The Tick 20th Anniversary Special Edition #1 Review

The Tick 20th Anniversary Special Edition #1

Introduction:

Spoon! It’s hard to believe that The Tick has been around for 20 years. I remember the original series well as I have most of them. I even used the wonderful back covers as wall decorations in my dorm room at school. Don’t worry, they were in their mylar bags and were well protected. (Man, looking back, that was a geeky thing to do.) This comic is a celebration of the past twenty years through the eyes of many wonderful comic book creators, each taking their turn at the helm of telling a Tick story.

Publisher:

NEC Comics

Content:

This is an all ages book.

Contributors:

Ben Edlund
Richard Edlund (Ben’s Dad!)
Erik Valdez y Alanis
Kevin Atkinson
Bryan Baugh
Simon Bisley (cover)
Jason Burns
Zander Cannon
Jerry Carr
Benito Cereno
Gabe Crate
Jef Czekaj
Dave Garcia
Fred Hembeck
David Hopkins
Paul Hornschemier
Josh Howard
Jason Jensen
Matt Kindt
Terry Moore
Chris Reilly
Brock Rizy
Trina Robbins
Scott Shaw
Arthur Suydam (cover AND an interior page!)
Anne Timmons
Robert Tinnell
Cory Walker
Sean Wang
Mark Wheatley
Bill Tucci
Mark McKenna
Alan Hopkins (Original Man Eating Cow Artist)
Bill Sienkiewicz

Story:

The Tick has had both an illustrious and an unusual career. Creator Ben Edlund came up with the idea as a mascot for his local comic book shop. When the character became more popular, he was also given a chance to create a comic book as well. Edlund did all this, writing and drawing the comic, while going to film school at the Massachusetts College of Art.

The comic became an indy hit and lasted 12 issues. The problem was, that issue was left at a cliffhanger ending. The reason for leaving was that Fox-TV had licensed the character for an animated television series and Edlund was going to produce and be a writer for the show. The issues have since been re-released in color and many spin off issues have been produced, but Edlund has not been associated with the comic since. He has instead used the momentum from the animated and live action series to go onto working as a writer and producer of television shows such as Firefly, Angel, Point Pleasant, and Supernatural.

This 20th anniversary special edition comic book allows many creators a chance to tell a one or two page comic book story starring the Tick. There are many well known creators such as Terry Moore, Billy Tucci, Bill Sienkiewicz, Fred Hembeck, and Ben Edlund himself. There are also many up and coming comic book creators such as Zander Cannon, Sean Wang, and Benito Cereno.

The issue weighs in at a whopping 56 pages that includes columns from Ben Edlund, Publisher George Suarez, Art Director Bob Polio, bios about the contributors themselves, a brief history of The Tick, and a comic con report from 2006. Phew! Not to mention ways to get a hold of Tick paraphernalia and other merchandise.

The layout of the comic is basically one and two page stories that read much like a webcomic. Each is a self-contained story that usually ends in a punchline. Some of the stories are very much like the classic character, other’s are more of an homage, and others still take a different approach altogether.

Review:

When I first got a copy of this comic, I was pretty excited. The cover by Simon Bisley is wonderfully done and is nice to look at. Having been a long time Tick fan, I was interested to see what this was all about.

The comics themselves are well done, and most of them gave me a laugh. I wondered though if the one page stories did them justice as I might have preferred stories that were a bit longer and could build up to a good joke. Some of the stories fell flat and didn’t illicit the same kind of response as the original comic book.

The feeling overall, if I could put it in one word, would be, “nostalgia.” This is a comic for fans of The Tick and the different characters that came out of the comics. Man Eating Cow, Mr. Chippendale, Tick and Artie, and The Chainsaw Vigilante are all here in different places. That said, I don’t know if you would want to shell out six bucks just to check The Tick out. I don’t know what NEC (New England Comics) has in mind for The Tick, but I would hope more comics on a regular basis would be in order. I imagine that this comic is more geared for the hardcore fans of The Tick, of which I would be a member.

Conclusion:

This is a cool comic. It does a great job of celebrating this weird character that has gone through many different incarnations throughout the years. Toys, games, comics, shows, cartoons…it is all a comic creator could ask for.

For me though, I’m waiting for issue thirteen of The Tick. Not by some other group, by Ben Edlund himself. I know that’s not going to happen as I’m sure he was saying to himself, “Hmmmm, tons of money and a chance to see my character advance and be seen by millions, or stay poor and be an indy sensation.” I think in the end he made the right choice, even if I didn’t get my issue number thirteen.