I had a stroke of luck (better than a regular stroke) recently and was able to get a copy of New England Comics Newsletter #14. Most newsletters, especially from local comic shops, aren't anything to get that excited about, but this one is different as it contains the very first appearance of The Tick! Published in the summer of 1986, this pre-dates the "special edition" of The Tick #1 by almost two years, and prints the first comic artwork of Ben Edlund, who would have been a few months short of his 18th birthday at the time.
The front cover uses the template that Marvel did for their 25th anniversary covers from '86. Instead of the barcode, The Tick shows up on the cover, too, along with characters like, um, the Thing.
The Tick's first story was only two pages, and even then NEC put them both sideways to fit on a single printed page. Let's look at each of them a little more up close:
The Tick was originally drawn with a fuzzy suit and with distinguishable toes, as opposed to the boots that he's seen with today. You'll also notice that the character's antennae are kind of droopy. This look carried over into 1988's Tick #1. You'll also probably notice the very obvious appearances by two characters who appear to be borrowed from the Muppets, Bunsen and Beaker.
So does this mean that The Tick escaped from TWO asylums, as The Tick #1 features a similar scene with The Tick leaving a clinic just outside of The City? Or does The Tick #1 simply re-tell this short with a few edits? Since NEC has made it clear that this is in-continuity, I'd say that The Tick made his way across the country and stopped at more than a few asylums along the way. But why is The Tick punching poor Beaker? What did he ever do to him?!
Perhaps presciently, above the two pages is a note telling readers to hang onto their copies. "And it's not totally beyond the realm of possibility that the Tick may appear in his own comic book one day." Two-for-two, I guess.
That's it for The Tick in this publication, but let's take a peek a few more items to appear at the same time. On the very next page, we see an ad for Watchmen #3!
And here's a quick paragraph on the upcoming Transformers movie!
Highlighted is a short description of Fantastic Four #296, the 25th anniversary issue that featured the return of the Thing!
Here's the back cover.
My copy came with a certificate signed by Ben Edlund, George Suarez (publisher) and Bob Polio (art director). It looks like they printed these things out in 2013.
Since we're here, let's take a quick look at New England Comics Newsletter #16, which I picked up at the same time. I've never seen a copy of issue 15 - does it even exist? Keep your eyes peeled.
NEC classifies this as the third appearance of The Tick, which, I suppose, is correct, because there he is on page seven! This Christmas-themed Edlund drawing is pretty tiny, and it's the only mention of the blue guy (who I suppose wasn't even blue at this point) in the newsletter. And it'd be the last we'd see of him until 1988!
There are a few other interesting items in this issue, including a Batphone drawing by Bob Polio.
Also printed is a comics survey, which NEC hoped people would fill out and mail back to them (but then they'd ruin their copies of the Tick's third appearance!!).
Included in the survey is "What do you think about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?" (Actually, it says "What you do you", but these things happen.)
And lastly, checking out these 30-plus-year-old correspondences, we find this one from Anton Selisky of Truro, MA, who somehow worked up the gall to complain about people hiring Jack Kirby to draw for their books. 1986 was, as mentioned, the 25th anniversary of Marvel (not really, but just go with it), and at the time, some of Kirby's friends were pointing out that the co-creator of much of the Marvel Universe was being kept away from the company. This was an early example of the creator's rights struggle that many people didn't talk about at the time. It's kind of funny that this reader wrote a letter complaining about putting politics in comics, given some of today's more ridiculous positions on the matter. I guess nothing changes!
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