Friday 1 September 2017

˙uᴉɐɹʇ ɐ s,ʇᴉ 'ɥo

The Tick (1988)
Chosen by me from my shelves at home. Which is why a lot of these are super positive.


The Tick begins it's life with a really well defined hero. The pompous voice, the desire for heroics, the general piss take of superhero tropes - all solidly in place in the very first issue.
If you come to it from the cartoon or even the first short-lived live action show you might be surprised by the darkness around the edges (a little swearing, some grim death - but only ninjas) but it's silly sense of fun is in place (we get a Clarke Kent parody for a couple of issues before any appearance of Arthur however).
Like another indie that hit big (much bigger) with a kids adaptation - TMNT, this functions as a satire of Frank Miller's Daredevil run (some of the dialogue could almost be used straight in the later Sin City when Miller basically became a parody of himself anyway), we have mention of the Elektra analogue Oedipus but don't get to see her in the first issue and it has plenty of ninja.
The best ninja. 
My favourite ninja of any pop culture.

not from issue one but one of my favourite comic panels ever
The art is sharp and crisp, cleaning selling the absurdity but with enough room for grace notes like The Tick's determined face as he is leaping from rooftop to rooftop. Elegant and powerful he could almost fit as a straight superhero except he will never quite hit that landing perfectly, but hey there is always a flagpole or two to snap off on his way down.

Writer/Artist: Ben Edlund
Letterer: Bob Polio

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