Amazon has brought the beloved -- or least least well-liked -- superhero back to television for the third time. Yes, bad men, beware: the blue salmon of justice is swimming upstream yet again! For a parody superhero who began as the newsletter mascot for a chain of comic-book stores (back when we still called them that), he's come a long way.
He's just as charmingly askew (and slightly dim) as ever. I was initially concerned; the pilot had a few (only a few) rough patches, with both The Tick's costume and The Tick himself a little off-model. They have more than fixed it in the remainder of the series,* which is as surreal as both of its predecessors (animated and live-action, the latter with Patrick Warburton in the title role) while somehow managing to plant one foot squarely in reality.
Tam and I are three episodes into the first half of the season. Half-hour cliffhangers, six episodes have been released and another six will be released this Fall.
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* And were good enough to hang a lantern on The Tick's costume changes -- in the second or third episode, reluctant sidekick Arthur gives him a quizzical look and remarks, "You look...different." The Tick shrugs it off, as you might expect.
Jackie Earle Haley is an absolute joy in the series. I've loved his performances for a while, and he's really upped his acting chops since Bad News Bears.
ReplyDeleteSPOOOOOOOOooooon!
ReplyDeleteWhen the union was trying to get us all to join, they used this character against us. Those of us who were non-union were called "Ticks" because we were sucking the blood from the union working man. We would find this cartoon taped to our lockers.
ReplyDeleteOne of the reasons why I do not like unions to this day. Funny thing was that I was ambivalent towards them before, remembering that once upon a time they put a stop to child labor and unsafe workplaces. Now they are simply an extortion racket.
I read your post aloud to my wife in my best The Tick voice.
ReplyDeleteWe have only watched the first and second parts and will have to get caught up in the series.
Thanks, John! :) IIRC, the "Blue salmon of justice...." line is a quote from the animated series.
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