Kiss (comics)

Last updated

Comic books have been an integral and popular part of the American rock group Kiss ' merchandising since 1977, beginning with their appearance in Marvel Comics' Howard the Duck #12. [1] Over their career of nearly four decades, Kiss has licensed their name to "more than 3,000 product(s) . . . to become nearly a one-billion-dollar brand." [2]

Contents

Licensed Kiss stories and adventures have been published by Marvel Comics, Image Comics, Dark Horse Comics, Platinum Studios, Archie Comics, and IDW Publishing; unlicensed stories have been published by Revolutionary Comics, among others. Ironically, according to frontman Gene Simmons, all the band members except himself "hate comic books." [3]

Publishers

Marvel Comics

KISS's first comic book appearance was in issue #12 of Marvel's Howard the Duck in May 1977, titled "Mind Mush!". The group also appeared in issue #13 of the series, titled "Rock, Roll Over and Writhe!". [4]

In 1977 Marvel Comics published a magazine-format full-color comic book, titled A Marvel Comics Super Special!: Kiss presenting the band KISS as superheroes. It was the first in the Marvel Comics Super Special series which featured other musicians such as The Beatles. Blood from each band member was drawn by a registered nurse, witnessed by a notary public, and poured into the vats of red ink used for printing the comic at Marvel's Borden Ink plant in Depew, New York. [5] Marvel also published a second KISS comic magazine, issue #5 in the Super Special series, in 1978, with much less fanfare.

In 1995 Marvel printed a trade paperback issue compiling issue #1 and #5 of the Super Special series, titled KISS Klassics. A year later Marvel released the magazine KISSnation, which featured interviews and photographs concerning the band's reunion and subsequent Alive/Worldwide Tour. KISSnation also came with the KISS Meets the X-Men comic.

Title list

  • Howard the Duck #12: "Mind-Mush!" (May 1977)
  • Howard the Duck #13: "Rock, Roll Over and Writhe!" (June 1977)
  • A Marvel Comics Super Special #1: A Marvel Comics Super Special!: Kiss (1977)
  • A Marvel Comics Super Special #5: A Marvel Comics Super Special!: Kiss (1978)
  • Kiss Classics (1995)
  • Kissnation (1996)

Revolutionary Comics

Ever since the phenomenon created around the first Kiss comic in 1977, many unlicensed comics featuring the Kiss characters have been published. [6] The most notable of these were published by Revolutionary Comics, known for their titles Rock N' Roll Comics and Hard Rock Comics. Although Revolutionary's comics were not sanctioned by Kiss or the group's lawyers, Gene Simmons was especially vocal in his support of the company, seen wearing a Hard Rock Comics T-shirt in videos for Alive III and on the back cover of the album itself. Both Simmons and Stanley granted interviews for the Revolutionary Kiss comics, and the same Hard Rock Comics creative team also did the comic bio section of Kiss' own KISStory hardcover book, as well as a comic adaptation of The Elder which has so far only been published in Metal Edge Magazine.

Title list

  • Rock 'N' Roll Comics #9 (March 1990) — by Robert Conte and Greg Fox
  • Hard Rock Comics #5: "Kiss: Tales from the Tours" (June 1992) — by Spike Steffenhagen and Scott Pentzer
  • Kiss Pre-History #1–3 (Spring 1993) — by Spike Steffenhagen, Jay Allen Sanford, and Scott Pentzer

Image Comics

Psycho Circus

In 1997 Image began printing the first officially licensed non-Marvel Kiss comic, Todd McFarlane's Kiss: Psycho Circus . It lasted for 31 issues and was compiled into four trade paperback issues. [7] The series was based on a tour theme that Kiss were working on at the time, [8] and spawned five magazines that focused on the comic series. Wizard also printed a special edition magazine detailing the characters that appeared throughout the comic series. The series was completed in the year 2000.

Kiss Special Wizard Edition

  • 1 promo Issue (Wizard, 1998)

Kiss: Psycho Circus Comic Magazine

  • 5 issues (published by McFarlane/Medina/Image, 1999)

Trade paperbacks

  1. Psycho Circus
  2. Destroyer
  3. Whispered Scream
  4. Legends & Night

Dark Horse Comics

Dark Horse Comics began the next Kiss comic series, simply titled Kiss, in 2002, with X-Men writer Joe Casey. The series lasted for unnamed 13 issues, with each issue having a variant photograph cover (with the exception of issues #1 and #7 which each had a third variant cover) and was compiled into four trade paperback issues. [9] Dark Horse completed the Kiss series in 2004.

Trade paperbacks

  • volume #1: Rediscovery
  • volume #2: Return of the Phantom
  • volume #3: Men and Monsters
  • volume #4: Unholy War

Platinum Studios

In 2007 the KISS Comics Group launched a joint venture with Platinum Studios to publish a new Kiss comic, Kiss 4K. The series was launched at the Los Angeles Wizard World Convention in March 2007 with the unveiling of the oversized Destroyer Edition, which measured 20 "x 30" and was released in five variant editions. The series was written by Ricky Sprague and the art was by Daniel Campos, Kevin Crossley & Thomas Ruppert.

Kiss 4K

Kiss 4K released six print issues and four digital issues, in addition to the over-sized Destroyer Edition of Issue #1, a limited edition preview issue, and the Kissmas special issue. [10] A webcomic series was also produced in conjunction with the print issues, telling stories about previous holders of the Kiss powers. [11] In 2009, a lithograph boxed set of exclusive art from the Kiss 4K series was released.

  • 4K Preview Issue (Limited Edition)
  • Legends Never Die Story Arc:
    • Issue #1
      • Over-sized Destroyer Edition variants: black & white, yellow bar, white bar, black bar, "Scott's Vault" yellow bar
      • Standard-sized variants: "Scott's Vault" silver foil edition, red foil, gold foil, sketch cover, untrimmed version
    • Issues #2–6 — Standard-sized retail issues
    • Issues #7–10 — "Online Edition" digital-only issues
  • Kissmas Special (Christmas 2007) — Available in a "Scott's Vault" silver foil variant
  • Webcomics:
    • Casanova/Starchild: "Tonight You Belong To Me", "Love's A Deadly Weapon" & "Partners In Crime"
    • Yoshiee/Chikara: "Almost Human" & "Lonely Is The Hunter"
    • Constantine/Celestial: "War Machine" & "Strange Ways"
    • Shaka/The Demon: "Childhood's End" & "I Walk Alone"
    • Christmas Special: "Let It Snow, Rock & Roll!"
  • The Art of Kiss 4K — lithograph box set

Archie Comics

In 2011 Kiss announced the release of Archie Meets Kiss, a new four-issue comic book series in conjunction with Archie Comics. Each issue was released with two variant covers and all four issues were compiled into both a trade paperback and trade hardcover book.

IDW Publishing

Kiss

Kiss was a comic series being printed by IDW Publishing, written by Chris Ryall and illustrated by Jamal Igle. The first issue was released in June 2012 and so far eight issues have been published. The first issue is titled "Dressed to Kill" and has six variant covers. Part 2 of "Dressed to Kill" was released in July and has five variant covers.

Greatest Hits

IDW has published a series of trade paperbacks, titled Kiss Greatest Hits, which compiled every series of Kiss comics, starting with Kiss' Marvel comics. The first issue was titled Kiss Greatest Hits, Vol. 1: The Marvel Years and compiled issue #1 and #5 of the Marvel Comics Super Special series featuring the Kiss characters. The second edition collected issue 1-6 of the Todd McFarlane Psycho Circus series.

Mars Attacks: Flaming Youths

On January 9, 2013, IDW released a special one-shot issue of their Mars Attacks series. The series was written by Chris Ryall, with art by Alan Robinson. [12]

  • Mars Attacks: Flaming Youths — 2 variant covers

Kiss Solo

Beginning in March 2013, IDW released a four-issue series starring the Demon, the Starchild, the Catman and the Spaceman, starting with Demon. The series was illustrated by Angel Medina and was once again written by Chris Ryall. [13]

Kiss Kids

This series saw Kiss re-imagined as children. The four-issue series was released monthly from August 2013 through November 2013. The series was illustrated by José Holder. [14]

Dynamite Entertainment

Dynamite Entertainment obtained the rights to create Kiss comics in July 2016. Written by Amy Chu and illustrated by Kewber Baal, the first issue of their flagship series was released in October 2016. [15]

Kiss

The flagship monthly Kiss comic published by Dynamite revolves around four teenagers who begin to question the nature of the isolated post-apocalyptic city they are forced to live in and are determined to unlock the secrets of their society. It debuted in October 2016 and is currently still on-going. [16]

Kiss: The Demon

Gene Simmons' character "The Demon" was given a 4-issue spin-off title by Dynamite, with the series being published from January 2017 through April 2017. [17]

Kiss/Vampirella

Dynamite's 5-issue crossover series with Vampirella is set to be published monthly from June 2017 through October 2017. [18]

Phantom Obsession

Dynamite's 5-issue series called Phantom Obsession was published monthly from August 2021 through December 2021.

Collections

Kiss Kompendium

The Kiss Kompendium is a hardcover collection of Kiss comics released on December 8, 2009, by Harper Design. It compiles both issues of the Marvel Comics Super Special, issues #1 & #5, the Marvel Kissnation comic, the comic printed especially for 1995 book, KISStory, along with the Psycho Circus and the Dark Horse comic series. The book also features exclusive Kiss photos taken backstage during the band's Sonic Boom tour, as well as commentary by band members Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley. [19]

See also

Related Research Articles

Disney Comics is currently a label of Disney Publishing Worldwide and was a comic book publishing company operated by The Walt Disney Company from 1990 to 1993. It was connected with W. D. Publications, Inc., which was a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company that published Disney comics during that time span. W. D. Publications, Inc. created Disney Comics in 1990 so that The Walt Disney Company would not have to rely on outside publishers such as Gladstone Publishing. In the US, Disney only licensed Disney comic books to other publishers prior to 1990.

<i>Walt Disneys Comics and Stories</i> Anthology comic book series featuring Disney characters

Walt Disney's Comics and Stories, sometimes abbreviated WDC&S, is an American anthology comic book series featuring characters from The Walt Disney Company's films and shorts, including Donald Duck, Scrooge McDuck, Mickey Mouse, Chip 'n Dale, Li'l Bad Wolf, Scamp, Bucky Bug, Grandma Duck, Brer Rabbit, Winnie the Pooh, and others. With more than 700 issues, Walt Disney's Comics & Stories is the longest-running Disney comic book in the United States, making it the flagship title, and is one of the best-selling comic books of all time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Howard the Duck</span> Marvel Comics character

Howard the Duck is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer Steve Gerber, based very loosely on his college friend Howard Tockman, and artist Val Mayerik. Howard the Duck first appeared in Adventure into Fear #19 and several subsequent series have chronicled the misadventures of the ill-tempered anthropomorphic animal trapped on a human-dominated Earth. Echoing this, the most common tagline of his comics reads 'Trapped In a World He Never Made!'.

Godzilla has appeared in a range of comic books that have been published in Japan and the United States.

There have been four main publishers of the comic book series bearing the name Transformers based on the toy lines of the same name. The first series was produced by Marvel Comics from 1984 to 1991, which ran for 80 issues and produced four spin-off miniseries. This was followed by a second volume titled Transformers: Generation 2, which ran for 12 issues starting in 1993. The second major series was produced by Dreamwave Productions from 2002 to 2004 with multiple limited series as well, and within multiple story continuities, until the company became bankrupt in 2005. The third and fourth series have been published by IDW Publishing with the third series starting with an issue #0 in October 2005 and a regular series starting in January 2006 to November 2018. The fourth series started in March 2019 with issue #1 and concluded in June 2022. There are also several limited series being produced by IDW as well. Skybound Entertainment began publishing Transformers comics starting in June 2023, kicking off the Energon Universe. In addition to these four main publishers, there have also been several other smaller publishers with varying degrees of success.

<i>Psycho Circus</i> 1998 studio album by Kiss

Psycho Circus is the eighteenth studio album by American rock band Kiss and the first and only album to involve all four original members since 1979's Dynasty. While touted as a band effort, Peter Criss only played drums on the Ace Frehley-penned track, "Into the Void", and guitarist Frehley only played on two regular album tracks, the one he wrote plus "You Wanted the Best". He also played on a bonus track called "In Your Face", penned by Simmons. All four band members, however, sang lead vocals on the album.

<i>G.I. Joe</i> (comics) Comics

G.I. Joe has been the title of comic strips and comic books in every decade since 1942. As a licensed property by Hasbro, G.I. Joe comics have been released from 1967 to present, with only two interruptions longer than a year. As a team fighting Cobra since 1982, the comic book history of G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero has been covered by three separate publishers and four main-title series, all of which have been based on the Hasbro toy line of the same name.

<i>Marvel Comics Super Special</i>

Marvel Comics Super Special was a 41-issue series of one-shot comic-magazines published by Marvel Comics from 1977 to 1986. They were cover-priced $1.50 to $2.50, while regular color comics were priced 30 cents to 60 cents, Beginning with issue #5, the series' title in its postal indicia was shortened to Marvel Super Special. Covers featured the title or a variation, including Marvel Super Special, Marvel Super Special Magazine, and Marvel Weirdworld Super Special in small type, accompanied by large logos of its respective features.

Battlestar Galactica has been adapted to the comic book format since its inception, with six publishers to date taking on the project of relating the story of the Colonial Fleet and their adversaries, the Cylons, at different points.

<i>Kiss: Psycho Circus</i> Comic book series

Kiss: Psycho Circus is a comic book series published by American companies Image Comics and Todd McFarlane Productions. It was written by Brian Holguin and illustrated by various artists, including pencillers Angel Medina and Clayton Crain with inker Kevin Conrad. It portrays the members of the rock band Kiss as supernatural beings known as the Four-Who-Are-One or The Elder: the Demon, the Starbearer, the King of Beasts or Beastking and the Celestial.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kiss merchandising</span> Products with branding of American band Kiss

The American rock band Kiss has licensed a large amount of merchandising throughout their career. According to Sandra O'Loughlin in an article for Brandweek magazine, "Kiss has licensed its name to more than 3,000 product categories, from lunch boxes and comic books to credit cards and condoms to become nearly a one-billion-dollar brand."

Action figures have been an important and integral staple of the vast merchandising empire created around popular American rock band, Kiss. Kiss merchandising currently includes more than 2,000 product categories, and the limited availability of many products means that is a popular area of interest with collectors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dennis Calero</span> American artist and illustrator

Dennis Calero is an American comic book artist and illustrator, known for his work on titles such as X-Men Noir, Spider-Man Noir, X Factor, Legion of Superheroes, and Kolchak.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Platinum Studios</span> US media company

Platinum Studios, Inc. is a media company based in the United States. It controls a library of thousands of comic-book characters, which it seeks to adapt, produce, and license for all forms of media. The company has released films and/or television programming with Universal Pictures, Paramount Pictures, DreamWorks, MGM, Showtime and Lionsgate. Platinum has developed film or television with others, including The Walt Disney Company's 20th Century Studios, Warner Bros. Discovery's New Line Cinema and Sony Pictures.

<i>Ghostbusters</i> (comics) Comic book series

The Ghostbusters franchise spawned various comic books published by various comic book companies through the years starting in 1988 and continuing to the present day. These comics have ranged from being based on The Real Ghostbusters animated series, to the 1984 film.

Sean Taylor is an American comic book and short story writer, perhaps best known for his run on Gene Simmons Dominatrix published by IDW Publishing.

This is a bibliography of the American rock group Kiss. Throughout their career they released numerous books and printed works celebrating their career of around four decades. Apart from the official Kiss books, there have been countless unofficial biographies and pictorials. Listed are all official printed works from the Kiss catalogue and the official biographies and autobiographies of various members of the group.

Joyce Chin is an American comic book artist. She has created content under the Marvel Comics, DC Comics, Dynamite Comics, Image Comics, Dark Horse Comics, and IDW Publishing labels. A large portion of Chin's work has been in creating comic book covers.

Timeless Tales was a 2016–18 hardcover book collection series, compiling the complete runs of several Disney comics titles from IDW Publishing, including Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse, Uncle Scrooge and Walt Disney's Comics and Stories. The series were released as compiled collector's editions of the single issues of the run of each comic book title, while also in conjunction with the same issues being released in trade paperback collections. The first series to launch was Uncle Scrooge: Timeless Tales - Vol 1 in May 2016. After a total of ten hardcover volumes the four lines of the Timeless Tales series were cancelled, ending with the Walt Disney's Comics and Stories Vault - Vol. 1 in mid 2018.

References

  1. ↑ Gerber, Steve. "Mind-Mush!", Howard the Duck #12 (Marvel Comics, May 1977).
  2. ↑ "Adweek – Breaking News in Advertising, Media and Technology". Brandweek.com. 2012-07-13. Retrieved 2012-12-12.
  3. ↑ Herzog, Marty (April 1983). "Gene Simmons". Comics Interview . No. 2. Fictioneer Books. pp. 57–62.
  4. ↑ "Howard the Duck 1-32 + Extras - First KISS in Comics". Worthpoint.com. Retrieved 2012-12-12.
  5. ↑ "Blood in KISS Comic Book". Snopes.com. May 14, 2007.
  6. ↑ Sanford, Jay Allen. "Komplete Kiss Comix Kronicles," San Diego Reader blog (September 12, 2007).
  7. ↑ "Psycho Circus Comics". Kiss Asylum. Retrieved 2012-12-12.
  8. ↑ McLauchlin, Jim (August 1997). "Todd Lures KISS to McFarlane Productions". Wizard . No. 72. p. 24.
  9. ↑ "KISS Volume 1: Rediscovery TPB :: Profile :: Dark Horse Comics". Darkhorse.com. 2003-03-26. Retrieved 2012-12-12.
  10. ↑ "CBR Interviews KISS". Comic Book Resources. 2007-01-30. Retrieved 2012-12-12.
  11. ↑ Black, Adam. "KISS 4K by Adam Black". KISS 4K by Adam Black. Retrieved 6 June 2017.
  12. ↑ cGt2099. "Comic Review: Mars Attacks KISS," Geeks of Doom (Jan. 15, 2013).
  13. ↑ Dukes, Billy."Kiss Characters to Star in 2013 Individual Comic Book Issues," Ultimate Classic Rock (Dec. 17, 2012).
  14. ↑ cGt2099. "KISS Continues To Dominate Comics, This Time With ‘KISS Kids’!", Geeks of Doom (Apr. 1, 2013).
  15. ↑ "KISS Returns To Comic Books". Newsarama. Retrieved 22 May 2017.
  16. ↑ "Kiss Digital Comics - Comics by comiXology". comiXology. Archived from the original on September 1, 2021. Retrieved 22 May 2017.
  17. ↑ "Dynamite® Kiss: The Demon". www.dynamite.com. Retrieved 22 May 2017.
  18. ↑ "KISS And Vampirella Join Forces To Save Rock And Roll". ComicsAlliance. 20 March 2017. Retrieved 22 May 2017.
  19. ↑ Mr. Gene Simmons, Mr. Paul Stanley. "KISS Kompendium by Mr. Gene Simmons, Mr. Paul Stanley". Harpercollins.com.au. Archived from the original on 2014-02-26. Retrieved 2012-12-12.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.