 Hi everyone, this is Gicho. Welcome to my channel and welcome back to reading set number four. And what we're gonna do in this video is read the tick special edition number one and it's the first appearance of the tick. I haven't time to read this comic to you guys. And this comic came out in March 1988 and it's created by Ben Edland and the character first appeared in a newsletter by New England Comics. It's a comic book chain on the east coast in the Boston area and they had a newsletter and they I believe that I don't have those newsstands newsletters. I don't know if they're available for buying. I've looked a few times but I haven't been able to find them and if I ever do I'll definitely try to get my hands on them but it was basically a newsletter that New England Comics was putting out and they tested out you know putting out a story with the tick and I believe Ben Edland was sort of a customer at New England Comics and they sort of collaborated together and they put out you know a couple of stories with the tick and then they decided to print these special editions. This is special edition number one and this is special edition number two. Okay so this is actually put out by the comic book chain New England Comic right and New England Comic NEC and they put out some other comics after this as well. I'm not absent sure if this is the first type of comic that they put out because they put out some stuff sort of spin-offs from the tick and stuff like this but I'm not sure if there was anything before this they printed so this is a tick special edition number one and this is what we're going to read. Okay and these things were limited to 5,000 print run and this is tick special edition number two and again this was limited to a 5,000 print run. I believe 5,000 it might be 3,000 but I would guess it would be 5,000. We might crack it open and take a look at a number because they're sequentially numbered. Okay so this came out in March 1988 and I believe this came out either a month later or two months later and then this is the tick number one issue number one. Okay and this thing came out in June of 1998 right so tick special edition came out in March and then we have April, May, June so three months later tick number one came out and this issue tick number one is basically a reprint of the special edition. I'm not sure if it's got a couple extra pages in it or not but it's a reprint of the tick special edition right and the tick number one has had multiple multiple printings. I don't know how many printings it's at right now maybe nine maybe 10 maybe eight and some of the printings have additional pages added onto them right so this is I don't know what printing this is featuring the first appearance of the tick. I don't know which printing this is this might be the second printing of issue number one which is this in turn is a reprint of the special edition right so this one says four new pages added neat that's one thing that tick says along with a spoon right and I don't know for some reason I don't think I have tick number two this is tick number three and I got two copies of tick number three and then tick number four and this is where Arthur um has his first appearance and he he's uh tick's sidekick right and from what I understand I haven't seen it yet but supposedly Arthur um you can see him in the background as some of the other issues some of the early issues but this is considered to be his first full appearance I guess the plot six and then this is um tick number five this is another character that came off from the tick universe and there's a whole bunch of zany characters from the tick comic book series and this is number six and I have it all the way up to have at least three more issues past this I believe okay I just didn't grab them and this is uh this comic book series is definitely it was on the ground when it came out and the tick really became popular for me as well I didn't really the tick really didn't hit my radar initially until well it I knew about it it did hit my radar in the early 1990s but I really didn't get absorbed into the tick universe until that animated series came out because the tick has been it's been very successful it's been rated as uh you know as as one of the most important comic book superhero characters in the in the comic book realm I guess uh some people have put it into the top 100 some people I put it in top 200 and whatnot right some people have even put in top 50 most important comic book characters in history right and there's been there's tons of toys and I actually have a couple of the toys of the tick from the early 1990s but the tick really hit everybody's radar with the the animated series that came out in 1994 and that's really when the tick uh when I fell in love with the tick right that that animated series is absolutely fantastic and if you haven't seen it I highly highly recommend it there's 36 episodes and ran for three seasons okay and it's absolutely brilliant and the voice for the tick is is fantastic right it's beautifully done and then the tick had a you know there was a tv series that came out in 2001 it only ran for one season nine episodes and that tv series was absolutely brilliant as well okay the actor that played it was Patrick War Burton I can't pronounce his name War Burton I guess uh and he did an amazing job portraying the tick really he did a fantastic job I was very very because I was watching that series when it was coming out in 2000 and 2001 and I was so disappointed that it didn't get picked up it didn't continue um I was so sad that it really didn't because I thought it was one of the best comic book tv series live um that had ever been created and if you've been following um what's coming out in tv series they just relaunched um the tick live action series they just released six episodes uh sort of a pilot episode was put out in 2016 that I watched that I thought was interesting I was curious where we're going to go and I just did a marathon on the first six episodes that came out and I love it it's it's a great series it's a lot darker than what the 2001 and 2019 94 series the animated series were uh really it's it has a really dark feel to me uh this new series that's kicked off um in 2016 I guess 2017 because really when they released it right and they did a little costume change between the pilot episode and episode number two I believe okay and um it's a good series and there's I believe six more episodes to be released in 2018 okay there's only one criticism I have actually with the new series that kicked off we haven't heard the tick say spoon and that's sort of his battle cry I can't remember if he said it or not if he said it please let me know I'll check back on the episode and make sure I didn't miss it because um that's sort of a trigger for me um when the tick goes around saying spoon before he goes into battle right so we're going to crack this open and take a look at it um and you know what let's crack this open as well and I'm just going to show you I'm going to crack tick number one open as well just to convince you that that's a reprint of this because I really have to do it to myself as well right so let's uh let's just crack the number two open look at the numbering on this and then we can put it back in the bag and these books uh the special edition number one and number two we'll take a look at this let's uh let's see what this is like it's a nice copy okay I would grade this special edition number two is around 8.5 and the special edition number one I would grade around an eight and it's beautiful artwork his artwork is absolutely fantastic and Ben Edlon he did the art the script he did everything for this right and this one's numbered 1,095 out of 5,000 I believe should be 5,000 anyway I know the number one is out of 5,000 this doesn't say but this is a nice copy I would definitely give this around well maybe an eight I would give both the special edition number one and number two and eight and this thing's going you could have bought these on the cheap a few weeks ago you could have bought it on a cheap relative cheap anyway a few years ago and just to look on the what was going on with the prices of these things I looked it up and let's put this guy I looked this up and the cgc graded the high grades for this are going for a lot higher prices and the raw copies that aren't graded are going for much more a few weeks ago I saw number one and number two special edition number one and number two both of them graded around nine sell for 120 bucks 140 bucks or so I didn't have the funds at that time to buy it but it was already tapped out that was already hit my budget but right now those same bucks would probably fetch around 250 to 300 right on ebay since the pilot has been released so let's take a look at this we'll keep this in mind okay so this is tick number one from the continuing series and we'll just and this one is a pretty good copy and this was graded better which the board on this on this the board is a little dirty and I bought these tick sets so I'll take it like this okay and I bought these tick these tick comments a whole lot of them on ebay okay that's a lot and the person when he shipped it out to me so we're going to crack this open and just flip just to make sure everything's a reprint right I'm gonna the person shipped it out to me he did it was the most horrendous shipping packaging I've ever received not for the special edition but for the tick continuing series right and it was horrendous packaging and the comic I believe got a little bit of damage got a little bit of dings from the shipping so it's one of the few times ever I've only done this twice I believe even a negative feedback and I went and left a negative feedback for a person uh without even contacting him because it was just horrendous horrendous right and the guy quickly emailed me back and said oh please you know take off the negative feedback he was he was a husband and wife team that were doing selling these books and I said listen uh you know with the emails they said listen you you just threw these in a box without anything and not even a box like a paper package and just shipped them out to me with wrapping that wasn't even wrapped and they'd come loose and the guy goes oh look I'm really sorry could you call ebay and just cancel your negative feedback and I said look man you can't do that and the guy what he ended up doing he refunded me the whole everything for all the books and the shipping so he gave me a full refund on the package and said keep the comics so I felt really really bad so I called up ebay and I talked with them it took about half an hour 45 minutes to jump through the hoops and I had the negative feedback retracted and the guy sent me any message saying thank you very much for calling ebay and taking care of it so I ended up getting all of these tick books for free I was gladly willing to pay what I was willing to pay but the guy did her on this job so just a note if you're ever buying things on ebay never be afraid to contact the seller and I've done this one more time a person sent me a book and he was pulling a scam there was a page missing from a book I bought a while ago and one of the things was loose and my contacts say hey listen there's a page missing in this it was just an ad page it was in the story page I believe it was on the story page and the guy refunded me half of my purchase of everything right so never be afraid on ebay if you're buying anything to contact the seller and let them know that you're not happy with their their shipment so you can see this is tick number one and this is a special edition and it's a full reprint and this is nice and white and this one is a not as white as this because the paper quality on this is better the paper quality on this I believe anyways a little bit thinner right so let's just flip through it we're gonna read through this whole thing I didn't really want to flip through this thing but I'm just gonna flip through it just to make sure there's no extra pages beautiful beautiful artwork like amazing storytelling let's see if the these are the same oh this is a little different right the letters page I guess sort of commentary they're giving and then it goes back to this same this is a character that's like a parody of Superman he doesn't like the tick it's so funny so funny and let's take a look oh there's a little pin-up here take a look this one is a special edition number one and two and this one is a pin-up instead of that page right so let's take a look at the pin-up because we won't get to see it here look at the writing your friend the tick this is a special edition number two that we pulled out took the look of numbering one thousand something and here is tick number two the ad they have for it right and I'm not sure if tick number two is supposed to be because I don't have it or haven't been able to find it tick number two I don't know if it's supposed to be a reprint of this it might be not I'm sure and obviously the text here is a little different and we're back here and the back cover is the same so just in case if you're a collector you're wondering what the difference is between the special edition and number one looks like there's a pin-up difference right there's a pin-up in number one that there isn't there the letters page is different some of the text is different the back of the front cover is different right so let's close this off better put the tape on it actually it's okay if I gotta change the board for this anyway right so let's put this here put this guy back over here they're nice and safe we'll put on their reading glasses all right and have a read through this and let's look at the grid on this again there's a little bit of scuff mark it could use a little bit of cleaning right so I would create this at around an eight seven point five if I wasn't being generous I would give it eight point five if I was being generous but I would give this nice solid staples are good I'm not really doing any restoration or anything or cleaning all the comics but there is a way to get rid of some of these scuff marks maybe sooner or better later but check like this he's got it signed here it's 87 right newsletter the new england newsletter um a comic newsletter that came out it came out in 1986 so the first appearance of the tick there's a little dirty the first appearance of the tick is in 1986 in newsletter format which for comic books is really not well certain things go for I'm pretty sure that things if there's any copies around there probably is it's probably going for a hefty sum and I personally would pay a hefty sum for it to acquire it right but this is the first appearance of the tick and all these are this is electros move and that's a superman's move well as we got here we got a whole bunch of characters here these are ninjas awesome so and these are large format I should have brought a like a regular comic book just to show you that regular comic books smaller than this so these are like they're even bigger than golden age I think or it could be golden age size pages let's read the fine print of this and then we'll read the tick talk as that tick talk as well okay and this is this is number 3125 okay is a limited edition of 5000 copies and let's read the five the tick special edition number one march 1988 published by new england comics press pure box 1424 brockton massachusetts 02403 the tick is trademark and copyright 1988 by ben atlund all other materials is copyright 1998 by new england comics press all rights reserved no similarities between any of the names characters and or institutions in this publication with those of any living or dead person or institution is intended and any such similarity which makes this is purely coincidental printed in a good old us of a by american by bonds so let's have a read through just this letter the first little page they have so we get a feel for what the tick is right and we'll have a good feel of it welcome to the tick special edition what you hold in your hands is one of 5000 specially special serially numbered copies of this deluxe edition of the tick number one this publication is being distributed only through new and comics many of you have ordered this comic through any c ads and catalogs as an ordinary issue number one we've printed this special edition as our way of saying thanks for your support if the tick becomes the popular character which we expect he will be you hold in your hands a real collector's item his very first comic book appearance so who or what is the tick well he's the creation of a young artist by the name of ben atlund ben created tick as a joke at first he had noticed with some discomfort while on a nature outing that ticks have a number of superhero type qualities for one they're virtually indestructible it's almost impossible to crush a tick see later in this issue like most insects they can fall from great heights and walk away would marry a hair out of place of course they have some nasty traits also they they borrow under your skin and take sustenance by sucking blood you'll find here that ben's tick has a figurative way of getting under people's skin does he also suck blood we'll learn about that in due course in these quality qualities ben saw the potential for an interesting comic book character and did some sketches how did new england comics end up publishing the tick well i'm one of the owners of any seat and like so many people involved in comics i've always harbored the notion of publishing my own comic book however unlike so many amateur publishers i haven't wanted to put my name on my companies or my company's name on anything that wasn't top notch for the longest time i was unable to find any project which was really special then one summer day i walked into any seat a brockton location and noticed a little sketch placed upon the store's bulletin board uncrushable unstoppable the tick it was crude compared to what you'll find in these pages but very intriguing i contacted the artist discussed various project possibilities and as they say in hallowood the tick was born so what's the tick all about i'm going to let ben tell most of the story in the pages of this and subsequent issues i will say here that mr etlon has a well-developed storyline which runs through at least the next 10 installments of i for one eagerly look forward to upcoming issues herein you'll i'll give you a few sneak peeks issue number two completes the tale who's beginning you're about to read the thick tick is entitled it is titled the third tick the thing the third tick is entitled night of a million zillion ninjas in which the tick tackles the city's peculiar vermin problem over-proliferation of martial artists in the course of this confrontation he means odiapus a young female ninja of as ben puts it extraordinary ineptitude you may be able to pick out odi as she's known to her friends on the back cover in fact number of characters popping up in future tick pages are showcased on this tick family portrait around the fifth or sixth issue the tick deals with militant militant armed amish crusaders and a hideous monster known as known as the almond blight beast which emerges from beneath the massachusetts parking lot to terrorize new england after that the tick travels to mars where he means edgard warlord of and to 1930s paris where he tangles with some bad guy nazi and a variety of pulp style heroes with matters being complicated by the same kind of tickish communication screw screw ups you will be encountering in this issue how does it take get back from mars and from thirties friends hey what can't we can't tell you everything now in fact for all i know he never gets back i do know that sometime during his adventures he'll encounter a criminal mastermind who happens to be a dolphin a rolling god who knows all about aqueducts another evil genius who's an infant a vigilante lunatic whose favorite weapon is a chainsaw and a certain wind wonder whose first appearance if you look close can continue on inside back cover inside back cover so um a certain wind wonder whose first appearance if you look close can can be seen in this very issue in fact in every issue of the tick it makes real good sense to watch the background in action ben's backgrounds are definitely not just decorative if you get caught up in the action during your first read be sure to get go back and steady everything one more time it'll be well worth your while eventually right and what he's talking about there is arthur i believe right at this point at this point a few of you may be thinking that the tick is just another parody comic well i can't with all this sincerity tell you that's the furthest thing from the truth certain certainly there are parody elements in the tick but ben's incisive treat incisive treatment of certain comic book trusums and axioms is hardly hardly the essence hardly the essence of the comic ninjas don't appear in the tick to increase sales if that were true we plaster them all over the crop cover they appear in these pages because ben considers their overuse in comics to be something worth commenting upon the same can be said for a lot of comic book cliches which will be lampoon in future issues the tick is infinitely more than the sum of a few per paradoxal parts as the tick himself as the tick says himself i am not a roach i am a tic and that makes all the difference i think that's enough of a sneak preview for this issue let me assure you that there's lots more for instance we haven't even begun to touch upon why the tick was an insane asylum or how he escaped or who the tick is or was before he became the in inevitable tick or for that matter if he's really wearing a costume could he actually be a man size insect mutation beats me ben doesn't tell everything even to his publisher now now that i've wedded your appetite i should tell you when when more tick stories will become available current plans are for the special edition to be followed by a regular tick number one which will be distributed through normal comic store channels this will be basically the same as the special edition but with slightly different editorial content the regular number one will be out real soon probably in late april there will be a special edition number two available in april or may to other to order either special edition see the ad elsewhere in this issue then we hope the tick will s tick to to every other month schedule in fact if we can find the fast anchor whose style is compatible with ben ben's pencils we will attempt monthly publication but no promises and somewhere along the line ex expect to see a tick number zero in which we will try to get ben to relate some ticks pre tick experiences if you've ordered the tick through the mail rest assured you'll find out what these projects via our tick mailing list if not send your name or address to moxpress purebox 1424 brockton massitude sets 20403 our last bit last bit of information for those of you who want every single appearance of the tick let me say that the very very first time the tick appeared in print was in back issues of new england comics newsletter a single page illustrating his escape from the asylum appeared in number 14 july august 1986 followed by one page on the lamb interlude in number 15 september october a small christmas illustration appeared in number 16 november december at that point ben began to concentrate his energies on developing the comic book please note that the pre tick story which will eventually be told in the tick comics may well differ from that described in these early experimental newsletter appearances we have limited quantities left of these new newsletter back issues rather than seldom we will send the complete set for free upon request to anyone ordering a one year or longer newsletter subscription see the centerfold for ordering information we will provide originals of these issues as long as our back issues last and afterwards send photocopies of the tick appearances first come first serve and only one set per subscriber please finally ben himself and everybody and nc press are eager to hear your opinions on the tick the tick talk page is for you send your letters to the address at the top of the page the best letter each issue will be awarded an autograph page of original tick art oh my god i wish i would get my hands on that george surez editor nc press february 23rd 1988 uncrushable unstoppable the world's first glimpse of the tick ah so this was the first sketch of the ticket board board board i've only been here two months and i'm already bored one unnecessary sedation no electroshock therapy not even like elevator music this place has become confining somehow i feel restrained you know insane asylum all tied up in the loony bin jacket and yet i sense my destiny is at hand things are changing and a brilliant idea has come to me i would leave this place the city calls me it cries to me of its need and as i approach it antenna twitching in anticipation i see the city for what it is a big place with lots of buildings and lots of rooftops to jump around that's what i do i'm a superhero and the city needs me destiny is a funny thing once i thought i was destined to become emperor of greenland soul monarch over its 52 000 inhabitants then i thought i was destined to build a polynesian longship in my garage that was wrong then but i've got it now i'm the destined protector of this place i'm this city's superhero oh i especially like the part about dancing across rooftops and like a god when i do that people say that i'm out of touch with reality that i'm insane sometimes i forget things who i am where i am unimportant things crash i'm a dick he says there's crime here i can smell it all is in readiness secret crime viewer engaged i am too in readiness i mean the age of dinosaurs and weight he's looking through this you put that round thing in the camera and you clicked it on the side this old school click it on the side and the thing rotates and shows you stuff one more time old man where's odepius you cannot keep the truth from ninja i think my secret crime viewer is broken i had a grave mistake fool i thought who would hold me you guys should really get rid of these full recent lights you're losing all your vitamin d wait a minute you guys are all ninjas ninjas i can't stand them they're everywhere attack him be thrust dodge i cool i cool i all right guys i've had just about enough i sit quitted boop fly sorry citizen there's crime out there and i've got to fight it jump through the window breaks it after him well jump i'm not going to jump you jump then it just says click oh the oval office of the white house it works click bounce off that flagpole and flip the safety snap he's still clicking this thing a bounce off that broad flat surface a lot of pink in the new series tv series out they do this sketch they do the sketch it's pretty cool wait a minute the text says there's no crime here well gee this thing doesn't seem to work very well things don't go what the hell are you huh tixas how are you a superhero oh a superhero well i guess you would be after living through a fall like that you're involuntary no the thing's still vulnerable nigh what the hell is nigh i am ninja i am invincible me too me too he says the ninjas say if you're superhero then why aren't you out saving the world infidel i will kill you i think i'm trying to develop my character take replies and what's going on with that costume it's the pavement what's going on costume what are you supposed to be you some kind of roach or something what some kind of what i think it's a great i've never seen a roach in my life okay okay i didn't mean nothing by cheese oh this guy says so you're a tick huh see didn't you escape from an insane asylum a couple of weeks back my mind reels and spins as the speed of light at the speed of light as i search for the perfect response perfect alibi for the past two weeks uh no it's like what oh well then it was the perfect answer completely and no one could mistake that for you too funny here's the newsletter let's continue on with the story why you're blue no more talking i'm getting bored with you be quiet sh shut up that was close they might not be a brilliant i might not be so brilliant next time he says maybe i should get one of those secret identities i wish i could find some crime fight crime to fight his eyes looking at what's going on there is arthur check it out there he is right there he becomes his sidekick full appearance initiative number four i think this is a normal walk well pain i can't remember who did this painting what are you some kind of weirdo but what i'm a tick your buck tick you tick for arachnids they got eight legs you haven't got eight legs what are you an expert to tick do you suck blood what tick suck blood do you suck blood or uh yeah uh yeah i suck blood all the time i don't believe you the guy says i got a straw right he's like what's going on tick's holding a straw the straw on his mouth flip flip don't think didn't think so he says it took easy big fella easy so you're a tick so what i mean i get all kinds here imperial romans extraterrestrials time traveling fish you think you think being a tick is bad try being a walking dead oh walking danda gee no thanks yeah well see what i mean right no one's got their own problems buddy hell i still get visions from my previous life astuto roosevelt's daughter being a tick it's a problem it's an honor you can't be a you can't be alice roosevelt she's dead she was a woman you can't be you you can't be no dead whoa he never mind the guys that's uh the restaurant owner likes to tick so tired all of a sudden he says i'm bound to get lightheaded sucky hair throw a straw like that are you all right buddy too funny too funny gee it sure is dark in here i must be in a whale great scott someone's in the tunnel and the train's coming isn't a subway tunnel the wonder stun city weekly world planet too many people here i won't be able to change into my costume i can't risk revealing my secret identity the helpless right wrongs and stand for truth justice in the american way then i should write this stuff down got to use my very quick speed to move faster than the eye can follow oh i'm not too upon my whale anatomy but i don't recall them having two metal rails in their stomach it's probably a blue whale wait a minute it's three rails in here this is dangerous the one that's electricity do you want it i guess here comes the superman's fifth dude guy he touches it zowie electrocutes himself quickly citizen we're almost out of time a gigantic well-dressed digested man i'm sorry i am a police citizen the train is almost here hey hands off the tix says no you don't understand i'm a superhero i have to save you hi hi nice try your there's the train coming in the background say what what's going on what is that oh it's a train that takes sense he's got a smile on his face look at that thud rumble clang rumble clang choo choo loud noise rumble i hate getting run over by trains the tix this is happening this guy says there goes his shoes wait a minute that was a subway back there so you're invulnerable too huh i'm not invulnerable too bad parry's going to kill me damn maybe i could fly around the earth on a herd of speeds and reverse time that's a spoof of superman movie right the first one with christivary fantastic movie no i did that last week damn so to take us you're a superhero too you got a secret identity wins listen to me very carefully i am clark up and hymer mild manner reporter got that you don't look like a reporter to me clark clark clark come back you forgot your hat hi rise hi jinx next issue fantastic read what a fantastic read let's read this as well this last page back trail by abdod rod so it's not been atlanta ticks are ticks are small eight-legged parasites that prey on man and pests alike they come off easily with a little salad or mineral oil but i prefer to just rip them out sparky doesn't mind yep look at it look at it he horrible chitinous body it's tiny flailing legs see that didn't hurt at all did it sparky no sir funny thing about ticks is that they're nigh incrustible try as you might the buggers don't just don't smush some folks like to inhale them or on needles and such but i like to wrap them and clean eggs and burn them sparky is that you boy that takes time behind special edition number one and two that takes special edition number one is limited to five thousand serially numbered copies and available only through new england comics it will never be reprinted in this form the tick special edition number one is 32 pages printed on super white offset stock with a hundred pound double glossy four color covers hey we don't have to tell you you're holding one right now tick special edition number two will be available soon it will continue the adventures of the tick in the hectic world of big time crosswords the tick special edition number two will be limited to five thousand serially numbered copies in the same format as special edition number one we are accepting advanced orders now order for the tick comics other foreign foreign should send five dollars per copy canadian customers three dollars must read that if you want to order tick number one special edition tick special edition number one and or tick special edition number two by themselves not as a part of a regular mail order see send a dollar fifty plus one dollar shipping 250 total per copy order canadian customers should send three dollars per copy other foreign should send five dollars per copy fantastic great fantastic great i hope you enjoy that's it for now i'll see you guys in the next video