Teen-Aged Dope Slaves and Reform School Girls

    (Eclipse, 1989)
™ and © 1989 Eclipse Enterprises, Inc.

Teen-Aged Dope Slaves and Reform School Girls collects eight of the post-World War II era’s greatest camp classics and reprints them in one volume—stories that, for their time, walked a fine line between education and exploitation.

Adding to the uniqueness of the Eclipse Books graphic novel are names like Harvey Kurtzman, Jack Kirby and Joe Simon—legends to the industry who got their early starts writing what can be considered rather risqué material. Take “Reform School Girls,” which was clearly aimed at cashing in on the dual themes of sex and scandal. Or how about “Trapped” and “Lucky Fights It Through,” stories that dealt with venereal disease yet were published as educational tools under the auspices of Columbia University. You even had “The Bobby Sox Bandit Queen” and “I Worked for the Fence,” strips that were purported to tell true stories of famous criminals.

From our 21st century perspective, these stories may seem naive and campy, but put into their historical perspectives, they can only be called accurate and sincere documents of their time.
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