Eclipse has published its share of gimmicks (trading cards, scratch-off lottery cards), and one of them was three dimensional comics. You know, the kind where you wear a blue and a red glass and go “whoa” while reading.
If I’m counting correctly, they published 23 of these, which is way more than you would have thought there was a market for. The earliest ones published by Eclipse were clearly created by artists that were excited to experiment with this format and have fun. Then the drudgery set in, and Eclipse started reprinting public domain comics from the last time 3-D comics were a thing; i.e., the 50s, and also converting random comics drawn for 2-D to 3-D.
Well, the latter is just a guess, but some of the later 3-D comics (like the first The New Wave vs. the Volunteers) barely 3-D at all because the figures and objects are placed so they’re overlapping or at the edges of panels.
So while I was reading these comics, I was hugely amused at first, but then the novelty seriously wore off.
All (or virtually all) of these comics were also published in 2-D (black and white) editions. Editor-in-chief catherine yronwode wrote that those editions were done in editions of 100, and they “bound” them by hand in the Eclipse offices by stapling these 2-D innards into the normal 3-D edition covers. They’re therefore some of the rarest comics they published, and I’ve never seen a copy.
Your Total Eclipse blog came at just the right time for me — After 20 years(!) away from comics I have recently returned.
Access to my boxed collection is difficult, so my comments are based upon my very detailed indexes — Yes, I admit to OCD.
I agree with your count of 23 Eclipse 3-D issues, although I exclude Three Dimensional Alien Worlds (1984) #1 which is a Pacific Comics publication.
I have one Eclipse addition, however: Mr. Monster’s 3-D Hi-Octane Horror #1 (May 1986) $2.50 [= Super-Duper Special #1]
A curiosity:
I have noted that Eclipse gave some 3-D comics a 3-D series “whole number”:
#11 = Three-D Three Stooges (September 1986) #1 $2.50
#13 = Adolescent Radioactive Black Belt Hamsters 3-D (November 1986) #3 $2.50
#14(?) = Three-D Three Stooges (November 1986) #2 $2.50
#14(“Special”?) = Adolescent Radioactive Black Belt Hamsters 3-D (December 1986) #3 $2.50
#17 = 3-D Destroy!! (March 1987) #1 $2.50
#18 = Captain EO 3-D (July 1987) #1 $3.50
#19(?) = Three-D Three Stooges (October 1987) #3 $2.50
This “whole number” system was apparently abandoned, but maybe a proposed full list exists?
Although you have sworn off comic blogs after this one for Eclipse, I look forward to your PC Pacific Comics blog.
You know that you want to do it!
Thanks for the Alien Worlds/Hi-Octane correction; I’ve now updated the index blog post.
And, yeah, I do want to do the Pacific comics: I’ve had a look in my short-boxes and I seem to have like 90% of them already, so it’d be easy to do. But probably not immediately. 🙂