I kinda like it. Once you get past Patrick Warburton being behind the camera instead of in the suit, it's a pretty good interpretation. They're taking things fairly slow, building up the world as we follow Arthur's immersion into the Tick's reality with his own fractured grip on a shattered life.
We haven't seen the hero parodies that populate this world yet, because there aren't any here. Heroes have been gone from the city for a while, and The Tick (and Arthur) are the first new heroes to arise. Who might join them over the course of the series is a matter for speculation. Previous hero parodies on the show have often been tied to the individual incarnation of the show, and i've no clue what previous characters may be contractually available, assuming they don't want to use new characters to satirize the modern market. Generally speaking, i don't go looking, either. If i already know i'm going to watch it, then i'll avoid as much foreknowledge as possible. (And quite a bit is possible if one works at it. I didn't know who the villain was in Spider-Man: Homecoming until i heard the name Toomes spoken while watching the film.)
ANYWAY.... I like the Tick. I like Halloween. Oh, look! We've got both!
Arthur and The Tick have gone pumpkin hunting for Halloween, unaware the pumpkin hunt is about to change dramatically...
The pumpkins are soon driven off with the help of Extension Agent (of the USDA), and explanations are provided-
It doesn't take too long for the Tick to realize that if "the city is filled with pumpkins juiced to the gills with virulent puma genes," tonight when the pumpkins wake "HALLOWEEN WILL MEAN THE END OF LIFE AS WE KNOW IT!"
All havoc erupts throughout the city, overwhelming our heroes as they struggle through the chaos with little hope of slowing, much less stopping, the orange horror. Eventually, they realize that it's time to use their brains - "It's all that separates us from the pumpkins." A brief pause to think, a bit of vandalism, and... A-Ha! At the Vegetable Expo-Rama farmers claim to have grown the King Pumpkin!
Quickly, to the Tri-Town Fairgrounds!
Messy fighting ensues, with the Tick trapped in pumpkin goo, while the others (now joined by The Spectacle) fall prey to the tendriled terrors...
And nobody got chocolate.
(Don't worry - we'll talk about Peter Serafinowicz on another day)
The Orange Teeth Of Horror by Clay & Susan Griffith, art by Dave Garcia (2000)
