Michael Zulli's earliest published work in comics was the October 1986 release
The Puma Blues, on which he collaborated with writer
Stephen Murphy. The monthly title was published by
Dave Sim's
Aardvark One International and later by
Mirage Studios. Zulli's detailed, realistic depictions of wildlife and landscape in a near-future, polluted, post-industrial world was a metanarrative of conservation. The series was published for 23 issues, with a mini-comic half issue published in 1989. Over time, his work came to be considered a classic contribution to the TMNT mythos, and was reissued by
IDW Publishing as the graphic novel ''Soul's Winter''. Zulli's attention to detail and fidelity to nature garnered the admiration of many writers, editors and artists in the comics industry. In 1993, he illustrated an
issue of of
DC Comics'
Swamp Thing in which the title character meets
Jesus Christ. Thirty-six years after shelving the controversial "Jesus Christ" storyline in
Swamp Thing, DC Comics announced they would be publishing the work through its adult Black Label imprint. In the 1990s another unfinished and unpublished story,
Sweeney Todd, written by
Neil Gaiman and illustrated by Zulli for
Stephen R. Bissette's publication
Taboo was discontinued when the anthology ceased publication. In 1990 he guest penciled issue #13 of DC Comics' nascent
Vertigo series
The Sandman written by Gaiman. This story introduced the
Hob Gadling character. Zulli illustrated seven
Sandman issues including the final Sandman story arc "
The Wake". Zulli and Gaiman collaborated on a comic book adaptation of
Alice Cooper's
The Last Temptation in 1994. It was later remastered and collected at Dynamite Comics. After the end of
The Sandman series, his work was featured in the gallery show called "Visions of the Wake" in New York City. Zulli also exhibited regularly at Gallery Nucleus in Alhambra, California, and was a part of the "Endless Reflections, 20 Years of Sandman" exhibit. Zulli illustrated several other Vertigo imprint titles including ''Winter's Edge
, Witchcraft: La Terreur and Sandman Presents: Love Street''. In 2021, he self published
The Fracture of the Universal Boy, an autobiographical, symbolist graphic novel "...that, sadly, went largely unnoticed by the audience that had so readily embraced Zulli's mainstream comic book work." When speaking of Zulli's struggles with corporate publishing, fellow artist and writer Steve Bissette said, "Michael dramatized such issues, metaphorically but vividly, in his single solo graphic novel,
The Fracture of the Universal Boy. That was entirely Michael's baby, an enigmatic and powerfully rendered masterpiece, but it was a crowdfunded venture, rarely seen since its launch." ==Personal life==