Editing Eclipse Comics (section)

=== Political comics and trading cards ===
In the period 1987–1993, Eclipse became involved with a selection of comics and [[trading cards]] on real-world political topics. The early political comics were the results of partnerships with activist groups like [[Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors]], [[Tod Ensign|Citizen Soldier]], and the [[Christic Institute]].

In 1987, the company published the [[antiwar]] comic ''Real War Stories'' #1, edited by [[Joyce Brabner]], with work by [[Mike W. Barr]], [[Steve Bissette]], [[Brian Bolland]], [[Paul Mavrides]], [[Dean Motter]], [[Denny O'Neil]] and [[John Totleben]] (among others).<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Being All They Can Be|first=Rich |last=Kreiner|pages= 57-61 |work= The Comics Journal |number=128 |date=Apr 1989}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|title='Real War Stories' 'Felipe' Believed Captured by Salvadoran Military |pages=14-15 |work= The Comics Journal |number=129 |date=May 1989}}</ref> In 1991, Eclipse published ''Real War Stories'' #2, the final issue of the series.<ref>{{cite web|title=1987: Real War Stories|work=Total Eclipse|date=June 16, 2018|url=https://totaleclipse.blog/2018/06/16/1987-real-war-stories/}}</ref>

In 1988 Eclipse had become the first comics company to produce trading cards with the ''[[Iran-Contra scandal|Iran-Contra Scandal]]'' Trading Cards, with text written by Paul Brancato and featuring art by Salim Yaqub.<ref name=AH159TOTN>{{cite magazine|date=February 15, 1989|title=Top of the News ''(advertisement)''|magazine=[[Amazing Heroes]]|publisher=[[Fantagraphics Books]]|number=159}}</ref> 

In 1989, Eclipse co-published (with [[Warner Books]]) the graphic novel [[flip book]] ''[[Brought to Light]]''.<ref name="DS">{{Cite web |url=http://www.digitalspy.com/comics/news/a342277/brought-to-light-digitally-remastered.html |title='Brought to Light' digitally remastered |last=Armitage |first=Hugh |date=September 26, 2011 |website=[[Digital Spy]]}}</ref> The comic, by writers [[Alan Moore]] and Joyce Brabner and artist [[Bill Sienkiewicz]], dealt in part with the [[Central Intelligence Agency]]'s involvement in the [[Iran–Contra affair]].

The commercial success of the Iran-Contra Scandal trading cards set led to similar sets on other deliberately provocative subjects – gaining Eclipse considerable mainstream publicity in the process.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ranker.com/list/90s-true-crime-trading-cards/jodi-smith|website=[[Ranker]]|title=The Beautifully Drawn True Crime Trading Cards From The '90s Were An Instant Outrage}}</ref> These included:
*''Friendly Dictators Trading Cards'' in 1989 by Dennis Bernstein, Laura Sydell and [[Bill Sienkiewicz]].<ref name=AH157GN>{{cite magazine|date=January 15, 1989|title=Graphic Novels|author=Sheldon Weibe, Ed Sample & Gil Jordan|magazine=[[Amazing Heroes]]|publisher=[[Fantagraphics Books]]|number=157/Preview Special}}</ref>
*''[[Presidency of George H. W. Bush|Bush League]] Trading Cards'' in 1990 by Brancato and Yaqub.
*''[[Savings and Loan crisis|Savings & Loan Scandal]] Trading Cards'' in 1991 by Bernstein, Sydell and Stewart Stanyard.<ref name="AH196NL">{{cite magazine|date=November 1991|title=Newsline|magazine=[[Amazing Heroes]]|publisher=[[Fantagraphics Books]]|number=196}}</ref><ref>Crossen, Judith. "Trading Card Fame for S&L Scoundrels", [[Reuters]] via ''[[Philadelphia Daily News]]'', September 9, 1991</ref><ref>Trausch, Susan. "A Full Deck of Scandals at a Glance", ''[[Boston Globe]]'', September 18, 1991</ref><ref>"Insider Trading with Keating, Milken", ''[[Los Angeles Daily News]]'', October 20, 1991</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/content/printVersion/159491/ | title=Keating Gets Carded: Your Money Might Be Safer in These than in an S&L| first=Paul |last=Rubin|date=August 14, 1991 |work=[[Phoenix New Times]]| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110914012629/http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/content/printVersion/159491/ | archive-date= September 14, 2011| url-status= live|access-date=September 13, 2011}}</ref>
*''Coup D'Etat – The [[Assassination of John F. Kennedy]] Trading Cards'' in 1991, by Brancato and Sienkiewicz.<ref name=AH179NL>{{cite magazine|date=May 1990|title=Newsline|magazine=[[Amazing Heroes]]|publisher=[[Fantagraphics Books]]|number=179}}</ref> These benefitted from an increased interest in [[John F. Kennedy assassination conspiracy theories|conspiracy theories]] about the killing due to [[Oliver Stone]]'s film ''[[JFK (film)|JFK]]'' bringing it to a wider audience.<ref>Jones, Kathryn. "Price tag on JFK intrigue Assassination aficionados spawn cottage industry",''[[The Dallas Morning News]]'', November 22, 1991</ref><ref>"Kennedy Assassination is an Industry with Growing Market", [[Associated Press]] via ''The Chronicle-Telegram'' ([[Elyria, Ohio|Elyria]], Ohio), November 28, 1991</ref><ref name=AH188JFK>{{cite magazine|date=February 1991|title=Reviews - Misc|author=[[Rogers Cadenhead]]|magazine=[[Amazing Heroes]]|publisher=[[Fantagraphics Books]]|number=188}}</ref>
*''Crime and Punishment Trading Cards'' in 1992 by Bruce Carroll and [[Bill Lignante]], featuring excerpts from famous criminal cases such as [[Sirhan Sirhan]] and [[Squeaky Fromme]];<ref>{{cite web|url=https://totaleclipse.blog/2018/09/22/1992-crime-and-punishment-trading-cards/|website=Total Eclipse|title=1992: Crime and Punishment Trading Cards}}</ref> Lignante was a former [[courtroom sketch]] artist.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-01-31-vw-922-story.html|website=[[Los Angeles Times]]|title=Where It's Wall-to-Wall Celebrities : An Illustrator Pictorializes Star-Conscious L.A. for Palms' Famous Gallery}}</ref>
*''[[HIV/AIDS|AIDS]] Awareness Trading Cards'' in 1993, which sought to provide a greater awareness of the effects and history of the disease; the set was packaged with a [[condom]]<ref>"AIDS cards to include condoms", ''[[Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]]'' (newspaper), September 23, 1992)</ref><ref>"AIDS Awareness is in the cards", ''[[Dallas Morning News]]'', July 7, 1993</ref><ref>"AIDS Activism turns to cards", ''[[Dayton Daily News]]'', July 13, 1993</ref><ref>"Ban Sought on Cards depicting AIDS victim", ''[[Boston Globe]]'', January 15, 1994</ref> and mixed information about the disease with images of both everyday and celebrity victims (including [[Freddie Mercury]], [[Liberace]] and [[Rudolf Nureyev]], as well as including a [[Discredited HIV/AIDS origins theories|theory that AIDS]] had been "developed by teams of American and Soviet bio-warfare technicians and tested on people in Africa and Haiti before being introduced to North America's homosexual population"<ref>Hutchinson, B. (1993). It’s in the AIDS cards. [[Alberta Report]] / Newsmagazine, 20(25), 21</ref>

Less sensational trading card sets included ''[[The Comedy Channel]] presents the Rock Bottom Awards'' by Peggy Gordon and Sienkiewicz; this was a more light-hearted set that mixed political and celebrity targets;<ref name=AH184NL>{{cite magazine|date=October 1990|title=Newsline|magazine=[[Amazing Heroes]]|publisher=[[Fantagraphics Books]]|number=184}}</ref> as well as cards on baseball bloopers,<ref name=AH190NL>{{cite magazine|date=May 1991|title=Newsline|magazine=[[Amazing Heroes]]|publisher=[[Fantagraphics Books]]|number=190}}</ref> [[James Bond]], [[country music]], and ''[[Loaded Weapon 1|National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://totaleclipse.blog/2018/10/30/trading-card-index/|website=Total Eclipse|title=Trading Cards}}</ref>

The company's 1992 trading card set, ''[[True crime|True Crime]]'' by [[Max Allan Collins]], George Hagenauer, Paul Lee, Valarie Jones, Peggy Collier and Jon Bright, covering both mafia and gang figures such as [[Al Capone]] and [[Hymie Weiss]] to more recent mass killers such as [[John Wayne Gacy]] and [[Jeffrey Dahmer]], drew considerable controversy after an Eclipse press release was picked up by ''[[Entertainment Tonight]]'', leading to accusations of [[sensationalism]].<ref>"Ban Urged on Sale of Crime Cards", ''[[The Record (Bergen County)|The Record]]'' ([[Bergen County, New Jersey|Bergen County]], New Jersey), April 30, 1992</ref><ref>"'True Crime' Cards Thriving Despite Outrage", ''[[The New York Times]]'', June 16, 1992</ref><ref>"Killer Cards Hit Capital Stores Amid Criticism", ''[[Sacramento Bee]]'', June 19, 1992</ref><ref>"Killer Cards: Two groups trying to deal fatal blow to criminal cards", ''[[The Oregonian]]'', August 18, 1992</ref> The series was also lambasted on ''[[The Today Show]]'' and ''[[The Maury Povich Show]]'', while [[Michigan]] senators put forward a resolution to ban the cards before they had even been released, while legislators in [[Maryland]] and [[Arkansas]] made similar moves. Reporting on the issue, comics industry magazine ''[[Amazing Heroes]]'' noted that Shel-Tone Publications' similar ''Bloody Visions'' set had attracted no such censure when released previously.<ref name=AH201NL>{{cite magazine|date=July 1992|title=Newsline|magazine=[[Amazing Heroes]]|publisher=[[Fantagraphics Books]]|number=201}}</ref> Yronwode later claimed Eclipse received around 10,000 items of hate mail, and wrote about the controversy when the cards were collected as a pair of albums, ''True Crime Vol 1 – G-Men & Gangsters'' and ''True Crime Vol 2 – Serial Killers & Mass Murderers'' in 1993.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://totaleclipse.blog/2018/10/06/1993-true-crime-trading-card-booklets/|website=Total Eclipse|title=1993: True Crime Trading Card Booklets}}</ref>

Following the success of the True Crime trading cards, in 1993 Eclipse published the two-issue series ''True Crime Comics'' as well as the ''True Crime Comics Special''.