Sweeter Gwen: Captive of Bondage Manor

By Eric Stanton and Steve Ditko. Published by CreateSpace Publishing.

Softcover, 80 pages, black and white, 2018.

Eric Stanton's personal favorite comic caper was also a loving (if crackpot) homage to John Willie's legendary damsel-in-distress creation, Sweet Gwendoline. Stanton delivers a Mad magazine-like sendup of Willie's original, complete with Will Elder-like funny business. And yet even with all this slapstick, Stanton's female leads, including the imperious Countess, the pliant Gaga and the innocent Gwen, are as gorgeous as any he's ever drawn, and the fetish wear, bondage play, and femme-on-femme fights are as rousing as ever. Stanton's pencils were inked by Steve Ditko, who also contributed some original art, while the two toyed with the creation of Spider-Man in the spring of 1962. This special edition was reconstructed from archival material, correcting earlier printings and designed to display the risqué humor of Stanton's art.