1981: MARVEL UK's PAUL NEARY INTERVIEWED

One of the first INSIDE COMICS features in MARVEL SUPERHEROES (see my previous post) was this interview with Marvel UK Editor-in-Chief Paul Neary from issue 376.

I'm always a little suspicious when media companies interview their own bosses as they're seldom more than uncritical puff-pieces designed to shift something.

I wouldn't say this interview has many revelations but, considering how important Neary became to the history of the company in the early nineties, it's worth posting here.

One interesting point is the Spider-man, Fantastic Four and 'football' strips apparently being prepared specifically for the European market.  I assume all three were subsequently nixed (one wonders why you'd need additional locally produced super hero strips considering the New York office was churning them out in ever-increasing numbers) but does anyone have any information about how far they progressed?  Was anyone assigned to the projects?  was any work completed?

The TIME BANDITS movie adaptation DID see the light of day.  British readers will remember it serving belated back-up duty in the pages of RETURN OF THE JEDI weekly.  Surprisingly, Marvel UK never issued it as a one-shot special or annual.