Black Kiss

Howard Chaykin’s Black Kiss (1988–1989, Vortex) is a lurid, noir-tinged horror series that blends sleaze with the supernatural, following a cast of morally compromised characters in a seedy Los Angeles underworld. Chaykin wrote and co-illustrated all 12 issues, with additional art from Ella Vine and Alice Furey, creating a visually distinctive, boundary-pushing work that challenged comics’ content standards of its era. It remains a provocative artifact of late-’80s alternative comics, notorious for its explicit adult themes and Chaykin’s unflinching storytelling.