It’s remarkable that it’s taken this long for someone to attempt bringing back the 3D comic, given the prevalence of 3D among would-be blockbusters in post-Avatar Hollywood.

Artist Philip Tan and writer Brian Haberlin deserve credit for savvy trend exploitation then, but unfortunately, their Captain Wonder 3D is a little too much like many of the movies using the technology—the work doesn’t really need the extra dimension, nor gain anything from it.

The Details

Captain Wonder 3D #1

Brian Haberlin and Philip Tan, Image Comics, $5.

Their title character is a generic Superman analogue—right down to the S-curl haircut—named after a half-forgotten hero from the 1940s, but the protagonist is actually a little boy. The artwork is solidly constructed, and the story benefits greatly from its kid-friendly, juvenile lit plot and tone.

In the end, it succeeds as a decent, if baldly derivative, genre story. (There’s a dramatic twist about the connection between the two characters, but it too is borrowed from yet another Golden Age superhero.) That success comes, however, despite the 3D effects, not because of them.