Holy reboot, Batman! The Tick is back!
The Tick debuted in 1988, in a self-titled independent comic book, in which he escaped from a mental institution, with no memory of who he was and became a superhero. Obviously.
To aid him in his fight against equally absurd super-villains and act as his conscience, he took on a sidekick called Arthur; who dresses as a moth. Arthur is not the usual sidekick type: a) he’s actually helpful, and b) he’s not a teenage boy wearing speedos and lycra.
Since his debut The Tick has appeared sporadically in comics and other media.
The Tick: The Animated Series aired for three seasons from 1994 to 1996, proving to be immensely popular. The series also featured such characters as: Die Fledermaus (an egotistical, self-centred Batman), Sewer Urchin (a more pathetic Aquaman), and American Maid (an all-American superwoman).
The original live-action THE TICK didn’t prove as popular as the animated series, lasting only nine episodes before cancellation.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, producer Barry Johnson said of the original: “I said at the time the network didn’t necessarily get it. And I don’t know that we were doing exactly the version that was right, but we were happy with it.”
Amazon’s reboot of THE TICK is reportedly quite different from the original, swapping the characters of Batmanuel and Captain Liberty for Arthur’s caring sister Dot.
Of what to expect from the reboot creator of THE TICK, Ben Edlund said: “We’ve got this show about superheroes (where) we get to have fun with the idea of superheroes by starting with kind of a comedic parody of (an) event-oriented-like universe. It will be darker and more grounded. And it’s going to have a real story, a real hero’s myth. We’re the ones that get to have fun with it and that’s kind of the situation where right now that’s an open field in this area of entertainment.”
So it’s going be a pretty standard superhero show, just cheerier than DAREDEVIL AND not as soul-destroyingly bleak as Zack Snyder’s gritty, slo-mo destructo.
THE TICK pilot’s release date is to be announced. Wally Pfister will direct a cast of: Peter Serafinowicz (The Tick), Griffin Newman (Arthur), and Valorie Curry (Dot). Ben Edlund, Patrick Warburton, Barry Johnson, Sony Pictures TV, and Amazon Studios are producing.
