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™!

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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!

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Plus; check out these great Simon & Kirby books...

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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Valentine's Day Comic Book Cover Greeting Cards

For our final Valentine's Day-themed post for 2012, here's a link to a one-stop storefront for all your retro comic book cover greeting card needs!
The interiors are blank for you to add your own thoughts, inspired by the covers.

Yes, this art's by Marvel legend John Buscema!

3-D Week Begins Tomorrow!

To celebrate the release of Star Wars I: The Phantom Menace in 3-D...

...(although I'm waiting for the Original Trilogy!),
all the RetroBlogs™ are running 3-D tales this week!

Monday: Western Comics Adventures™
Tuesday: Crime & Punishment™
Wednesday: True Love Comics Tales™
Thursday: Seduction of the Innocent™
Friday: War: Past, Present and Future™

PLUS: 
Hero & Heroine Histories™

Secret Sanctum of Captain Video™
and
Femmes Fantastique™
will all do 3-D tales during the week.
Don't Miss Them!
 (and don't forget your 3-D glasses...)

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

At last...Astrid x 2!

While all the other major characters on Fringe have met their dimensional counterparts, the two Astrid Farnsworths hadn't...until last night!
Next to John Noble's Emmy-level performance as the two diametrically-opposite versions of Walter Bishop, Jasika Nicole's portrayals of the different, yet similar, Astrids meeting each other is one of the high points of the season.
If you missed it, catch the rerun of the ep, "Making Angels", when it airs or watch it on Fox's Fringe website.

The Return of Hammer Films: The Woman in Black

From the mid-1950s to the late 1970s, Hammer Films was synonymous with quality horror movies.

The British poster for Woman in Black. Retro-Kool, eh?

With a stock company of British thespians led by Christopher Lee and the late Peter Cushing, Hammer Films presented what I call "elegant horror", with quality writing (primarily by Jimmy Sangster), great acting, wonderfully-bloody (but never gory) special effects, superb cinematography, and incredibly effective (and surprisingly-economical) production design.
After a period of dormancy and a couple of false starts, the studio returns to scare the s#!t out of you with a new, kool, retro-style shocker, The Woman in Black.

Arthur Kipps (Daniel Radcliffe), a widowed lawyer whose grief has put his career in jeopardy, is sent to a remote village to sort out the affairs of a recently deceased eccentric.
But upon his arrival, it soon becomes clear that everyone in the town is keeping a deadly secret.
Although the townspeople try to keep Kipps from learning their tragic history, he soon discovers that the house belonging to his client is haunted by the ghost of a woman who is determined to find someone and something she lost… and no one, not even the children, are safe from her vengeance.

BTW, we're presenting the British comic adaptations of the classic Hammer Studios films at our "brother" blog Secret Sanctum of Captain Video™!
If you're a fan of classic horror, sci-fi, or adventure, they're a must-see!

Welcome back, Hammer.

We missed you!

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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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Sick and Laid Up in Bed...

...but will be back tomorrow with...

...the lost SpaceBusters tale...by Bernie Krigstein!

War is Hell...but, then, so is LOVE!

We at Atomic Kommie Comics™ know that the path of love is not always smooth, especially in wartime.
In tribute to the brave men and women of the armed forces, we've created a new section of True Love Comics Tales™ about military-based love comic books entitled WarTime Love™ just in time for Valentine's Day featuring greeting cards, teddy bears, clothing and a host of other goodies with vintage retro-style romance comic cover art.
Show your beloved, be they an officer, noncom, or GI Joe (or GI Jane) that you're thinking of them on Valentine's Day.
A Public Service message from Atomic Kommie Comics™