Marvel Studios Founder David Maisel Launches Ekos Genesis Art Collection

Mythos Studios, an intellectual property (IP) entertainment company founded by David Maisel, the founding chairman of Marvel Studios, announced the launch of the Ekos Genesis Art Collection, which is now on view in a virtual gallery at ekos.io.

The non-fungible token (NFT) collection features original art from the late comic book artist Michael Turner and his frequent collaborator Peter Steigerwald, who are known for their work across Marvel and DC comics as well as teaming up to illustrate series for Turner’s Aspen Comics.

Mythos Studios owns a 50% stake in Aspen Comics, as well as the underlying intellectual property. The Ekos Collection centers around characters from series such as Fathom and the eponymous Ekos, Turner’s final project that was not released at the time he died.

Maisel has been a longtime fan of Turner’s work and began collecting it in 2003. Each NFT is built on the original line art of Michael Turner and adds color inspired by different elements, such as the Pop Art movement, black light posters or neon lights.

“We’ve worked so hard to create this Ekos Genesis Art Collection and we’re now extremely excited to give people a chance to own this Ekos-inspired 1-of-1 original hand-crafted digital art. This wouldn’t be possible without Web3,” said David Maisel in a press release shared with CoinDesk.

In 2021, a two-piece digital collection of Turner’s work that featured the original line art and published colored cover of the first issue of Fathom sold for $100,000, seen below:

On May 2 at 10 a.m. PT, the Ekos Genesis Art Collection will kick off a Dutch auction of 995 1/1 NFTs. The date holds special significance for Maisel, as it marks the 15th anniversary of the theatrical release of “Iron Man,” the movie that kicked off the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The Dutch auction will last 88 minutes and bidding will start at 10 ether (ETH), then drop by 0.5 ETH every four minutes until the price hits 0.5 ETH. Finally, it will drop to 0.2 ETH for the final eight minutes of the auction, provided the collection has not already sold out.

Prior to the Dutch auction, interested buyers can place a deposit for the NFTs starting on April 24th at 10 a.m. PT. Anyone who deposits 10 ETH before May 1 can lock in a piece of Ekos Genesis Art.

The first 100 early deposits will also receive an Early Collector Bonus of an additional NFT, from a separate collection of “Ekos Genesis Art Portraits.” The collectors who qualify for one or more bonus NFTs will be able to select their specific pieces of art in an order that prioritizes the earliest deposits (so first to deposit gets first pick and so on). Finally, the top six collectors overall at the end of the auction period will be rewarded with one of six unique NFTs featuring art generated from the same Fathom cover art from the 2021 sale.