1963

Yes it was a big deal back then, as it was Moore's first superhero work since leaving DC (think he'd started Big Numbers and From Hell by then, though). It's fun and all, but it's not going to stand up as one of his enduring works.

You can argue that point, but you'd be wrong. There was very little pastiche in Swamp Thing in terms of story. Sure, he borrowed a bunch of characters from the DCU, but he also made up a bunch of original stuff as well (that wasn't directly tied to stuff that came before.) The basis of the characters in Watchmen might be pastiche, but the situations aren't, nor are his observations (whether or not he plagurized SUPERFOLKS is for someone else to discuss, as I've not read it). V is more or less whole-cloth original. From Hell is, even if it's got a base in history.

Supreme, from what I've heard is unapologetically pastiche. But I'd argue that his ABC stuff isn't entirely so (though he is working with known archetypes, more from the pulp vein, though.)

nb: this was actually a Kennedy-assassination/conspiracy/sci-fi miniseries, called 1963½, by Alex Cox and Dick Rude with Mavrides. (No, it never came out, but the ad for it in 1963 was a "sorry-for-getting-our-unrelated-comic-with-a-similar-title-out-first" bit of largesse by Bissette and Veitch. It had been in progress or development or something for a couple of years at that point.)

Jim Lee is the most responsible for the Annual never coming out, though it's all fairly moot now. Veitch was still keen to do it a couple of years ago, and Moore came up with a new plot at the time (to suit all the splintering of IP), but DC legal would presumably make it too difficult to bother now, even if they had an Image partner sponsor. When Bissette took his ball and went home a few years ago, Veitch made sure to get a clause in the property splits that allowed for his characters to still be used in the annual should it ever come to pass...

hey, this sounds like a deal. we must use the magic of e-mail to discuss this.