This kid was goaded into taking a ticket from a stranger to a creepy cabaret alone; yeah, I could see him ending up a junkie.

There's an old Spin magazine article I've been looking for--Internet Archive hasn't come through for me yet--about kids/young adults being dumbasses on and off-camera at MTV's Spring Break. They're described as like being "from an island with no natural predators," having no 'normal' survival instincts. A section I think I almost remember verbatim and wish I could credit: "I witness the world's shortest, and most satisfying, fistfight: a white kid passes a black kid, and yells 'Hey, Kunta Kinte!' He is immediately rewarded with a mouthful of bloody teeth." Today's book is actually almost from the same era, but may have another similarity: from 1994, the Last Temptation #1, written by Neil Gaiman, art by Michael Zulli.

Alice Cooper has his name above the title, but apparently not in the indica? This was a tie-in to his thirteenth album, and it and the comic shared a plotline: Cooper, in the role of a mysterious showman, entices young Steven to his show, "the theatre of the real." While the title indicates he wants to tempt Steven to something, act one doesn't seem like a great start: a nightmare of life of the street, with corpse-like junkies cold and alone. Cooper suggests he could either risk that, or stay in the theatre, it's fun! Also you never grow old, or leave...

Steven isn't impressed, with that or the impression of him five years later, with no options or hope. He's ready to leave, but is enticed by the pretty Mercy: dames, that's his temptation! But Mercy seems to resist whatever the showman has in mind...and also seems to be missing a good chunk of skin and flesh on her back. Cooper briskly tells Steven this part of the show is over, but the finale was coming. Steven leaves the theatre, seemingly the very moment he left, as the other kids jeer him for chickening out...and one takes on the distinctive make-up of the showman. 

An old friend reminded me a bit of what it was like at Steven's age: being just smart enough to be a goddamn idiot in other ways. Steven seemed together enough to avoid the first trap, but I have my doubts he's home-free. This has been reprinted a couple times, but largely on the strength of Gaiman's name. Not to undersell Zulli: I'm not that familiar with him, but there's a P.Craig Russell feel to some of this. I'm also not well-versed in Cooper's work; although I remember him most from Prince of Darkness. Not my favorite John Carpenter film, but still a good one.