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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 o ...
superhero character The Tick.


Background

Edlund was born and raised in Pembroke, Massachusetts. 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, Mass ...
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 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 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. 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''). Twelv ...
, 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 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 version ...
and her husband, Eric Hammer, on the film ''Crawley''. The Hammers later worked with him again during the creation of '' The Venture Bros.'' which draws inspiration from ''The Tick''. Beginning in 2002, Edlund was employed by Joss Whedon at
Mutant Enemy Mutant Enemy Productions is a production company that was created in 1996 by Joss Whedon to produce ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer.'' The company also produced the ''Buffy'' spin-off, ''Angel'', and his two short-lived science fiction series, the s ...
, first as part of the original writing staff for the space/Western hybrid series ''
Firefly The Lampyridae are a family of elateroid beetles with more than 2,000 described species, many of which are light-emitting. They are soft-bodied beetles commonly called fireflies, lightning bugs, or glowworms for their conspicuous production ...
'', 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 inc ...
'', where he wrote and also directed the Hugo Award nominated episode, " Smile Time". 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 ''Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog'' is a 2008 musical comedy-drama miniseries in three acts, produced exclusively for Internet distribution. Filmed and set in Los Angeles, the show tells the story of Dr. Horrible (played by Neil Patrick Harris), a ...
'', 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, who went by the pen name "Carver Edlund", a combination of Edlund's last name and that of Jeremy Carver, 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'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
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original series ''
Powers Powers may refer to: Arts and media * ''Powers'' (comics), a comic book series by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming ** ''Powers'' (American TV series), a 2015–2016 series based on the comics * ''Powers'' (British TV series), a 200 ...
''.


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