Prior to our first meeting, Bissette had already edited the seminal late-20th century anthology Taboo. Initially self-published under Bissette's Spiderbaby Grafix imprint (with the final two issues by Tundra/Kitchen Sink), each Taboo volume featured over 100 pages of visceral, no-holds-barred horror from the finest cutting edge creators of the era. 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 all contributed some of their finest works in the nine amazing books (1988-1995). Arguably Moore's finest story, From Hell, premiered in Volume 3. Far from the first horror comic, Bissette was shepherding a trend begun back in the 1940s.

An essential aspect of comics since almost the beginning of the medium, the first all horror anthology², the one-shot Eerie Comics (Avon),³ appeared in 1947 with six stories including early work from art pioneer Joe Kubert. The following year, B&I Publishing (later known as American Comics Group) published Adventures into The Unknown, the first ongoing horror title. Featuring primarily ghost stories, the series ran for 174 issues for over twenty years. Both of these titles later seemed tame in terms of violence, gore, and content when compared to the emerging the EC line of terror tales, the first great horror comic books.

In 1954 the entire movement collapsed. The infamous Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency hearings and the subsequent Comics Code Authority all but destroyed EC. The Code, self imposed by the majority of graphic publishers themselves, forbade titles with the words "crime," "horror," and "terror" and banned all use of vampires, werewolves, and zombies. Since most outlets refused to sell non-Code approved products, EC canceled all their titles, except for Mad which switched to a magazine format and hence beyond the Code's authority.

Some ten years later, James Warren, publisher of Famous Monsters of Filmland, resurrected the EC-style in a series of black & white magazines: Creepy, Eerie, and Vampirella. Primarily under the stewardship of Archie Goodwin, the periodicals returned the focus from the period's neutered, childish scary comics toward gruesome, well-crafted adult stories. Warren used several EC veterans alongside new artists including Neal Adams, Alex Toth, Gray Morrow, Richard Corben, Boris Vallejo, and Steve Ditko. Similar to the line that these magazines emulated, hosts Uncle Creepy, Cousin Eerie, and Vampirella, bookended each story. Vampirella even starred in her own adventures. Throughout the sixties and seventies, Warren publications witnessed several good and bad periods, but their impact on horror comics is undeniable.

In Warren's wake and the revision of the restrictive Comics Code,⁵ both Marvel and DC launched numerous horror comics throughout the seventies using talent first uncovered in or influenced by the Warren magazines. Artists Berni Wrightson, Mike Ploog, and Dave Cockrum and writers Len Wein, Doug Moench, and Don McGregor all buoyed popular comic book anthologies such as House of Mystery, House of Secrets, Adventure into Fear, and the magazine Savage Tales throughout the decade.

This rich history colored most contemporary perceptions of illustrated horror with lasting impacts on film and prose books. Authors such as Stephen King, Poppy Z Brite, and Joe R. Lansdale have expressed their love for EC and Warren comics. Steven Spielberg, Peter Jackson, Sam Raimi, and Tim Burton rely on visuals learned from reading those books. Horror comics, like their prose and movie brethren, include the best and worst (sometimes in the same package) society has too offer.

¹ The horrorpunk band the 39 Screams started in 2000, so perhaps they got the name from the comic. I hope not.

² Though not the first horror comic. That distinction goes to the 1943 Classic Comics #13: Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (Gilberton Company).

³ Eerie Comics returned as ongoing series in 1951.

⁴ M.C. Gaines (along with Harry I. Wildenberg) compiled what is considered the first American comic book Famous Funnies: A Carnival of Comics (Dell 1933). Later Gaines started All-American Comics, originators of Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and Flash. When National (better known as DC Comics) acquired All-American, Gaines started Educational Comics. His son renamed the press Entertaining Comics then eventually just EC.

⁵ The restrictions on vampires, werewolves, and ghouls were lifted in 1971.