In recent years, select superhero media have trended toward darker themes. As cast and crew told us at NYCC, Amazon Prime’s The Tick doesn’t have time for that.
Netflix hosts a multitude of superhero shows where the main characters spend more time brooding over helping those less fortunate than actually doing the work. On the big screen, super-suited men question if humanity is even worth saving. So The Tick is a welcome, refreshing throwback to old school do-gooders, but in an updated, grounded world. Heroes like the Tick do good because… well, because it’s good.
Hugs or Guns. Guns or Hugs. Why not both?
The most recent adaptation of creator Ben Edlund’s 1980s comic is entering its sophomore season in 2019. The series seems like a live-action cartoon at times, but it keeps its feet firmly planted in the real world, complete with collateral damage and rent to pay. The suited heroes fly (or thunderously leap) around “The City” but each character still has to deal with real stakes and consequences, and the fallout of everyday life.
Straddling the right tone for a half hour comedy about larger-than-life superheroes rooted in reality is always on the mind of Edlund; “We had to walk a fine line. It’s one of the biggest challenges, still everyday when we’re doing it we’re looking for that pocket.” For the actors, maintaining that balance has been a welcome challenge.
Star Griffin Newman (Arthur) has his own approach; “The strategy I usually employ is playing against whichever type of scene it is. So the scenes that are more serious, I try to be the comic relief, the scenes that are more comedic I try to be more emotionally grounded.”
“I’m the one who gets the note the most to bring it down,”says Yara Martinez (Ms. Lint) “I like just going all out and it’s awesome because Ben [Edlund] is there, he’s very hands on, if it needs to come down, he’ll bring it down.”
Scott Speiser’s Overkill would be right at home in one of the darker superhero shows out there, but on The Tick he’s the outlier. “It was constant experiment in season one. My character is very driven and monotone. It is sort of a challenge as an actor in that regard to figure out that combination of the darkness and seriousness especially with my character and the fact that it’s a half hour comedy. That’s what makes it so fun.”
Not in The Face!
While the superheroes in The Tick do their best to protect the innocent, most are still finding their way on how best to do it as we enter season two. In the first season, The Tick is practically a big lumbering Saint Bernard of thwarting evil-doers. A giant unwavering force of nature in his quest to right wrongs and along the way find out more about his own mysterious origins.
“His moral compass is screwed down but he has to loosen it,” Peter Serafinowicz says of his character. “In Hayao Miyazaki films, he says good and evil don’t exist. The Tick’s moral compass is slammed down in one direction and needs to see more shades of grey.”
Who better to help to help The Tick with that than his best bud Arthur. But in season 2 our favorite moth-man has his own growing to do as a new hero. “It’s been less than two weeks since [Arthur] even met The Tick and now he’s in the deep end with all this stuff,” explains Newman. “They’re public now, and now it’s about them figuring out how to sustain a career. They don’t want to be one hit wonders. He’s trying to figure out now that he has the dream job, how do I hold onto it. As Arthur gets into the world of legitimate superheroes he has to deal with a lot of insecurity.”
Static Shock Trauma
The passions fueling the ladies of The Tick are just as nuanced as their male counterparts. Ms. Lint and Dot, though on opposite sides of the good versus evil coin, are both out to establish themselves as forces to be reckoned with.
On the evil side, season one saw Ms. Lint breaking away from her tumultuous working relationship with The Terror (played by Jackie Earle Haley) and seemingly ready to strike out on her own. Her acts of rebellion during the latter half of the season reflected a strong desire for the super-villain to finally step out of The Terror’s shadow and find out who she truly is beyond the static cling. But her rise to power in season two might not be as easy as she planned.
Martinez breaks it down. “She starts off the season in a crisis. Her goal is still to take over the world and conquer the city and the way she goes about it is something i’ve never seen before. She’s more comfortable in her own skin because she’s lost everything. So she’s like, what else do I have to lose? So this is me.”
On the morally (light-ish) grey side, The Tick has Dot, Arthur’s medic sister. Season 1 found her playing back up to the suited heroes plans, as she slowly embarked on a mission to prove herself their equal. Despite Arthur’s protests about her safety, Dot put her innate resourcefulness to work and became a key player in Overkill’s missions.
But where does that growth leave Dot in season 2? Valarie Curry explains it best; “In the beginning of season 2, she’s pretty angry, she’s a little bit resentful. She’s aware that everyone around her, especially Arthur has been asking her to do the emotional labor for them and now they’ve gone off and fulfilled themselves and she got nothing for that. She’s not going to do that anymore and that includes getting in the action.”
The Wild Blue Yonder
Practically the last panel of New York Comic Con was The Tick panel hosted by John Hodgman, and fans were treated to three select clips from season two. Says Edlund, “The first season was based more on sadness and isolation. The second is really based on love. That’s what they kind of discover. People care, people actually [expletive] care.”
In the first clip, Arthur gently explains to The Tick that in order to continue to have a roof over their heads Arthur needs time to work his day job. No job, no money. No money, no coffee.
While having John Hodgman host the panel was a cool surprise, con-goers had no idea how cool until one of the first clips of The Tick season two ran on the massive screens. Hodgman joins the show this season as a new recurring character named Hobbes, Doctor Agent Hobbes to be precise. In the exclusive clip, Hobbes is shown giving The Tick and Arthur a tour of A.E.G.I.S.’s state of the art hero hub now that they’re in the big leagues. So far Hobbes appears to be a Bunsen Honewdew type of character, but whether we can truly trust him remains to be seen.
There was also a clip with Overkill and Dot making plans that featured Overkill deferring to Dot’s natural leadership. “Overkill needed someone to be a leader so he could fulfill his sidekick destiny in life,” says Curry. “He was destined to be a sidekick, he doesn’t do well on his own. So I’m really glad that dot can be there to be the badass fighter and leader that he was looking for.” After Dot makes a special deal with Overkill, the scene ends with a music cue that placed Overkill as a Disney prince being lifted from a curse which had the whole room in stitches.
And don’t think Edlund has forgotten about the surprise reveal that Arthur’s mild-mannered podiatrist step-dad Walter might be more than he seems. “We get into those secrets. We tell his story. He’s fun. Francois Chau? He’s a black belt. He does his own fights.”
The heroes of The Tick know that the inhabitants of The City are worth saving. For some the reason is simple, it’s what they think they were born to do. For others, it’s what they must muster the courage to do. Some need to learn to take their ‘lethal’ heroism down a few notches. Heroes, as flawed at they may be, still strive against the odds to do the right thing.
Recently animes such as the ultra popular My Hero Academia and Tiger & Bunny are proving to understand those principles of western superhero stories better than some of the properties stateside. The Tick shares with both shows an underlying theme of hope and striving for justice. There’s no multi-season long moral quandary about if a hero’s powers should be used in service of others and the greater good. They might struggle, they might be challenged, but ultimately all of these shows are about standing up, being brave and doing the big, scary right thing. That’s something the world needs more of.