Number 1565: Giving 3-D a Whack

Three dimensional comic books and movies were a quick-moving fad in 1953, and the story is told that only the first 3-D comic book (Mighty Mouse from St. John) actually made money. Other publishers jumped in on the fad, only to lose money.

Whack #1, also from St. John, was not only a 3-D comic, but an attempt to cash in on the success of EC’s Mad. To be fair, EC put out a couple of 3-D comics to compete with St. John. But with the 3-D fad finished, Whack lasted one issue as a 3-D comic, then reverted to a 10¢ four-color format for two issues using stories prepared originally to be printed as 3-D.

Get out those red-blue anaglyphic glasses if you have them to see one of Whack’s attempts at humor and satire with the story, “Ghastly Dee-fective Comics” drawn by Norman Maurer and inked by Joe Kubert. It’s scanned from my copy of Whack #1. If you don’t have the red-and-blue lenses you can read the story in a black line version, directly below the 3-D version. It was prepared by a fan and posted online. By now the ink on all fifties 3-D comics has pretty much faded so the conversion isn’t perfect, but my thanks to that person anyway for their trouble.

If you would like to know how to make your own 3-D glasses. Click on the thumbnail, a link to an article from Boy’s Life to tell you how.

Following that is one of the stories prepared for 3-D but instead printed in standard comic book format. It’s by Kubert, inked by Maurer. The claim in the story, belied by having to print it in four colors rather than 3-D, is that the 3-D comics were best sellers. For me it’s of interest because it has caricatures of Kubert and Maurer, and even their boss, Archer St. John, as “St. Peter.”

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Number 1124


The Crypt of Three Dimensions, with bonus from Boys’ Life: “How To Make and Use Your Own 3-D Glasses!”


This eye-popping 3-D posting is the last from our week of monster postings. If you just joined us, scroll down to the former posts for more monster fun.

"The Strange Couple," written and drawn by Al Feldstein for the third issue of The Vault Of Horror (#15) in 1950, was turned into a 3-D story for EC Comics' second attempt at cashing in on the 3-D craze of the '50s, Three Dimensional Tales from the Crypt (cover title: Three Dimensional Tales from the Crypt of Terror). It was redrawn by—of all people—Mad comics' Will Elder, who did a very moody and effective job on the story.

Drawing 3-D comics was a lot of work for the artists. Various articles over the years have explained how many different overlays the artist had to use, so it was time consuming and the artist had to be compensated for extra work. About the only 3-D comic that made money was the first, Mighty Mouse from St. John, and all the rest came out just about when the novelty had faded. Readers were paying 25¢ for the same page content as a 10¢ comic, with a couple of pairs of 3-D glasses, and the eyestrain that went with trying to read the blurry images.

Here's the original story by Feldstein. I scanned it from Russ Cochran's 1993 reprint of The Vault of Horror #3:







Here's the 3-D version by Elder:








The 3-D fad was effectively over by the time this magazine appeared, but Boys' Life magazine for December 1954 had an article with illustrations on how to make your own 3-D glasses. If you don't have glasses and want to read the above story, now you can do it yourself.


In the late '70s I bought a handmade pair of 3-D glasses from an ad in The Buyer's Guide for Comics Fandom. The person who made them did a good job. I'm still using them over 30 years later. The cardboard has started to yellow, but the colored cellophane is still bright. (Keep them out of sunlight.) You can buy colored cellophane in crafts stores. Good luck!

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