The Best ’90s Superhero Parody Disappearing From Streaming
Parodies are hard to get right; for every Spaceballs, there’s an Epic Movie and Disaster Movie, but in the late 80s, teenager Ben Edlund created a large blue generic superhero named The Tick and accidentally launched one of the most successful superhero parodies. Despite no powers that are even remotely tick-like, the big blue musclebound hero quickly became a success, going from local comic store mascot to headlining his own series in just a few years. While you can still find the black and white debut series, the 90s Fox Kids cartoon that made The Tick the favorite of a generation is almost impossible to find today.
Lampooning The Grim And Gritty 90s
The Tick premiered in 1994, an era when superhero movies consisted of The Phantom and Meteor Man, but the comic book industry was still going through a boom period. Thanks to speculators buying up comics expected to spike in value, Image comics giving creative writers an outlet for the stories that DC and Marvel wouldn’t tell, and the rise of major events, including The Death of Superman and the impending 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’s no doubt about it: The Tick was fun. Episode 7, “The Tick vs. The Tick,” has the big blue guy face off with a much more literal Tick-themed hero during a superhero party, all while the greatest villain of all time, The Evil Midnight Bomber What Bombs At Midnight, plans to blow them all up at midnight. Not only does it lampshade how the Tick’s name makes no sense, but it also features most of the supporting cast getting progressively drunk for a kid’s show, with the type of pettiness and cattiness that the classic Justice League International run of the 80s was known for.
Pick any episode of the show’s three-season run, and there’s going to be at least one brilliant comedic moment, even if oftentimes the gags are very stupid; that’s the point. Such as the Swiss spies that use giant Swiss army knives on their missions, while in the background, a large bipedal whale is running across the city, and in context, it does make sense. Sort 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 visible in later episodes.
In Danger Of Being Lost Forever
The Tick was a hit, even expanding to Comedy Central later in its run, but to date, it’s also the only successful version of the hero. Two live-action series, while critical hits, failed to catch on in both 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.
Though it was a hit, the 1994 series is becoming harder to find as the years go on, and it’s in danger of becoming lost media. The Tick DVD collections, released in the mid-aughts, are incomplete, with one episode missing from Season 1, “The Tick vs. The Mole Men,” and Season 2 is missing “Alone Together.” At one time, the series was also available on streaming, but it’s since been relegated to video on demand on YouTube. The animated series is endangered with DVDs that are harder and harder to find each year and severely limited streaming options.
This is a shame, as today, decades after the most recent superhero movie boom, audiences are ready for a superhero parody that doesn’t take itself seriously, especially when D-list villains like Kraven are getting their own movies. The world needs The Tick, his bright blue suit, and his signature rallying cry: “Spoon!”
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