The Tick. created by Ben Edlund in 1986, is a superhero parody that examines how being super might play out in the real world, where the rent is due, buildings you smash up have to be repaired, and you suffer from anxiety and depression over "being different."
The comic book, animated series, and tv series versions have all been slightly different, but the Tick and Arthur always capitalize on the superhero-sidekick homoerotic bond: they live together, share expenses, share a bed, bicker like a married couple. The 2001 series, with Patrick Warburton as The Tick, was called "the gayest show on tv" for dealing with issues like coming out to parents and gay adoption.
The latest adaption, on Amazon Prime (2016-2019),is even more gay. In previous versions, Arthur gets girlfriends to sort of diffuse the gay coding, but here, he (Griffin Newman) does not express any heterosexual interest. Neither does the Tick (Peter Serafinowicz). Everyone accepts them explicitly as a couple. They are invited to parties together; Mom invites "the two of you" to dinner; they apply for official superhero status as a pair.
Fellow superhero Overkill (Scott Speiser) has a sentient boat named Dangerboat (voiced by Alan Tudyk in a parody of Kitt , the talking car from Knightrider). Early in the series, Dangerboat announces that he identifies as male. This starts out a little discomforting, like a transphobic joke, but after the initial “identifies as” scene, everyone just accepts that Dangerboat is a male boat. Furthermore, he is gay, attracted to both male boats and male humans. He was in love with his previous owner, Michael, and now he has a crush on Arthur.
He gets a little frisky while Arthur is taking a shower (inside him).,but then he apologizes, and just asks Arthur out (or in) to movies.Arthur keeps blowing him off. (“Just date the boa!” I yelled at the screen.“You could do worse.” )
Tick is enthusiastic about the potential romance,but Arthur isn’t sure – a man dating a boat? How would that even work? (Gay human couples get the same response). “”I don’t want to confuse him, or confuse me. I’m already confused. He’s just a boat, right?”
Thing come to a head when Dangerboat has a post-traumatic episode over Michael’s death, and Arthur talks him down from a "deep cleansing" that would kill them all: “I know what it’s like to lose someone you love” Dangerboat admits that he loves Arthur, and Arthur responds "I know you do."
Darn.
Later, Dangerboat apologizes for losing it, and hopes that they can still be friends. “We are friends,” Arthur affirms.
Darn.
So I guess they won't be dating. But I still think Arthur could do worse.
Plus a Season 1 plot arc involves the Very Large Man, an ordinary guy zapped with a ray that makes him 200 feet tall. At that height, he's no longer sentient, but he does have a 20 foot long penis.
The perennial question: smart but tiny, or dumb but hung?
See also: 10 Things You Should Know about "The Tick"
The sex would not be a problem. Dangerboat has a lot of nozzles and things that he could adapt. The main problem is being physically attracted to someone who is basically a floating room, or a disembodied voice.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds interesting
ReplyDeleteAh, the Tick. They did get sidekicks slightly wrong; it's usually a child. Usually a boy, though Batman and Wolverine both have an addiction to adopting wayward children, and some of those children are girls.
ReplyDeleteAdult sidekicks are rarer, but let us parody the "Wertham problem" without shame. I mean, Batman mocks it by having the tabloids accuse him of being a child molester in-universe (and in the New 52, Owl Man was a possessive lover of his universe's Dick Grayson), and Teen Titans basically had Deathstroke for that. (And then there's Inheritance.)
The Tick goes the opposite direcrion, simply making Arthur an adult and everyone assumes they're a couple. Helps that there's an older (early 1950s) ineffectual but likely gay DC villain called Killer Moth.
Dangerboat sounds fun.
Aren't sidekicks usually powerless, just along for the ride? Arthur has a superpower suit that allows him to fly, and he applies for superhero registration along with the Tick, so he's more partner than sidekick.
DeleteNot at all, considering Wally West surpassed his uncle long before gaining the powers of someone big, blue, and naked.
DeleteThanks for posting about this funny and yes gay show now I have a crush on Griffin Newman
ReplyDelete