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The Tick Comics #3
The Tick: Omnibus, Vol. 3
Limited Edition
88 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 1996
27 people want to read
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 - 4 of 4 reviews
February 26, 2023
Only two episodes in this omnibus, padded by extra artwork and an editorial about whether they thought they could get away with a two-episode omnibus. They obviously concluded the answer was "yes" and it was popular enough to get at least, according to my copy, a second printing.
Readers familiar with the animated series will find a familiar storyline involving the Superhero Nightclub, the Sidekick's closet, and the roided out Barry, who also calls himself The Tick.
No frenetic Midnight Bomber What Bombs at Midnight, though. Alas.
The storyline surrounding Barry is initially similar to the cartoon, with Barry attacking The Tick, demanding he surrender his name, and losing to Big Blue Justice. However, unlike the cartoon, the ensuing comic continues this storyline, with lawyers explaining the fight resolved a "namesake dispute," and The Tick and Arthur inherited all of Barry's abundant Tick-themed gadgets located beneath his mansion. Barry does retain his mansion, though, and there are several strained interactions between Barry, who now refuses to wear clothes, and the two heroes who need to travel through the house to access the Tick Lair, where they test and frequently break many of the gadgets they find--to Barry's increasing agitation (on top of his existing neuroses). Barry hatches a plan to rid himself of The Tick and the episode ends with The Tick and Arthur walking into an encounter with The Terror and his team of villains--as well as hints about the introduction of Moth-girl, Dot.
A very Tick sort of experience, entertaining, with several chuckles along the way, and impressive character artwork by Edlund.
Readers familiar with the animated series will find a familiar storyline involving the Superhero Nightclub, the Sidekick's closet, and the roided out Barry, who also calls himself The Tick.
No frenetic Midnight Bomber What Bombs at Midnight, though. Alas.
The storyline surrounding Barry is initially similar to the cartoon, with Barry attacking The Tick, demanding he surrender his name, and losing to Big Blue Justice. However, unlike the cartoon, the ensuing comic continues this storyline, with lawyers explaining the fight resolved a "namesake dispute," and The Tick and Arthur inherited all of Barry's abundant Tick-themed gadgets located beneath his mansion. Barry does retain his mansion, though, and there are several strained interactions between Barry, who now refuses to wear clothes, and the two heroes who need to travel through the house to access the Tick Lair, where they test and frequently break many of the gadgets they find--to Barry's increasing agitation (on top of his existing neuroses). Barry hatches a plan to rid himself of The Tick and the episode ends with The Tick and Arthur walking into an encounter with The Terror and his team of villains--as well as hints about the introduction of Moth-girl, Dot.
A very Tick sort of experience, entertaining, with several chuckles along the way, and impressive character artwork by Edlund.
September 12, 2025
Wish Edlund had kept going. He should keep going. He still can. He should. Do.
November 3, 2015
By this point in the run of The Tick, Ben Edlund and his publishers at New England Comics seemed to know this was the end, at least for now. So, they put out this third Omnibus with the only remaining two uncollected issues and padded the rest with a variety of stuff usually reserved for anniversary reissues.
That is not to say this is a bad volume. It continues the zany antics of Tick and Arthur, finally arriving in New York, where it turns out there's another Tick already serving. A battle ensues, our Tick wins, and NY Tick loses all his gear to his defeater. NY Tick is henceforth to be known as...Barry. Needless to say, this does not really go down well with Barry, and these two issues toggle between him losing his marbles while trying to come up with a good way to best Tick, and our boys enjoying their new digs while finding adventure wherever they can. It's good stuff and was winding up to a promisingly spectacular climax in issue 13...but it was not to be (for a while, at least).
So, the extras: there is writing from Edlund, apologising for the delays and explaining what he's been doing as well as what is supposed to happen in the eventual next/final issue; there are some fun 'pin-up' type pages of promo art for trying to sell Tick toys to the manufacturers; we get some fun (occasionally painful to behold) early-art pages, including a full two-page story involving an octopus invasion; and a smattering of single-page art for promos and such. It's a well-rounded collection of stuff, but as I said it seems better suited for an eventual super-sized complete omnibus anniversary edition.
Edlund did eventually put out that thirteenth issue, making this edition of the third omnibus kind of obsolete (assuming there was an eventual collection including that issue). But it's a perfect continuation of a wonderful series, and one of the countless 'unfinished works' that dotted the independent-comics landscape of the 1990s.
That is not to say this is a bad volume. It continues the zany antics of Tick and Arthur, finally arriving in New York, where it turns out there's another Tick already serving. A battle ensues, our Tick wins, and NY Tick loses all his gear to his defeater. NY Tick is henceforth to be known as...Barry. Needless to say, this does not really go down well with Barry, and these two issues toggle between him losing his marbles while trying to come up with a good way to best Tick, and our boys enjoying their new digs while finding adventure wherever they can. It's good stuff and was winding up to a promisingly spectacular climax in issue 13...but it was not to be (for a while, at least).
So, the extras: there is writing from Edlund, apologising for the delays and explaining what he's been doing as well as what is supposed to happen in the eventual next/final issue; there are some fun 'pin-up' type pages of promo art for trying to sell Tick toys to the manufacturers; we get some fun (occasionally painful to behold) early-art pages, including a full two-page story involving an octopus invasion; and a smattering of single-page art for promos and such. It's a well-rounded collection of stuff, but as I said it seems better suited for an eventual super-sized complete omnibus anniversary edition.
Edlund did eventually put out that thirteenth issue, making this edition of the third omnibus kind of obsolete (assuming there was an eventual collection including that issue). But it's a perfect continuation of a wonderful series, and one of the countless 'unfinished works' that dotted the independent-comics landscape of the 1990s.
March 14, 2015
Check out my review of this series on Booklikes, Seeking Sequences segment!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews