Cartoons That Made Us Gay: The Tick
Added 2025-05-24 06:14:48 +0000 UTC“The Tick vs. Dinosaur Neil” (September 24, 1994)
Do we have to explain why a cartoon about a super buff man in a skintight suit is gay? Maybe! But the third episode of the original, animated version of The Tick really attempts to signal to viewers that it’s doing more than your average Saturday morning series with an extended joke about The Tick and Arthur defending their lifestyle to Dot, Arthur’s boring sister. It’s very weird to miss all the ways this acknowledges gay subtext in a way few 1994 kids’ shows would.
Watch all three seasons of the original The Tick — even the ones that premiered on Comedy Central! — on archive.org.
Read Frank DeCaro’s interview of Ben Edlund for the LA Times.
Comments
You absolutely need to watch the Warburton series. The pilot is fantastic, and features my favorite pun of all time. But ep 8, ‘Arthur Interrupted’ has themes you discuss in this episode, but takes them to a far darker, and funnier level.
David B Heath
2025-05-31 03:09:13 +0000 UTCThis show is definitely a gay root for me
Hauss Reinbold
2025-05-28 02:35:54 +0000 UTC
