The Tick - The Tick '66 - P. A. Nolte

CHIRON: LAST TIME!

1/ The Tick holding up a confusing pile of clues.  There are so many, from a scroll with mysterious writing and a tiki mask to a paddle-ball paddle and bowling pins.  It's all junk.

Caption: Our hero confounded!

The Tick: Are writing desks black?!  Have I solved it?!

2/ Arthur is strapped to an operating table, but The Tick's moth-themed chum looks more puzzled than endangered.  A shadowy figure is reaching out to him, its evil fingers of evil flexed for the purposes of committing evil no doubt.

Caption: His sidekick bounded!

The Villain (Mostly OP): Now we'll see who you really are under that mask, Arthur.

Arthur: Um...

3/ The Tick shamefully handing over a set of keys with a novelty keychain shaped like his own head to a police officer.  Behind them is a large vehicle in the same vein as the Spider-Buggy.  An unnecessary and cumbersome accessory in The Tick's crimefighting arsenal.

Caption: The Tickmobile impounded!

Officer: Sorry, Blue Yonder, but you're in no condition to drive.

The Tick: No, officer.  You're only doing your job.

CHIRON: AND NOW!

4/ The door to the room has swung open, and in the doorway is The Tick.  Tall, blue, heroic, and easily distracted.  In the foreground, Arthur is indeed strapped to a metal table in a standard dingy-looking villainous lair.  Standing over him is The Villain, a real Snidely Whiplash type, who has already pulled back Arthur's mask, revealing the face of... Arthur.  I mean... Duh?

The Tick: Unhand her, Dan Backslide!

The Villain: ...what?

The Tick: I said: Let this anonymous man go and tell me where you're keeping my little buddy, you fiend!

5/ Arthur rolls his eyes, a gesture we can actually see thanks to his mask being removed.

Arthur: Um... Tick?

The Tick: "Origin Story"--David Press.

I thought about starting my script from The Tick's origin story, because we never really get into  where he came from--except that he escaped from an insane asylum. Here, he meets his creator. 

PAGE THREE.

3.1 CUT TO: A small apartment where we can see BEN EDLUND slaving over his drawing board. He looks like he’s sweating and concentrating very hard on the page; his right hand is shaped in all kinds of weird contortions.

NO DIALOGUE.

3.2: The TICK kicks down the door to his apartment. Edlund turns away from us at the invasive super-hero.

1.TICK:                   Edlund! I’ve made it!

2.EDLUND:            What the--?

3.3: The Tick slaps him on the back while he looks down at the drawing board.

3.TICK:              That looks amazing, Edlund! Nice work rendering me.

3.4: The Tick looks down at Edlund, whose face looks like it has just been hit by a mack truck.

4.EDLUND:            How. How…are you here?

3.5: Up on the Tick’s smiling face, from Edlund's perspective.

5.TICK:              You freed me! Don’t you know that you comics can do anything? You can do anything with words and pictures, Ben!

--END--

The Tick - A Crime of Physics - Perry Kent

I'll admit to being fairly ignorant of The Tick, so hopefully this works.

Panel 1

Exterior, day, top of a building. A crook, dressed in a black turtleneck and ski mask with a large money sack, jumps off the edge of the building. The Tick runs across the building top towards where the crook is jumping. The building has a sign that says “Totekatze Trampolines”, though it is not prominent in the panel.

1. CROOK: You won't catch me!

2. TICK: Halt your descent!

Panel 2

The crook bounces off a trampoline that is at the base of the building. If Tick can be seen he looks astounded. The area around the building has lots of trampolines, as the building houses a trampoline business.

3. CROOK: An escape for the history books!

Panel 3

Tick jumps off the building toward the trampoline. He looks determined.

4. TICK: SPOOOOOON!

Panel 4

In a tragic turn events, Tick punches right through the trampoline and into the ground. Dust flies up from the impression he has made on the ground.

5. SFX: CRAAAAASSH!!!

Panel 5

Arthur helps Tick from a hole in the ground under the Trampoline. Tick looks wildly dazed from the situation.

6. ARTHUR: What happened?

7. TICK: The elasticity of the trampoline succumbed to the stress of my super human mass, resulting in a true test of my nigh invulnerability.

8. ARTHUR: And the crook?

9. TICK: I'll need to check a history book.

-END-

The Tick - R&R; - Grant McLaughlin

1 - The Tick sits on the couch in full relaxation mode.  His legs are wrapped in a warm blanket, he has snacks and hot chocolate on the coffee table in front of him, he carelessly holds a book in one hand, and pretty much any number of other vacation / resting ideas (pile of DVDs to watch, a "What to do in The City?" guidebook, etc).  Arthur looks on, perplexed.
LETTERING NOTE: "Staycation" should be written in a bigger style of some sort to emphasize its novelty.

TICK (1): Arthur, prepare yourself for modern life's most ancient and noble tradition of all.

TICK (2): Staycation!

TICK (3): We will rest!

TICK (4): Relax!

TICK (5): Potentially read!

TICK (6): And any number of supplementary activities - some potentially also beginning with "r"!

2 - On Arthur, looking with an expression of surprise / concern over the wealth of staycation material.

ARTHUR (1): ...

ARTHUR (2): Wouldn't you rather be out protecting The City?

3 - The Tick stands up on the couch, striking a thoughtful / oratorical pose.  Perhaps he uses the book as a prop to emphasize his point.

TICK (1): Arthur, to protect The City, we must know what its people love.

TICK (2): What they hold dear.

TICK (3): Only then can we truly understand what it is we protect.

TICK (4): And why it matters that it be protected.

4 - Arthur glumly pages through the "What to do in The City?" guidebook.

ARTHUR: Is there any way I can respond that doesn't result in staycationing?

5 - The Tick swoops in and gives Arthur a great big bear hug of enthusiasm (possibly around Arthur's neck).

TICK: I very much doubt it!

The Tick – The Tick vs. The Bliss of Ignorance – MK Stangeland, Jr.

(THE TICK has become super-intelligent through a turn of events.

Or has he?)

(7 Panels)

Panel 1: THE TICK is sitting in a pose imitating that of the famous THINKER statue, but he’s not actually sitting on anything and his face looks forward with a blank, wide-eyed look of horrible realization. His head has been enlarged in a typical ‘super smart guy’ fashion. ARTHUR stands next to him, worried.

ARTHUR (1): Tick?

ARTHUR (2): Tick, buddy?

ARTHUR (3): Please be alright?

Panel 2: THE TICK turns his upper body to face ARTHUR, grasping him by the shoulders.

ARTHUR: ep!

TICK (1): Don’t you SEE, ARTHUR!?

TICK (2): My lighthouse of truth has suddenly gone dark, leaving me lost in a fog of moral grays that I am unable to navigate, and jagged iceburgs lurk on all sides!

Panel 3: THE TICK philosophizes about his predicament as only THE TICK can.

TICK (1): Once simple concept like ‘good’ and ‘evil’, ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ have suddenly become unsolvable puzzles, complete with those missing pieces you don’t learn about until the puzzle has almost been solved!

TICK (2): How can I truly fight for justice when I can’t even be sure what true justice is anymore?!

Panel 4: ARTHUR tries to get through to TICK.

ARTHUR: Tick! You’re over-thinking things!

TICK: Am I?!

Panel 5: Close up on THE TICK as he thinks really, really hard. You can visibly see that he’s trying to think as hard as he possibly can, so much so that it might even be physically hurting him, if that were even possible. This includes his fingers up against the side of his head in a meaningless gesture of visible thinking.

TICK: Or am I not over-thinking things enough?!

SFX: grrrrrrrr...!

SFX: HRRRRRRRRM!

Panel 6: ARTHUR tries to snap TICK out of his funk by slapping him. His hand only goes so far as TICK’s face and stops right there, as TICK doesn’t move at all in reaction.

ARTHUR: Snap out of it, Tick!

SFX: Sla-…

Panel 7: Small inset panel of ARTHUR, who’s holding his hand and looking down at it after hurting it just a little from slapping TICK.

ARTHUR: ow…

(END PAGE)

Why The Tick?

Neigh-Invulnerable.

Neigh-Heroic.

Neigh-Insane.

He is…THE TICK – The Mighty Blue Justice!

With the aid of his loyal – if cowardly – sidekick, Arthur the Moth, The Tick protects The City as he fights a never-ending battle for justice against evil in all its many deviously evil shapes and sizes.

And everyone else gets a good laugh out of the deal.

Like another franchise of the 80’s/90’s – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – The Tick is one of those comic properties that I discovered as a classic Saturday Morning Cartoon with no idea of its real origins before learning of its true beginnings as a small-time indie comic book that was popular enough to find the right people and hit it big.

That it did manage to reach a wider audience is something the world of comics – and the now sadly defunct concept of Saturday Morning Cartoons – is better for.

SPOOOOOOOOOOON!!!

Cthulhu – The Tick vs. H.P. Lovecraft – MK Stangeland Jr.

(Cthulhu has successfully come to The City. The Tick has proven to be immune to the effects of such, however, on account of his simpler mindset and the fact that he’s kind of insane already. This has left him as one of the few citizens of The City not reduced to a bubbling idiot or whatever it is Cthulhu does to people.)

(5 PANELS)

Panel 1: The setting is on the roof of THE TICK’s apartment building. ARTHUR has succumbed to the influence of CTHULHU. THE TICK holds ARTHUR by the shoulders as he looks at his sidekick in shock.

THE TICK: EGAD! Arthur! Not you too!

Panel 2: THE TICK shoves ARTHUR aside as he turns his attention to CTHULHU (Off-Panel). The force of this is greater than THE TICK intends, but it’s not enough to cause major damage to ARTHUR.

THE TICK: Don’t worry, Arthur! I’ll do everything I can to turn you back!

Panel 3: THE TICK begins to run towards CTHULHU, who can be seen poking its head up above the rooftops in another part of THE CITY, seemingly minding his own business.

THE TICK: If Hollywood has taught me anything, it’s that the only way to turn a zombie back into a person is by killing the head zombie! And to kill the head zombie, I have to destroy its brain!

Panel 4: THE TICK launches itself off a rooftop into the air.

THE TICK: Beware my justice, Giant King Zombie Monster! I’ve even prepared a means to feed it to you!

Panel 5: A long panel across the bottom of the page, showing the skyline as THE TICK leaps towards CTHULHU, who can be seen off at the edge of the panel. THE TICK himself is tiny in this panel on account of how small he is compared to THE CITY and CTHULHU, though his voice can be heard just fine.

THE TICK: SPOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!!!

CTHULU: (Tiny) ?