There’s gold in them there variants.
So I’m sure most of you recall the 1993 series 1963, an homage by Alan Moore ‘n’ pals to Marvel’s Silver Age, littering bargain boxes everywhere due to being forever uncompleted:
Well, I picked up a collection the other day that contained the following unusual item…a retailer exclusive edition of 1963 #1 with a gold wraparound cover:
And here’s the back, showing the name of the comic shop for which this edition was produced:
Inside the gold cover, we find…the signature of Dave Gibbons, famously the inker for this comic and also apparently the artist of the prequel to Doomsday Clock:
Oh, hello, cameo from Mike’s finger.
And bound between the gold cover and the comic’s regular cover is a numbered Certificate of Authenticity:
As you saw in the last couple of scans, this edition was produced to raise money for cancer research, which is a good cause, of course.
According to this article I found Googling around, this was produced by a UK comic shop for a charity there actually just straight-up called “Cancer Research.” Which, honestly, not to make fun, that reminds me of a Bill Hicks routine in which he was asked to do a commercial in England for “Orange Drink.”
Anyway, there were only 500 of these things printed (and only 125 of the Platinum Edition), so it’s no wonder this is the first one of these that I’ve seen. I presume it’s slightly more common in the UK, but maybe my readers from Over There can let me know. But, somehow, one made its way over to Southern California, and before you ask, it’s already on its way to somewhere else — I work fast, friends — though it was nice to have it make a brief stopover so that I could enjoy it for even this brief period of time.
I have seen these on sale in the UK, both in shops and on eBay. Makes sense that they’re a UK product.
Now that we’re approaching the 30th anniversary, it would be swell if Alan Moore would see fit to finish it…but I guess that won’t happen. Maybe Veitch should repurpose it and retitle it as “1993” and it can be retooled as a spoof on both schlocky Image Comics and Marvel Comics circa 1993…
As a graphic designer, that Certificate of Authenticity hurts my eyes. Kids: Never, ever, ever use all caps on a script font.
To what does the asterisk refer? I can’t find its mate…
Note the store in question is still in business
https://www.chaoscitycomics.com/
Walaka – Whoops, that’s from a thing I ended up cutting from the post. Fixed now.
BobH – Oh, that’s good to know. Glad to hear some shops stand the test of time. Gives me hope for me!
I have a complete set of 1963 bought fresh off the stands at the late lamented Mike’s Comics Hut in NYC but…..
HOMINA HOMINA HOMINA.
Yeah, that’s gonna go fast.
@BobH: Thanks for pointing that out. So cool to see a long-standing comics store owned and operated by a woman. My LCS is owned/managed by a husband/wife team, but otherwise I don’t think I’ve ever seen a woman-owned comic shop. (If I’m missing something huge and/or obvious, please let me know.)
over on facebook Don Simpson is making his own finale to 1963 calling it “1963: WhenElse?! Annual!”
lookie –
https://www.facebook.com/media/set?vanity=donald.simpson.524&set=a.2506361662830094
Brian: checked out the link! Don’s on a roll with this project! Loved the “Fritz the Cat died for your sins” bit!
Andy Griffith did a routine in the early 60s where he ended up in a football game whiled he had intended to go buy an orange drink. Most of my adult life, anything like juice or citrus Vitamin Water I call my Orange Drink. I had to just get that out there.
Sean: What Would Jesus Do…for a Klondike Bar?
Daniel: I’m not a graphic designer and that hurt my eyes.
Wayne:
He’d walk a mile…for a camel…which he would then pass through the eye of a needle…
As to Andy Griffith…”A Face in the Crowd” was the best work he ever did.
Sean: I’ll be a free man in the mornin’! Lonesome Rhodes is still one of the best screen names ever.
I often wonder if Griffith didn’t do that cameo on MAKE ROOM FOR DADDY where the Thomas’s got a ticket in Mayberry and ratings were so good Griffith got his own show, what could have happened. Imagine a Lonesome Rhodes-character and Rod Steiger in IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT?
I remember some comedian doing a bit on Jesus’s younger brother. “We always have wine when your brother comes over.”
The original poster of ITFOTC is downright scary. Much better than the stuff slapped together these days.