ALAN MOORE'S 1963!
- gregesis2
- Feb 28, 2017
- 27 min read
I believe Moore once said in an interview that it took him no more than 1-2 days to write an issue of 1963 and the ABC titles are probably a similar workload. He can easily write six a month, I'd think. He has, in fact, specifically said that writing four monthly ongoing titles for ABC isn't a burden and he could do it indefinitely.
League isn't an ongoing.
The Awesome titles are, at this point, inventory books--he wrote most or all of them in 1998 or before. If Awesome ever catches up with his backlog, he might have to take a couple of weeks to write another years' worth of issues of each title (i.e., three issues each).
His Awesome output (think about that happy coincidence of words for a second) was completed well over a year ago before Liefeld's company experienced its financial hiccup.
Four books doesn't seem too much a burden for the man who was writing Swamp Thing, Watchmen, Miracleman, completing V for Vendetta and numerous one shots back in the1980s.
No. Those are the only ones that he's currently writing. He has
other work coming out from Awesome (SUPREME, GLORY, YOUNGBLOOD) and Wildstorm (new DEATHBLOW mini-series), but those are all things he wrote some time back, but were only recently assigned to artists, and now being published.
All the Supreme stories were written way back before Awesome
collapsed for the nth time, and are only just coming out now.
Ditto Youngblood.
And while Valentino is actively encouraging Rick and Steve to bring
the 1963 Annual back to him now that he's in charge of Image, we have no idea whether they will find the time, let alone be able to convince the Affable One to a) return to the corpse and b) work on the same comic book as Bissette. There's still six or so pages written, though.
From Valentino's mouth to God's ear.
What's the story behind that? We all know that Moore
isn't too fond of DC, but I for one haven't heard of a grouch against Bissette. What exactly happened there?
Bissette said many things about Moore in his _Comics Journal_
interview that *I* would never have said about a person I expected to keep as a friend. However, I had thought that I had heard that Moor and Bissette got past that fight and were friends again.
Nope.
The really aggravating thing about it, though, is that Bissette sent
a transcript of the interview to Moore for him to read and request any changes or deletions before publication. Moore evidently never
bothered to read it, as Bissette didn't hear anything about it from
him until after the issue saw print, when Moore called him up and
requested that he make no further contact.'
Veitch is the one who stipulated that a provision for the Annual be
included in the contracts dividing up the rights to 1963*, so
presumably he would be able to mediate the creation of the book if
such an event ever nears realisation...
*More Bissette sadness/madness: he's taken a few of the characters off to use as cash cows in the superhero market, leaving the 1963
ownership with Moore & Veitch only. Mad not only because it simply would not work, but also because there's no conceivable likelihood that he would ever manage to get the stories done (though Chester Brown has volunteered himself as being willing and keen to ink Hypernaut...)
Not quite the version I heard, to say the least.
Does anyone have a list describing which characters and creators are parodied in Moore's "1963" books?
Mystery Inc. = Fantastic Four (Lee & Kirby)
Fury = Spider-Man (Lee & Ditko)
USA = Captain America (just assume the writer is Lee from now on & Kirby/Heck)
Hypernaut = Iron Man (Heck)
Infra-Man and Infra-Woman = Ant-Man and the Wasp
N-Man = Hulk (Kirby and someone else who I'm forgetting)
Johnny Beyond = Dr. Strange (Ditko)
Sky Solo = Nick Fury
Tomorrow Syndicate = Avengers
Dr. Manhattan = Captain Atom (oops, old Watchmen list there...)
The Hypernaut artwork itself was obviously a Ditko pastiche, not a Heck one
(nor did the story feel much like Iron Man).
There's also the situations referred to in the letter columns: for instance,
the remark about keeping the little ******s happy is based on a real remark
Jim Shooter made some time back....
[1963 analogs. I'll also insert the analogs for the villains, when I can
remember/recognize them.]
>Mystery Inc. = Fantastic Four (Lee & Kirby)
King Zero = Sub-Mariner
>Fury = Spider-Man (Lee & Ditko)
Also some Daredevil influences, such as the frisbee thingy he throws being
equivalent to DD's billy club.
Voidoid = Sandman somewhat (e.g., can't hurt him)
Warbeast (or whatever that dino's real name is) = generic '60s monster
>USA = Captain America (just assume the writer is Lee from now on & Kirby/Heck)
Red Brain = Red Skull
>Hypernaut = Iron Man (Heck)
While I agree with Ken Arromdee that there was a lot of Ditko influence in
Hypernaut's dimensional activities, the question Tom's answering has to do with
the original Marvel characters, and their creators, the 1963 crowd is based on.
>N-Man = Hulk (Kirby and someone else who I'm forgetting)
Ditko
>Sky Solo = Nick Fury
L.A.S.E.R. = S.H.I.E.L.D.
Can someone tell me what's happened to the 1963 annual. I'd heard that Jim Lee
was drawing but obviously that's not going to happen. If they don't put it out
I want my money back on the other issues.
Also does anyone know what's happening with Miracleman?
.
Personally, I'm hoping the annual never comes out. I enjoyed 1963 quite a
bit just for what it was, an homage/satire of the early Marvel superhero
titles. The thought is meshing with the rest of the Imageverse garbage may
very well make me wish I could get MY money back on the other issues.
By all reports Jim Lee is so slow that it will probably be 2000 before
we see the 1963 annual.
Oh well.
Well I can understand the sentiment but Alan Moore must of had something in
mind when he started this time overlapping plot, and I for one would like to
see the payoff. While the rest of the 1963 books were pleasant, none of them
made me forget any of the early Marvel stuff. I expected more from Moore and I
hoped it would all come together in the annual.
Does anyone out there have an idea or info on whether or not image is
going to complete their really cool retro 1963; there was an annual
promised but its been over a year.
Did Image ever finish this series there was a seventh part meant to
appear in an annual at some point did it ever show up?
No it didn't and it probably never will because none of
the parties involved are interested in finishing it so we'll
never know what happened.
Just finished reading the six 1963 issues. At the end of the last one,
Shaft from Youngblood shows up and a blurb says the story continues in
a Double Image 80-page Giant. Was this ever published?
7-1: THE 1963 ANNUAL
Both Liefeld and Lee (the "modern age" artists associated with the
project) have left Image. Although Moore has continued to work for
both of them, the 1963 ANNUAL appears dead.
From an interview with Alan Moore (conducted by Stéphane Mahaut) at
the Alan Moore Fan Site:
I really don't see any way that there'll be any chance to finish
the series, you know. It's just something that is, sort of, too
bad, where events in the real world over took events in the
comics. It was just difficult, you know, because Image had been
very much a coherent, you know, one for all unit when we started
doing 1963 with them but even by the end of the series we started
to, sort of, move apart from each other in certain key ways and I
think 1963 was a kind of victim and a casualty of that.
As far as I know, there has been no change in the status in the last
three years. Hard to believe that 1963 came out 10 years ago.
I read the same thing- there was a falling out between Steve Bissette and
Moore, causing them to split ownership of the characters. I recently saw Veitch post something about how he and Moore had thought of a way to end th story without Bissette's characters or the Image characters (or at least not all of them). I was surprised to read that because this was after Moore's announcement that he was "retiring" from mainstream comics.
Unfortunetly, we have no indication that they're actually going to do
it, only that Moore thought of a good idea for it.
But there's some hope! Rick Veitch posted this yesterday at the comicon.com boards:
"I for one have always felt that we should provide a real ending to the story rather than just reprint the existing stuff. Most of the publishers are looking for a quick and easy project. In discussions over the last year, Alan has cooked up a new idea for an ending but he's going nuts trying to tie up ABC right now. "
To quote the Bissette statement on that, in case anyone is interested
in what characters went where:
Bissette Acquires All Rights to Characters N-MAN, THE FURY, THE HYPERNAUT, and Title TALES OF THE UNCANNY
After a series of negotiations which took place in December, 1998,
Alan Moore, Rick Veitch, and Steve Bissette have agreed to divide the
previously shared ownership of the 1963 trademarks, copyrights,
titles, and characters.
Alan and Rick are now the sole, joint owners of MYSTERY INCORPORATED; U.S.A. (Ultimate Special Agent); HORUS LORD OF LIGHT; JOHNNY BEYOND; THE TOMORROW SYNDICATE (sans N-Man and The Hypernaut); the trademark and title TALES FROM BEYOND; and the trademark and title "1963."
In exchange, Bissette is the sole owner of NO ONE ESCAPES THE FURY,
THE UNBELIEVABLE N-MAN, THE HYPERNAUT, and the trademark and title TALES OF THE UNCANNY.
I'd say Veich and Moore got the better of that deal, by a wide margin.
Well, Bissette got the all three features that he did the pencils for
in the original series, so I'm sure he's fine with it. Been a while
since I've read the series (and I'm not a huge 1963 fan anyway), but I recall liking Hypernaut and N-Man more than USA, Horus, Mystery Inc and Johnny Beyond (most of which I think wore their inspirations a bit too obviously). Fury I'm more neutral on, but he did have that great three-eyed dinosaur villain, which would hold obvious appeal to Bissette.
Though the 1963 name may be the most valuable bit of real estate
there. Mostly a moot point, though, since I'd lay pretty slim odds on
Moore going back to the characters.
I'd agree, actually. The USA, Horus, Mystery Inc, and Fury stories
were rather tedious, imo. N-Man, Hypernaut, and Johnny Beyond managed to hold my interest. The team-up in the sixth issue was much more interesting than the solo books, though.
I thought The Fury was rather great. The scene where he's calling his mom while the T-rex is outside the phonebooth trying to break in? Classic. While my thoughts were that I had seen it a million times in Spider-Man and/or any of the multitude of heroes who were written in the Spider-Man vein (Nova, Speedball, etc. etc. etc.).
Really? To that absurd degree? I mean, Alan Moore was clearly trying to be absurd. Do other writers do this sort of thing and take it seriously?
I thought that was too Spider-Man (an exaggerated Spidey bit played
for laughs, of course), and I recall it distracted me a bit from the
story, which was much less of a Spidey riff than I had been expecting
up to that point. I do like the character design and villains,
though, and it'll be interesting to see what Bissette does with it
if/when he decides to use his share of the 1963 characters.
Did any other Cerebus fans out there notice that the "Ad" on the back of 1963 #1 ("Shamed by You English?") sounds just like it could have been written by Scorz of Scorz Scorz and Sons? <g>
Moore is merely exaggerating what _was_ in the early Marvels. You just looked in the wrong books. Check out some of the original Hulk issues, for instance. Remember who set-off the gamma bomb in the first place? Or how about the Gremlin, that miniature mite from Moscow?
And then there were Iron Man's many foes like the Crimson Dynamo and Titanium Man -- not to mention Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow, or her husband the Red Guardian (from early Avengers). Early Ant Man stories were even mor anti-communist: check out the origin story of Hank Pym's powers (and the Wasp). Most of Pym's early stories reflected a 'fear' of Red – albeit mainly the Russian brand.
For a Chinese Communist villain try and find that memorable Thor villain, the Uranium Man, who later became a founding member of the anti-Avengers group, the Masters of Evil.
The only three Marvel books that I can remember _not_ fighting the Red Tide were Dr. Strange in Strange Tales, the X-Men and Spider-Man. The Fantastic Four pretty much steered away from it too, except for their battles with the Red Ghost.
Alan Moore knows the score...
Except of course the origin. The whole point of the space flight was to "Beat the Reds into space."
And while we're at it, wasn't the Abomination a Russian spy trying to
determine the secret of the Hulk?
Yes, many of the villains were communist, but that misses the point.
Most of the Marvel heroes of that time fought insectoid monsters at
one time or another, but if Moore's 1963 were a barrage of insect
monsters and anti-insect ads (to pick an admittedly silly example),
we wouldn't say that he was merely exaggerating an existing trend.
Yes, many of the sixties villains were iron-curtain types, but the
Marvel comics of that time simply did not have a strongly anti-communist tone. I suspect that Moore's picture of those comics is filtered through British stereotypes of the America of that time.
Are you all certain that this "anti-communist" attitude of Moore's in the 1963 series is just a spoof of the Marvel of the sixties, and not some integral part of the plotline? Moore's stories are usually pretty complex and it seems as though this could all be related (what with the time- traveling Osborne communist, and the traveller in the Mystery Inc. book.)
(And I know that Image is not famous for its complexity, but I can hope, can't I?)
Of course this is going to be complex. I find it strange that so many
havent yet realised how well linked these storylines are which will
all come together in 1963 80 page special. Was the time/dimension
traveller from issue 1 from the 1993 Image universe?
Talking to Alan Moore, he said that the basic crutch of the 80 page
special is the conflisct between super heroes who are nice and who
never kill and rarely have any really bad enemies, and super heroes
who break peoples spines.
By the way, Alan Moore declined to write an issue of ShadowHawk
I don't think there are many superheroes who don't have many really bad enemies (if that means that the _villains_ also don't kill).
It is true that most 1963-type superhero enemies don't kill _on_screen_, or have their victims get very lucky and not die when they should, but that the villains aren't shown to kill in front of us does not mean they are not killers. Even taking a look at 1963 so far, it is obvious that the dinosaur from #2 and the alien from the second story in #3 had the intent to kill on their minds.
As for heroes killing, they did when they could get away with it: take a look
at Sgt. Fury or Conan. I don't think heroes-who-kill are necessarily
antithetical to silver-age innocence.
In 1963? Not Conan. And Sgt. Fury was up against the Nazi soldiers,
who were ok to shoot, bludgeon, stab, crush, and otherwise eliminate
in various creative ways. (Where's that Moriarty quote about the Gestapo
being good all-purpose villains?)
My first does of Liefeld 'art' was Avengers #1, and this pretty
closely mirrors my reaction. Appalling stuff. There's this one image
looking down into a room with Vision and Scarlet Witch in it (I
think), with this unimaginitively rendered table in it that would
boggle Escher's mind, the perspective was so off. It's stuck in my
mind all this time, it was so bad.
I loved it, and still treasure it. It was fun to get the jokes, and also
be entertained by solid stories. It also involved Rick Vietch, one of my
favorite under-appreciated comics artists. And Steve Bissette, IIRC. Sort
of a Swamp Thing reunion of sorts.
: I take it this series will probably never be collected, either, but back issues
: seem to be cheap. I'm not very familiar with Moore's ABC books -- are any of
: them similar to his 1963 stories -- entertaining, light-hearted superhero
: adventures?
I only read Promethea, which can be funny, but isn't exactly
light-hearted. Don't know about Tom Strong or Top Ten.
_Top 10_ is *extremely* funny, and serious at the same time. It's a
great balancing act.
Like many TV dramas... especially cop-dramas. Which I'm sure Top Ten is
never compared to...
Do you mean shows like "Hill Street Blues" or "NYPD Blue"? Why would anyone
compare Top 10 to them? Those shows don't have superheroes. :)
Wasn't there also supposed to be a Subgenius/underground comic called
1963&1/2 that was going to loosely tie into the series? I suppose that
never saw print either.
Pissed me off when I went to reread the series awhile back and forgot
it was left hanging like that!
I recently re-read this book after a few years, and I really think it's my
favorite of all of Moore's books. I've read Watchmen, the Miracleman run, and
most of Moore's other "serious" books -- and I've found that I enjoy the 1963
books the most. I know it's mostly a swipe at early Marvel, but the stories
are exciting and the characters interesting -- some of them even moreso than
their Marvel counterparts, such as Hypernaut (the Iron Man copy) and Horus -- I
find Egyptian mythology a lot more exotic and interesting than Thor's Norse
myths. I also liked the Fury -- not more than Spider-Man, though -- but I
liked how he fought crime to keep his promise from his dying father.
I'm just wondering what others felt about this series. It's really too bad
that the Annual was never released. I read an interview where Moore said he
thinks that the series will never be completed.
I take it this series will probably never be collected, either, but back issues
seem to be cheap. I'm not very familiar with Moore's ABC books -- are any of
them similar to his 1963 stories -- entertaining, light-hearted superhero
adventures?
This series seems to have more prominence in the .25 bin than any other
created. I always pick them up when I see them, and pass them off to
friends. I absolutely loved it; but having said that, I really only enjoyed
the text pieces. The stories themselves were a little mundane, but still fun
reading.
The ABC line is closest in spirit to 1963 than anything Moore's done, but
then again really just Tom Strong and possibly Tomorrow Stories. Promethea
is much more like Swamp Thing, and Top Ten is pure cop show/Crime Fiction.
They're all great, though.
If you've enjoyed as much of Moore's stuff as you mentioned, I'd personally
recommend trying out all the ABC line, especially Tom Strong, which I've
found to be most similar to the 1963 series. I think you'd find value in
Just the fact that the second half of his Supreme run was drawn by Chris
Sprouse with flashbacks by Rick Veitch is reason enough for me, but he packs
so much homage into the series, which still managing to create powerful
turning points which build on the smaller climaxes of the earlier issues,
that Alan Moore's Supreme was just about my favorite series while it was
running.
I loved 1963--one of my favorites was a letter written by a poor kid who was
allergic to alliteration, and begged Affable Al to lay off on it! Al
responded with a sentence that had something like ten or fifteen words
starting with the same letter!
As I said, I loved 1963 when it was around, but when SUPREME really started
to cook, I felt like 1963 had just been a trial-run for the great stuff that
was to come.
For my money, Alan Moore's Supreme was THE series of the 90's, much like The New Mutants was my series of the 80's.
Maybe because I read it first, I found this series also much much more enjoyable than 1963 - the 1963 series just seemed a preamble, a working through of themes before he really hit his stride with
Supreme. The Supreme series (+ the Judgment Day miniseries, the Glory and Youngblood abortive relaunches) were "pastiches done right" of Silver Age DCU, much as 1963 was a pastiche of Silver Age Marvel. But there was some amazingly dense plotting going on, as well as excellent writing. (And the annoying alliteration was toned down a notch :-))
Look for another thread called Glory #0: Deja vu? on what's currently being published in the Supreme-verse. There are those of us who still bemoan - years later - that the promised Daxia-Supremacy War never got off the ground ... :-(
Thanks for the responses -- which made me recall the Moore stories I read a few years ago, before I quit reading comics again. I keep dropping in and out of the scene.
Anyway, around '98-'99, I hunted down most of the Moore comics I could find, including the complete Miracleman series, 1963, Youngblood, Glory, the Green
Lantern annuals and Vigilante two-parter, and all of his Supremes. From what I
remember, they went from like #41-#56, then the series disappeared for a while
and returned with Supreme: The Return, of which I got the first issue. Were
there any more?
The Supreme books were great -- better than any Supermans I've read (other than
Moore's two Superman stories!). And Jeff is right -- the Rick Veitch
flashbacks alone made the comic worthwhile. Add on top of that the usual Moore
level of quality writing, and Supreme was an excellent comic.
I remember an interview somewhere around '99 or so where Moore revealed what
his plans had been for Supreme and Youngblood -- this was before Supreme: The
Return was released. One story in particular he said would have a planet of
Supremes fighting a planet of Darius Daxes. Did that storyline ever surface?
And whatever happened with Youngblood? Were any other stories ever published
other than 1 and 2 and the holiday special?
Granted, the Supreme books were better written than the 1963 line, but I have a
lot of love for the Marvel universe, and so was excited to (finally) see
Moore's take on the Marvel characters.
Moore actually wrote three Superman stories: the Superman-Swamp Thing issue of
Action Comics, a Superman Annual (pitting Supes, Batman, Robin and Wonder Woman
against Mongul), and the two-part wrap-up to the pre-Crisis Superman titles.
>
> Moore actually wrote three Superman stories: the Superman-Swamp Thing issue of
> Action Comics, a Superman Annual (pitting Supes, Batman, Robin and Wonder Woman
> against Mongul), and the two-part wrap-up to the pre-Crisis Superman
titles.
If I'm reading the bibliography correctly, he also wrote a 4th, text only story in Superman Annual 1985 -- a U.K. hardcover which included the story "I Was Superman's Double".
For complete details on all his comics stuff, check out the Alan Moore bibliography on www.enjolrasworld.com.
The Judgment Day miniseries also fits right in, and is the anchor
point for the relaunch of the rest of the Alan Moore version of the
Awesome universe. Another great story, not marred at all by Rob
Liefeld's art (he doesn't do all of it, don't worry) since it gave
rise to an extremely funny review which I've never since been able to
find on Deja/Google
That's the Daxia-Supremacy war I mentioned. Not planets, but rather
dimensions, each containing all the infinite (retconned-out) versions
of Supreme/Dax. We were building up to it, since the current Marconi
of Monstrosity had visited Daxia and escaped with the knowledge of its
existence, while the Ivory Icon and Diana Dane visited the Supremacy
at least once.
Not sure about the holiday special (now you've got me wondering if
there's more I should be looking out for!) but #3's story was instead
put into Awesome Adventures #1 ... and I don't know if any further
issues of either were ever published.
Like I said I read them after Supreme and found them rather simplistic
and not ... dense enough in storytelling. Plus, the alliteration get
very annoying very quick (unlike in Supreme, where it's just plain
cute :-) ... The Girl Of Our Dreams, indeed!).
The Judgment Day miniseries also fits right in, and is the anchor point for the relaunch of the rest of the Alan Moore version of theAwesome universe. Another great story, not marred at all by Rob
Liefeld's art (he doesn't do all of it, don't worry) since it gave rise to an extremely funny review which I've never since been able to
>by Jess Nevins, do you? A page by page, almost panel by panel critique
>of why Liefeld's art is totally inappropriate for the story...
I had found this one in my search - and it's just as funny. I think
the one I mean was most probably also written by Jess, but it was a
description of the first (alpha) issue. ISTR hysterical
deconstructions on the lines of: how the furniture could never exist
in three-dimensional space (let alone 2-D), why the furniture kept
moving around the room in every panel - when it wasn't disappearing and reappearing, how the characters' costumes would grow shoulder pads and belts and gloves, etc ... and then lose them again the next panel
In Spring 1996, I interviewed Alan Moore for Sci-Fi Universe magazine (the article ran in the July 96 issue and is available online at http://www.cinenet.net:80/users/jaybab/alan.html). Although most of our conversation centered on FROM HELL, we did talk somewhat about his motivations for working in the superhero genre again.
In light of the continuing discussion re: SUPREME/JUDGMENT DAY/etc. on this newsgroup, I thought people might be interested in the following, which clearly shows that Moore is bringing different intentions to his 90s superhero work [or at least he was at the time of time of this interview] than he did to his 80s superhero work. If you want SERIOUS Alan Moore work a la Watchmen or (even better) V FOR VENDETTA, you'd be better off reading FROM HELL or LOST GIRLS or Moore's new novel VOICE OF THE FIRE than his work for Image (or now) Awesome.
Anyway, here's an excerpt from the transcript:
Q: With Watchmen and Miracleman, you seemed to close the book for yourself on superheroes. Yet now are working on them again with your stuff at Image...
A: What I said at the time [at the conclusion of WATCHMEN] was that 'I have no problem with superheroes.' At the time, I was very tired of superhero comics because I'd been doing them for a long time and I wanted to try some other things. I no longer believed that the superhero comic was anyplace to express serious concerns and I still believe that.
The stuff that I do for Wildstorm and for Todd MacFarlane and the
various other people at Image {comics]--what I'm trying to do there is better-than-average stories for 13- to 15 year-olds. I'm trying to make them a bit funnier, a bit more stylish, put a couple of storytelling quirks in there. It's simple, mindless adventure stuff, which I believe is what that audience wants. And it's sometimes fun to write--you can have a few laughs along the way.
But there's nothing being expressed that is of any real importance to
me, unlike with _From Hell_ or _Lost Girls_ or any of the other things. There's a line between my serious work and my superhero work now that wasn't there before. There was a time when I thought it was appropriate to try and express certain ideas in a superhero format. But after Watchmen_, I couldn't really see the point. There are other genres lying around that look more promising.
Q: Of course you did 1963 [the Marvel parody comics]...
A: Oh, I had a real real laugh with that. It was fun doing all the
vicious Marvel parodies, the bullpen pages. It was great when Flo
Steinberg got in touch with us and felt we were absolutely spot-on with the parody. It was just good fun. I got halfway through writing tne Horus story and I thought, 'Well hang on, this is not just good as a kinda retro-parody comic. this is a good comic. There is something really good about this wonderful simplicity.'
A: What happened to the annual? We're wondering what happened to it.
Well, me too. It's half-written and Rob Leifield is apparently going to
draw it. This is the last I heard... he's gonna start drawing it and
I'll finish off writing it. I'm just waiting for someone there to pick
up the ball, cuz I can't draw it meself. [laughter] I wanna get it
finished cuz there's a few things I might want to do with the '63
characters. There's things that you can do with them.
I wouldn't want to carry on doing endless 1963 pastiches because you do
it once, you make the point. [But] now that I have these characters that
are kind of second-hand icons if you like--they're not the original
iconic characters that they were based upon, but they've got some of
that feel, that aura, to them now. It might be interesting to take them
and I don't know but put a different spin on them now and again. A 1963
special or something like that.
Do you have Questions that you wish you could ask someone who really
knows whats going on?
well, Alan Moore, Rick Veitch and Steve Bissette want to hear your
opinions of thier new project, 1963, and/or any Questions you might have
about it...THey will answer these questions. If you would like to write
me at: ev22@andrew.cmu.edu or post a messsage on this Bboard, I will
get the message to them and they will respond.
Any response sent to this account will be answered on the senders
account, not the Bboard. Postings and updates will be sent to the
Bboard! Thanks.
-------------------------------------------------------------
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*BRATPACK,
@
Live Fast.
#
Love Hard,
*
Die with your mask on! !
*some thing to look forward to....
|> Do you have Questions that you wish you could ask someone who really
|> knows whats going on?
|>
|> well, Alan Moore, Rick Veitch and Steve Bissette want to hear your
|> opinions of thier new project, 1963, and/or any Questions you might have
|> about it...THey will answer these questions. If you would like to write
|> me at: ev22@andrew.cmu.edu or post a messsage on this Bboard, I will
|> get the message to them and they will respond.
Okay, since no one else is asking any questions, I'll try to imitate a
typical NPR reporter covering comics.
1) Who is working on this series?
2) When does the series take place?
3) Where did the title come from?
4) Did you know that 1 x 96 / 3 = 32 which is 23 reversed? How does this
implicate you in your favorite conspiracy?
5) What superpowers will this mysterious Mr. 1963 exhibit, and is this just
an attempt to cash in on the Death of Superman?
6) Could you tell us about the first project you worked on together, Man-Thing?
7) Mr. Veitch, why did people hate your run on Marvel Comics "Animal Man"
so much, and why are you misunderstood as a writer?
8) Mr. Moore, one criticism of your work is that it comes out entirely too slow.
When can comic fans expect Mage II to be published?
9) Mr. Bissette, If you could have a French pastry named after you, what would
it be called?
It is hoped that these questions will be answered in the spirit in which they
were asked.....
>
>9) Mr. Bissette, If you could have a French pastry named after you, what would
>it be called?
Is this a trick question? Presumably it would be called "Steve".
--
Andrew Michael Solovay
"I have abandoned my search for truth, and am now searching for a
good fantasy."
--- (c) Ashleigh Brilliant
|> >9) Mr. Bissette, If you could have a French pastry named after you, what would
|> >it be called?
|>
|> Is this a trick question? Presumably it would be called "Steve".
The sound of a lone forehead being repeatedly smashed against a terminal
resonates through the network.
>
>7) Mr. Veitch, why did people hate your run on Marvel Comics "Animal Man"
>so much, and why are you misunderstood as a writer?
I'm gonna feel silly if this was a joke, but it was DC and Tom Veitch,
Rick of Swampy etc. infamy is working on 1963. You know, the one with
talent :^)
>>
>>7) Mr. Veitch, why did people hate your run on Marvel Comics "Animal Man"
>>so much, and why are you misunderstood as a writer?
>
> I'm gonna feel silly if this was a joke, but it was DC and Tom Veitch,
> Rick of Swampy etc. infamy is working on 1963. You know, the one with
> talent :^)
>
> Pax ex machina,
> Glenn
It was definitely a joke. But, hey, who cares? It seems that these
days, it's hard to tell the pranksters like this guy, from the "un-informed"
morons who actually ask questions like the above for magazine and newspaper
publications.
|> >>7) Mr. Veitch, why did people hate your run on Marvel Comics "Animal Man"
|> >>so much, and why are you misunderstood as a writer?
|> >
|> > I'm gonna feel silly if this was a joke, but it was DC and Tom Veitch,
|> > Rick of Swampy etc. infamy is working on 1963. You know, the one with
|> > talent :^)
|> It was definitely a joke. But, hey, who cares? It seems that these
|> days, it's hard to tell the pranksters like this guy, from the "un-informed"
|> morons who actually ask questions like the above for magazine and newspaper
|> publications.
Okay okay, I confess....it was a joke, I *tried* to clue people in by putting
something in the keywords. Of course, I still get occasional requests from
people to tell them more about the limited edition "Sodium" version of
Spiderman #1 (it is sealed in a moisture proof bag so you know that it is in
mint condition).....
I'm surprised nobody criticized me about the question to Alan Moore when Mage II
was going to be released.
> Do you have Questions that you wish you could ask someone who really
> knows whats going on?
Okay, here goes. Hopefully this will start a thread on questions.
Hint: format the answers and put them in an FTP archive. You'll
be glad you did when people start repeating questions...
1) To Ezra: Are you related to Rick and Tom Veitch?
2) What are the books coming out in the 1963 series? Who is doing
which books?
3) Are there intended parallels to Marvel characters of the time,
as the rumors here in rec.arts.comics.misc seem to indicate?
4) Talking about rumors: are the 1963 books going to tie in to
the existing "Image universe"? If so, how?
5) Why did Mr. Moore decide to do 1963 in "Marvel-style" scripting
as opposed to his typical full-script style?
6) We haven't seen much from Mr. Moore in a while. What other projects
is he working on? Any DEFINITE news on upcoming issues of BIG NUMBERS?
7) To Steven Bissette: At a mid-November signing in the Chicago MOONDOG'S
comic shop (Neil Gaiman was there), you told me that Charles Vess and
Jill Thompson were the ones responsible for the TOTORO in-jokes in
SANDMAN and BOOKS OF MAGIC. You're an animation fan as well, so is
there a chance you could do a similar thing in the future? ^_^
In Spring 1996, I interviewed Alan Moore for Sci-Fi Universe magazine
(the article ran in the July 96 issue and is available online at
http://www.cinenet.net:80/users/jaybab/alan.html). Although most of our
conversation centered on FROM HELL, we did talk somewhat about his
motivations for working in the superhero genre again.
In light of the continuing discussion re: SUPREME/JUDGMENT DAY/etc. on
this newsgroup, I thought people might be interested in the following,
which clearly shows that Moore is bringing different intentions to his
90s superhero work [or at least he was at the time of time of this
interview] than he did to his 80s superhero work. If you want SERIOUS
Alan Moore work a la Watchmen or (even better) V FOR VENDETTA, you'd be
better off reading FROM HELL or LOST GIRLS or Moore's new novel VOICE OF
THE FIRE than his work for Image (or now) Awesome.
Anyway, here's an excerpt from the transcript:
Q: With Watchmen and Miracleman, you seemed to close the book for
yourself on superheroes. Yet now are working on them again with your
stuff at Image...
A: What I said at the time [at the conclusion of WATCHMEN] was that 'I
have no problem with superheroes.' At the time, I was very tired of
superhero comics because I'd been doing them for a long time and I
wanted to try some other things. I no longer believed that the superhero
comic was anyplace to express serious concerns and I still believe that.
The stuff that I do for Wildstorm and for Todd MacFarlane and the
various other people at Image {comics]--what I'm trying to do there is
better-than-average stories for 13- to 15 year-olds. I'm trying to make
them a bit funnier, a bit more stylish, put a couple of storytelling
quirks in there. It's simple, mindless adventure stuff, which I believe
is what that audience wants. And it's sometimes fun to write--you can
have a few laughs along the way.
But there's nothing being expressed that is of any real importance to
me, unlike with _From Hell_ or _Lost Girls_ or any of the other things.
There's a line between my serious work and my superhero work now that
wasn't there before. There was a time when I thought it was appropriate
to try and express certain ideas in a superhero format. But after
_Watchmen_, I couldn't really see the point. There are other genres
lying around that look more promising.
Q: Of course you did 1963 [the Marvel parody comics]...
A: Oh, I had a real real laugh with that. It was fun doing all the
vicious Marvel parodies, the bullpen pages. It was great when Flo
Steinberg got in touch with us and felt we were absolutely spot-on with
the parody. It was just good fun. I got halfway through writing tne
Horus story and I thought, 'Well hang on, this is not just good as a
kinda retro-parody comic. this is a good comic. There is something
really good about this wonderful simplicity.'
A: What happened to the annual? We're wondering what happened to it.
Well, me too. It's half-written and Rob Leifield is apparently going to
draw it. This is the last I heard... he's gonna start drawing it and
I'll finish off writing it. I'm just waiting for someone there to pick
up the ball, cuz I can't draw it meself. [laughter] I wanna get it
finished cuz there's a few things I might want to do with the '63
characters. There's things that you can do with them.
I wouldn't want to carry on doing endless 1963 pastiches because you do
it once, you make the point. [But] now that I have these characters that
are kind of second-hand icons if you like--they're not the original
iconic characters that they were based upon, but they've got some of
that feel, that aura, to them now. It might be interesting to take them
and I don't know but put a different spin on them now and again. A 1963
special or something like that.
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Search Result 5From: David Pautler (pautler@ils.nwu.edu)
Subject: Re: IMAGE: Moore's 1963! (poss spoilers) This is the only article in this thread
View: Original FormatNewsgroups: rec.arts.comics.misc
Date: 1992-12-02 08:57:59 PST
In article <of6yJES00awKEefldc@andrew.cmu.edu>, "Ezra I. Veitch" <ev22+@andrew.cmu.edu> writes:
> Do you have Questions that you wish you could ask someone who really
> knows whats going on?
>
> well, Alan Moore, Rick Veitch and Steve Bissette want to hear your
> opinions of thier new project, 1963, and/or any Questions you might have
> about it...THey will answer these questions. If you would like to write
> me at: ev22@andrew.cmu.edu or post a messsage on this Bboard, I will
> get the message to them and they will respond.
As someone else has already pointed out, there isn't much to comment on
yet. I think there are only two ashcans available. I've read one of
them, and one thing puzzled me about it: Moore explains on the back that
Comrade Cockroach was an early version of N-Man, Hulk's doppelganger
in the 1963 universe; but CC seems much more like Spiderman. Is he
the Spiderman doppelganger, or will someone else be introduced later
to play that role?
-dp-
BTW, what would it take to convince Moore to take over Superman, assuming
we could convince DC to allow it?
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All messages from thread
Message 1 in threadFrom: Ezra I. Veitch (ev22+@andrew.cmu.edu)
Subject: QUESTONS?Image meets Moore's 1963
View this article onlyNewsgroups: rec.arts.comics.misc
Date: 1992-11-30 14:21:35 PST
Hi-Ho!
If anyone out there is interested in asking questions about Alan Moore's
series: 1963, He and the other creators, Rick Veitch and Steve Bissette,
are interested in hearing them and answering them.
They heard about the interest here on the Network and really want to
hear what you have to say! Any constructive criticism / comments /
questions welcomed. All posts will be answered!
either post on, netnews.rec.arts.comics.misc
or send to my account, ev22@andrew.cmu.edu
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------
*BRATPACK,
@
Live Fast.
#
Love Hard,
*
Die with your mask on! !
*some thing to look forward to....
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------
Message 2 in threadFrom: jeremy holstein (jholstei@scott.skidmore.edu)
Subject: Re: QUESTONS?Image meets Moore's 1963
View this article onlyNewsgroups: rec.arts.comics.misc
Date: 1992-12-01 14:06:52 PST
"Ezra I. Veitch" <ev22+@andrew.cmu.edu> writes:
> Hi-Ho!
>
> If anyone out there is interested in asking questions about Alan Moore's
> series: 1963, He and the other creators, Rick Veitch and Steve Bissette,
> are interested in hearing them and answering them.
>
> They heard about the interest here on the Network and really want to
> hear what you have to say! Any constructive criticism / comments /
> questions welcomed. All posts will be answered!
>
> either post on, netnews.rec.arts.comics.misc
> or send to my account, ev22@andrew.cmu.edu
It would be alot easier to post questions about the series if there
were any issues out. Could someone post a summery of available info
on this series so we can actually ask questions about this puppy? I
have plenty of questions re: Taboo, From Hell, etc. Will the creators
accept questions about their other projects or will this just be
centered around 1963?
--
This is my sig file.
Message 3 in threadFrom: comptec92076@camins.camosun.bc.ca (comptec92076@camins.camosun.bc.ca)
Subject: QUESTONS?Image meets Moore's 1963
View this article onlyNewsgroups: rec.arts.comics.misc
Date: 1992-12-07 20:01:47 PST
> If anyone out there is interested in asking questions about Alan Moore's
> series: 1963, He and the other creators, Rick Veitch and Steve Bissette > are interested in hearing them and answering them.
From the title on this message it sounds like it is an Image comics thing
that I haven't heard of if it is I wold like to hear more Image is about the
only thing I read these days.
Don McCaskill
aka Falcon
Message 4 in threadFrom: Scowling Jim Cowling (jcowling@ophelia.UVic.CA)
Subject: Re: QUESTONS?Image meets Moore's 1963
View this article onlyNewsgroups: rec.arts.comics.misc
Date: 1992-12-07 20:02:46 PST
In article <1992Dec7.093528.1@camins.camosun.bc.ca> comptec92076@camins.camosun.bc.ca writes:
>> If anyone out there is interested in asking questions about Alan Moore's
>> series: 1963, He and the other creators, Rick Veitch and Steve Bissette > are interested in hearing them and answering them.
>
> From the title on this message it sounds like it is an Image comics thing
>that I haven't heard of if it is I wold like to hear more Image is about the
>only thing I read these days.
Oh, god, McCaskill's here. There goes the neighbourhood...
Here's the story, Don.
Alan Moore, Steve Bissette, John Totleben and a few friends are doing a
six-issue series for Image called "1963". Each issue will look like a book
from 1963, with a different title (I don't have a list of titles handy).
Then they'll put out an Annual.
Apparently, the books will tie into the whole Image universe.
Might be the first decent thing put out by the company, too.
-------
Scowling Jim Cowling
Creative Writing Department, University of Victoria (opinions disassociated)
I've got a headache *this* big
-------
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