From Hell and Lost Girls:
FROM HELL: THE COMPLEAT SCRIPTS, VOLUME ONE
FROM HELL: THE COMPLEAT SCRIPTS, VOLUME ONE (and only) by Alan Moore (trade paperback edition, 343 pages, Bordlerlands Press/SpiderBaby Grafix, 1994), illustrated by Eddie Campbell.
Fans were aching for a peek at one of Alan's scripts by the early 1990s. This volume provided a chance to read Moore's own conversational, lovingly-detailed, and rigorously-researched scripts to the prologue and first three chapters of Alan's and Eddie Campbell's landmark serialized graphic novel FROM HELL. Enriched and enhanced with a number of never-published-elsewhere Eddie Campbell illustrations drawn especially for this volume, a new introduction by Alan, an Afterword by Bissette, and an archival appendix reprinting Alan's original announcement of FROM HELL, this book was a real treat for all Moore fans, Ripperologists, practicing and aspiring comic book authors, and FROM HELL fans.
(NOTE: Sadly, this was the only volume published of an intended series publishing all of Alan's scripts; a second volume was completed, typeset, and proofed, but never published. If you must know what happened, order a copy of THE COMICS JOURNAL #185).
Black Hole
TABOO Vol. 1 featured a short Charles Burns story entitled "Contagious". It was as potent as any of Burns' efforts for RAW or DEATH RATTLE, detailing the eruption of a sexually-transmitted, leprosy-like plague among a small suburban community's teenage population. "Contagious" earned reprint honors in the Fantagraphics' anthology THE BEST COMICS OF THE DECADE Volume 2 (1990), and Charles expanded upon his TABOO tale in "Teen Plague" for RAW Vol. 2, No. 1 (Penguin, 1989). A more volatile strain of the same infectious malady soon spread from Charles' imagination and drawing board to the pages of his current series BLACK HOLE.
Launched by the late, lamented Kitchen Sink Press in 1995, BLACK HOLE has blossomed into one of the most unnerving comics creations of the decade. I always loved Burns' work, perpetually steeped in the imagery of late night television and drive-in cast-offs like THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN'T DIE and the Mexican SANTO chestnuts, the shadows of the Pre-Code horror comics and early-1960s monster magazines, and the terribly primal intimacy of David Cronenberg's cinematic universe. BLACK HOLE showcases Charles in peak form, distilling many of the most persistent elements of his distinctive art and thematic oeuvre into a seductive, suffocating, and surreal tapestry. Thankfully, Fantagraphics picked up the series prior to Kitchen Sink's recent collapse, and carry a complete run of the series to date.
BLACK HOLE #1 through #6 are all available for $4.50 each postpaid from
Fantagraphics (they bought the remaining stock of issues #1-4 from Kitchen Sink). Kim Thompson tells me that "future issues will be released on a schedule that (if the first
six are any indication) will hover between every nine months and annually." According to Kim, Charles plans on the series "to run 14 issues (which puts its completion around the year 2,005) -- it is, according to Burns, solidly plotted, so there's not a lot of danger of 'inflation' such as occurred, say, with Chris Ware's JIMMY CORRIGAN (originally planned for ca. 180 pages, currently holding steady at about twice that)."
I, for one, would hardly object to Charles' continuing expansion of the seed planted with "Contagious"!
BLACK HOLE is currently available at fine comic shops, wherever they may survive. If, like me, you're not in easy driving distance of such a slice of heaven, you can order BLACK HOLE by mail (Fantagraphics Books, 7563 Lake City Way NE, Seattle, WA 98115), by phone (1-800-657-1100), by FAX (206-524-2104), or by e-mail at the Fantagraphics website. This is one of the best series available today, and it's HIGHLY RECOMMENDED to one and all.
Speaking of Burns' affection for the old Mexican wrestler-versus-monsters-and-criminals genre, Burns' revisionist ode to the masked heroes of the ring, EL BORBAH (reprinting HARD BOILED DEFECTIVE STORIES), will be available as a deluxe hardcover-only from Fantagraphics for $25 in March, 1999. BIG BABY, reprinting all the Big Baby material from the RAW anthology and one-shot, the weekly strip, and the Kitchen Sink mini-collections, will follow for Christmas, 1999, in the same format. A reprint of SKIN DEEP and an "odds-and-ends" (i.e., every other Burns comic, from the RAW "Dog-Boy" stories on) will follow, along with a Sketchbook and an Artbook further down the road.
Charles was a frequent TABOO contributor. You owe it to yourself to track down as much of his narrative work as possible. (Special thanks to Jim Adcock at Dragon's Lair Comics & Fantasy in Austin, TX, and Kim Thompson at Fantagraphics)
Through The Habitrails
By Jeff Nicholson (1994, 1996, Bad Habit; 144
pages, ISBN #1-885047-03-7)
Jeff Nicholson was the only writer-artist to take full advantage of the opportunity TABOO presented. Jeff's series debuted in TABOO Vol. 5, and quickly became a fixture of the anthology. Though he completed his remarkable serialized graphic novel THROUGH THE HABITRAILS before the final split between SpiderBaby and Tundra and was paid in full for all his work, the last few chapters never saw print. After the demise of TABOO, Jeff brought his serialized novel to the non-genre anthology ONE EYE OPEN, ONE EYE CLOSED, which collapsed after only a couple of installments. Eager to remedy the situation (and make a number of revisions to the chapters that had seen print), Jeff self-published THROUGH THE HABITRAILS in 1994 (with a second printing two years later, sporting a new laminated cover, pictured here, and a new intro by yours truly).
In that second intro, I summed up Jeff's masterwork as "an original, completely absorbing, and deeply, deeply disturbing," and I still count it among one of the best graphic novels of our generation. Jeff's vivid, absurdist portrait of a creative spirit trapped in the soul-crushing banality of a corporate workplace is harrowing, alien, and yet utterly familiar. Again quoting my intro: "The landscape is unmistakable: the drudgery of the workplace infested with endless gerbil habitrails; the insidious, unseen superiors physically tapping workers like maple trees for their sap; depleted and depleting coworkers unable to connect with each other, wallowing in their own personal hells, features obscured, even swallowed, by their addictions."
THROUGH THE HABITRAILS is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, and an absolutely
essential addition to any TABOO readers' library.
Completists will also want to track down a copy of TABOO Vol. 8, which published Jeff's original version of his penultimate chapter, "Cat Lover."
A one-shot follow-up of sorts to Jeff's novel surfaced at DC Comics, of all places. Vertigo's THE DREAMING #15 (August, 1997) showcased Jeff's full-color story "Day's Work, Night's Rest", a compelling self-sufficient tale and an excellent companion chapter to THROUGH THE HABITRAILS. The tone, texture, and narrative substance of Jeff's script and art are absolutely consistent with HABITRAILS, while fitting very comfortably into Neil Gaiman's Like HABITRAILS, this single issue is also highly recommended, and a compelling addition to any TABOO library.
By Tim Burton (1997,
Rob Weisbach Books/William Morrow and Co., Inc., NY; 118 pages, ISBN
#0-688-15681-9)
My deepest regret over TABOO-related material was the loss of a set of
photocopies.
Back in 1987, before Tim Burton's life and career was turned upside-down
by BATMAN, I was contacted by author Michael McDowell (author of many
excellent novels, including GILDED NEEDLES and the BLACKWATER trilogy,
along with many teleplays and screenplays -- including BEETLEJUICE).
Working with his friend, filmmaker and artist Tim Burton, Michael had
cooked up a story to offer TABOO, a delicious little illustrated verse tale
entitled "The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy." We received it in photocopy
form. It was a marvelous slice of the macabre written and drawn in the
style of Edward Gorey. I particularly loved Burton's rough sketches
illustrating Michael's tale, and I was excited at the prospect of
publishing such a gem. I wanted to publish it as it was, but Michael told
me that Burton didn't want his rough sketches used; we had to wait for Tim
to complete more polished pen-and-ink renditions.
I eagerly agreed, and then waited -- and waited -- and --
Well, you can imagine how it went. Once the BATMAN movie consumed
Burton's affairs, "The Oyster Boy" quietly sank into the waves. A couple of
years later, Michael called back to say they still wanted the story to
appear in TABOO, and that I could go ahead and print it with Tim's original
sketches. I was jubilant. The problem was, Tim couldn't FIND the original
art, nor could either of them locate photocopies -- could I print from the
set they'd sent me years before?
To make a long, bitter tale short, we couldn't FIND the photocopies. We
searched for AGES. I'm STILL looking. I traced every single set we had
circulated: John Totleben had moved and thrown out all TABOO-related
material; magazines and comic shops we'd sent photocopies to had since
tossed or lost them; and so it went. To this day, I have found EVERY scrap
of paper even remotely related to TABOO, except, of course, "The Oyster
Boy."
I practically did a jig when I found this nifty little hardcover book at
a local bookshop. Here, finally, is "The Oyster Boy," headlining the
showcase he long deserved. It looks exactly as it had been submitted to
TABOO, lovingly reproduced from Tim's sketches. Burton's art is beguiling,
and the accompanying stories are also grim delights.
My only problem with this collection is the solo credit on the cover and
title page proferring Tim Burton as the lone author. This seems deceptive
at best. Through the events I've just described to you, I can attest to the
fact that Michael McDowell wrote the Oyster Boy story; if you're at all
familiar with Michael's own work, his voice rings loud and clear. I'd sure
like to know who really wrote the rest of this book. Buried on page 115 are
the acknowledgements, with "Thanks to" a number of writers -- prominent
among them Michael McDowell. It seems fair to assume the others listed had
a hand in the rest of the stories and verse, too. Can anyone out there
provide some credits and credentials here?
Those misgivings aside, this is RECOMMENDED, and makes a great gift.
[THE MELANCHOLY DEATH OF THE OYSTER BOY & OTHER STORIES is available from
Amazon.com.]
Another casualty of TABOO's death-throes was Leslie Black's remarkable graphic novella THINGS HAPPEN: A Fairy Tale. Originally planned as the centerpiece of a TABOO one-shot exploring the ravages of emotional, physical, and sexual child abuse entitled TABOO: STICKS AND STONES, Leslie's semi-autobiographical portrait of a woman's inner wounds tearing into her waking reality was a terrifying, delirious, and profoundly moving masterpiece. My ex-wife Marlene (then named Nancy) O'Connor nurtured the anthology, and Leslie's contribution in particular, with fierce dedication. Alas, though THINGS HAPPEN and its companion narratives, art, and poetry were completed within the year, STICKS AND STONES remained homeless. By 1991, SpiderBaby could no longer subsidize the production and publication of such a tome. Though Tundra helped finance the completion of Leslie's novella (over 75 pages in length), TABOO's co-publisher ultimately passed on STICKS AND STONES, despite the power of Leslie's core effort, its companion stories, and a ravishing painted cover by Moebius. Mike Richardson of Dark Horse made a verbal commitment to the project in the summer of 1992, but never made good on his promise. Eventually, most of the stories completed for STICKS AND STONES saw print in Volumes 8 and 9 of TABOO and elsewhere. Frustrated at the evident indifference to the project and anxious for Leslie's masterpiece to see print in some form, Marlene and I promptly released Leslie from any obligations to SpiderBaby, allowing her to self-publish THINGS HAPPEN (1992, Asymmetrical Books) as a handsome saddle-stitched one-shot. The print run was modest and distribution was sparse, consigning THINGS HAPPEN to an undeserved obscurity. But it at least saw print, and reached a portion of the audience it deserved. Sadly, Marlene and I lost contact with Leslie the following year. I occasionally stumble on a copy of THINGS HAPPEN at convention tables and urban comic shop bins, and a couple of dedicated TABOO aficionados have brought their copies to various signings and con tables over the years. If you can track a copy down, count yourself among the lucky few to experience one of TABOO's finest "lost" contributions. If anyone reading this can put me in touch with Leslie, or direct me to a reliable source for ordering copies of THINGS HAPPEN, it would be greatly appreciated. I will promptly list any such source right here. Please tell her Marlene and Steve send their love, too.
The Melancholy Death Of Oyster Boy & Other Stories
Things Happen: A Fairy Tale
Coming Soon: The TABOO Legacy continues with THE ALLAGASH INCIDENT by Jack Weiner and Chuck Rak, RAIN by Rolf F. Stark, NIGHT CHILDREN by Wendy Snow-Lang; Bissette and Michael Zulli on Clive Barker's RAWHEAD REX Redux; Updates, and the 24-Hour Comics!