Having just escaped Communist spies, test pilot Chuck Chandler thinks it will be smooth sailing from now on. Jumping into an experimental rocket plane, Chandler is hoping to break some world records. Unfortunately, lady luck is not on Chuck's side. His plane is captured by a Skrull scout skip.
The story of Chuck Chandler is set during the 1950s. With mankind on the verge of space flight, the Skrulls are interested in determining if the planet Earth is a threat to their empire. Chuck is to be interrogated before being returned to terra firma with his mind wiped. However, the pilot finds a way to escape in his test plane while sabotaging the UFO.
On his way back home, the energy waves of the exploding Skrull saucer flood Chandler's plane. Upon his crash landing, Chandler emerges from the wreckage unscaved. Everything looks like it's going right for a young man who's had a very eventful 24-hours. And then Chuck Chandler disappeared.
The only person to witness Chuck Chandler's disappearance is his brother Hal. After the funeral, Hal discovers that an image of Chuck is embedded in his eyeglasses. In one lens, Chuck is green. The other, red. Hal's eyewear has turned into a macabre sort of 3-D glasses!
One night, Hal falls into a trance. During his slumber, Chuck emerges from Hal's glasses with new and fantastic powers. Now with the power of 3 men, Chuck can leap great heights, perform amazing feats of strength and outrun the fastest cars 1950s Detroit has to offer. Only there's a catch- Chuck Chandler can only exist outside of his brothers eyeglasses for only 3 hours at a time!
Created in 1977 by Roy Thomas (Aargh!) and Jim Craig (What If...), the 3-D Man was created as a tribute to Jack Kirby and Joe Simon's niche superhero Captain 3-D. Thomas wanted to create an entire series based on 3-D Man in a 3-D format. However, production costs just weren't feasible. So a 3-issue try-out in the pages of Marvel Premiere was the best Roy Thomas had to settle for.
Ultimately, only the most ardent of comic book fans remember the 3-D Man. After appearing in Marvel Premiere #35-37, the character only popped up in a scattered number of books. A pair of Incredible Hulk issues, a brief appearance in Contest of Champions and a spot on Jimmy Woo's 50s era Avengers in What If... #9 would be 3-D Man's sole contributions to the Marvel Universe until a return almost 2 decades later as black man named Delroy Garrett (first known as Triathlon.)
Unfortunately for the Chuck Chandler 3-D Man, when Marvel made the events of that What If... issue a part of mainstream continuity in the 2006 miniseries, Agents of Atlas, the character was left off of the roster. Agents of Atlas writer Jeff Parker claimed it was because he only wanted to use characters from 1950s Atlas lineup. Since 3-D Man was created in the 70s as a retcon, Parker didn't make the nearly-forgotten character a part of that team. However, it may also have something to do with the fact that Kurt Busiek along with George Perez who created the Delroy Garrett 3-D Man, wanted to leave the character alone for other projects. As the contemporary 3-D Man did join a modern version of the Agents of Atlas, that theory holds a bit more water.
Since it's been over a decade since the original 3-D Man's last official appearance in a book, the Roy Thomas creation sadly looks to become nothing more than a small entry in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe. Though who knows? Maybe the time will come for minor 70s characters to make a return to Marvel Comics for a nostalgic mini-series much like 2007's The Twelve. But until then, it's a safe bet that we won't be seeing Chuck Chandler any time soon.
Rating: 6 out of 10 stars.
Completing this review completes Task #12 (Published the Year You Were Born) of the 2023 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.
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