Red Scare
Context
The Tick was a popular parody super-hero, first seen in 1988. His “you’ve hit the jackpot, tiger” moment was getting his own animated series from 1994 to 1996.
The Red Scare was one of the sort-of-villains in the book. Back during the Tick’s peak in the 1990s, we took these here notes about him.
Overview
The Red Scare works for Villains, Inc., as a super-villain for hire. Villains, Inc., specializes in helping new superheroes get their start by providing them with a superhero “scenario” for a hefty fee. It costs $5,000 to fight and defeat the Red Scare, for example.
Villains, Inc., apparently consists of Mort Spivey (the boss), Red, and Gary (the costume designer). Mort continuously comes up with new supervillain identities for Red, and Gary creates a costume to suit the new persona.
Advertisement
History
Even though he speaks in stereotypical Cold-War Communist fashion, Red Scare is actually neither Russian nor a Communist. His favorite villain identity was the time in Ontario when he was “The Whirlish Scottish Dervish.”
His first appearance as the Red Scare was in The City. He was hired to fight the Running Guy, but wound up fighting the Tick instead.
Description
The Red Scare is immense. Gary, a normal human, needs a stepladder to work on his helmet. His costume is red, naturally, with a yellow hammer-and-sickle design (like the flag of the former Soviet Union) on his chest.
In addition to the weapons noted above, his costume also includes a flowing red cape and spiky wrist and ankle bands.
DC Universe History
Mort, Gary and Red could easily be plying their trade in those areas of the DC Universe which are not crawling with supervillains.
Game Stats — DC Heroes RPG
Tell me more about the game stats
Red Scare
| Dex: 07 | Str: 12 | Bod: 12 | Motivation: Mercenary |
| Int: 02 | Wil: 06 | Min: 06 | Occupation: Supervillain |
| Inf: 04 | Aur: 05 | Spi: 05 | Resources: 04 |
| Init: 013 | HP: 010 |
Powers:
Growth: 02
Bonuses and Limitations:
Growth is Always On and Already Factored into STR.
Skills:
Artist (Actor)*: 04, Weaponry (Exotic Weapons, Melee Weapons)*: 07
Advantages:
Buddy (Morton Spivey), Iron Nerves.
Connections:
Villains, Inc. (High).
Drawbacks:
Secret Identity.
Equipment:
- Hammer [BODY 05, Enhance (EV): 02 (cap is 07), Descriptor: Bludgeon], Sickle [BODY 05, Enhance (EV): 02 (cap is 06), Descriptor: Slashing].
The Red Scare has a large hammer and sickle chained to either wrist. They aren’t CAPITALIZED because the Tick took them away quite easily. - Shoulder Pads [BODY 04, EV 08].
The Red Scare wears spiked shoulder pads (actually made from Volkswagen fenders). (These, too, are not CAPITALIZED because the Tick yanked one off and beaned Red with it.)
Source of Character: The Tick #6 (New England Comics).
Custom action figure shot from : http://rocinante.colorado.edu/~mnowak/TICK/tick.html (defunct).