MIRACLEMAN 3-D SPECIAL (1985) #1: Title page by Ray Zone (d. 2012) after Mick Anglo, Roy Parker & Alan Moore

The Miracleman 3D Special capitalized on the success of visionary writer Alan Moore‘s reboot of the 1950s Fawcett publication Marvelman, itself a derivation of Captain Marvel which was retitled Miracleman amid multiple litigations. First relaunched by Warrior magazine in the UK and then published (and concluded) by Eclipse Comics in the USA, Miracleman would help set the tone for Moore’s magnum opus Watchmen. This 3D comic published by Eclipse Comics in 1985 combined 1950s artwork by Mick Anglo and Roy Parker with new stories by Alan Moore, Alan Davis, and Gary Leach with even the reprinted material slightly rewritten by Moore. The 3D process for this story  was personally overseen by Ray Zone, who was the undisputed king of 3D. The process of creating 3D in 1985 involved creating a hi-resolution scan of the original art, output to the same size as that original art, printed on vellum and then precision hand-cut to separate foreground images from background to produce the best three dimensional effects. Those pieces were scanned individually and then reconfigured on a new board for reference against the final, printed page.

Like the original penciled page, this is a unique piece of comic book production art from the height of both Alan Moore and Ray Zone‘s popularity. Unlike digital proof pages, 3D production pages are analog works of art that very much have the hand of the creative team on them. The separation process involves redrawing portions of the artwork where the artwork has been handcut, and those corrections require the approval (and sometimes the participation) of the penciler or inker. This combination of reprinted and new material is a true rarity in the entire spectrum of sequential art. Roy Parker passed away in 1966, Mick Anglo passed away in 2011, and Ray Zone passed away in 2012.