Mike Zeck

Michael John Zeck was born in Greenville, Pennsylvania, on 6 September 1949, the son of Michael and Kathryn Jean Zeck. His first encounter with comics was during a bout of illness when he read Western comics in hospital following a tonsillectomy. He subsequently became obsessed with superhero comics – especially following the introduction of Spider-Man in 1962 – and spent more time in school drawing than with his education. This was noticed by a teacher who encouraged his artistic talents. He attended the Ringling School of Art in 1967. After graduating he worked at the Migrant Education Center in Fort Lauderdale, Sarasota, Florida.

He began his comics career in 1974, producing spot illustrations for text stories in Charlton Comics' line of animated titles, which then led to work on their horror titles.

In 1977 he started working for Marvel Comics, filling-in on issues of Master of Kung Fu before taking over the title in 1978. He went on to work on such titles as Aquaman, Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight, Green Lantern, G.I. Joe, Lobo and Deathstroke, The Terminator and spent three years working on Captain America.

Zeck was the artist of Marvel's Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars in 1984-85, written by Jim Shooter and inked by Bob Layton, based on the Mattel line of toys. The 12-issue mini-series crossed over into numerous Marvel titles, including Amazing Spider-Man, Avengers, Captain America, The Damned, Fantastic Four, Thor and Uncanny X-Men, making it comics' first major crossover event.

He is probably best known for his 1987 story 'Kraven's Last Hunt' written by J. M. DeMatteis in Spider-Man titles, and the 1986 Punisher mini-series written by Steven Grant, collected as Circle of Blood. He has also produced many covers for comics.

Zeck was married in 1988 to Shelli Jo Rissinger; in 1992 to Angelita Zeck; they divorced in 2003 and Zeck married again, to Sheryll Cortez, in 2004. Zeck has lived in New Haven, Connecticut, and currently lives in the Orlando area of Florida.

Examples of Mike Zeck's artwork can be found for sale at the Illustration Art Gallery.