Power Twins Comics

Took a break from working to suffer a vertigo attack.  Unable to sit upright, I decided it was my duty to lie back and binge-watch The Tick (on Amazon Prime). I don’t recommend doing this in particular – vertigo is especially unpleasant.

The new live action version of The Tick is good, but different from what most fans are accustomed. It is edgier, darker, and (in this way) more like the original comic than either of the previous TV shows. Unlike the comic (except for three stories in the anthology “Heroes of The City”), the series is largely shown through the lens of Arthur (Griffin Newman). Instead of being a guy who takes a leap of courage into the enviable world of superheroes, this version of Arthur is knocked on the head and dragged kicking and screaming by the big blue balled up fists of destiny’s agent The Tick.

Honestly, Peter Serafinowicz (The Tick) would not have been on my list for the role. He is a good comedic talent, but the grandiose, ridiculous, and completely serious personality of The Tick is a hard mix. That said, he does a good job and grows on the viewer as the series progresses. The costume is a bit more armor-looking than fans will think it should be – more apparently a suit than the guy. But, this is a version of The Tick that can punch a guy who uses knives to stab The Terror’s henchmen.

Let that sink in for a moment.

The Tick punches a guy through a wall. That hasn’t happened since the comic. Punching was forbidden in the animated series, and the Patrick Warburton version was trying too hard to be Seinfeld for Superheroes. Though he does say of Overkill (Scott Speiser), “[his] methods are a little bit murderey.”

Every new (TV) incarnation of The Tick brings with it a new set of supporting characters. It has to do with intellectual property ownership. In addition to Overkill and his – er, roommate? – Dangerboat (Alan Tudyk), Amazon’s supporting characters are excellent. Jackie Earle Haley, who I adore as Rorschach, continues to impress as The Terror. He is aided by good writing like, “You were evil incarnate! Act like it!” Like Captain Liberty, Yara Martinez’s character “Ms. Lint” picks at conventional thinking of female stereotypes in superhero fiction. Not totally, because she is missing an eye, so of course she’s a villain.

I liked what I’ve seen so far. Though an abstract analogy and not a simile, about episode 4 or 5 I noted that it’s like “Gotham for Adam West’s Batman.”