1963, Book One: Mystery Incorporated

1963 #1

by Alan Moore, Rick Veitch, Dave Gibbons

1963 is an American six-issue comic book limited series written by Alan Moore in 1993, with art by his frequent collaborators Steve Bissette, John Totleben, and Rick Veitch. Dave Gibbons, Don Simpson, and Jim Valentino also contributed art.

The six issues are an homage to the Silver Age of American comics (in particular, the early Marvel Comics), and feature spoof advertisements on the rear covers

Genres: Comics, Superheroes, Comic Book, Graphic Novels, Comix

34 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1993

About the author

Alan Moore is an English writer most famous for his influential work in comics, including the acclaimed graphic novels Watchmen, V for Vendetta and From Hell. He has also written a novel, Voice of the Fire, and performs "workings" (one-off performance art/spoken word pieces) with The Moon and Serpent Grand Egyptian Theatre of Marvels, some of which have been released on CD.

As a comics writer, Moore is notable for being one of the first writers to apply literary and formalist sensibilities to the mainstream of the medium. As well as including challenging subject matter and adult themes, he brings a wide range of influences to his work, from the literary–authors such as William S. Burroughs, Thomas Pynchon, Robert Anton Wilson and Iain Sinclair; New Wave science fiction writers such as Michael Moorcock; horror writers such as Clive Barker; to the cinematic–filmmakers such as Nicolas Roeg. Influences within comics include Will Eisner, Harvey Kurtzman, Jack Kirby and Bryan Talbot.

Reviews

[Michael Joseph Schumann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alan Moore’s riff on 1960’s Marvel comics, the closest he ever got to scripting a Marvel story in the 90’s In homage to Stan Lee & Jack Kirby published by Image Comics.

[Tamahome · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this old style comic goodness, including thought bubbles and ben day dots!

See this blog post concerning old fashioned coloring in this book. The artist replied in the comments. https://legionofandy.com/2016/08/26/b...

[Axon Figure · Rating 4 out of 5]

El misterio del tipo que caminaba para atrás y resulta que al final es un personaje de Liefeld que ahora ni él mismo puede usar.

[RJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

1963 #1-6. Near indistinguishable from 60's Marvel Comics, this mini-series from 1993 has Alan Moore and co using their masterful skills to just goof around. The comic portions read like a love letter to superhero comics of a simpler era before the superhero genre felt it had to be "grown up", something that Alan Moore himself probably had the largest hand in. Maybe this comic is something like an apology. The text portions, however, are hilarious and scathing parody of the managerial practices behind the making of those same comics, with Alan Moore mainly setting Stan Lee in his cross hairs. I can feel the hate seeping off the page. It's too bad this series was never concluded for whatever conglomeration of petty reasons. I would have loved to see these characters meet the then current wave of long underwear characters like Savage Dragon and Spawn. Alas, it was not to be. It's the ultimate irony that a comic dedicated to celebrating the art and maligning the business of mainstream comic books was ultimately felled by that same business, leaving the concluding Annual to only exist in reader's imaginations, possibly the only safe space from the clusterfuck of comics publishing.

[Rick Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alan Moore's and Rick Veitch's impersonations of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby is near flawless. This first issue, entitled "Mystery Incorporated", follows a team who test defense systems only to find that there are additional layers to the challenge. The whole issue is written in a brilliantly hokey cadence that perfectly captures the tenor of Stan Lee's contributions in Silver Age Marvel Comics, but it's Veitch's uncanny impersonation of Kirby's aesthetic that really makes this book work. The story is as silly as any sci-fi story in Marvel's 60s bibliography would have been, so this is easily mission accomplished on part of the creative team here.

[Mikey The Librarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alan Moore adventure that turned out to be a fun romp from 1993. The premise here is a comic shown from the point of view of a 1963 comic. Crystal Man and Planet are awesome characters in this team but wait it seems someone has broken into the headquarters! Can the team stop them from learning all the teams super power secrets!

[Israel Laureano · Rating 2 out of 5]

Es bastante raro, generalmente los guiones de Moore son brillantes e intrincados. Como en Miracleman, narra sus aventuras originales como alucinaciones inducidas, por eso son tan malas. Pero esta historieta parece un calco de los 4 fantásticos, y dura tan poco, que no hay giros argumentales ni nada, quizá en los siguientes tomos...

[Corey Timmins · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wow, that was a pain to read.

[Osaka Tides · Rating 5 out of 5]

A whole Lot of fun.

[Dast Cover]

Tapa alternativa dorada.

[Sr B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Que gran homenaje a los 4 fantásticos

[Guido · Rating 4 out of 5]

Primer vistazo al tristemente efímero subuniverso de 1963 imaginero.

[Variaciones Enrojo]

Primer número de la serie homenaje a la Silver Age marvelita de Moore. En este número: cuatro fantásticos personajes parodiados en Mystery Incorporated.

[Paul Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

¡Sonríe! - dijo el Guasón.

[Steven · Rating 1 out of 5]

Terrible spoof of early Marvel comics that is painful to read even as satire - to think the great Alan Moore sank so low gives us all hope.

[Dony Grayman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Libro Uno: los cuatro fantásticos miembors de Mystery Inc. en acción.

[Desire Manara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Libro Uno. Nunca se publicó en castellano oficialmente pero alguna versión online se puede encontrar.

[Dast Cover · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tapa original con el equipo del título enfrentando una amenaza

[Variaciones Enrojo]

Edición especial con portada alternativa dorada. Primer número de la serie homenaje a la Silver Age marvelita de Moore. En este número: cuatro fantásticos personajes parodiados en Mystery Incorporated.