of the season.
Despite the success, one thing we know is that it won't go to Tick's thick head. He'll still be the same bundle of muscles and good intentions.
He's not smart, he's not smooth, he's not cool. He's a true counter-culture hero - one who mocks the hype-driven culture of TV while standing up for old-fashioned standards of right and wrong. With a puppy-dog-like enthusiasm.
"Yes, evil comes in many forms, whether it be a man-eating cow or Joseph Stalin," The Tick explains. "But you can't let the package hide the pudding! Evil is just plain bad! You don't cotton to it. You gotta smack it in the nose with the rolled-up newspaper of goodness! Bad dog! Bad dog!"
Scenes from The Tick's adventures
``The Tick vs. the Big Nothing''
Tick and Arthur are abducted by The Whats, a race of space aliens whose language consists of a single word (``what'') delivered in a vast spectrum of emotional tonalities. They want Tick's help battling their arch-enemies - The Heys (who also have a one-word language).
``The Tick vs. Arthur's Bank Account''
Tick ruins Arthur's credit rating by going on a shopping spree for crime-fighting gadgets. Arthur kicks The Tick out of his apartment and The Tick sulks on the roof - until he and Arthur reunite to save The City from an elderly villain named The Terror.
``The Tick vs. The Tick''
Tick and Arthur go to the superhero hangout, the Comet Club, on their night off. Tick runs into a superhero wanna-be who also calls himself The Tick. While Arthur is banished to the Sidekicks Lounge (a storage shed out back), the two Ticks fight over who owns the name. Then the club is attacked by The Evil Midnight Bomber What Bombs at Midnight.
``The Little Wooden Boy and the Belly of Love''
Blowhole, an 80-foot whale with legs, bursts from the Atlantic and starts jogging across the country. Arthur meets Carmelita, daughter of the man who invented Arthur's moth suit. The Tick feels betrayed when Arthur blows off "Hobby Night" to go on a date with his new girlfriend.
``Heroes''
Tick is followed by a TV video crew taping him for a day-in-the-life segment of a show called, "Heroes," which is suspiciously reminiscent of the real show, "Cops." Tick emphasizes the importance of keeping moist towelettes and a map light in your crime-fighting vehicle.
Who's who - Do-gooders, bad-doers and goobers who inhabit the world of The Tick
The Tick: A 7-foot tall, 400-pound, blue arachnid. Unstoppable, uncrushable and occasionally uncoordinated superhero. Prone to long philosophical speeches that go nowhere.
Arthur: The Tick's faithful sidekick. A mild-mannered accountant who turned crimefighter after buying a strange flying moth suit. It's white with large antennae, so sometimes he's mistaken for a rabbit.
American Maid: Our superheroes' closest ally. Dresses in a red-white-and-blue maid's outfit and drives a catering truck. Fights bad guys with martial arts and a pair of stiletto heels made especially for throwing.
Die Fledermaus: One of The City's "lesser superheroes," as one newscaster put it. Wears a bat-like costume and has a "theatrical attitude." Prefers reading fashion magazines and gazing at himself in the mirror to fighting crime.
Sally Vacuum: Local TV talking head who specializes in asking questions like, "If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be?"
Proto Clown: A huge, rampaging clown who hates to be laughed at. A sort of Incredible Hulk with pancake makeup and funny nose.
Chairface Chippendale: A criminal mastermind who has a, well, chair for a head. Tried to write his name in giant letters on the moon. Got as far as "CHA." The Tick later used explosives to remove the "C."
The Tick speaks
"I am mighty! I have a glow you cannot see. I have a heart as big as the moon, as warm as bathwater. We're superheroes, man! ... We are a public service, not glamour boys! Not captains of industry! Not makers of things! Keep your vulgar monies. We are a justice sandwich, no toppings necessary!" - rambling during a TV interview
"Well, once again we find that clowning and anarchy don't mix. And even though evil may wear big floppy pants, it ARRRRRGH! ... '' - finding he has not quite polished off Proto Clown
"The night is young and we have umbrellas in our drinks.'' - trying to get Arthur to relax on their night off
"And isn't sanity really just a one-trick pony anyway? I mean all you get is one trick, rational thinking, but when you're good and crazy, oooh oooh oooh, the sky is the limit!" - after enduring a superhero psychotherapy session in which he is forced to wrestle a large man in a dress
Want to read more Tick-isms? Sign onto the Internet at http://www.necomics.com and use the links to find ``Bigshots Tickpage."
LENGTH: Long : 175 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: 1. Our hero (above) and with sidekick, 2. Arthur (topby CNBphoto). color. 3. A page from the comic-book life of The Tick.