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Ben Edlund

Author profile

born

September 20, 1968 in Pembroke, Massachusetts, The United States

gender

male

genre

Comics & Graphic Novels

About this author

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In 1988, Ben Edlund launched the comic book that would make his name known to many comic and cartoon fans across the nation. It was the tale of a 300 lb., 7ft tall big blue insect named "The Tick". It was a character that Ben created a few years before in high school. The original series, drawn and written by Ben and published by New England Comics, only lasted 12 issues, but became quite popular in the underground comic world. The creation of a 13th issue is something Ben still hasn't decided against, but he has become a busy man since.

In 1994, Ben worked with Fox Kids Network to bring The Tick (and Arthur) to the small screen in an animated series. The show was a pretty faithful interpretation of the quirky heroic characters introduced i...more In 1988, Ben Edlund launched the comic book that would make his name known to many comic and cartoon fans across the nation. It was the tale of a 300 lb., 7ft tall big blue insect named "The Tick". It was a character that Ben created a few years before in high school. The original series, drawn and written by Ben and published by New England Comics, only lasted 12 issues, but became quite popular in the underground comic world. The creation of a 13th issue is something Ben still hasn't decided against, but he has become a busy man since.

In 1994, Ben worked with Fox Kids Network to bring The Tick (and Arthur) to the small screen in an animated series. The show was a pretty faithful interpretation of the quirky heroic characters introduced in the comic book. It became an underground hit with a cult following. The show lasted for 3 seasons but eventually succumbed to being marketed as a kids show. The humor was often targeted to an older audience and trying to cater the show to children just stifled its creativity.
Fox wanted something to sell happy meals and figures. The Tick did just that, for a time, but shows would come along that Fox saw as better suited to a child audience.
Comedy Central picked up syndication rights to the show and aired it for a while. There it picked up some more fans and its popularity continued to grow.

In 2000, Ben began working on the Tick's 3rd incarnation, a live action television show. With the support of Barry Sonnenfeld (Director of Addam's Family, Men in Black), and the talent of Patrick Warburton (best known as Putty from Seinfeld) as the embodiment of big blue justice, the show had much promise. After a delay of almost a year after the acceptance of the pilot, The Tick finally aired. However, a difficult timeslot, (against NBC's Must See TV and CBS's Survivor), preemption by Baseball, as well as little promotion by the Fox Network, and other reasons I won't get into here (though I could!) would have the show end after only 8 episodes. It was the second time Fox had mismanaged one of Ben's creations.

In fall of 2002, Ben was working as a producer and writer on the Joss Whedon created show Firefly. He and Joss had worked together before on the screenplay for Titan A.E. Firefly was an innovative, character-driven space western. Unfortunately, Firefly was cancelled after only an 11 episode run, including the pilot. The only episode penned by Ben that aired was Jaynestown. And yes, Firefly was also on the Fox Network, but we've blamed them enough today. Currently Ben is writing and producing for Angel.(less)

combine editions
Books by Ben Edlund

Average rating: 4.21 · 695 ratings · 63 reviews · 10 distinct works

	The Tick: The Naked City 4.27 avg rating — 140 ratings — published 1990	My rating:
	The Tick: The Complete Edlund 4.40 avg rating — 62 ratings — published 2008	My rating:
	The Tick Omnibus Vol. 1: Sunday Through Wednesday 4.43 avg rating — 56 ratings — 2 editions	My rating:
	The Tick Omnibus Vol. 2: Thursday Ad Infinitum 4.37 avg rating — 35 ratings — published 1992	My rating:
	The Tick Omnibus Vol. 3 4.29 avg rating — 14 ratings — published 1996	My rating:
	The Tick Omnibus Vol. 4: The Tick's Giant Circus of the Mighty 3.86 avg rating — 7 ratings — published 1996	My rating:
	Paul the Samurai: The Complete Works 3.83 avg rating — 6 ratings — published 200	My rating:
	The Tick and Arthur: Bonanza 1 4.20 avg rating — 5 ratings — published 2000	My rating:
	The Tick Omnibus 5 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 1996	My rating:
	Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Panel to Panel by Scott Allie (Editor / Contributor), Chris Bachalo (Illustrator), Tim Townsend (Illustrator) 4.22 avg rating — 152 ratings — published 2007	My rating:

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Quotes by Ben Edlund

“Not baked goods! BAKED BADS!!!!"
--The Tick”
― Ben Edlund

1 person liked it

“And isn't sanity really just a one-trick pony, anyway? I mean, all you get is one trick, rational thinking. But when you're good and crazy, ooh ooh ooh, the sky's the limit!”
― Ben Edlund

tags: humor