Ray Zone (1947–2012) was an American film historian, author, artist, and pioneer in methods of converting flat images (in particular,

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

s) into stereoscopic images. '' Starlog'' called him the "King of 3-D Comics", and Artsy Planet called him the "3D King of Hollywood".

Biography

Zone attributed his interest in 3D to having read ''

Mighty Mouse Mighty Mouse is an American animated anthropomorphic superhero mouse character created by the Terrytoons studio for 20th Century Fox. The character was originally called Super Mouse, and made his debut in the 1942 short ''The Mouse of Tomorro ...

s in 3D at the age of 6, in 1953. He moved to Los Angeles in the early 1980s and began converting flat art to 3D images. He began working in comic books in 1983, and his early collaborations with Jack C. Harris and

Steve Ditko Stephen John Ditko Page contains two reproductions from school yearbooks. A 1943 Garfield Junior High School yearbook excerpt lists "Stephen Ditko". A 1945 Johnstown High School yearbook excerpt lists "Stephen J. Ditko" under extracurricular act ...

drew the attention of Archie Goodwin, who recruited him to work with John Byrne on the 1990 ''Batman 3-D'', a full-length 3D

graphic novel A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...

la. Zone produced 3D adaptations of art for over 150 comic books, for clients such as Disney, Warner Bros and the Simpsons, and including stories by

Alan Moore Alan Moore (born 18 November 1953) is an English author known primarily for his work in comic books including '' Watchmen'', ''V for Vendetta'', '' The Ballad of Halo Jones'', ''Swamp Thing'', ''Batman:'' ''The Killing Joke'', and '' From He ...

and

Grant Morrison Grant Morrison, MBE (born 31 January 1960) is a Scottish comic book writer, screenwriter, and producer. Their work is known for its nonlinear narratives, humanist philosophy and countercultural leanings. Morrison has written extensively for th ...

which were specifically written to accommodate stereoscopy. An internationally recognized expert in all things 3-D, Zone had a special interest in stereoscopic cinema and Large Format 3-D (15/70) filmmaking. He created stereo conversions and stereoscopic images for a wide variety of clients in publishing, education, advertising, television and motion pictures. In 2006 Zone was the 3D Artist on the

Tool A tool is an object that can extend an individual's ability to modify features of the surrounding environment or help them accomplish a particular task. Although many animals use simple tools, only human beings, whose use of stone tools dates ba ...

album '' 10,000 Days'', which won that year's

Grammy Award for Best Recording Package The Grammy Award for Best Recording Package is one of a series of Grammy Awards presented for the visual look of an album. It is presented to the art director of the winning album, not to the performer(s), unless the performer is also the art dir ...

. He received numerous awards for his 3-D work, among them a 1987

Inkpot Award The Inkpot Award is an honor bestowed annually since 1974 by Comic-Con International. It is given to professionals in the fields of comic books, comic strips, animation, science fiction, and related areas of popular culture, at CCI's annual conv ...

from the

San Diego Comic-Con San Diego Comic-Con International is a comic book convention and nonprofit multi-genre entertainment event held annually in San Diego, California since 1970. The name, as given on its website, is Comic-Con International: San Diego; but it is ...

for "Outstanding Achievement in Comic Arts", and He was the author of "3D Filmmakers, Conversations with Creators of Stereoscopic Motion Pictures" (Scarecrow Press: 2005), "Stereoscopic Cinema and the Origins of 3-D Film, 1838 - 1952" (University Press of Kentucky: 2007), "3-DIY: Stereoscopic Moviemaking on an Indie Budget" (Focal Press: 2012), and "3-D Revolution: The History of Modern Stereoscopic Cinema" (University Press of Kentucky: 2012). In 2008 Zone worked as 3D Supervisor on '' Dark Country'' with director/star

Thomas Jane Thomas Jane (born Thomas Elliott III; February 22, 1969) is an American actor. He is known for appearing in the films Padamati Sandhya Ragam (1987), ''Boogie Nights'' (1997), '' Deep Blue Sea'' (1999), '' The Punisher'' (2004), '' The Mist'' ( ...

, and in 2010 as 3D Producer on " Guardians of the Lost Code", the first animated 3D feature film made in Mexico.

Bibliography

Work includes: *''Batman 3D'' (with John Byrne, Arthur Adams, 80 pages,

Titan Books Titan Publishing Group is the publishing division of Titan Entertainment Group, which was established in 1981. The books division has two main areas of publishing: film and television tie-ins and cinema reference books; and graphic novels and c ...

, ) *''3D Filmmakers, Conversations with Creators of Stereoscopic Motion Pictures'', Scarecrow Press *''Stereoscopic Cinema and the Origins of 3-D Film, 1838 - 1952'',

University Press of Kentucky The University Press of Kentucky (UPK) is the scholarly publisher for the Commonwealth of Kentucky, and was organized in 1969 as successor to the University of Kentucky Press. The university had sponsored scholarly publication since 1943. In 194 ...

*''3-DIY: Stereoscopic Moviemaking on an Indie Budget'', Focal Press *''3-D Revolution: The History of Modern Stereoscopic Cinema'', University Press of Kentucky

References

External links

Official site
(via

archive.is archive.today (or archive.is) is a web archiving site, founded in 2012, that saves snapshots on demand, and has support for JavaScript-heavy sites such as Google Maps and progressive web apps such as Twitter. archive.today records two sn ...

) * * *
Checklist of comic books featuring Ray Zone work

'' Cnet'', January 9, 2010
The History of 3D Comics Exhibition & Opening Reception
Comixlist, July 19, 2007 {{DEFAULTSORT:Zone, Ray 1947 births 2012 deaths American film historians American male non-fiction writers Inkpot Award winners Stereoscopy