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!

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

What did people in the comics industry think of the 1950s 3-D fad?

I'd say this 1953 tale from the all-3-D first issue of WHACK! (St John's MAD comic clone) explains it pretty well.

(And, yes, you need those 3-D glasses!)

Penciled by Norman Maurer, inked by Joe Kubert, the writer is unknown, though it could be Maurer.

Next issue, there was a non-3-D sequel story about the collapse of the 3-D comic trend.

Talk about your short-lived fads!

We'll be presenting that story on Friday!

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Reading Room: SPACEBUSTERS "Frog Men against Belzar"

You thought the SpaceBusters story ended with the book's cancellation after #2?

Art by Bernie Krigstein, adapted from page 1.

Nope!

Though the publisher (Ziff-Davis) went out of business, the published (and unpublished) material ended up at several other companies, including St John Publishing.

This particular story features the uniform and weapon designs from SpaceBusters #1, before Murphy Anderson was brought on board for #2 and revamped everything to look more like his work on the Buck Rogers newspaper comic strip.

Bernie Krigstein illustrated this story, as he did all the tales in SpaceBusters #1.

Oddly enough, though the aliens invading Mars remained "Belzarians" and the Terrans were referred to as "Earthians", the heroes went through a name-change.

Blond and blue-eyed Captain Brett Crockett received a new name, becoming "Captain Andall", while his balding and mustached sergeant, Bolo, became "Sgt Bala".
And the nickname "SpaceBusters", used incessantly in the two issues of the series, is nowhere in sight...

The story saw publication three times in ten years, ironically making it the most-printed of all the SpaceBuster tales!
First in Daring Adventures #6 (1954) from St John (where it was not the cover feature).
Then, it was reprinted in Great Exploits #1 (1957) by Ajax/Farrell (who purchased some of St John's material when they left the comics business to concentrate on magazines), where it finally became the cover feature (as seen at the top of this post).
Finally, it was reprinted in 1964 by Super/IW Comics, with a new cover by Ross Andru and Mike Esposito.

Side note; I really enjoy playing detective, piecing together clues to discover "lost" items like this, or to correct historical inaccuracies like who really was the first Black superheroine.

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