#891 - GFTA Steel + CiD

Girls’ Figure Training Academy,
Eric Stanton
First published as photo prints by Irving Klaw in 1957
Published in Bizarre Comix, volume 23,
Bélier Press, Inc., 1978
optimized for ebook viewing

Baroness Steel,
Jim
First published as photo prints by Irving Klaw in 1954
Published in Bizarre Comix, volume 5,
Bélier Press, Inc., 1976

optimized for ebook viewing

Captives in Distress,
Adolfo Ruiz
First published as photo prints by Irving Klaw in 1958
Published in Bizarre Comix, volume 4,
Bélier Press, Inc., 1976
optimized for ebook viewing

The content of Girls' Figure Training Academy, Baroness Steel, and Captives in Distress is copyright © Bélier Press, Inc., and used by arrangement with Bélier Press, Inc.

historical note
Photo printing required the original artwork to be photographed and enlargements of negatives printed on photographic paper. Because of the imprecision of chemicals and temperatures, many sets of photo prints had light and dark regions and other undesirable properties.

Mr. Klaw sold comic serials in photo print format by mail in the 1950s. To avoid conflicts with post office authorities, his pictures, generally, showed no nudity, sexual activity or male characters.

He began publishing his Nutrix booklet series after he moved to New Jersey in 1959. The Nutrix volumes were usually limited to 64 small pages, including the covers. Fitting a comic serial into a Nutrix booklet usually resulted in panels being cropped, divided in two and, about half the time, omitted. Despite their defects, the photo prints were complete sets.

The Bizarre Comix / Bélier Press editions were based on the photo prints and are complete comic serials.

Girls’ Figure Training Academy – 20 episodes
Eric Stanton’s Girls’ Figure Training Academy takes place in an unusual modeling agency, operated by Mrs. Stringent. Her models like to wear tight corsets but Mrs. Stringent uses complex devices to further reduce waists. Sometimes, she imposes a regimen that’s a bit more than her models bargained for, involving unusual contraptions and unique, high-heeled shoes. In the end, the models revolt against the boss’s excesses and give her a taste of her own discipline.

Mr. Stanton does great work on corsets, legs. stockings and heels. These pictures are from the last years of his early period, during which produced for Exotique.


Baroness Steel – 30 episodes
A Swiss draftsman, Jim’s fine pen work shows the consistency of an accomplished technician. The gleaming metal, rivets, hinges, clamps and radio-controlled robot reflect Jim’s industrial orientation. Mr. Klaw published some of Jim’s comic serials in the Nutrix series.

Baroness Steel, a demanding woman of royal bearing, imposes strict discipline on any of her household staff who err in the slightest degree. An insurrection usurps the reign of the Baroness and fixes her in contraptions she used on the women in her employ. After her escape from mutineers, she wreaks vengeance on them.

All of the characters wear exotic, spike-heeled footwear, including boots, sling backs, mules, sandals and pumps. The fine ink work is dense with detail but difficult to appreciate when presented two panels to a page. The optimized ebook version opens the images to careful scrutiny.


Captives in Distress – 18 episodes
A native of Mexico, Adolfo Ruiz was one of the most prolific of Mr. Klaw’s artists. With a quick, casual style, he dressed his shapely female characters in short skirts, stockings and high-heeled sandals. They often found themselves outdoors, on horseback, among cactus or traveling across a rocky desert. Set in a fictitious Latin American country, Captives in Distress tells the story of a kidnapping, escape and revenge. Everyone involved is skillful at using ropes, trees, horses and other devices to keep curvaceous women in uncomfortable positions.

optimized ebooks
Most episodes in these comic serials consist of two or more panels and text that narrates all of the panels in the episode. In the ebooks, each panel is placed on a separate page, next to the text that describes the illustration. The panel fills the screen from top to bottom, exposing details, reducing the need for scrolling and zooming.

Three optimized e-books, delivered by download link.