COMMANDER BATTLE AND THE ATOMIC SUB are returning...

While preparing files for our 3-D Week series a couple of years ago, I came across this title in my archives...

..which doesn't use 3-D, but a pseudo-3-D process called...

BTW, only the first issue used the TrueVision gimmick.

The 1954 seven-issue series, Commander Battle and the Atomic Sub from American Comics Group, had a lot in common with the Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea tv series and the Voyage to the Deep comic series, emphasizing wild science fiction storylines with the occasional spy/anti-Commie tale.

Be here tomorrow when we re-present the never-reprinted #1, which features the origin of the sub, the assembling of the crew and their first mission!

Best of Reading Room: 3-D: ADVENTURES INTO THE UNKNOWN "Nightmare"

You won't need red/blue 3-D glasses to read today's 3-D comic story, thanks to...

All the benefits!

None of the headaches (except for the artist who had to illustrate it)!

And now, on with today's story, the cover feature from ACG's Adventures into the Unknown #51 (1953)...

The extensive use of Craftint for backgrounds, background objects, and shading is a clever idea, but I can see how it would become visually-irritating on an ongoing basis.
Art by Harry Lazarus, one of a trio of siblings (including Sid and Leon) who all ended up writing and/or illustrating comic books during the 1940s-1960s.
(They are not related to Mell Lazarus, writer/artist of the comic strips Miss Peach and Momma, who also worked in comic books in the 1950s.
Small world, ain't it?)
BTW, for another TrueVision tale, pop over to our "sister" blog True Love Comics Tales™!

Visit our

3-D Comics Collectibles Shop
featuring the cover from today's featured story!

COMMANDER BATTLE AND THE ATOMIC SUB are coming...

While preparing files for the 3-D Week series, I came across this title in my archives...

..which doesn't use 3-D, but a pseudo-3-D process called...

BTW, only the first issue used the TrueVision gimmick.

The 1954 seven-issue series from American Comics Group featuring art by Ogden Whitney, Sheldon Moldoff, and Ken Hughes has a lot in common with the Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea tv series and the Voyage to the Deep comic series, emphasizing wild science fiction storylines with the occasional spy/anti-Commie tale.

Be here tomorrow when we present the never-reprinted #1, which features the origin of the sub, the assembling of the crew and their first mission!

Support Small Business!

Visit our

The Future WAS Fantastic!

Comics Collectibles Store!

3-D BONUS: Blinkeys!

The 1960 William Castle movie 13 Ghosts used red/blue 3-D style glasses, but not for 3-D!

While most of the movie was black and white, certain sequences had red and blue tinting.
To see the ghosts, you looked thru the red "lens".
To not see the specters, you looked thru the blue "lens".
But, years earlier, in 1953, Harvey Comics' 3-D comic books offered a similar idea in a series of one-page fillers most of which have never been reprinted...
(Yes, you need those 3-D glasses to read them properly!)

Adventures in 3-D #1. Art by Howard Nostrand

Adventures in 3-D #2. Art by Bob Powell

True 3-D #1. Art by Bob Powell

True 3-D #2. Art by Bob Powell

Hope you enjoyed 3-D Week (and didn't develop eyestrain)!

Support Small Business!

 Visit our

3-D Movies & Comics 

Collectibles Store
 (where you don't need 3-D glasses!)

3-D: WHACK! "3-D-t's" Part 2

We began 3-D Week with the 3-D-t's and we end the week with them...

...but only two months after WHACK! #1 came out, things for the 3-D comic industry have not gone well at all!

How close was this story to the truth about the collapse of the 3-D comics phemonenon?

Read this page on 3-D comics expert Ray Zone's site, then decide for yourself.

Remember, in the comic story, the names have been changed to protect the guilty!

Reversing roles from the previous 3-D-t's story, Joe Kubert penciled and Norman Maurer inked this story.

Who wrote it is unknown, but it could be either or both of them.

They also satirized those impressionable youngsters who wanted to do 3-D comics...

Wonder how many kids actually sent in a dollar...

We hope you've enjoyed 3-D Week.
Check out our brother and sister RetroBlogs™ (shown on the list at left), all of whom have 3-D stories and features this week!

Support Small Business!

 Visit our

3-D Movies & Comics 

Collectibles Store
 (where you don't need 3-D glasses!)

3-D: ADVENTURES INTO THE UNKNOWN "Nightmare"

You won't need red/blue 3-D glasses to read today's 3-D comic story, thanks to...

All the benefits!

None of the headaches (except for the artist)!

And now, on with today's story, the cover feature from Adventures into the Unknown #51 (1953)...

The extensive use of Craftint for backgrounds, background objects, and shading is a clever idea, but I can see how it would become visually-irritating on an ongoing basis.
Art by Harry Lazarus, one of a trio of siblings (including Sid and Leon) who all ended up writing and/or illustrating comic books during the 1940s-1960s.
(They are not related to Mell Lazarus, writer/artist of the comic strips Miss Peach and Momma, who also worked in comic books in the 1950s.
Small world, ain't it?)
BTW, for another TrueVision tale, pop over to our "sister" blog True Love Comics Tales™!

Support Small Business!

Visit our

3-D Comics Collectibles Shop
featuring the cover from today's featured story!

3-D: CAPTAIN 3-D "Man From the World of 'D'" in Color

You won't need a pair of red/blue 3-D glasses to read this version of...

...as presented in the hardcover anthology Simon & Kirby SuperHeroes from Titan Books, restored from scans of both the original art and first-generation photostats used in the original book's production in 1953.

...and here's the original text intro to the character...

(For this you will need 3-D glasses.)

BTW, if you want to see the original 3-D version of this tale, click HERE!

Script by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, Art by Jack Kirby (pencils) and Joe Simon, Mort Meskin and Steve Ditko (inks).

Taking comic book line art and modifying it to produce a 3-D effect with red and blue colored art was technically simple, so almost every company attempted at least one 3-D book between 1952-55.
Most were 3-D versions of existing comics including Superman, Batman, Tales from the Crypt, even Katy Keene.
However, Captain 3-D was the Simon & Kirby team's attempt to jump on the 3-D bandwagon with NEW material.

As you've just read, Captain 3-D had both a cool premise and nice set-up, playing up the use of glasses to both empower the hero and perceive villains. (The John Carpenter movie They Live! used a similar gimmick)

Unfortunately, a legal battle involving the 3-D process all but killed the financial viability of producing 3-D books, and, though material was already finished, there was never a second issue of Captain 3-D!

Support Small Business!

Visit our

3-D Comics Collectibles Shop
Plus; check out these great Simon & Kirby books...