[3] While still in high school, he began developing his satirical superhero, the Tick, who became the mascot of the New England Comics newsletter.

Edlund graduated from high school in 1986 and continued to draw his popular character while majoring in film at Massachusetts College of Art.

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.

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.

Beginning in 2002, Edlund was employed by Joss Whedon 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, where he wrote and also directed the Hugo Award nominated episode, "Smile Time".

[4] 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".