Speculation abounds as to why "The Tick vs. The Mole Men" is not included in the DVD collection of the first season of "The Tick." Of the thirteen episodes, only twelve make it. Two theories have sprung up since the DVD release involving copyrights, both of which are unconfirmed because they don't hold much water.

Real quick, a copyright is granted upon the creation of an original work of authorship fixed in a tangible medium of expression. (See 17 USC §§ 101-122 for allusions to the law, as I don't want to site everything. This isn't a law review article.)

The first theory was that one of the characters too closely resembled Cindy Crawford. Here she is in a 1992 Pepsi commercial:

The Tick episode in question certainly does poke fun at this ad campaign. Here is a still from the episode in which Mindy Moleford does a commercial for Honesty Cola. I have included the parodic text to show the reader the light-hearted barbs being sent at Cindy.

"I’ve been drinking Honesty Cola almost as long as I’ve had my mole. In fact, drinking Honesty Cola is what’s made me an internationally famous, beautiful, supermodel. Honest."

At the DVD release, people wondered at the missing episode and the answer seemed to be that there was a copyright issue that needed to be dealt with. Some people assumed that Cindy Crawford, less than happy with her portrayal, was angry and somehow prevented the episode from airing. This has been refuted by a few sources and it is easy to see why. The character of Mindy Moleford is a caricature of Cindy Crawford and the message is actually a great commentary on using beautiful people for commercials to sell things. And, as the Tick describes commercials: "Brace yourself while corporate America tries to sell you its wretched things." The law fully allows copyrights to be exploited for the sake of commentary and parody, as long as these arguments are valid and not veiled in an attempt to simply use other people's stuff for free. (*cough, cough, "Family Guy.") So, even if the lovely Ms. Crawford were upset about Ms. Moleford she would have little legal recourse to stop the episode from being on the DVD.

The next big idea concerned the House of Ideas. Yup, people think that Marvel has something to do with the episode being left off. This also has to be wrong.

For copyright infringement, there has to be copyrighted material that is actually reproduced. If something is similar then it must be in such a manner as to not confuse consumers to avoid copyright infringement.

This is Marvel's Mole Man and the Moloids, or Subterraneans. Mole Man is a single, human man. The Moloids are odd, well, I don't know what exactly.

The characters from the Tick? Actual moles; one is a king. And they are completely docile.

So sure, there are similarities, like they all live underground, but that's about it.

On top of this, Marvel doesn't have a registered copyright on Mole Men. (A copyright must be registered in order to bring an action for infringement.) The holder of the Mole Men copyright? Would you believe some of the guys at Hanna Barbara?

Back in the 60s, there was a show called "The Herculoids." In one particularly terrible episode, Markon, the king of the Mole Men, tries to invade the surface (with two Mole Men). Here is Markon:

Here are his idiot minions:

A defense to copyright infringement is that someone created their version wholly independent of the supposed source material. With Mole Men, this could be a solid argument. Moles live underground and, if in the version of men, could want to explore other places. And they could feasibly be ruled by a king, as dictatorships are widespread in all types of societies. Sounds fine... except that Christopher McCulloch was involved with the questionable Tick episode.

Christopher McCulloch co-wrote "The Tick vs. The Mole Men." He also wrote an episode of "The Venture Bros." ("Twenty Years to Midnight") in which the Herculoids are mentioned. It is clear that there is a chance that he saw the Mole Men episode to act as inspiration for the Tick episode he wrote. That is typically all that is needed to show copyright infringement.

So there you have my theory as to why "The Tick vs. The Mole Men" has been left off the first season DVD. Hanna Barbara does not like the similarities. Let's get this rumor out there and give Cindy and Marvel a break.