Here's a copy of my reaction to the article in ALTER EGO #115 about the brief history of the 3D comics fad of the early 50's.
Hi Roy,
I just read the main article on 3D. (The sidebars will have to wait-- those things drive me crazy.) It's a bit difficult, because I'm 4 years overdue on new reading glasses, and I'm having to use a magnifying glass. Not being able to fold the magazine open flat is also an added challenge. Look at this, so many technical problems, and I didn't even put on the 3D glasses!
I find Bill Gaines' actions to be contemptable. This is exactly the sort of "business" behavior that rubs me the wrong way. Instead of beating his competition by producing and promoting superior product, he goes about it in some underhanded way. It's like running a foot race and bumping into the other guy to knock him over instead of running faster.
What a surprise to learn that not only did he succeed in helping to drive Archer St. John out of business (and the poor guy died shortly after), but in some way I couldn't quite grasp, it also led to driving both Harvey Kurtzman & Bill Elder off of MAD magazine! This is the first I've ever heard of this.
I suppose Gaines felt it was totally acceptable, in light of how EC was pretty much driven out of the comics industry by the misguided and contemptable actions of others.
St. John's attempts to expand and corner the market, of course, didn't help him at all. AC Comics publisher Bill Black, in 2 separate interviews I've read, both spoke about how most of the smaller "independant" comics publishers in the 1980's went belly-up by the end of the decade, for a variety of reasons, but mostly tied with efforts to "compete" directly with Marvel & DC. Black never did. In his words, he "stayed small"-- and is STILL at it today, having been at it since around 1968! What a guy.
Henry
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