Backlash #2
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeBacklash #2 (December 1994) is the issue most commonly cited by retailers and collector databases as the first full appearance of Taboo (Amanda Reed), the vampiric-symbiote-wearing Cabal agent who would become Marc Slayton's primary love interest and one of the WildStorm Universe's most distinctive female characters across the entire run of the series and the subsequent Wildcore title. The issue also delivers the first appearances of the Chasers—the government-sanctioned superhuman mercenary squad comprising Brawl, Gaze, Homicide, and Recoil—antagonists who recur throughout the book and serve as a pressure point on Taboo's arc for years. Arriving just one month into the Backlash solo run, it laid the relational and adversarial groundwork that would define the book's tone: a fugitive ex-StormWatch operative partnered with a morally grey ex-villain, hunted on multiple fronts. The issue's crossover guest appearances—Jacob Marlowe, Cyberjack, and Savage Dragon in supporting or cameo roles—embedded Backlash firmly within the early WildStorm shared universe at a moment when that universe was still actively establishing its interconnected geography.
Backlash #2 (1994) delivers a high-stakes clash in Chicago as Backlash and Taboo pursue the elusive S'yrn, who’s infiltrated a celebrity gala with the deadly intent of killing WildC.A.T.S leader Jacob Marlowe. With tension escalating and the Savage Dragon drawn into the fray, the issue unfolds with sharp pacing and dynamic art by Brett Booth, whose pencils define the cover in collaboration with Sal Regla’s inks.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
The Backlash solo series was written by Sean Ruffner and Jeff Mariotte, with art and co-plotting credited to Brett Booth, whose energetic mid-1990s style defined the book's visual identity; Sal Regla, Tom McWeeney, and Al Vey shared inking duties on issue #2. The series launched under Image Comics' WildStorm imprint in November 1994, growing directly out of Marc Slayton's prior supporting role in StormWatch and the Team 7 mythology, and issue #2 picks up threads left in StormWatch (1993) #5—specifically the Daemonite S'Ryn's attack that left Diane LaSalle comatose—making it a deliberate piece of interconnected WildStorm storytelling rather than a self-contained debut. Letterer Chris Eliopoulos and editors Sarah Becker and Drew Bittner rounded out the production team. The issue also included a pin-up by Scott Clark, a common promotional practice in early Image books intended to spotlight emerging talent within the imprint.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published December 1994 by Image Comics under the WildStorm imprint; part two of the opening story arc of the Backlash solo series.
- First appearance of Taboo (Amanda Reed), the Cabal agent bonded to a vampiric bio-metallic symbiote, who becomes Backlash's primary partner and love interest throughout the series. (NOTE: Source conflict — see 'flagged'.)
- First appearances of the Chasers: Brawl, Gaze, Homicide, and Recoil — a squad of government-affiliated superhuman mercenaries who serve as recurring antagonists across the book.
- The story picks up directly after StormWatch (1993) #5: Daemonite S'Ryn has left Marc Slayton's girlfriend Diane LaSalle comatose, driving Backlash to go AWOL from StormWatch and break Taboo out of the Purgatory Max prison to use her Cabal knowledge.
- The issue features a confrontation with Pike, a super-powered assassin and Taboo's former handler within the Cabal organization.
- Supporting and guest-star appearances include Savage Dragon, Jacob Marlowe (Lord Emp), Cyberjack, and Alex Wilde, grounding the issue within the broader early WildStorm shared universe.
- Diva of StormWatch appears in cameo, further threading the book into the ongoing StormWatch continuity.
- Written by Sean Ruffner and Jeff Mariotte, penciled by Brett Booth (with Sal Regla, Tom McWeeney, and Al Vey on inks), lettered by Chris Eliopoulos, and edited by Sarah Becker and Drew Bittner; includes a bonus pin-up by Scott Clark.
Cast · 19 characters
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Reprints
↩ Reprints Warblade: Endangered Species #1 (1995)
Reprinted in Backlash #3 (1995), Nova #229 (1998)
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