1963 is a six-issue miniseries written by
Alan Moore and published in 1993. Stylistically, it invokes
The Silver Age of Comic Books (particularly, that of the early
Marvel Comics), complete with spoof advertisements in the style of the day. This last item was repeated with a period-appropriate twist by Moore's later project with Kevin O'Neill,
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
The series has never been finished as initially intended. It was meant to be followed by an 80-page annual, in which the
1963 characters are catapulted forward 30 years to meet with the
Dark Age characters of 1993.
1963 contains examples of:
- Affectionate Parody: This miniseries is loaded with playful jabs at Marvel cliches.
- Arch-Enemy: The Red Brain is the only confirmed one.
- Captain Ersatz: Pretty much everyone. Mystery, Inc is the Fantastic Four, the Fury is Spider-Man and Daredevil, U.S.A. is Captain America, Hypernaut is Iron Man with some Silver Surfer and Green Lantern thrown in, Horus is Thor, N-Man is the Hulk, and Johnny Beyond is Doctor Strange as a beatnik. And those are just the main heroes.
- Intentional Engrish for Funny: The spoof ad "Shamed By You English?"
- Kinda Busy Here: The Fury absolutely has to call his mom in the middle of a fight with a psychic dinosaur. Luckily, there's a phone booth nearby, since cell phones haven't been invented yet...
- Red Scare: A recurring theme.
- Shout Out: To Watchmen and Marvel Comics.
- Also, when the Voidoid is scanning the Fury in Issue #2, you'll notice that in one part, the name of a certain Superman character from the fifth dimension appears in one of the panels.
- And in the final issue, when the heroes are transported into another world, panels from various other Image comics are seen in the background - including one of normalman... in reference to normalman having a Mystery, Inc cameo under similar circumstances.
- Take That: Not so much to early Marvel Comics, but the people behind them; especially poking to Stan Lee.
- Who Shot JFK?: USA actually saves Kennedy, but the shooter was Leo Harley Osborne, who was brainwashed by the Red Brain.
0 reviews