Ben Edlund (The Tick)

Ben Edlund is a comic book artist,writer and television screenwriter & poducer. While in high school he created The Tick. He was offered to create a comic book series based on the character by New England Comics. Edlund drew the popular character while majoring in film at Massachusetts College of Art. The Tick has since been featured in an animated series and a live-action series on FOX, which naturally led to various toy and merchandising deals. A square-jawed, muscular, bright blue-costumed figure with antennae sticking up from his head, The Tick is a surreal parody of superheroes. He is high-spirited, frequently obtuse, and prone to quipping odd, dim remarks and "inspirational" speeches filled with bizarre metaphors. His superpowers are nigh-invulnerability, which allows him to crash and bang about without injury (though not necessarily without pain); super strength (he can bend a steel girder with ease); and something referred to as "drama power," or basically a tendency for the Tick's powers to increase as the situation becomes more dramatic. He can also survive out in space without a suit and underwater without oxygen. Despite his nigh-invulnerability, in the animated series, the Tick is portrayed as being vulnerable to blows to the head, which often cause temporary brain damage. He is known for his nonsensical battle cry, "Spoooooon!," which he decided upon one day while eating breakfast. He was employed by Joss Whedon at Mutant Enemy, first producing/writing Firefly and then later on the final season of Angel, writing and directing the Hugo Award nominated episode, "Smile Time." Edlund is a consulting producer and writer on the TV series Supernatural. He has written the episodes "Simon Said", "Nightshifter", "Hollywood Babylon" and "Bad Day At Black Rock". He has also written episodes of The Venture Bros.