Some of Marvel’s most iconic comic book artwork—nearly lost to California wildfires—is now on display at Indiana University’s McCalla School.
IU alum Chuck Costas, a lifelong collector and close friend of artist Mike Zeck, helped rescue original art from the Palisades fire in Los Angeles. The new exhibit, The Comic Art of Mike Zeck: The Marvel Years, celebrates Zeck’s 50-year career with rescued pieces, comics from IU’s Ray Bradbury Center, and movie props from Costas’s personal collection.
Zeck helped define Marvel’s visual legacy with series like Captain America, The Punisher, and Secret Wars, the latter now being adapted for two upcoming Avengers films.
“I don't think he was drawing for glory and, frankly, at the time, never even imagined that these things would be adapted into movies and television shows and become sort of the basis for the Marvel Universe. So is the fact that the Secret Wars movie is about to exist. That wasn't even an idea when he was drawing the original Secret War series back in the 1980s,” Costas said.
His redesign of Spider-Man’s black costume paved the way for the creation of Venom, and redefined The Punisher in a 1986 limited series.
“He got paid $500 for the creation of that costume, the black Spider-Man costume that has generated hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue through the movies these days,’’ Costas said.
Costas said comic book creators such as Zeck have built legacies that go far beyond their cinematic adaptations.
Brian Woodman, director of the McCalla School, says the space will host art workshops and events tied to the exhibit throughout the year.
The free exhibition runs through February.