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Life-sized statues of superheroes like Silver Surfer, Dr. Strange and Thor greet visitors to the new Heroes Museum & Gallery at Lighthouse Place Premium Outlets in Michigan City.
The 7,000-square-foot museum the Graf Dairy Hero Foundation which recently opened in the outdoor mall is crammed with a sprawling collection of vintage comics, original comic art, blacklight posters and promotional posters, such as for Spider-Man chewable multi-vitamins, Batman Dairy and Fantastic Four Super Gulps in Italian, billing Marvel's first family as the "Fantastici Quattro."
Original drawings of Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Iron Man, Captain Marvel, Black Knight, Nick Fury, Namor the Sub-Mariner and Howard the Duck line the walls of the new experiential destination in Unit 1011, between Puma and Eddie Bauer. Glass cases are filled with vintage toys like Spider-Man web spinners, sky skimmers, marbles, dart guns, sting ray guns and target sets. It's got collectible cups, a Spider-Man exercise diagram and a replica of a 1960s comic book store complete with vintage racks and a vending machine selling comics for 12 cents each.
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Werner Graf, whose family ran the Graf Dairy and soda fountain in Michigan City, has been collecting the memorabilia since he was a kid.
"It's a 50-year collection that needed a four-month buildout," he said. "I started collecting when I was nine years old."
He was given a copy of Spider-Man No. 119 in which Spider-Man squared off against the Incredible Hulk.
"I loved it. Spider-Man is not nearly as powerful as the Hulk, but was bouncing around making jokes as he was fighting," he said. "The skinny guy was fighting the monster who was smashing up a dam up in Canada while making quips about him."
The museum displays superhero memorabilia from the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s in the former Bose and Fossil storefronts.
It displays more than 6,000 artifacts, including the original lyrics for the 1967 Spider-Man cartoon theme song. It includes some original art, though Graf said he did not start collecting original art when it first hit the market before prices soared to "Andy Warhol or Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec" level.
He said the toy collection was painstakingly assembled to get complete sets that included different variations, such as toys that might have come in both tan or blue.
"It really showcases the Marvel age of comics, especially Spider-Man," he said. "I also appreciate what DC is doing but it really focuses on Marvel between 161 and 1981. It has a lot of Spider-Man but other heroes rounding it out. There were just not that many Fantastic Four toys or Thor toys. A lot of the toys and posters they put out focused on the big three: Spider-Man, the Hulk and Captain America."
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Mall owner Simon Properties recruited the Graf Dairy Foundation, a charity whose board includes the Marvel Comics CEO, to open at Lighthouse Place Premium Outlets after it opened the popular summer blockbuster "KAPOW! Mighty Mythos" at the Lubeznik Center for the Arts last year.
The collection on display includes the Silver Surfer and Hulk statues that were originally movie promotional items and life-sized statures of superheroes like the Super Friends, Iron Man and Black Widow that he commissioned from an artist in the Philippines. The sculptor based faces off the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies but was instructed to stick to the authentic comic book costumes from the 1960s to 1970s.
Visitors can pose for selfies with the statues, which include a 15-foot-tall Incredible Hulk statue just outside the museum.
"When we did the exhibit at the Lubeznik, I realized we'd need more than just posters," he said. "We have museum-quality art and exhibits but people glance at the eye candy and move on. We want to make it more interactive."
Visitors can watch old superhero cartoons in a theater or play vintage arcade games and pinball machines. The museum will be rented out for kids' parties, including after mall hours.
The Heroes Museum aims to teach kids positive lessons, displaying philosophical quotes from figures like Frederick Douglass and Winston Churchill.
"I want them to see the underlying virtues that give some depth to the characters," he said. "There are quotes about freedom, chivalry and the value system that comes with how with great power comes great responsibility. It will make you more successful in life. A business doesn't want a complainer or someone that's focused on personal identity. They want someone with empathy, who fights for others and who has perseverance. I wanted it to be a wholesome place where people can bring their kids and see heroic qualities embodied in real life. We want kids to learn about the real-life heroes who built this country and learn everybody can be a hero every day. You don't need a superpower to be a hero. Villains have superpowers too. Everybody has the opportunity to be heroic."
While it already has many signs explaining the history of figures like Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, it plans to add more interpretative signage over time, to explain the significance of what's on display.
The museum charges $10 admission and will use the proceeds to sponsor charitable causes in the community, including buying musical instruments for students in band, dog rescue and blight elimination.
"I want to make Michigan City the Constantinople of the Midwest. I want to make it look Byzantine and plant trees everywhere," he said. "We want to do positive things for the city."
The museum is open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday.
For more information, visit grafdairyherofoundation.com.
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