Ben Edlund networked better and took his work on the 90's cartoon to working in Hollywood as a script doctor and writer, making connections because the cartoon had a bunch of writers who'd go on to work on notable projects.
Don Simpson just stayed in comics, never really pushed to do anything but comics. Megaton man is good, but I can see why it doesn't feel stand out enough on the surface to get adapted. Its a parody of the concept of superheroes being really bombastic and muscular with convoluted and melodramatic storylines, and that's kinda just a joke cartoons already make, like Radioactive man in the Simpsons, or Really Really big man in Rocko's modern life. Tick at least looks like a unique design with world building that has parodies but doesn't feel like it can't stand on it's own.

>>154618506
At some point, you've just gotta blame Simpson. Everyone else in the scene was getting tv deals or movie options, and Megaton was bigger than plenty of those, so the only thing that makes sense is that he asked for too much cash or control and missed his shot. I just can't imagine a world in which no one thought to ask him in the first place.

>>154618506
Tick has easier appeal.