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Bonanzai
Collects first four issues of 'Paul the Samurai'.
Paperback
First published August 1, 1996
About the author
Ben Edlund
187 books36 followersIn 1988, Ben Edlund launched the comic book that would make his name known to many comic and cartoon fans across the nation. It was the tale of a 300 lb., 7ft tall big blue insect named "The Tick". It was a character that Ben created a few years before in high school. The original series, drawn and written by Ben and published by New England Comics, only lasted 12 issues, but became quite popular in the underground comic world. The creation of a 13th issue is something Ben still hasn't decided against, but he has become a busy man since.
In 1994, Ben worked with Fox Kids Network to bring The Tick (and Arthur) to the small screen in an animated series. The show was a pretty faithful interpretation of the quirky heroic characters introduced in the comic book. It became an underground hit with a cult following. The show lasted for 3 seasons but eventually succumbed to being marketed as a kids show. The humor was often targeted to an older audience and trying to cater the show to children just stifled its creativity.
Fox wanted something to sell happy meals and figures. The Tick did just that, for a time, but shows would come along that Fox saw as better suited to a child audience.
Comedy Central picked up syndication rights to the show and aired it for a while. There it picked up some more fans and its popularity continued to grow.
In 2000, Ben began working on the Tick's 3rd incarnation, a live action television show. With the support of Barry Sonnenfeld (Director of Addam's Family, Men in Black), and the talent of Patrick Warburton (best known as Putty from Seinfeld) as the embodiment of big blue justice, the show had much promise. After a delay of almost a year after the acceptance of the pilot, The Tick finally aired. However, a difficult timeslot, (against NBC's Must See TV and CBS's Survivor), preemption by Baseball, as well as little promotion by the Fox Network, and other reasons I won't get into here (though I could!) would have the show end after only 8 episodes. It was the second time Fox had mismanaged one of Ben's creations.
In fall of 2002, Ben was working as a producer and writer on the Joss Whedon created show Firefly. He and Joss had worked together before on the screenplay for Titan A.E. Firefly was an innovative, character-driven space western. Unfortunately, Firefly was cancelled after only an 11 episode run, including the pilot. The only episode penned by Ben that aired was Jaynestown. And yes, Firefly was also on the Fox Network, but we've blamed them enough today. Currently Ben is writing and producing for Angel.
In 1994, Ben worked with Fox Kids Network to bring The Tick (and Arthur) to the small screen in an animated series. The show was a pretty faithful interpretation of the quirky heroic characters introduced in the comic book. It became an underground hit with a cult following. The show lasted for 3 seasons but eventually succumbed to being marketed as a kids show. The humor was often targeted to an older audience and trying to cater the show to children just stifled its creativity.
Fox wanted something to sell happy meals and figures. The Tick did just that, for a time, but shows would come along that Fox saw as better suited to a child audience.
Comedy Central picked up syndication rights to the show and aired it for a while. There it picked up some more fans and its popularity continued to grow.
In 2000, Ben began working on the Tick's 3rd incarnation, a live action television show. With the support of Barry Sonnenfeld (Director of Addam's Family, Men in Black), and the talent of Patrick Warburton (best known as Putty from Seinfeld) as the embodiment of big blue justice, the show had much promise. After a delay of almost a year after the acceptance of the pilot, The Tick finally aired. However, a difficult timeslot, (against NBC's Must See TV and CBS's Survivor), preemption by Baseball, as well as little promotion by the Fox Network, and other reasons I won't get into here (though I could!) would have the show end after only 8 episodes. It was the second time Fox had mismanaged one of Ben's creations.
In fall of 2002, Ben was working as a producer and writer on the Joss Whedon created show Firefly. He and Joss had worked together before on the screenplay for Titan A.E. Firefly was an innovative, character-driven space western. Unfortunately, Firefly was cancelled after only an 11 episode run, including the pilot. The only episode penned by Ben that aired was Jaynestown. And yes, Firefly was also on the Fox Network, but we've blamed them enough today. Currently Ben is writing and producing for Angel.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
October 17, 2014
Paul the Samurai return after the Ben Edlund written mini-series returns for a proper continuing series. This book collects Paul the Samurai (Vol. 2) Issues 1-4.
Clay Griffith takes over the writing chores and there's a clear shift from Edlund. Edlund's portrayal of Paul was of a character who was truly noble whose comedy came out of the situations he was in. Here, much of that nobility is somewhat more superficial though only somewhat. The world around Paul is still the source of entertainment.
Some of the ideas in the book are quite fun. Paul battles the Miti Men, a group of Manga/Anime inspired characters in Issues 1 and 2. (Kudos to artist Dave Garcia for making this incongruous set-up of traditional American comic and Japanese comic art in the same picture actually work). Issue 3 sees Paul battle a mad mastermind dog and Issue 4 has Paul beginning to face an environmental extremist anti-hero.
On the negative side, some of the humor is quite dated. This comics were written in 1992 during the tale end of Japan's economic ascendancy and American anxiety over such as represented by Issue 1's other villain the Detroit Fury, a giant car robot created by a laid off auto worker. Paul's position as an apolitical Japanese warrior who'd rather just hit things with a sword was nice comedy but readers who the humor doesn't age well.
The book ends on a cliffhanger that will be resolved in Volume 2.
Overall, this is a fun series very much in the spirit of the Tick and worth a read.
Clay Griffith takes over the writing chores and there's a clear shift from Edlund. Edlund's portrayal of Paul was of a character who was truly noble whose comedy came out of the situations he was in. Here, much of that nobility is somewhat more superficial though only somewhat. The world around Paul is still the source of entertainment.
Some of the ideas in the book are quite fun. Paul battles the Miti Men, a group of Manga/Anime inspired characters in Issues 1 and 2. (Kudos to artist Dave Garcia for making this incongruous set-up of traditional American comic and Japanese comic art in the same picture actually work). Issue 3 sees Paul battle a mad mastermind dog and Issue 4 has Paul beginning to face an environmental extremist anti-hero.
On the negative side, some of the humor is quite dated. This comics were written in 1992 during the tale end of Japan's economic ascendancy and American anxiety over such as represented by Issue 1's other villain the Detroit Fury, a giant car robot created by a laid off auto worker. Paul's position as an apolitical Japanese warrior who'd rather just hit things with a sword was nice comedy but readers who the humor doesn't age well.
The book ends on a cliffhanger that will be resolved in Volume 2.
Overall, this is a fun series very much in the spirit of the Tick and worth a read.
Displaying 1 of 1 review