Three Dimensional E.C. Classics

Three Dimensional E.C. Classics was a quarterly

Conception and characteristics

Three Dimensional E.C. Classics was conceived in 1953, when 3-D comic books were enjoying a period of great popularity. Its conception was a direct response to the popularity of the form. When Three Dimension Comics, the "World's First" 3-D comic book, sold a million copies, other comic book publishers were naturally eager to carve out their own pieces of the market pie. EC Comics was no exception. They began to lay plans for a 3-D comic series of their own.^[1]

That series, Three Dimensional E.C. Classics, was launched in early 1954. One could argue that it was two

But 3-D comics had challenges all their own. A 3-D view of a flat drawing would still look flat. For the view to look otherwise, the drawing had itself to be a 3-D object. This required more labor than 2-D comics did. A 2-D panel had only to be penciled and inked. A 3-D panel had to have its elements separated according to which visual plane or level (fore-, middle- or background[3]) the elements were intended to occupy. The elements had to be drawn on clear acetate cels corresponding to those levels, with the solid parts of the elements opaqued. Then the cels had to be stacked and aligned to assemble the finished panel, with enough separation between the cels to produce the desired 3-D effect.

3-D comics had another challenge as well. A 2-D panel could be elaborately colored, but the limitations of Anaglyph printing of the time dictated that the 3-D panel remain monochrome brown and white.

Artists and writers

The recycled stories were completely redrawn for their 3-D incarnations. The artists who redrew these were all EC regulars: Johnny Craig, Jack Davis, Bill Elder, George Evans, Graham Ingels, Bernard Krigstein, Joe Orlando and Wally Wood. Some of them had drawn the original versions of these stories, while others were interpreting them for the first time. This gives the reader with access to the originals a rare opportunity to see how different artists handled the same scripts, and how the same artists handled the same scripts to meet different requirements. The scripts were themselves at least partly rewritten.^[4] The writers were not credited but were usually either Harvey Kurtzman, the writer and editor of Frontline Combat, Two-Fisted Tales and Mad, and Al Feldstein, the editor, and writer in collaboration with Gaines, of practically every other EC comic book of the period.

The 2-D covers were new to these publications and perfectly embodied their 3-D theme. The first, by Kurtzman, showed a skull-littered corridor collapsing into the distance. The second, by Feldstein, showed a pair of hands reaching out of an open comic book to threaten its 3-D viewer-wearing reader, while the Crypt-Keeper and his friends look on approvingly.

The artists for 3-D No. 1 (EC Classics): "V-Vampires" (Mad #3) re-illustrated with new layouts by

The artists for 3-D No. 2 (Tales from the Crypt of Terror): "The Trophy!" (Tales From The Crypt #25) re-illustrated with new layouts by Jack Davis, "The Strange Couple!" (Vault Of Horror #14, originally by Feldstein) now illustrated by Bill Elder, "Bats In My Belfry!" ('Tales From The Crypt #24, originally by Jack Davis) now illustrated by Johnny Craig, and "The Thing From The Grave" (Tales From The Crypt #22, originally by Feldstein, who also co-wrote it with Gardner Fox) now illustrated by Joe Orlando.

Reception, demise and reprints

A third issue of Three Dimensional E.C. Classics, with a science fiction emphasis (and six levels of depth), likely to be sub-titled 3-D Incredible Science Fiction, was prepared with finished story art work but never printed. The stories to have been included were 3-D versions of "Spawn of Venus" (Weird Science #6, originally drawn by Feldstein) now illustrated by

2-D b&w versions of those last four redrawn stories did finally see print in the late '60s - early '70s in the fanzines Witzend #6, 1969 (Spawn of Venus), Squa Tront #4, 1970 (Slave Ship, Child of Tomorrow), and Squa Tront #5, 1974 (The Planetoid) - up to 2013 that set of fanzines were the only way to acquire any of the works done for this unpublished issue.

Three of the stories from the first issue, all four from the second, and three from the unpublished third, have now been reprinted in 2-D in volumes of the Fantagraphics EC Comic Artists' Library:

Al Williamson: 50 Girls 50 [2014] - with 3D story 'The Planetoid'

Jack Davis: Tain't The Meat.. It's The Humanity [2013] - with 3D story 'The Trophy'

George Evans: Aces High [2014] - with 3D story 'Frank Luke'

Will Elder: The Million Year Picnic [2017] - with 3D story 'The Strange Couple'

Joe Orlando: The Thing From The Grave [2017] - with 3D story 'The Thing From The Grave'

Bernard Krigstein: Master Race [2018] - with 3D stories 'Slave Ship' and 'Monster From The Fourth Dimension'

Graham Ingels: Accidents And Old Lace [2020] - with 3D story 'Mr Biddy Killer'

Johnny Craig: Deadly Beloved [2022] - with 3D story 'Bats In My Belfry'

Reed Crandall: The Bitter End [2023] - with 3D story 'Child Of Tomorrow'

Although the EC books are today considered excellent, superior to most others in the field or even by far the best of their time, they came at a time when the market was oversaturated. The books barely sold at all, with only 300,000 copies of each being printed.

References

• 3deccomics.com. "EC 3-D". Retrieved July 2, 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)

• Stanley, John (May 5, 2000). "Do You Remember 3-D Comic Books?". Retrieved July 4, 2011.

• Zone, Ray (June 2001). "3-D Comics Skullduggery: Behind the scenes with Leonard Maurer during the 1950s 3-D comics crash". 3D News. Stereo Club of Southern California. Retrieved July 2, 2011.

• Zone, Ray (1981). "Anaglyphs: A Survey of the 1950s 3-D Comic Books". Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide (No. 11). Retrieved July 2, 2011.