Comic-Con attendees get a taste of The Tick's mighty justice
At a panel for the Amazon Prime Video superhero show "The Tick" at San Diego Comic-Con, fans of Mr. "I am the wild blue yonder" got treated to a full episode of the show and a little insight from the cast and creators.
The pilot has been available for some time now, but a full season is upon us.
"Spooooon!"
So cheered parts of the audience in Room 6A at the San Diego Convention Center as the panel for "The Tick" kicked off. After a brief welcome from moderator Ralph Garman, attendees were treated to the world premiere of the second episode of the show (the pilot premiered on Amazon Video last year) ahead of the show's streaming premiere date of August 25.
For the uninitiated, the Tick is a blue-clad superhero who, sure, may not seem like he's quite all there and may have an unconventional battle cry (i.e. "Spooooon!"), but he really just wants to help everyone and protect people from evildoers, with the help of his reluctant sidekick, Arthur. The Tick started out as a comic book hero in the late 1980s but crossed over to animation (cult favorite "The Tick: The Animated Series" on Fox) and then to a previous live-action series in 2001.
On the panel were Tick creator Ben Edlund and a large chunk of the cast, including Peter Serafinowicz (The Tick), Griffin Newman (Arthur), Jackie Earle Haley (The Terror), Valorie Curry (Dot), Yara Martinez (Miss Lint), Brendan Hines (Superion), Scott Speiser (Overkill) and Michael Cerveris (Ramses). Also there were executive producers Barry Josephson and David Fury.
In a brief discussion before the audience Q&A session, Serafinowicz said that when he first read the script, the Tick seemed like a "super-powerful toddler." In the episode screened for the audience, that innocent and earnest quality definitely came through. Which was pretty impressive, given that he conveyed this while wearing a bright blue superhero bodysuit with antennae. There also seemed to be a touch of Adam West in there as well, and Serafinowicz cited the classic '66 Batman when asked for any influences in his portrayal.
Another tidbit gleaned from the Q&A: Characters from the animated series are in a bit of a rights limbo, but if that can be resolved, it's a possibility that they could show up in the future.
The Tick starts streaming its first six episodes on Amazon Video on August 25. The other six will debut next year.