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Ben Edlund (born September 20, 1968) is an American cartoonist, screenwriter, television producer, and television director. He is best known as the creator of the
satirical Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming or e ...
superhero A superhero or superheroine is a stock character that typically possesses ''superpowers'', abilities beyond those of ordinary people, and fits the role of the hero, typically using his or her powers to help the world become a better place, ...
character
The Tick ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
.


Background

Edlund was born and raised in
Pembroke, Massachusetts Pembroke is a small historic town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. Pembroke is a South Shore suburb of the Boston metropolitan area. The town is located about halfway between Boston and Cape Cod. The town is considered rural wi ...
. He attended
Silver Lake Regional High School Silver Lake Regional High School is a public, regional high school in Massachusetts' South Shore region. It is the only secondary school in the Silver Lake Regional School District, comprising the towns of Kingston, Plympton and Halifax, Massa ...
and was voted by classmates as "Most Artistic" for both the 8th grade and 12th grade yearbook superlatives. At the age of 17, without a driver's license, Edlund was forced to ride with friends and frequent their favorite hangouts. One particular destination, the
New England Comics New England Comics is an American comic book retail chain and publisher headquartered in Brockton, Massachusetts, U.S. They have locations in Quincy, Brookline, Brockton, Cambridge, Malden, New Bedford and Norwood. The chain is known for publish ...
store, spawned Edlund's interest in the comic book medium, which later launched his art and writing career.


The Tick

While still in high school, he began developing his satirical superhero, The Tick, who became the mascot of the New England Comics newsletter. Edlund was invited to create a
comic book series a medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, captions, and onomatopoeia can indicate ...
based on the character by New England Comics when, due to a production mix-up, the publisher needed a new title fast. Edlund graduated from high school in 1986 and continued to draw his popular character while majoring in film at
Massachusetts College of Art Massachusetts College of Art and Design, branded as MassArt, is a public college of visual and applied art in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1873, it is one of the nation’s oldest art schools, the only publicly funded independent art school ...
. The debut issue of ''The Tick'' took a year and a half for Edlund to develop. While still in college, Edlund was approached by Kiscom, a New Jersey-based toy licensing and design company, who wanted to develop merchandising off The Tick. Sunbow Entertainment, a New York-based animation company, paired Edlund up with writer Richard Libmann-Smith. After having their premiere episode turned down by
FOX Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...
, the duo got approval with a refined version. In 1994, ''The Tick'' debuted as an animated series on FOX and lasted three seasons. The program led to various toy and merchandising deals. The limited scope of merchandising compared to other contemporaneous animated series led Edlund to express contentment in his character as a "much more sincere proposal." The Tick appeared on the FOX network in late 2001 with a short-lived live-action series.


Screenwriting

In the late 1990s, Edlund collaborated with
indie Indie is a short form of "independence" or "independent"; it may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Gaming *Independent video game development, video games created without financial backing from large companies *Indie game, any game (board ...
filmmaker
Lisa Hammer Lisa Hammer (née Houle; born April 4, 1967 in Salem, Massachusetts, U.S.) is an American filmmaker, actress, composer and singer and is the sister of director James Merendino (''SLC Punk!'').By Mike White, Cashiers Du Cinemart, (archived versio ...
and her husband, Eric Hammer, on the film ''Crawley''. The Hammers later worked with him again during the creation of ''
The Venture Bros. ''The Venture Bros.'' is an American adult animated action comedy TV series created by Chris McCulloch (also known as "Jackson Publick") for Cartoon Network's late night programming block Adult Swim. Following a pilot episode on February 16, 200 ...
'' which draws inspiration from ''The Tick''. Beginning in 2002, Edlund was employed by
Joss Whedon Joseph Hill Whedon (; born June 23, 1964) is an American filmmaker, composer, and comic book writer. He is the founder of Mutant Enemy Productions, co-founder of Bellwether Pictures, and is best known as the creator of several television series: ...
at Mutant Enemy, first as part of the original writing staff for the space/Western hybrid series '' Firefly'', which was cancelled during its first season, and then on the final season of ''
Angel In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God. Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles include ...
'', where he wrote and also directed the
Hugo Award The Hugo Award is an annual literary award for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year, given at the World Science Fiction Convention and chosen by its members. The Hugo is widely considered the premier a ...
nominated episode, "
Smile Time "Smile Time" is episode 14 of season 5 in the television show ''Angel''. Written and directed by Ben Edlund, with story by series creator Joss Whedon, it was originally broadcast on February 18, 2004 on the WB network. It was nominated for and ...
". Edlund credits Whedon with teaching him to create television character arcs. Edlund also had a hand in creating characters for Whedon's successful web series '' Doctor Horrible's Sing-Along Blog'', to which he contributed "Bad Horse" and the henchman sidekick "Moist". In 2005, Edlund served as co-executive producer on '' Point Pleasant''. He also wrote the '' Star Wars: The Clone Wars'' second season episode "Grievous Intrigue". Beginning in 2006, he served as executive producer, writer, and occasionally director on the TV series ''
Supernatural Supernatural refers to phenomena or entities that are beyond the laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin (above, beyond, or outside of) + (nature) Though the corollary term "nature", has had multiple meanings si ...
'' from season 2 (2006–07) to season 8 (2012–13). On that show, there was a character, a writer/prophet named
Chuck Shurley '' Supernatural'' is an American television drama series created by writer and producer Eric Kripke. It was initially broadcast by The WB network from September 13, 2005, but after the first season, the WB and UPN networks merged to form The CW n ...
, who went by the pen name "Carver Edlund", a combination of Edlund's last name and that of
Jeremy Carver Jeremy Carver is an American television writer and producer. He developed the series '' Being Human'' (2011–2014), ''Frequency'' (2016–2017), and '' Doom Patrol'' (2019–present). Carver was also a writer and producer on the series '' Supe ...
, another ''Supernatural'' producer and writer. The writers named another important character after executive producer Robert Singer. In 2013, Edlund left the ''Supernatural'' writing staff to join the second season of ''Supernatural'' creator
Eric Kripke Eric Kripke (born 1974) is an American writer and television producer. He came to prominence as the creator of the fantasy drama series ''Supernatural'' (2005–2020) which aired on The CW. He served as the showrunner during the first five seasons ...
's new television series, ''Revolution''. It was cancelled after that season. He then joined ''Gotham'' as a producer and writer for the first season (2014–15). In 2015, he became a writer for the second season of the Sony
PlayStation Network PlayStation Network (PSN) is a digital media entertainment service provided by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Launched in November 2006, PSN was originally conceived for the PlayStation video game consoles, but soon extended to encompass smartp ...
original series '' Powers''.


Podcast and radio appearances

Edlund appeared on Ken Reid's ''TV Guidance Counselor'' podcast on May 25, 2016.


Filmography


Film


Television


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Edlund, Ben American television writers Animation screenwriters American male television writers Television producers from Massachusetts Inkpot Award winners Massachusetts College of Art and Design alumni People from Pembroke, Massachusetts 1968 births Living people Tick (comics) Screenwriters from Massachusetts