"Kick 'im to the Side!"

Well it's been a while since I've done one of Janet's “Tell It To Me Tuesday" memes, and I've put this one off for a few days until I could tackle it properly. This week she asked, "Who, in your opinion, were the best sidekicks of all time and why?"

She of course meant supporting characters in films and televisions shows, but being a recovering(who am I kidding?) comic book geek, some four color sidekicks will make this list as well, starting with the one who inspired the title of this post:

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When I was touring the university I eventually attended, I visited the offices of the school paper. There the staff proudly showed off their comic strips, including one in which the sidekick was actually more capable than the hero. I thought it was a pretty original idea, albeit crudely drawn, but ill-informed in the exploits of independent comic book characters, I wasn't aware of The Tick and his partner Arthur(probably the inspiration for the student’s idea) until they got a hilarious animated series. The Tick was super strong and nigh invulnerable, but a complete moron. Arthur was a timid accountant with no real powers and a pair of giant moth wings he used to glide around with. In an early encounter with some antagonists, when he introduces himself as the sidekick, one of the mobster quips, “Boys, kick ‘im to the side!” Arthur might not have been a powerhouse, but he was definitely the brains of the operation and I definitely know what it's like when one's sidekick has his act together more than the hero of the story.

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I think when most people hear the name Dick Grayson, they think of Burt Ward in uncomfortably small green briefs slamming his fist into the palm of his hand, exclaiming some relevant word preceded by the word “Holy-!” The televised Batman has the most recognizable incarnation of Robin, but how many people know that several successors have taken on that role in the comics, or that Dick eventually grew out of the shadow of the Bat and made an identity for himself as Nightwing? There was even a brief period of time during which he covered for an injured Bruce Wayne and donned the cape and cowl himself. He's the best choice as a successor, but has successfully carved out his own identity as a hero.

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Switching gears now from comic books to television, my next choice is Cosmo Kramer from Seinfeld. His off-the-wall mannerisms and unique approach to life often made him the most animated of the quartet, and with the debatable exception of George he was probably the funniest. He's definitely more memorable than Elaine and the show's “star”, Jerry. His popularity can be likened to that of The Fonz, but Fonzie can't really be considered a sidekick or a supporting character as he was intended to be, since he got a larger role. These days Michael Richards might be a washed-up racist, but at least he has a character we can look back on fondly, kind of how I like to think of O.J. as Nordberg from The Naked Gun series, rather than someone who probably stabbed a couple of people...

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Joe Pesci's Nicky from Easy Money is one of film's more memorable sidekicks, and to this day the first thing I think of when I think of that movie is his telling a boat operator to “take a right by the statue of dat broad in the harbor”. I wish I had more movie sidekicks on this list. I've seen so many, but wracked my brain trying to think of more. I'm sure they'll come to me after I post, or after a few comments of “how could you leave off so-and-so?”

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Big Guy and Rusty The Boy Robot was a 26 episode animated series based on a graphic novel of the same name. The show had an interesting twist, in that while Rusty was an actual advanced artificial lifeform, he was unaware that the Big Guy was actually not another robot, but a battlesuit piloted by the man who posed as the Big Guy's mechanic. In this dynamic robot duo, only the sidekick was a robot.

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The Flash shouldn't be considered a sidekick, so I'll have to defend my reasoning. Specifically, I'm referring here to his animated incarnation, as voiced by Michael Rosenbaum. That Flash was Wally West, whose comic book counterpart began his career as Kid Flash before going from sidekick to senior hero. On Justice League, he definitely behaved as a junior member of the team, always cracking jokes and being scolded by the more serious members. Often his one-liners stole the show, and in one episode, “Flash and Substance”, we learn that a lot of his juvenile behavior is an act, that he cares about his friends, the people he saves, and even his enemies. One of his best moments was in the episode “The Great Brain Robbery”, in which his mind switches places with Lex Luthor's. Rather than describe it and not do it justice, here's a clip.

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R2-D2 is a sidekick only because C-3PO treated him as one. We all know the little beeping droid had all the knowledge. He knew the score, unlocked locks to get them out of tough jams, and of the pair had the better idea of what was really at stake. In fact, in light of the prequels, R2 was more informed than his human allies as well.

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Joey Ice Cream from The Black Donnellys has a great role as the show's narrator. In jail, he's spinning the tale of four brothers he grew up with, and their ties to the Irish mob. With a Brooklyn accent and a sharp wit, we're never quite sure if he's telling us the truth or not, and there are many hilarious occasions on which he's called on it. “How could you know all this?” asks a cop after he recounts a private conversation between two of the Donnellys in an empty bar. “Oh yeah, I was there.” adds Joey, just as he appears at the bar in the flashback. “What's Joey Ice Cream doing here?” asks one of the brothers, noticing the sudden addition of the character. It's a great execution, and movies like Fight Club and The Usual Suspects have me expecting some possible twists down the line, but we'll see what happens. In the meantime, he's a great character to watch.

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Lost is an ensemble series, and through flashbacks each week any one of the cast could be brought to center stage. Still, in both the structure of the show and the social hierarchy among the survivors of a plane crash on a remote island, some have more important roles than others. Hurley is as important to the story as anyone else, but socially he's more of a sidekick than a leader. This hefty survivor keeps everyone's spirits up and hopeful, and he always has a great show-stealing one-liner, even if it's something as simple as “Dude....”

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Brian Griffin has his share of problems. He's an alcoholic. He's in love with his best friend's wife. He'd rather go to the bathroom on the lawn than on a toilet, and he barks uncontrollably at black people. Some of these traits are understandable, since Brian is a dog, after all. For all his faults though, Brian talks and is a really smart dog. He'll often point out in dry sarcasm to his owner Peter why an idea is stupid right before Peter does it anyway, and there have been many occasions in which he'll outsmart Stewie, a genius baby who can build high tech weapons but lacks some of the family dog's street smarts.

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That's all I have time for, for now. Maybe someday I'll write about Norton, Kato and other sidekicks. That post will be a sidekick to this one, and just might outshine it....