Comic writer Paul Grist has finally landed his dream job with Marvel — 20 years after asking them for work.
Paul, 60, spent two decades publishing his own stories after his initial application – suggesting comics based on British superheroes – was rejected.
But in a Strange twist of events, someone at Marvel remembered him and he has finally gone down a Storm after being hired to write a series of tales.
Paul’s stories are for a new Marvel mag called The Union, featuring heroes from England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales.
The team includes longtime Marvel character Joseph Champman – aka Union Jack, a Mancunian.
Jack and his buddies fight off extra terrestrial invasions. Which makes them guardians of the galaxy, you might say.
Paul, of Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset, said: “I sent Marvel a letter 20 years ago telling them I would be interested in writing a Union Jack comic.
“I got a very nice ‘thanks but no thanks’ rejection letter. Then last year I got a call from someone at Marvel who remembered I’d expressed an interest in the character and was giving me first refusal.
“It shows that persistence does pay off. If only I’d said I wanted to write Spider-Man, I’d be rich!”
Paul, who originally hails from Sheffield, began his career on magazines such as Bunty and Nikki. He has published his own work on a cult hero called Kane – an expat Brit who is a detective in fictional US city New Eden.
Paul first dreamed of writing about Union Jack after reading about him in a Marvel comic called Invaders from the 1970s.
And he hopes the Brit warriors might one day feature in a Marvel movie.
He added: “I grew up reading comic books and it’s every boy’s dream to write for Marvel.
“All sorts of characters have appeared in the films so perhaps our home-grown heroes will star in one. That would be amazing.”
