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Ask Tick Creator Ben Edlund
The non-cartoon Tick debuted on Fox last night, so this is an ideal time to have Tick creator Ben Edlund as a Slashdot interview guest. Before you start typing, you may want to read this May 2000 interview with Ben to keep from duplicating questions and to see what kind of person he is. Then ask away. As usual, we'll send 10 of the highest-moderated questions to Ben, and publish his answers as soon as we get them back.
now that we're all aware of the still-pending copyright issues between Sony and Fox concerning certain Tick characters and trademarks ("Spoon!"), is there any hope in sight for a resolution that would allow the use of these copyrights? Or is this a totally dead issue?
What type of drugs/alcohol were you high on when you created the character and premise of the tick? ;-)
Also, is the tick more of a boxer, brief, or boxer-brief man?
Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
I read some time ago that, at a convention, you had admitted that The Tick started out as a character in a Superhero Role Playing Game. Of course, they failed to say (or perhaps you didn't tell them) which game! So which was it? Champions? V&V? Superworld? Marvel Super Heroes? Do any of the other "standard" Tick Universe characters come from the game? Do you still play?
What evil Fox executive stuck you in such a lethal timeslot? Why didn't they slot you behind the Simpson's then move you to the lethal Thursday timeslot?
I had to fight with my girlfriend to watch the show last night since 'Will and Grace' was on.
Why do a live version when the cartoon series didn't last that long?
At the next eco-hypocrisy-meeting, count the private jets used to get to the meeting. Should be interesting to see that
Are you satisfied with the finished product of the live action Tick? I was a huge fan of both the comic and the cartoon series and am sure that if you can keep up the quality of dialog and acting you had in last night's episode that I'll be glued to it as well. But the differences between the three are immense...especially in the humour department (for example, my favorite joke from the comic was "We are hedge. Move along." which probably wouldn't work in either the cartoon or the live action). Do you, as the characters' creator and a comic artist, find yourself looking at the finished product and saying, "yes, that's what I see when the Tick jumps along the rooftops of my dreams?" Which of the three incarnations is your favorite?
Hey freaks: now you're ju
I noticed that Deflator Mouse and American Maid had been changed to Batman-uel and "Captain Liberty". Why the change from the animated series? Those characters and their rivalry were a great side story, and to use similar characters but have them deeply in love with one another seems like a major switch.
"Shared pain is lessened; shared joy is increased. Thus we refute entropy" - Spider Robinson
Sometimes they seemed remote control, sometimes they seemed computer generated.
Stupid job ads, weird spam, occasional insight at
Will we ever see the 'origins' of The Tick?
This is not the way to build a lasting empire.
Tick, to my mind, is an ideal hero icon for the current generation. He has good intentions, but isn't too aware of the fine details (well, even some gross details) of the world around him. He tries hard, and things tend to work out after a fashion, but usually not as a result of any particular brilliance on his part. Tick fulfills the iconic image of style over substance, of good intentions versus understanding, of the brawn and machismo not directed by a terribly powerful cranium, and of accidental destruction as a consequence of his good intentions and bungling execution.
His sidekick Arthur, of course, is more down to earth and aware. He's a bit of a geek (though I have yet so see him hack a kernel) with less-than-stellar social skills. He too seems to fill an iconic image in modern-day society - the nerdy brains-behind the brawn.
When these characters evolved, were they merely an attempt to poke fun at Superhero archetypes, or were they consciously intended to be more "in touch" with and to more closely parallel today's society? Or do you consider such analysis to be far deeper than the subject matter merits? Is the Tick just good humored fun, or is it perceptive art?
-- Mal: "Well they tell you: never hit a man with a closed fist. But it is, on occasion, hilarious."
It seems the relationship between The Tick and Arthur is similar to the one between Don Quixote and Sancho. Is this intentional, or merely reflecting the influence that book has had on "buddy" motifs in literature? Finally, have you considered a plot line involving invisible giants that only The Tick can see so that when Arthur is urged to join in battle against them, he can utter "What giants?"
Given Fox's track record of hyping up incredibly gimicky or out-of-place shows (Alien Autopsy and Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire come to mind) while simultaneously burying shows that have real potential (Family Guy, for instance), how concerned are you that Fox will simply bury you after one unsuccessful (or successful) season?
Was Sewer Urchin the casualty of the intellectual-property fight, or was he removed because of political correctness? There are equivalent characters to American Maid and Die Fledermaus, but no bizarro Sewer Urchin. Was it just too much to have a autistic live-action hero on primetime?
Robotiq.com is heavily tested on animals
So, now that you have your show, I'm curious:
Congratulations on your success, from a fellow southeastern Mass person... :)
DO NOT LEAVE IT IS NOT REAL
Judging from the first episode alone, it seems like the live-action Tick is automatically shooting for an older audience than the cartoon was (for perhaps obvious reasons). Arthur getting drunk, The Tick using the word "bitch," some of Batmanuel's references to Captain Liberty, etc. I always got the feeling from the cartoon that it was aimed at both adults and kids, with some jokes perhaps flying over the kids' heads while the adults would get them (a snake accusing The Tick of not dating much during a wrestling match in The Tick vs. Proto-Clown comes to mind).
Will the live-action series be aimed more at adults and less at younger viewers? I'm not really complaining if that is the case, it just seemed like there was definitely a shift in tone.
Lyme Disease ... your feelings about?
Do you feel guilty that the women portrayed in your cartoons are 1 dimensional pin-up girls while the male characters are given more depth? Can a woman be a super hero if she does not have big breasts that look good in spandex?
Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.
I used to be an avid Tick and PTS fan. Collected them and Milk And Cheese, that about covers the comics I actually found amusing. The Tick was great because it wasn't so horribly cynical and angry as Dorkin's (Milk and Cheese) work, but was almost as funny. Then at some point the Tick stopped being funny. Man Eating Cow, Karma Tornado, all the spin-offs besides Paul The Samurai were terrible from the beginning. I never could figure out why this was.
Did you break with NEC at some point, leaving the Tick and Paul the Samurai series to be written by somebody else? The first dozen or so Ticks were hysterical, as was the first Paul the Samurai, and then everything dissipated. (the original Tick cartoon show was pretty funny, but nowhere near as good as the comic book)
I don't collect comics anymore (gave them all to my little brother) but I did enjoy the Tick and M&C. M&C lost a lot of its punch after a while, maybe everyone runs out of material, but it seemed like much more of an abrupt transition with the Tick, and I was wondering what happened. Also I hope you're back for good, some of my college friends had never heard of the Tick and really got hooked on it after I dug out some old issues of the comic. The comics were great stuff.
"Unnecessary Rockets: On/Off"
Remember that what's inside of you doesn't matter because nobody can see it.
Do find being on Fox to be a potential downfall? It seems like a lot of semi-decent shows ("Family Guy") get killed and resurrected fairly often on the network.
When will the cartoon series Tick be available on DVD?
> Is it tasteful or even possible to humorously
> depict Evil Masterminds so soon after a
> chilling reminder of real evil?
I will take my licks if readers of this response feel the need to mod me down, but I need to be clear that this is not intended as a troll:
SCREW YOU! People like you who think that any depiction of anything other then fluffy puppy dogs on TV is inappropriate are continuing the work of the terrorists!
Every time some good for nothing self appointed censor says 'Uh, maybe that is not so tasteful right now.... please think of the children.' and changes stuff to make it less 'scary' or defangs humor to deal with 9/11 they are helping keep our country down!
Get a fucking clue, goddamnit! If we have ANY chance to get back to normal, and ANY chance to defiantly tell the people who hate us that we will not be defeated, we NEED things that violate your precious little ideal of 'tasteful'.
You are part of the problem. Fix that.
(once again, I am not posting this as AC because I strongly feel this way. If you are a moderator who feels the need to mod this down because I used 'bad words', go ahead if it makes you feel better. I'm willing to sacrifice my 50 Karma to prove that I am serious.)
As you and others were developing The Tick into a live action series, (after watching the first live action episode) you seem to be trying to return to the style of the comic book rather than the animated series. To that end, some things probably weren't appropriate for TV, like having the Tick escape from an insane asylum in the pilot. Other things were created to make the show more appropriate for a tv audience - more character development and making them seem more like "real" people (jobs, cell phones, drinking at the bar, etc.).
How much did you have to give and take between making the live action have content appropriate for tv (ie network censors), adding plot elements and characters to make it appropriate for a (potentially) long running tv series, fighting the cartoon copyright issues, and adapting it to suit your vision of the Tick on tv? Also, what would you like to do with the show that you can't on tv?
thanks
t.
"Corrupting our youth one mind at a time"
Ever since I first heard the battle cry of The Tick, I always wondered, "How did these guys come up with the idea?"
I tried to visualize the circumstances which brought forth the famous Tick line, and always end up picturing some semi-intoxicated discussion over battle cries during dinner, then someone started holding up utensils.
So, how did it happen? What were the circumstances? What were the alternative/runner-up battle cries?
(if you say, "chopstick & spork", you'll get me angry. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry.)
-Dennis
While I'm a big fan of the Tick and enjoyed the show last night, I found one thing discordant while watching it. The Tick using words like bitch, and gonads. He has always struck me as having very anachronistic language. Stuck back in the Father Knows Best days. Spreading his brand of creamy justice on the toast of the city, sure. Make Evil my Bitch, doesn't work for him. Borderline profanity might work for some of the other characters, particularly Bat Manuel, but it seems wrong for the well intentioned, but naive hero that is the Tick. Is this a direction they are trying to take the Tick for some reason, or just a matter of unfamiliarity with the characters that will be ironed out over time?
I wish I still had my first Tick comic. It was a freebie from New England Comics, announcing that they were going to try publishing their own comics. I thought it pretty decent, but had to make more strategic decisions in my collecting habits at the time. Sorry Ben, I just had to have Akira. Fast forward a few years and suddenly I see the tick everywhere. So my question is this: Where did you think this comic would end up way back at issue one? Were you jsut hoping to have some good stuff in your portfolio by the time you got out of college(or wherever)? Were you hoping for a moderately successful underground classic? Just when did you realize that the Tick was a big hit? What happened then in your life and how did it affect your creation(the comic as well as the character)?
Most people probably don't realize that the Tick is a direct adaptation of the "Roach" superhero parody character from Dave Sim's Cerebus. Do you still keep up with Cerebus despite the fact that the Roach (and his attendant humor) have been missing from the story for 100 or so issues now? What do you think of how Cerebus has unfolded? Has Dave Sim, a notorious hater of the television medium, given you any grief over the new series?
Here's my questions...
As the creator / executive producer / high goddess of all that is Tick-y, what would be the one thing you wish to be done with the new live action show? Guest appearances? (BTW, nice shot of you and Barry on the couch) Better special effects? Hot dog cut into a little octopus?
And second, since it appears that characters from the cartoon exclusively will not be appearing due to copyright issues, can you give us a brief list of those that might appear from the comic? Chairface Chippendale? Chainsaw Vigilante? Paul the Samurai? Man Eating Cow?
Thanks for making Thurday night TV watchable again.
No boom today. Boom tomorrow. There's always a boom tomorrow. - Cmdr. Susan Ivanova
To me, the Tick was always a satire of his genre. You made fun of Batman, Wonder Woman, Galactus, etc., etc. My question would be: With the series moving to live-action TV, would you be satiring other things? Making fun of Galactus would go over the heads of most your audience. However, targetting Friends or Survivor would surely hit the spot. (Survivor especially, given your current time slot.) Where is the comedy and the storyline going to come from?
Where the wind blows, the tumbleweed goes.
Before you start typing, you may want to read this May 2000 interview with Ben
That's what you should have done. It says in there:
At the beginning, I thought it would be good to have a kind of a CGI (computer-generated imagery) pair of eyes that more perfectly matched what was going on in the comic book design, the cartoon design. But first of all, the cost of that, for a series, you know maybe for a feature it would be fine, but for a series, is prohibitive.
This may have lead you to believe that they wouldn't have done computer-generated antennae. However, if that doesn't convince you...
We had to body cast Patrick Warburton, and build a giant rubber suit, and remote control antennae...
PUBLIC SPLIT ON WHETHER BUSH IS A DIVIDER -CNN scrolling banner, 10/15/2004
So can I be on your show, or what?
:)
How much creative control do you have, and how much will you maintain, if the show is a success?
I have firsthand experience with the idiocy of networks, so I'd be very interested to hear how you pitched the idea.
I'd also like you to know that I have been a fan from issue number 1, and used to curse your being in college, and not being able to put out new issues. Paul the Samurai is one of my favorite characters, in any medium, of all time.