The Tick: The Complete Edlund #[nn]

The Tick, fresh from the nuthouse and full of grand intentions, strides into The City determined to be a superhero. Armed with nothing but his absurd confidence, he quickly tangles with ninjas and narrowly escapes a runaway train—still no closer to proving himself, but undeterred in his mission.

When The Tick tries to help Oedipus retrieve the Thorn of Oblivion from a horde of ninjas—after she’d already stolen it from them—they end up trapped in Oedipus’ house, forced to endure her parents’ dinner party. Amid awkward small talk and escalating chaos, the unlikely trio must survive both the ninjas’ relentless pursuit and the real terror of polite society.

In "A Big Fight," The Tick and Oedipus Ashley Stevens find themselves ambushed at a dinner party by a squad of ninjas, sending the usually unflappable Tick into a spiral of existential panic. As the chaos unfolds, a mysterious Thorn of Destiny surfaces, testing The Tick’s grip on reality—just as Paul the Samurai, tracking his foe Sagin across continents, prepares to settle the score with a weapon no one saw coming: a loaf of French bread.

In "Villans Inc.", The Tick stumbles into a bizarre scheme when The Running Guy attempts to stage a dramatic showdown with the fearsome villain The Red Scare to boost his own heroic credentials—only to have his plans derailed by the absurdly confident and utterly unhelpful presence of The Tick, with Arthur watching the chaos unfold.

In a quiet moment between mayhem, The Tick patrols the city and crosses paths with Brachiating Man, who proposes a bold alliance to eradicate crime entirely. The Tick, ever focused on the immediate threat, insists on fighting crime—just not necessarily eliminating it.

In "The Moon Menace," The Tick teams up with a gruff gum-shoe detective to thwart a bizarre conspiracy involving a pit of man-eating alligators and cows, all while racing to stop Chairface Chippendale from etching his name onto the moon. With his signature absurdity and the iconic battle cry—"SPOON!"—The Tick navigates a rogues' gallery of outlandish foes, including Angus MacGuire, Zipperneck, and the Forehead, in a wild, satirical romp that’s equal parts ridiculous and relentless.

The Tick and Arthur hit the road in a bid to escape The City, only to be pursued by their former asylum mates turned fanatical worshippers. As Arthur drives and the Tick struggles with a 1959 map, their chaotic journey takes them across endless highways—until they’re forced to ask for help, drawing the attention of the Chainsaw Vigilante, who’s already on a mission to cut through the Civic-Minded Five.

In "Some Obstacles and a Partial Resolution," The Tick and Arthur hit the road after a clash with Chainsaw Vigilante, only to find that The Tick’s meteor is home to tiny, chatty aliens. When Arthur picks up the suspicious Red Eye as a hitchhiker, The Tick sets out to drive him mad—without actually killing him—before they arrive in Monolith, Kentucky, where they’re captured by fanatical villagers serving the towering Monoloth.

In a city overrun by costumed crusaders, The Tick and Arthur arrive just in time to find New York teeming with heroes—most of them wildly unimpressed by the arrival of yet another. After a wild night at Agrippa’s favorite club, The Tick faces off against a rival who claims the same name, leading to a showdown that’s as absurd as it is inevitable.

After claiming victory over Barry Hubris and earning the right to the name "The Tick," our hero and his sidekick Arthur settle into the Tick Cave beneath Barry’s mansion—only to find their new home comes with a surprise. Barry, now a guest of honor at his own downfall, summons his rogues gallery to exploit the Tick’s new location, turning the tables with a scheme that’s as unpredictable as it is absurd.

In a wild twist of fate, The Tick and Arthur dive into the twisted halls of Brenda Industries, only to be ambushed by a secret league of villains. Meanwhile, Barry Hubris returns to the Comet Club in his old gear, smugly claiming he’s dealt with the Tick once and for all—sparking a chaotic wave of heroes from across New York to rush to the scene. With every cape in the city suddenly in play, The Tick and Arthur find themselves overwhelmed by the sheer number of would-be saviors and decide it’s time to head back to the City.

The Tick recounts a surreal nightmare where he’s pursued by the cast of The Big Valley, trapped in a plumbing crisis involving something straight out of a Cthulhu myth, and forced to endure a bus ride with Doctor Zachary Smith—Barbara Stanwyck’s presence only adds to the chaos.

In a prison cell, The Tick tries to keep morale up by recalling a wilder adventure—claiming they once rescued Santa Claus from Darth Vader. Arthur, ever the voice of reason, quietly points out that story never actually happened.