1978: IRON MAN House Ad (Marvel UK)

From August 1978: MARVEL UK announces the return of Iron Man, in the pages of THE MIGHTY WORLD OF MARVEL.  As well as his continuing slot in the Avengers... currently booked into the pages of Spider-man's weekly. 

I imagine some readers had to re-read this... it does, at first glance, look awfully like the announcement of an IM solo title. 

1997: HEROES REBORN Issue 1 (Panini UK)

From 1997: the first issue of Panini UK's HEROES REBORN COLLECTORS' EDITION, the British reprints of the rebooted Fantastic Four and Iron Man strips.

HEROES REBORN was a bizarre Marvel New York initiative that took control of some of their most bankable characters (the above plus The Avengers and Captain America) and outsourced all the creative work to Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld, two ex-Marvel creators who'd bailed years earlier as part of the mass exodus to create Image Comics.

The year-long project was mired in controversy as the radical reboots didn't always find favor with fans, alienated the existing creative teams who were unceremoniously dumped to clear the decks for the newcomers and Marvel's beleaguered editorial teams who saw some of the company's crown jewels being handed over to outsiders, on lucrative contracts, who had spent (in some cases) the previous few years bad-mouthing the publisher who had helped make them industry stars in the first place.

The experiment lasted a year (I believe Liefeld, never one of the industry's most reliable creators, was asked to exit earlier).  The characters then returned to the mainstream Marvel Universe in the Heroes Return event.  

The British edition managed a 42-issue run before shuttering.  It shouldn't be confused with the impending 2015 revival of the HEROES TV series. 

1978: IRON MAN HOUSE AD (Marvel UK)

IRON MAN 3 has been taking the global box office by storm (and it is pretty good... certainly better than the flaccid second outing) so, to celebrate, here's a Marvel UK house ad, from August 1978, trumpeting the strip's imminent return to the pages of THE MIGHTY WORLD OF MARVEL.

1996: MARVEL ACTION HOUR - MARVEL UK EDITION

In October 1996, Marvel UK had one last crack at a traditional UK superhero comic.  The fortnightly MARVEL ACTION HOUR was, of course, based on the animated TV series and (presumably) coincided with the show's broadcast on British TV.

Surprisingly, neither the FANTASTIC FOUR nor IRON MAN contents were reprints of the US Action Hour comics (one for each segment and each lasting eight issues, dated November 1994 to June 1995) which were set in the TV continuity.

Instead, the strips reprinted had first appeared in the main FF and IM comics, dating from 1979 and 1982 respectively.

Alan Craddock supplied new splash-page style covers (which, weirdly, included the credits for the featured strips).

The freebies, cover-mounted to 1-2 and 4, were bargain-basement sweets, suggesting M-UK's free gift budget was exhausted.

A fifth issue was previewed but never published.

ISSUE 1

9 October 1996

REPRINTS:

THE FANTASTIC FOUR: THERE'S ONE IRON MAN TOO MANY (Fantastic Four US 202, January 1979)

IRON MAN: SPORES (Iron Man US 157, April 1982)

ISSUE 2

23 October 1996

REPRINTS:

FANTASTIC FOUR: AND A CHILD SHALL SLAY THEM (Fantastic Four US 203, Feb 1979)

IRON MAN: SPORES PT2. (Iron Man US 157, April 1982)

ISSUE 3

6 November 1996

REPRINTS:

FANTASTIC FOUR: AND A CHILD SHALL SLAY THEM - PT2 (Fantastic Four US 203, Feb 1979)

IRON MAN: FREEFALL (Originally titled Moms, Iron Man US 158, May 1982)

ISSUE 4

20 November 1996

REPRINTS:

FANTASTIC FOUR: THE ANDROMEDA ATTACK! (Fantastic Four US 204, March 1979)

IRON MAN: FREEFALL - PT2 (Originally titled Moms, Iron Man US 158, May 1982)

1994: MARVEL ACTION HOUR PROMOTIONAL BOOKLET AND ANIMATION CELL

To promote the launch of the syndicated MARVEL ACTION HOUR animated series (consisting of separate FANTASTIC FOUR and IRON MAN segments) Marvel gave away this 16-page supplement, and mock animation cell printed on acetate, with selected US titles cover-dated November 1994.  

These scans come from the copy given away with FORCE WORKS issue 3.  Presumably the supplements were included with the various IRON MAN/ AVENGERS/ FANTASTIC FOUR titles most relevant to the TV series.

The booklet, bagged with the comic, was presented in a flip book format with an Iron Man cover and Fantastic Four cover on the reverse.  For ease of reading Slow Robot has dispensed with that conceit here.

It's possible that different animation cells were produced, as it seems a little surprising that none of the principle characters were featured.