How Marvel Studios Founder David Maisel Aims to Redefine Entertainment With Ekos

Marvel Studios founder David Maisel is once again at the forefront of a cultural revolution.

His latest venture, Ekos, is a new entertainment universe that fuses the decentralized ethos of web3 with the storytelling prowess of Hollywood. By transforming the Ekos Genesis Art Collection, which first launched as an NFT collection in April 2023, into a forthcoming graphic novel and feature film, Maisel is challenging conventional wisdom about how entertainment IP is created and consumed. 

Ekos Volume 1 graphic novel is available now starting today on Kickstarter. The Kickstarter offers a range of limited-edition, collectible items for this new entertainment universe, including the Ekos graphic novel, Ekos issues 1-3, Ekos trading cards and merch, and more.

At a time when many NFT-based initiatives struggle to move beyond speculative markets, Maisel is leveraging his industry clout and creative vision to build a universe that stands on its own merit. With recent activations at Gateway Miami and Comic Con San Diego, and all-star team that includes comic legends like Joe Quesada and Alex Ross, Ekos is poised to bring web3 innovation to a more mainstream audience.

In this exclusive Q&A, we delve deep into Maisel’s ambitious plans and insights, from independently financing films to owning and developing IP in the digital age.

Matt Medved: What can you tell us about the upcoming graphic novel and how it ties into the Ekos Genesis Art Collection?

David Maisel: We’re launching this graphic novel on September 17, produced by me, the founder of Marvel Studios, inspired by the art and creations of legends Michael Turner and Geoff Johns—a completely new universe inspired by those legends. The visual DNA of the universe of Ekos that’s in the Ekos Genesis Art Collection continues as a thread through all these future projects. Many of the inspirations and visual identities that are in the art will appear in all the future entertainment that we do. So they’ll be in the graphic novel, they’ll be in the movie. 

How has the Ekos Genesis Art Collection influenced the visual development of the graphic novel and the movie?

When you go through the art book, for each piece of Michael’s line drawings, we had six inspirations—different, unique color combinations like Electric Neon, Black Light Pop, and Gold and Bold. Those inspirations and visual identities that are in the art, many of those will appear in all the future entertainment that we do. So there’ll be times where it fits the story organically, that when you see the Gold and Bold, you know something’s happening in the story; when you see the Black Light Pop, you know something’s happening. The visual DNA of the universe of Ekos was in the Ekos Genesis Art Collection and continues as a thread through all these future projects.

Can you tell us more about the creative team behind the graphic novel and the special cover artists involved?

We have an all-star creative team on the comic. Since Mythos, my company, also owns half of Aspen Comics—the comic book company that Michael Turner created—we have a comic book division. We are not just publishing this comic but we are writing it and making the art with Peter Steigerwald, who’s arguably the best colorist in the world. This is an all-star creative team on the comic with superstar cover artists from the industry. We have 11 different artists doing special covers, including the ex-Chief Creative Officer of Marvel, Joe Quesada; Alex Ross, who’s the most famous comics painter of the past couple decades; and other huge names like J. Scott Campbell and David Mack. All these people are coming together to support us by doing special covers.

What has it been like pushing this project forward in places like Comic Con and Hollywood, given the current state of the markets? 

Given my history of founding Marvel Studios and its Marvel Cinematic Universe, Ekos is not viewed as a web3 project, but as new IP that can be as broadly successful as Marvel. All of this is good for the project. They see the Ekos Genesis Art Book and they see how much work has been done as R&D on the visual style of what the movie could be and eventually games, etc.

Can you tell us more about your plans for the Ekos movie?

That’s the next step after the graphic novel—to start having discussions with potential partners for the movie. I invented the model of an IP holder financing their movies completely on their own, like we did with Marvel. We made all our movies independently. We used our own money, our own characters. We managed the entire filmmaking operations. We just hired for a fee a major studio to help with theatrical distribution. So there’s a spectrum from independently financing the Ekos film, like I did with Marvel and also with “The Angry Birds Movie”—those are the only two examples ever of IP holders making their own $75 million-plus movies—to doing a studio or streamer partnership, which is more traditional. I’m excited to start those discussions this fall after the graphic novel is introduced.

What makes this project unique in terms of its approach to building an entertainment brand starting from a Web3 art collection?

I think what’s interesting for the NFT people is: here’s a web3-launched product with the art collection last year that is actually moving on to the next level and doing it in a huge way… potentially launching a “new Marvel” with a heritage that began in both comics and web3. So I think it shows something positive for the industry that is actually happening in an exciting way with a world-class team.

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