By Jonathan Klotz
| Published 7 seconds ago
Comedy is hard to make work, and superhero comedies have been nearly impossible. DC’s Damage Control didn’t catch on, and the closest Marvel ever got to one was Ant-Man. It does make sense as there’s one superhero comedy series that’s had nothing but banger entries for 40 years as it lampoons everything about superheroes from the names to overwritten origin stories: The Tick. For the first time, both live-action versions of The Tick, the 2001 Fox sitcom starring Patrick Warburton and the 2016 Amazon series starring Peter Serafinowicz are streaming on Netflix.
The Tick Has Come To Netflix
It’s both easy and impossible to describe The Tick. Easy, in that he’s a large, indestructible man with superstrength in a blue suit trying to protect The City. Impossible because he has no origin, there is no background, and nothing, from the original comics to the Fox animated series of the 90s, to both live-action adaptations, has done anything to shed light on his past. There’s been hints here and there, but he’s just The Tick, and he’s going to save the day.
The Fox live-action series is more of a sitcom than anything else, placing its focus on colliding the wacky ensemble cast against each other like comedic action figures. Patrick Warburton nailed The Tick on the first go, best exemplified by his inability to understand what death is in an episode about The Immortal dying during sex. With no support from Fox, the inventive, hysterical series was cut short after one season, but thankfully, Warburton met writer Christopher McCulloh on set, and was in McCulloh’s next project, you may have heard of it: The Venture Bros.
In 2016, Amazon brought The Tick back, this time with a slightly more dramatic bent to it. Only slightly. Creator Ben Edlund was still on board with the series, which this time starts with The Tick’s future sidekick Arthur (Blank Check podcast host Griffin Newman) working to unravel a criminal conspiracy. While not as overtly comedic as the first two Tick series, the 2016 one is a great balm for anyone bored of Marvel and DC’s overly serious grandiose epics.
The Tick’s Greatest Enemy Is Low Ratings
An ongoing problem with The Tick is that it appeals to hardcore comic nerds the most, and comedy fans second, both of which are competing for the title of “most fickle audience.” In every incarnation, The Tick has had to battle falling ratings as often as oddball villains. Every single series, the animated one of the 90s and both live-action, have been critically acclaimed, and every single one was canceled due to low ratings.
Now’s your chance to stream both The Tick (2001) and The Tick (2016) on Netflix to learn what all the hype has been about for decades. Be warned though, that each show will have you start shouting “Spoon” at random intervals, and the greatest villain from the animated series, Evil Midnight Bomber What Bombs At Midnight, was left out of both live-action adaptations.
The Tick animated 1994 series is available as Video On Demand through YouTube.
