Was wondering if anyone had thoughts on 3D comics, pro or con, old or new?

[rollo88]

I'm new here and since I've lately revived my interest in stereo imaging I thought I'd ask for any input at all on the subject of three-dimensional comics, anaglyph printing or the new digital formats without glasses(lenticular). I produced the best 3D comics ever made in 1990-1993 for Kitchen Sink.

[Yoc]

They always gave me a headache so I can't say I was a fan of any of them.  I understand they were a bugger to produce as well.

[jfglade]

 The last time I saw a 3-D comic was in the summer of 1966, when DC issued a large format black and white reprint of an issue of Detective Comics, with attached 3-D glasses, which had originally been published as a Batman 3-D book back when the first 3-D craze of the fifties was petering out. I'm sure the work you did for Kitchen Sink was more advance, because while the book did have the illusion of a great depth of field, each panel looked like two-dimensional drawings on two or three different planes. I vaguely remember the Captain 3-D book being superior to the Batman 3-D book back in the day, and an EC 3-D horror book being rather disappointing.

 Personally, I don't think 3-D is the wave of any future and I see it as a novelty, an amusing novelty but just a novelty. I'll also admit that I have not seen any of the new spate of 3-D films, although I would like to see one out of curiosity (I'm a full-time caregiver, and going to a movie theater where we live is just not feasible for my wife). I'm sure the technology has advanced a great deal, but I expect audiences to tire of it fairly soon. I probably should note that, in retrospect, I've generally been a poor prophet.

[Yoc]

Hi Jon,
I had no idea you were a full-time caregiver.  That's a very commendable thing to do.  My hat goes off to you.

[narfstar]

I have enjoyed the 3d movies. Past 3d was for the affect of things flying at you. Currently 3D movies are more overall experience. If you are expecting a bunch of stuff to come flying at you then you will be disappointed. It was neat to have Carol and GL sitting beside me having a conversation. I think passive 3D for TV will win over active. If the no glasses technology gets fully developed I think that will catch on even more. I do not think I have ever made it all the way through a 3D comic. And I just realized that thinking about this topic. It is a novelty and I have bought some but it seems more to detract than enhance.

[John C]

Visiting with a friend a couple years back, we took their kids to a local IMAX 3-D documentary thing (fish and such).  After fully investigating the glasses and settling in, the four-year-old leans over to me and asks, "why do they keep making it look like stuff's coming towards us?"

I'm generalizing, but I think that's how much of a future it's got.

Whether it's comics or movies, I really appreciate the enormous technical work that goes into it, but I don't feel it adding much to the experience.  It's certainly not the same kind of leap as going from text to audio or audio to video.

However, that may also be because the field is young.  Early movies with sound, after all, were pretty much just silent movies with sound tacked on, so maybe there's a field of storytelling styles better suited for it.

[OtherEric]

Like them as a novelty, but they're always just a novelty to me.  And they don't seem to work well on a computer screen, at least for me.

[narfstar]

Any suggestions on how to scan a 3d comic

[JVJ (RIP)]

I scan them just like any other comic, narf,
I correct the colors and make the paper white. They actually work on the screen when I'm done.

http://www.bpib.com/temp/3-D.jpg

Try it.

Peace, Jim (|:{>

[tilliban]

Jim, you scanning wizard!
You actually made me looking at a computer screen with 3-D glasses on.
Felt silly instantly.
 

I think everything you might wanna know about 3-D comic books is written down and demonstrated in Craig Yoe's (and the late Joe Kubert's) book AMAZING 3-D COMICS. Here's a link to the product description at Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Amazing-3-D-Comics-Kubert-Introduction/dp/1600108539/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1345798258&sr=8-1&keywords=3+d+comics

Concerning movies I am already pissed off at 3 D. It does work sometimes - and sometimes not!
UP was great, AVATAR was okay, but THE AVENGERS were sheer torture to my eyes.

[paw broon]

Don't have 3d glasses so I have no idea how good JVJ's scan is.  As I'm not very good with colours, I haven't gone to a 3d version movie and as for 3d comics, like Yoc, they gave me a headache. I have little interest in 3d films, in fact colour films are a bit too modern for me. 
I've always thought that comics were, at their best, a 2d way of telling a story that took life simply by the skill of the creator and when reading a well crafted comic, you enter into the world of the story with those, what at first appear to be static, panels and pages coming alive.  Not sure that 3d comics are necessary except as an occasional gimmick. 

[JVJ (RIP)]

I agree with you, paw,
Cute gimmick, but they don't replace great art and storytelling. I happen to have that scan handy as I was helping Roy Thomas with material for AE, so when narf asked about scanning them, voila! The 3D comics seldom matched the inks with the lens colors, so the "effect" was never exceptional. It sorta worked and it was sorta interesting, for about a minute. Then one either wanted to read the story or look at the art - both of which were hindered by the 3D process. Still, they were a significant blip in comic book history.

Peace, Jim (|:{>

ps. was anyone WATCHING when you put the glasses on, Tilliban? See you soon (one month!.

[narfstar]

Did anyone try Jet Pup with 3D glasses on? I think the 3D was very poorly done. I tried glasses with the actual book and was not thrilled. But I did not really get the book for the 3D but because it was from a publisher that I did not have.