Number 1780: It ain’t Mad, but it ain’t bad

Whack, published by St. John, was another Mad imitator, and as far as it went, probably better than most. Originally designed for 3-D, when that market crashed it was re-designed as a regular four color 10¢ format. It did not last long. Number 3 (1954), featuring “Prince Scallion,” was the last issue.

William T. Overgard drew the satire on the popular Harold Foster creation, It is also, like Mad, full of references to American culture of the early fifties, including the “king” of television, Arthur Godfrey (as King Arthur, ho-ho), toothpaste ads which sold brands based on ingredients like chlorophyll, and even mentions my favorite toothpaste ad line (which made everyone paranoid about the state of their breath and social acceptability), “Even your best friends won’t tell you...” Your breath stinks!

Overgard, who died in 1990, was a comic book artist who went to syndicated comic strips, and had a decent career. Not only did he draw “Steve Roper and Mike Nomad,” he wrote novels, and late in his career, episodes of the animated TV series, Thundercats. He also drew a critically accepted, but ultimately failed comic strip from 1983, Rudy, which featured a talking simian in the image of comedian George Burns.

Number 1565: Giving 3-D a Whack

Three dimensional comic books and movies were a quick-moving fad in 1953, and the story is told that only the first 3-D comic book (Mighty Mouse from St. John) actually made money. Other publishers jumped in on the fad, only to lose money.

Whack #1, also from St. John, was not only a 3-D comic, but an attempt to cash in on the success of EC’s Mad. To be fair, EC put out a couple of 3-D comics to compete with St. John. But with the 3-D fad finished, Whack lasted one issue as a 3-D comic, then reverted to a 10¢ four-color format for two issues using stories prepared originally to be printed as 3-D.

Get out those red-blue anaglyphic glasses if you have them to see one of Whack’s attempts at humor and satire with the story, “Ghastly Dee-fective Comics” drawn by Norman Maurer and inked by Joe Kubert. It’s scanned from my copy of Whack #1. If you don’t have the red-and-blue lenses you can read the story in a black line version, directly below the 3-D version. It was prepared by a fan and posted online. By now the ink on all fifties 3-D comics has pretty much faded so the conversion isn’t perfect, but my thanks to that person anyway for their trouble.

If you would like to know how to make your own 3-D glasses. Click on the thumbnail, a link to an article from Boy’s Life to tell you how.

Following that is one of the stories prepared for 3-D but instead printed in standard comic book format. It’s by Kubert, inked by Maurer. The claim in the story, belied by having to print it in four colors rather than 3-D, is that the 3-D comics were best sellers. For me it’s of interest because it has caricatures of Kubert and Maurer, and even their boss, Archer St. John, as “St. Peter.”