The Tick vs. Madman vs. Me
by Carol Borden
Letting go can be hard. I was reminded of that reading The Tick's 20th Anniversary Special Edition with the first 3 issues of Mike Allred's new Madman Atomic Comics. The Tick's 20th Anniversary Special Edition reminded me how much I loved Ben Edlund's first 12 issues of The Tick and how relieved I am that Mike Allred kept Madman for himself.
I've said before that I enjoy seeing different versions of the same character and I meant it. But in my heart there's only ever been one Tick and my declining interest can be clearly graphed from the comic to the live action show. The less Ben Edlund is involved, the less interested I am in the nigh-invulnerable superhero parody. My persnickety attitude makes reading The 20th Anniversary Special Edition complicated.
While it's full of comic history and nice touches, like a letter from the printers, the Special Edition is a collection of various artists' takes on the Tick. And I was happy to see the City's antiheros, Chainsaw Vigilante and Man-Eating Cow, again. But then I unfolded the section featuring a note and two comics from Ben Edlund that just rub it all in. His work makes the other versions of the Tick presented in the book seem false. His voice is right on. The art is smooth. The comic's just funnier. It's the Tick.
Sure, I understand Edlund's moved on to dominate television, writing for Angel: The Series, Firefly, Supernatural and The Venture Bros.,, created by alternate Tick writer, Jackson Publick/Christopher McCulloch. I know if I want more, the only way to get it is through new writers and artists. Still, I miss the Tick.
Strangely enough, the Special Edition eased the pain of Madman's absence. When Mike Allred started writing about a Robert Rodriguez Madman movie, I flashed back to when Ben Edlund started writing about The Tick animated series and then ran off to join television, without resolving the fight between the real Tick (The Tick) and the fake Tick (Barry). I figured Mike Allred would get involved in the film industry. There would be no more Madman for me and I wanted more Madman.
I got over it. After all, Mike Allred still made comics and his wife, Laura Allred, still colored them. I didn't begrudge him The Atomics, X-Force and X-Statix. How many people get to freak out X-fans? And it's totally cool that he got to realize his comic vision of The Book of Mormon, The Golden Plates. My experience with the Tick taught me to be thankful that there's no painful version of Madman out there hurting me. I just did my best to let go—even while getting way too excited about scoring a trade paperback of The G-Men from Hell.
Now a friend has loaned me the first 3 issues of Madman Atomic Comics. It's hard to say where the comic is going yet. It's been something like 10 years since the last issue of Madman and Allred is catching up new readers on Snap City's reanimated hero, Frank Einstein, aka Madman. But the comics aren't a retread. Allred uses exposition as an excuse for a trippy Jack Kirby-esque tour de force. Frank Einstein's been separated from his body, his girl Joe and all his friends. He's desperate to get them back. But first he needs to figure out who he is and to separate himself out from other possible lives and other people's perceptions of him. And that's where I get most excited.
In issue 3, "Swiped from Dimension X," Mike Allred draws all these possible Franks, displaying a crazy, casual command of other artists' styles and materials. Starting with the first panel on page 4, Allred draws each panel in a different style. Fleischer Bros., Tex Avery, Neal Adams, Chynna Clugston-Moore, Richard Sala, Moebius, Herriman, Charles Schultz, Katsuhiro Otomo, Chas. Adams, Alex Raymond, Seth, Bruce Timm, Charles Burns—see how many you can recognize.
You might not be so much for cosmic, existential journeys. To be honest, I'm not myself. But the art is astonishing. Aside from drawing in the styles of dozens of comic artists, Mike Allred uses techniques he experimented with in the Dead Girl miniseries. The art looks like it's done on a vellum overlay with visible graphite and blue pencil shading. Laura Allred's colors are perfect as always. In a neat touch, the action in previous issues is presented in an opening page of panels. Besides, as with the original run, there are little pin up extras, in this case by Paul Pope, Charles Burns and Tim Sale.
I suppose liking the pinups in Madman and being saddened by only 2 Edlund comics in The Tick's 20th Anniversary Special Edition catches me out. It shows the tension between being excited by many possible versions and preferring one. It's just that I like what I like and letting go can be hard. Like the Tick says, "Gravity is a harsh mistress."
~~~
Looking back at The Tick's 20th Anniversary Special Edition, Carol Borden realizes that the printers also use the "Gravity is a harsh mistress" quote in their piece. All props are due to Morgan Publishing.
Tags: Ben Edlund , capes , Madman , Mike Allred , Tick
I guess the difference is that Allred has kept his cretion close to the vest, whereas The Tick has been treated like a company floozy, with everybody taking the character for a ride with mixed results.
Too bad Red Rocket 7 was sooooooo bad, though. It's nearly plotless gab-fest nearly put me off reading anything by Mike Allred, but his X-Static run brought me back into the fold.
—Evil Roy Slade
i hate to admit that i just couldn't read red rocket 7. my eyes would slide right off the page.
—carol borden
If you think the COMIC version of RR7 was bad (I kind of liked it, myself) ... you should hear the album. I listened to it once and pushed it as far to the back of my desk as possible.
I just finished reading #3 of the new Madman, and I think it's my favourite thing Allred's drawn. Not necessarily the best storyline so far, but the art has been incredible.
—
D.J.
i'll try reading red rocket #7 again sometime. i haven't been able to decide if it's good or bad or if i like it or not. maybe i'm just distracted when i try reading RR7. maybe i'm not in the mood. there are just too many variables. i think i'll stay away from the record.
thanks for posting, D.J.
—carol borden
We have saying in our bookstore: Frontlist may bring customers through the door, but it's the backlist that brings them back. Book lovers are completists. Bookstores that can fill the gaps in their ever-increasing collections quickly become favourite stops. There’s nothing quite like the satisfaction of putting it all together, of finally finally owning all the books by a much-loved author. Of course, neither is there any pleasure to equal the joy in the discovery of a new favourite. Like, say, one of the recent additions to my pantheon of must-haves: Tamara Lejeune.
At the risk of tearing up