scarlet pilgrim

Scarlet Pilgrim

Last Gasp November 1977
This Trina Robbins comic was inspired by the notorious feminist Margo St. James, who fought to improve prostitutes’ rights and organized 1960s sex parties and orgies. Little wonder that this epic tale is about a beautiful, heroic prostitute who travels halfway around the world to help out a friend and becomes trapped in international politics, a sting operation and sex with old bald men.

The heroic prostitute is named Scarlett and her best friend, Dollface, is an old ex-hooker forced to work undercover for the CIA. Scarlett agrees to work with Dollface on her mission, which is to frame the leader of a Middle Eastern country for heroin possession, allowing the U.S. to set up their own puppet government in his place. But as the two women get deeper into their mission, complications and revelations arise, leading them to change the game’s objective.

Robbins’ storytelling in Scarlett Pilgrim is more ambitious than anything she’d done before and is rather satisfying, while her artwork is as stark and stylish as ever. Based on the last page of this book, it appears that Robbins’ original intention was to have a second issue continue the story, but regretfully she never continued the adventures of Scarlett Pilgrim.