"Destiny is a funny thing."
"Once I thought I was destined to become emperor of Greenland, sole monarch over it's 52,000 inhabitants. Then I though I was destined to build a Polynesian Longship in my garage."
"I was wrong then, but I've got it now."
"I'm the destined protector of this place. I'm this city's superhero."
This collection, reprinting the first six issues of Ben Edlund's masterpiece, is a very good idea, since it forestalls the possibility of him putting forth a fifth edition of the first & second issues, and frees more of his time to actually putting out new issues of the damn thing. The first six issues span twenty months, from March 1988 to November 1989. In the intervening five years, Edlund has broadened his market, starting other titles such as Paul the Samurai, and the Man-Eating Cow. The Tick has unfortunately been somewhat neglected and has only managed to struggle to issue 13, at last count.
Enough of this potted history, though! The story of these first six issues, inspired in no part by any roach that may belong to a different comic company, is that of one man's journey, from a badly deranged mental patient to a badly deranged superhero. The story of the Tick (like Superman, his secret identity is the fabrication; he himself is always the Tick first) embodies all that can be encompassed in superhero format - One of his first encounters, with mild-mannered reporter Clark Oppenheimer, proves to be more than it seems at first, and life gets more complicated when he runs across Oedipus, a beautiful female ninja, and the holder of the mystical Thorn Of Oblivion, previously in the possession of the local ninja chapter, and which she stole from their headquarters the Ninja World theme park. In this vein, the adventures continue, and finish with the Tick swearing in his first Sidekick ("And so you, Arthur, will become my sidekick, my best friend, my confidant, my pudgy comic relief"). Very funny stuff, indeed, and well worth the price.
Art: 3.5
Writing: 5
Andrew