Commenter Of The Day: The Tick Edition

Why is the Tick, the strange super hero of comic book and television, so popular? Is it his muscles? His catchphrases? His accountant/sidekick Arthur? Probably not. The real appeal comes from the Tick's ability to spoof the super hero genre while at the same time embracing some basic ideas. For instance, many villains in comics are escapees from mental institutions. The Tick, himself, escaped from a mental institution. The antagonist is often a villain, but sometimes it's a weapon. In the animated series, the Tick does battle with a particularly evil device: the world's most comfortable chair. Pixar's The Incredibles would later probe a universe in which superheroes exist but are not necessarily appreciated, but the Tick was there first. Today, we asked you what the nicest thing you've done for another motorist was, and little did we know we had a hero in TyrannosaurusWRX.

So I'm driving down I-83 in Baltimore County last summer and I see a school bus filled with disabled children lost control and smash into an already burning building at roughly 400 miles per hour. Stomping on my brake pedal, I leap from my car and use my Hulk Hands to deflect the on-coming traffic. I run fast enough to slow down time as I make it to the crash site, where all the children have caught fire. Thinking quickly, I decided on the only course of action: I grabbed the entire bus, hoisted it onto my back and summoned all of my strength. Seconds later, completely airborne, I fly to the edge of the Chesapeake Bay and prepare to dunk the bus to save the children. However, really thinking about it makes me reconsider the Bay, and I instead fly to the Mediterranean, just for the scenery. After putting out the fire and single-handedly finding cures for all mental and physical forms of retardation, I fly the children back to their school and have them in class seconds too late. They all get detention, but I don't care, I've already returned to my Accord to resume my life as a mild-mannered disguised superhero.

And all without American Maid.