Image Revisits the Silver Age with Alan Moore and Co.’s ‘1963’
If such a thing could be called it, 1963 is minor Alan Moore. In 1993, Image Comics was still a very young company created by the “hot” artists of the time when Jim Valentino, always the most old timey alternative rebel of the Image crew, got Moore, Steve Bissette, Rick Veitch, John Totleben and a bunch of their friends to create 1963, a pastiche on the early days of Marvel comics. The Fantastic Four becomes Mystery Incorporated. Iron Man becomes the Hypernaut. Spider-Man becomes The Fury, and the Avengers become The Tomorrow Syndicate. Image’s slick and calculated characters took a backseat to Moore and company’s retro insanity. To create a whole package, even the ads and editorial pages recreate the feeling of a bygone age. For a brief period in 1993, the Marvel spirit of 1963 lived again, but this is Alan Moore, so it isn’t a complete lovefest for the work of Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, Don Heck and the Marvel Bullpen.