Taboo #9

Taboo #9

by Stephen R. Bissette (Editor), Dave Sim (Introduction ), Jan Neruda

Taboo is a comics anthology edited by Steve Bissette, designed to feature edgier and more adult comics than those published through mainstream publishers. The series began as a horror anthology, but soon branched out into other genres as well.

This final issue features work from Chet Williamson & Tim Truman, Phil Hester, Stephen Blue, Rick Grimes, and Tony Salmons.

Genres: Comics

128 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1995

About the author

Stephen R. Bissette is an American comics artist, editor, and publisher with a focus on the horror genre. He is best known for working with writer Alan Moore and inker John Totleben on the DC comic Swamp Thing in the 1980s.

Reviews

[Bill Hsu · Rating 3 out of 5]

The last issue of this groundbreaking horror anthology comic is a bit uneven. Lovely cover by Alan Clarke, a really elegant and streamlined adaptation by Alec Stevens of a Jan Neruda story, and two short, almost abstract graphics/prose poem-like pieces by Phil Hester, dark and smeared and lovingly textured. Hester has never been on my radar, but his later work that I quickly located online is much more conventional and uninteresting. I can't find any online images resembling his work in Taboo, so here's a sloppy scan:



Since this is the last issue, we get a cover gallery of the whole series (just B&W, unfortunately), and essays at the end from Stephen Bissette and Alan Moore on how difficult it was to publish innovative horror comics in the late 80s. It's easy for us to forget this today, with the explosion of self-publishing; Bissette's litany of woes regarding the publication of Taboo #2 (no cheap copies available, I've tried) is just jaw dropping.

So, maybe not the strongest issue of Taboo, but well worth a look.

[Rick Ray · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the strongest issue of Taboo, but a solid end to a great horror anthology. I liked the little history recap at the start of the issue celebrating the seven year run which includes some neat tidbits on how the series came together.

This issue contains stories from Jan Neruda, Alec Stevens, Michael H. Price, Lamberto Alvarez, Jeff Dickinson, Stephen Blue, Chet Wiliamson, Tim Truman, Rick Grimes, James Robert Smith, Mike Hoffman, Tony Salmons, David Thorpe, Aidan Potts, Mark David Dietz, Phil Hester and Angela Bocage. The lineup seems a bit tame to star studded lineup from previous issues, but the quality of most of the stories were pretty solid overall. The most memorable one for me was the Dave Thorpe & Aidan Potts story "After Life" which features some gorgeous bits of pointillism in a pretty out there story.

Steve Bissette wraps up this volume with a thoughtful afterword that highlights how much work was put into just getting these ten issues of Taboo together. Overall, I had a great time going through this series issue by issue, and this series is something I imagine I'll enjoy returning to many more times in the future.

[Jeffrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

A grand experiment