Editor Steve Bissette‘s seminal late-20th century anthology Taboo, perhaps the finest horror anthology of all time and a model for my own horror anthology Weird Business, offered over 100 pages of visceral, no-holds-barred horror from the finest cutting edging creators of the late eighties and early nineties. Initially self-published under Bissette’s Spiderbaby Grafix imprint (and later continued by Kitchen Sink), each Taboo volume presented contributions from the likes of Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, Clive Barker, Eddie Campbell, Chester Brown, Charles Burns, John Totleben, Tom Veitch, Bernie Mireault, Michael Zulli, Richard Sala, Paul Chadwick, Moebius, Phil Hester, Dave Sim, D’Israeli, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Spain Rodriguez, S. Clay Wilson, Charles Vess, Jeff Jones, Matt Howarth, Mark Bode, Scott McCloud, Paul Grist, Joe Coleman, Jim Woodring, Tim Truman, and Bissette. Running for nine amazing books (1988-1995), Taboo contained some of these creators’ finest works.
Some 13 years later and horror comics are once again all the rage, isn’t it high time for someone to produce a 200 page best of compilation? Even without From Hell, which started in those pages, the books offer enough incredible talent that it’s sure to be a much sought after item.
Best of Taboo? was originally published on The Geek Curmudgeon