1963 (Comic book)

(1993)
Written by Alan Moore
Art by Rick Veitch, Dave Gibbons, Steve Bissette, Don Simpson, Chester Brown, John Totleben, Jimmy Valentino
Wikipedia Page

Alan Moore is quite rightly considered one of the top writers of comic books written today.  His work has been astounding, with things like V for Vendetta, Watchmen, Swamp Thing*, and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.**  But lost within these classics is one of his best, a comic that is not only good on its own, but is a satire on the business of comics in general.

1963 was a limited series of six comic books, all with different titles, that were pastiches of the Marvel comics of the 60s.  Moore takes on the personal of "Affable Al" Moore, whose chatty footnotes and replies to letters are quite reminiscent of a very well known Marvel comic editor of the time. Indeed, the letters mention the "sixty-three sweatshop" and gives out "anti-awards" for letters, as readers comment on previous (nonexistent) episodes of the stories. 

The characters are clearly based on Marvel superheroes of the time and you can see Moore is trying to make a statement about how superheroes were portrayed.  The six books are:

• Mystery Incorporated ("America's Most Exciting Comic Book") about four fantastic heroes:  the scientist Crystal Man, Neon Queen, Kid Dynamo (who turns into a form of energy) and, of course, the Planet, a man turned ugly and with great super strength.
• No One Escapes . . . The Fury.  The Fury is a wisecracking superhero who bounces around the city to fight crime and supervillains like a blind arachind. 
• Tales of the Uncanny.  Two stories here, one featuring U.S.A. -- Ultimate Secret Agent, a red white and blue clad hero, the other with the Hypernaut, with elements like body armor, science fiction, and other issues.
• Tales from Beyond.  Another two-fer, with N-man, who turned bright red and ugly due to a nuclear explosion, and Johnny Beyond, master of the occult.
• Horus, Lord of Light. A hero who turns into an ancient god.
• Tomorrow Syndicate.  An all-star lineup of heroes.

If you know comics at all,you know who Moore is referring to.***

The stories are very much in the mood of 60s Marvel stories, and matching the style of the comics perfectly. It's the same sort of flat art that we all grew up on and there are often the typical ongoing plots that Marvel was so well known for.

One of the more interesting pieces are the "Affable Al" Moore comments. Moore portrays his alter ego as a pure ego, slave driver who grabs all he can get, and who even threatens a fan (named Neal Gaiman) with a lawsuit over copyright violation. 

The series was incomplete.  There was supposed to be an additional comic -- an 80-Page Giant Annual -- where the heroes in the Tomorrow Syndicate would meet with heroes from Image Comics (who published the series). It was clear that Moore wanted to make some statement about the relationship between comics in the 60s with that of the 90s. The final panels have the Tomorrow Syndicate in a world where the flat comic book art had turned to the more three-dimensional art that was the standard of the time.

But the book never came out. The artist -- Jim Lee -- quit comics for a year and never got back to the book.  There were creative differences and eventually too much time lapsed for it to be a viable project.

The comics are hard to find; I don't think they've been collected. But it's a enjoyable look at the past, with a character -- "Affable Al" -- who ranks as one of the great comic book creations.

 

*Though I prefer the original Len Wein/Bernie Wrightson verson.

** Don't blame Moore for the movie, or any others of his books -- he hates what Hollywood does to his work.

*** Oh, all right.  If you don't get it:

Mystery Incorporated	Fantastic Four
The Fury	Spider-Man with hints of Daredevil
U.S.A.	Captain America
Hypernaut	Note entirely clear, with elements from Iron Man/Silver Surfer, Green Lantern & others
N-Man	The Incredible Hulk
Johnny Beyond	Doctor Strange
Horus	The MightyThor
Tomorrow Syndicate	The Avengers, and also Moore's own Watchmen series.