Rob Kirby pays tribute to the man who was instrumental in the founding of Marvel UK…
It’s entirely possible that Stan Lee’s “dream” of publishing comics exclusively for the British market may never have been nearly as successful as it was if not for Raymond “Ray” Wergan, who died recently at the age of 90.
A modest, private man, Ray had never been interviewed before – hence the lack of awareness of his contribution amongst many comic fans – thus his significant contributions to the Marvel story might have been lost along with him had I not been fortunate enough to finally locate him back in 2011 via the pages of The Times (as recounted in a more personal memorial on my blog, A Distant Beacon).
Leaving aside the full story of how Ray went from being a sports reporter on the Manchester Evening Guardian (becoming an inspiration for the up-and-coming Hunter Davies) to eventually overseeing Marvel’s new British project – as detailed within the (still) forthcoming book From Cents to Pence! – suffice it to say that, by a series of coincidences, it was all due to his increasing contact with Transworld Feature Syndicate Inc. boss, Albert Landau, while working for the Daily Express group in New York.
As the head of the global corporation, Landau had taken over from him increasingly ill mother. One of their sidelines to the core business of supplying photos and articles to publishers was supplying prints of material from Marvel Comics and other comic companies to overseas licensees. Tiring of the commute to his London office, he learnt Ray Wergan wished to bring his family back home for a more traditional education, with a potential new contract providing the solution to both men’s desires.
Headhunting the Englishman to run his office up in High Holborn, Ray was soon left to his own devices. As was company policy, he was then encouraged to buy the UK business outright a few years later. Stan Lee often accompanied Landau on his London jaunts.
Becoming President/Publisher in early 1972, he seized upon the opportunity to finally scratch his British itch; driven by the need to rescue a significant previous investment in an unpublished weekly comic, lost to strike action. Using Wergan’s office, Landau brought along both Lee and Chip Goodman with him, with Ray was asked to attend their meeting “as a courtesy”; he left it with the task of setting up the London end of a joint transatlantic venture.
The perfect match for Sol Brodsky over in New York’s new UK Bullpen, he was so good at the role that a permanent manager was never recruited, and “a few months” stretched out to almost eight years. While never having read Marvel’s US product, Wergan certainly knew his way “around a spreadsheet”, and kept on top of the constant stream of material being couriered from the United States, juggling printers and distribution problems, as well as keeping up a constant dialogue with New York and commissioning exclusive merchandise from manufacturers.
To the evident jealousy of other bureau heads abroad, his work for Marvel garnered increasing attention from the press, as he made good use of his growing Fleet Street contacts to gain publicity for every new comic launch, both in newsprint and on radio and TV. This soon spread well beyond London, and special events such as an evening of chat with Lee at the ICA in early 1975, and another, larger, show held at the Roundhouse later that same year which was videotaped for potential later use (it never was and by 2020 was deteriorating when I asked for it to be digitally transferred, rescued by a specialist who’d previously worked on NASA footage).
By then, and already assisted by his amiable studio head Alan Murray whenever art boards or other visual materials were required were needed, Ray gained further help from his equally enthusiastic latest editorial recruit, Neil Tennant, later of The Pet Shop Boys. This led to roadshow events at local cinemas, and a float that wound its way through Sevenoaks, promoting the launch of Captain Britain.
As publishers on both sides of the big pond began to struggle as the 1970s drew on, an increasing number of weekly titles here – no less than seven at the height of activity in that decade – began to cannibalise sales as the audience for each title narrowed. Just as for Marvel in America, the UK division’s saviour was Star Wars Weekly, whose sales immediately eclipsed the rest of their traditional superhero output.
Sadly, Wergan found himself suddenly out of the picture in the late summer of 1978, surprised to discover that Dez Skinn had been persuaded by Stan Lee to carry out many of the recommendations that he’d been commissioned to make in a recent report. Thus began the first explosion of specially commissioned material created in this country. Prior to that, only a handful of posters had ever been illustrated over here, the bulk of which had been created by Murray himself (such as a Howard the Duck back poster, presented on the back cover to a latter edition of Captain Britain).
While disappointed not to be able to continue with the contract, Wergan was hardly disconsolate, especially having recently gained TV Times magazine as his latest client. The business continued for another eight years until his retirement, where upon his photo library was obtained by Scope Features (since wound up, and there’s no indication who might now own this).
Moving down to Devon, he then enjoyed many happy years in retirement, keep himself occupied with the cultivation of rare alpine planets, photographing military ships (and, circuitously, gaining himself a few picture scoops in the national press), and, latterly, studying the habits of the colony of rare lizards common to that area, self-publishing a book of his research. His research was also featured in The Herpetological Bulletin.
While never persuaded to write his memoirs, the thirteen years Ray spent happily (and wittily) fielding questions from me about his earlier career and Marvel years – as a surfeit of new information continually came to light during my research – nonetheless at least traces a distinct outline of that career perfectly. He’s already much missed by his many friends and family.
Rob Kirby
Raymond Wergan: 1934 – 31st October 2024
Ray’s family are asking for donations to Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in his memory – donate here – the international, independent, medical humanitarian organisation that delivers emergency aid to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, healthcare exclusion and natural disasters
Rob Kirby is a busy designer and writer who has been researching From Cents to Pence!, an in-depth book on Marvel UK for the past two decades, and, since 2001, has also been running re:VOX, a magazine concerning everything to do with the group Ultravox.
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A touching tribute – thanks, Rob – to a man who, despite his modesty and contentment to stay in the background, deserves to be remembered for his crucial role in Marvel UK. Thanks for everything, Ray. You helped to give so many of us happy childhoods.