The MCU's founding chairman is launching a new shared universe for comics, film, and gaming

(Image credit: Aspen Comics)

As announced at this year's San Diego Comic Con, Marvel Studios founding chairman David Maisel – one of the people initially responsible for making the MCU into the world-conquering success that it became – is launching a new shared comics universe known as Ekos.

If you've been into comics a long enough time then perhaps that name sounds familiar to you. That's because the new series, which launches with 120-page graphic novel Ekos Vol. 1, is based on characters and concepts created by the late artist Michael Turner and Geoff Johns for a comic that was due to be published in the early 2000s. Tragically, Turner passed away before that series could come to fruition.

Now Maisel's Mythos Studio in association with Aspen Comics (which Turner founded in 2003) is developing the Ekos concept with a starry cast of creatives involved. Should it be successful, the plan is to also transfer the Ekos universe to film, animation, and gaming.

Ekos Vol. 1 comes from the creative team of writer J.T. Krul, artist Alex Konat, colorist Peter Steigerwald, inker Mark Roslan, and letterer Josh Reed, all under the stewardship of Maisel. It will also be supported by a slew of amazing cover artists including David Mack's homage cover to his own Daredevil #15 (shown exclusively above), Alex Ross, Joe Quesada, J Scott Campbell, Francis Manapul, Joe Benitiz, Siya Oum, Jerome Opeña, Khary Randolph, Kendrick Lim.

Heading up the series is Grell, a hero who will be exploring the world of Ekos, a journey that will bring him into contact with other characters from Turner's comics.

Who are some of those characters? Well, we know that Aspen Matthews from Fathom is one of them. That series started in 1998 and was Turner's first creator owned comic. Another character who will feature is Grace from Soulfire. This is the first time these characters have crossed over, but Maisel was quick to point out to The Hollywood Reporter that Ekos "is a fresh story," with no prior knowledge needed.

The Kickstarter for Ekos Vol. 1 opens next week on September 17. To keep informed about the new project, you can sign up now for more notifications.

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Will Salmon is the Streaming Editor for GamesRadar+. He has been writing about film, TV, comics, and music for more than 15 years, which is quite a long time if you stop and think about it. At Future he launched the scary movie magazine Horrorville, relaunched Comic Heroes, and has written for every issue of SFX magazine for well over a decade. His music writing has appeared in The Quietus, MOJO, Electronic Sound, Clash, and loads of other places too.