In Words and Pictures: Paul Neary – A Retrospective at The Panel Gallery
A wonderful exhibition of one of Britain’s most dynamic and brilliant comic artists, the late Paul Neary, is on display at Jeff Chahal’s Panel Gallery in Northampton until January 2027. James Bacon attended the opening earlier this month…
Paul Neary’s professional career grew from a passion and love of comics that had seen him contributing art to Irish comic fanzines in the late 1960s, and then starting an extensive professional career, drawing a story in Monster Times #9 entitled “Derelict” in 1972, before going on to work extensively for American publisher Warren Publishing onEerie, starting with issue #41 in August 1972. His art would appear in over twenty issues of Eerie and in Creepy, too.
It was therefore a real delight that as you walk into Panel Gallery in Northampton, the first wall was dominated by a series of pages from Warren publishing starting with Creepy – “Curiosity Killed the Cat”, each page from a different issue indicating the amazing quantity of work that was produced.
“Hunter” written by the late Budd Lewis*, who died in 2014, was especially popular, raising discussion amongst the many comic professionals and fans present. It is the amazing skill of pencil, pen and ink though, the lines and the beauty that is astonishing to see up close.
There has been careful curation of the art here, “Message is the Medium” as well as “War” from Creepy. Night Raven drawings that accompanied the Marvel UK prose stories of the same character are on display, too, larger pieces with just the single image and very lovely to see
The back wall had a stunning selection of full colour pieces, including Spider-Man and Hulk UK Annual covers, and a double page spread of a Spider-Man advertisement for the 1982 Atari game, a wonderful piece transcending youth culture at the time.
Paul Neary’s work for Marvel UK was wide-ranging. As editor and artist he worked on covers for Hulk Comic, and on occasion Spider-Man Comic, as well as writing, pencilling and inking many other stories for both their weekly and monthly titles. As Rob Kirby (author of the forthcoming From Cents to Pence! Book) notes, his work was “particularly notable for commissioning as much originated material as stringent budgets allowed, and following on from this in encouraging both new talent – such as Alan Davis on a revived ‘Captain Britain’ strip – and assisting established creators in adapting to the Marvel way of working, such as his work with John Stokes on their standout ‘Black Knight’ epic”.
Kirby also notes, that, “his 180-degree pivot away from a failed conversion of Doctor Who Weekly into a comic aimed at a much younger audience into a magazine aimed at a much older readership, remains his other legacy after Captain Britain, with both our national hero, and Doctor Who Magazine, going strong to this day”.
There are a series of pages, on loan from Alan Davis, from Detective Comics #569, #570, #571, #575 demonstrating the incredible partnership that occurred when Paul Neary inked Alan’s work. This is the classic run of Detective and with Adrienne Roy on colours, that is really very beautifully drawn and very entertaining. Opposite, there is then a selection of six pieces, three pages of Wolverine: Bloodlust and a Green Lantern commission by Alan Davis and Paul Neary
Bernie Jaye, who was also Paul’s partner, was present, and it was really nice to meet her. It was therefore very nice that a piece from “Mother Earth” was on display in the gallery, a story which appeared in 2000AD, as this was
Bernie’s “first freelance work was for Marvel UK […] while I was still at college, I was hired to do colour separations for the covers of Hulk Weekly and Spider-man Weekly”, and was soon an editor at Marvel UK. Bernie received the Eagle Award for The Daredevils in 1984 for best new comic, and it was and is indeed, a stunningly good comic that fans still seek out.
I was reminded of how Paul Neary had written “Happenstance and Kismet”, which was drawn by Steve Parkhouse and coloured by Bernie Jaye for Crisis. There is a clear picture of people working well together, on many levels: Paul Neary had an ability to collaborate, encourage and enthuse that was very impressive and spoken of warmly, during the evening.
An incredible black and white Spider-Man over New York is front and centre in the Gallery and is an amazing demonstration of the dynamics that a well drawn perspective can produce.
When Paul later returned to the Marvel UK as Editor-in-Chief in the 1990s, overseeing an explosion of original content simultaneously published in both the UK and US, he soon was helping new creators into the business once again. Rob reflects “on the strength of affection still shown for what Neary achieved in his second stint at Marvel UK, with many creators, such as Liam Sharp, Bryan Hitch, and the late Dave Taylor, remaining indebted to the time he spent guiding their earliest published work”.
Liam Sharp had earlier made mention of the importance of Paul Neary and said: “Paul changed my life forever when he trusted me to redesign and then draw the new Death’s Head II series for Marvel UK, back in 1991. He was a legendary inker, a fine comic artist, an entertaining writer (and storyteller!), my Editor-in-Chief, but more than that, he was my friend. I still miss him.”
That was a sentiment that was mirrored by others, who felt Paul had been important to them. Chris McCormack, who also worked at Marvel UK was present as was Doug Brathwaite, Guillermo Ortego, Ian Churchill and Alan Davis.
Fans have always appreciated Paul Neary’s approach to the business, adept as he is at so many aspects whether it be his distinctive comic art for Warren, his posters, such as the The Daredevils #2 poster which was on display here, or very strong covers for Hulk or Star Wars Weekly, and editing and bringing new writers, artists and stories to readers.
Captain America pages were available to peruse in portfolio’s and there were a number of intriguing pages such as New Mutants Annual #3 page 4, and there are pages from Green Lantern, and Boris Karloff Tales, “Madman” from Warrior, and many others. Much of the art was for sale and was clearly selling, as pink stickers were applied to purchased pieces.
It was a really lovely evening. There was no shortage of wine to ease all present into a very warm and engaging social event that was remembering a great contributor to the world of comic books. Panel Gallery was wonderfully full, and so many people were just enjoying the art and remembering Paul Neary well.
*Hunter has many hands involved, including Rich Margopoulos, Budd Lewis, and Bill DuBay
Many thanks to Jeff Chahal for facilitating the viewing and for added information. All photos by and ©️ James Bacon
Bernie Jaye quote from an interview with Alan Woollcombe inFantazia#10 (1991). Many thanks to Liam Sharp for permission to quote him from his social media post.
Paul Neary: A Retrospective 7th November 2026 to 9th January 2027, The Panel Gallery, 3 Abington Square, Northampton NN1 4AE | Opening hours: Tuesday to Saturday 11.00am – 4.00pm
Please confirm opening times before visiting from out of town | Web: thepanelgallery.com
Featuring pieces from Paul’s work on Eerie Magazine, Captain America, JLA, Detective Comics and many others.
Paul Neary passed away after a long illness on 10th February 2024, at the age of 74. You can read former Marvel UK editor John Freeman’s tribute here
The Panel Gallery
The Panel Gallery is the first art gallery in the UK to specialise in original comic art. Showcasing comic art from Marvel, DC Comics, 2000AD and many more publishers.
Opening to the public in 2021, Jeff Chahal, the owner and curator of the gallery, has always felt that comic art doesn’t receive the respect that it should, which ultimately lead to the idea of starting Panel Gallery so that comic artwork might at last be showcased in a fitting environment.
Having worked in comic retail for 20 years, and with a background of running the hugely respected NICE Comic Con in Bedford, Jeff applies the same criteria to both his comic convention and the new Panel Gallery. For him, it is essential that the focus of both are on the art itself and also on all those that are involved in the creative process of producing comic books
- About the Author
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James Bacon (he/him) is an Irish fan, a train driver living in London and much appreciated contributor to downthetubes. A Hugo Award-winning editor of the fanzine Journey Planet, he is a comic fan and enjoys comic art, war comics, Star Wars, Irish aspects to comics and railways in comics or otherwise.
He has been writing about comics for over thirty years and is author of Irish Conflict in Comics in the 20th Century: Rebellion, Nazi Spies, and The Troubles (also available from AmazonUK, Affiliate Link), and A Sensual Cesspool of Iniquity, available from Limit Break Comics, as well as on Amazon.co.uk (Affiliate Link) | Amazon.com | Amazon.ie
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