Alan Moore's 1963
 

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/dvdtalk...21e85af77d.jpg


I remember buying the first issue of this because it was a #1 and not even really reading it. It was supposed to be based on The Fantastic Four, a team that I didn't even like. And unlike other Image books, it was printed on cheap paper and had basic coloring. The superheroes looked weird and I wondered why whoever was in charge didn't instead do a Golden Age homage. That was what was popular at the time.

Later, after I discovered Watchmen, Supreme, and then the entire ABC Comics line, I re-read the first issue of 1963 and realized what they were trying to do. I got the other three issue and they were even better. I was a Marvel Zombie in the late 80s/early 90s but I was unfamiliar with Marvel's original peak of popularity and body of work in the 1960s, so of course I didn't get all the in-jokes, the parodies, or the homages as a teen. But as an adult, from beginning to end, these issues were great. Even the letter column is parodying Marvel's letter columns from that era and Stan Lee himself. I don't think this has ever been properly collected in TPB, but it should get the prestige format treatment. But I think the rights are all tied up with the different creators involved in the project and Alan Moore is no longer talking to Steve Bissette so that's that.

Did anyone else read this series at the time they came out or later?

Re: Alan Moore's 1963
 

The rights to the 1963 characters have been severed in a creative divorce. Bissette and Veitch attempted to get a collected edition of the original series going back in 2009 but it fell through soon after. Always disappointed they never finished the storyline with the 1963 Annual. But that was more Jim Lee's fault than anyone else. No chance of it ever coming out now. The Annual was supposed to feature the 1963 characters meeting the modern Image characters. But all those rights have changed since 1993. Rob Liefeld lost Youngblood. Jim Lee sold all his properties to DC. Moore owns some of the 1963 characters and Bissette got the others.

Another unfinished Image project.

Re: Alan Moore's 1963
 

From what I remember Jim Lee had nothing to do with 1963 when it was in its initial planning stages. Jim Valentino was the one who brought him to Image, and once the other guys found out what was planned they wanted to be a part of the project.

Re: Alan Moore's 1963
 

Here's a lengthy interview with Steve Bissette where he goes into detail about why 1963 was never finished, and why it's a dead property.

https://www.cbr.com/steve-bissette-p...63-and-beyond/