Taboo

Height: 5"6'

Weight: 125 lbs

Origin

Taboo (Amanda Reed) is a character in the Wildstorm universe created by artist Brett Booth. She first appeared in November of 1994 within the pages of Backlash #1 and quickly became a regular character. She was later attached to the group Wildcore as the co-leader alongside Backlash.

Early Life

Amanda Reed was born in Queens, New York. Before the age of seventeen, her mother died which left her in the hands of a violent and substance-abusing father. This pushed her into a life of prostitution until a Daemonite corporation known as The Cabal recruited her to become a test subject. The Cabal grafted an ancient symbiote upon Amanda which took the form of a bio-metallic suit granting her a vast array of powers, most of which were vampiric in nature. The resulting symbiosis turned Amanda Reed into Taboo.

Cabal

After being bonded to the suit, Amanda was put through several tests and formed a relationship with Cabal member Pike. Her final test was an assassination, but when she discovered the target was Doctor Hoagland, a friend of hers, she couldn't go through with it. She ran away from the scene and the Cabal. Pike came in and finished the job and the Cabal were able to pin it on Amanda with their resources. She was later caught and sentenced from 25 years to life with no parole at Purgatory Max.

Backlash

When Backlash is trying to find a way to bring back his girlfriend Diane, whose soul had been taken by a Daemonite, he needed to break Amanda out of Purgatory Max because of her connection to the Cabal (who were then connected to the Daemonite). From there the pair go on many adventures, most resulting sparks flying. When Backlash (Marc) eventually did bring Diane back, he pronounced to her and she rejected him. Taboo swears she will stick with Marc till the very end. Along the way she meets an alien vampire named Lilitu who explains that her armor is actually an extension of her original master Calobis. She does not believe Amanda is worthy of this power and tries to take it from her through an ancient ritual. When the armor is removed an astral projection of Calobis appears and explains Lilitu will never get the power and that he will destroy her. Backlash cuts this scene short and the armor is returned to Amanda. Calobis says his goodbyes and promises Lilitu he will return. Taboo would eventually become a co-founder of Wildcore with Backlash.

Wildcore

When Backlash joined the government supported team Wildcore, Amanda was right beside him the entire time. She became somewhat of a maternal figure for Backlash's daughter, Jodi, and a leader for the entire team. During her time on the team Lilitu returns with the other armored warrior and once again attempts to steal the power of the suit. Calobis, does not like this idea and instead gives Taboo both armors resulting in Amanda becoming remarkably strong. She defeats Lilitu and the team gets out alive, but not without noticing a slight change in Amanda. When the team is transported to the medieval world, Amanda becomes a kind of fairy and has a love interest named Geist. After she returns, Geist follows her and invades the Wildcore compound causing turmoil. Geist is eventually subdued.

The Armor

The suit that Amanda originally had was only half of the entire armor. Once the second armor was given to her, the two fused and gave Amanda a huge power increase. The armor is actually something Helspont formed from the alien vampire Calobis's DNA. The armor digs in to Amanda and absorbs small amounts of blood as a fuel of sorts. This explains why Amanda appears pale and her eyes have no pupil. The armor has many abilities: it can grow wings for flight, increases strength, gives the user telepathy and mind control, it also has a tail Amanda has full control over.