The Tick #2 - Mobile Edition

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The Tick #2
By Zak Edwards
February 26, 2010 - 10:37

New England Comics
Writer(s): Benito Cereno
Penciller(s): Les McClaine
$4.95 US

The second issue of the new Tick bimonthly series, a healthy offering of humour and good-natured fun, is turning into a great family friendly series with laughs for kids and adults alike. Writer Benito Cereno, continuing from the last issue, is obviously having some fun and being taken along on his ride is certainly more than enjoyable. The series is also very, very family friendly, almost to a fault, so go ahead and throw this in the hands of the younger comic readers, who will most certainly enjoy most of the issue, even if names like Deer Prudence escape them (unless of course, your child-rearing skills are awesome enough to equip your kid with a decent knowledge of The Beatles).

This issue' plot is a classic chase scene as Tick and Arthur run through the streets after the villain Deer Prudence in order to recover the Heart of Glass Diamond. Readers of the Tick for any amount of time will recognize the sorts of elements common to the series present in the issue: A classic superhero narrative, one Spider-Woman has managed to milk to about four issues in a row, is messed with and placed in some absurdity. The absurdity present in this issue has less to do with the object stolen and more with the chase itself, which sees the heroes at the butt-end of many a peril, from weak ladders to ill thought-out help from Tick regular Bumbling Bee. The visual gags build off each other, covering the Tick in layers of garbage stuck on by honey with Arthur under continual assault from both bees and his own sad fitness level. The chase, based on these multiple running (aww! really couldn’t be avoided) gags, is enjoyable if fairly simplistic. This is where the family friendly to a fault factors in. The issue, the subplot involving poorly attempted breakouts from prison by crime boss Chippendale Chairface especially, is fairly simple and targeting children in many ways. The jokes are reliant on visual gags and a recurring failures. While this could be seen as a fault, and it is to an extent, these gags are still very, very funny and enormously entertaining; the book has the highest factor of pure unadulterated enjoyment of anything on the shelf.

On top of this, the issue is rife with pop culture references. Early on, the focus of the references are musically based, Heart of Glass, Deer Prudence, and the best one; Doe, a deer, a female deer, which are pretty funny if only possessing a little forgivable amount of lameness. By far the best one, the joke that had me laughing out loud and rereading, was the Parkour reference: a character who looks like J. Jonah Jameson watches the Tick and Deer Prudence running along buildings outside and then shouts “Parkoooouuuurrr!” Hilarious! These references complement the more family friendly portions with a little something for the adults, balancing the issue. But the simplicity of the majority of the issue’s humour is in no way a bad thing, especially with the extra jokes added in.

Artist Les McClaine’s art is exactly what a book and issue like this needs. His bright colouring gives the issue a Saturday morning cartoon feel while the clear style is an effective communicator. There is fun to be had in his small details, which is where his style works very well to those willing to look. The Tick is constantly leaving footprints in everything, juxtaposed to Deer Prudence, whose light form leaves no trace. The signs for exhibits in the Museum of Accessible History, including “Things You Have Heard Of,” are generally pretty funny and add to the fun permeating every page. Some characters look a little smudged at times, especially Deer Prudence’s lip stick, which seems to overcome her entire face, but these are minor problems compared to an overall solid effort from everyone involved in this comic. A bimonthly one-shot Tick comic of this quality will be a great thing to surprise me on the rack for a long time.

9/10 The most enjoyable book released this week, guaranteed!