Have you seen this yet? It’s the new Red Band (mature viewers only please) trailer for Kick-Ass which is due out either March or April, depending on which poster you see or trailer you watch.

Hit girl is my favourite anti-hero since The Chainsaw Vigilante from ^TheTick. I have followed the comic with much joy. I loved the story and I loved the raw violence of it, it’s felt more authentic than any other superhero comic I’ve read in years.
I am so looking forward to this film. I’m even looking forward to the cash-in merchandising, especially the figures. Oh yes I am.

Anyway, speaking of ^TheTick, don’t you just hate it, when someone has a go at tackling your favourite comics franchise and then shits on it with such force that you want to bite through brick? Well it happened to me last Autumn when, after a period of silence from New England Comics with Tick publications, I found the first issue of ^The Mangalicious Tick in my local comic shop. I didn’t know it was coming out so I was highly excited by the thought of a new Tick series.

In some ways, there having been no knowledge or expectation of this series was a good thing, because what was delivered was awful. It was meant to be in a Manga style, but it looked like it was drawn by a 12-year-old Manga fan, the sort whose career officer might point them in the way of plumbing as an option, post GCSE. And the story and dialogue, it hurt, it felt like whoever had written it hadn’t ever read the Tick, or merely browsed an issue (I’m sure they knew the Tick, it just felt, wrong). It mad me sad. So very sad. Yet, I still went on to buy all four issues.

I expect this is what people who follow a sport feel like when their team loses.

Thankfully though, all is not lost. A new series has begun, the first issue was out at the end of last year, and the latest issue of The Tick New Series was out last week. It’s a joy to behold. Whilst it will never meet the brilliance the original few series, it’s still The Tick, by someone who knows him, Benito Cereno

I can’t remember if I first saw the Tick in cartoon form on the television or in a comic. I know I liked them both. For years I’ve been slowly picking up lost Tick comics, missing from my collection – thankfully over the course of the last year or so NEC have reissued mostly all the Tick comics in trade paperback form. They’ve been wonderful to re-read, and in some cases read, for the first time. I highly recommend you pick one or two of them up now and begin your Tick journey. Every yard will be worth it.

Whilst I’m here, I will also say I enjoyed the live-action Tick. But as we’re about to see some fairly non-Marvel(y) superhero films making their débuts on the big screens of the world, isn’t it about time there was a Big Tick Movie? He’s ripe for the picking.

One last comic based thing to mention. My favourite World of Warcraft based web-comic, Dark Legacy Comics have created a FREE iPhone/iPod app so you can now download and read all of the back episodes AND receive the new ones too. Here’s the iTunes link:

Tags: comics, dark legacy, films, kick-ass, the tick, trailer

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