Kiss News

By Eric Shirey, Yahoo! Contributor Network

The rock band KISS is no stranger to the comic book world. Ever since their debut appearance in 1977's issue #12 of Marvel's Howard the Duck monthly series, the Starchild, the Demon, the Spaceman, and the Catman have become not only rock stars but superheroes. The foursome has appeared in two magazine-format comics bookending their television movie exploits in "KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park." Since then, they've appeared in three different series published through Image Comics, Dark Horse Comics, and Platinum Studios. Let's not forget their latest appearance in Archie Comics.

IDW Publishing partnered with KISS to continue their adventures and expand on the mythology behind the band in their comic book form. They are no longer just four individuals given powers by talismans. They are supernatural forces who work for the Elder while embodying different individuals as they jump through time battling the Destroyer and his evil minions. The woman She serves as their "guardian angel" of sorts, mystically whispering suggestions in the ears of the Celestial (Spaceman).

In the first story arc of the new ongoing KISS title entitled "Dressed to Kill," the "four-who-become-one" come up against "Wicked" Lester McGhee, his thugs, and demon dogs in the gangster-occupied world of 1929 Chicago, Illinois. Our superheroes must find a way to stop the Destroyer's plans while simultaneously discovering how to use their mystical powers. The quest also takes them to a different dimension that holds unexpected dangers.By Eric Shirey, Yahoo! Contributor Network

The rock band KISS is no stranger to the comic book world. Ever since their debut appearance in 1977's issue #12 of Marvel's Howard the Duck monthly series, the Starchild, the Demon, the Spaceman, and the Catman have become not only rock stars but superheroes. The foursome has appeared in two magazine-format comics bookending their television movie exploits in "KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park." Since then, they've appeared in three different series published through Image Comics, Dark Horse Comics, and Platinum Studios. Let's not forget their latest appearance in Archie Comics.

IDW Publishing partnered with KISS to continue their adventures and expand on the mythology behind the band in their comic book form. They are no longer just four individuals given powers by talismans. They are supernatural forces who work for the Elder while embodying different individuals as they jump through time battling the Destroyer and his evil minions. The woman She serves as their "guardian angel" of sorts, mystically whispering suggestions in the ears of the Celestial (Spaceman).

In the first story arc of the new ongoing KISS title entitled "Dressed to Kill," the "four-who-become-one" come up against "Wicked" Lester McGhee, his thugs, and demon dogs in the gangster-occupied world of 1929 Chicago, Illinois. Our superheroes must find a way to stop the Destroyer's plans while simultaneously discovering how to use their mystical powers. The quest also takes them to a different dimension that holds unexpected dangers.

Writer Chris Ryall (Zombies vs. Robots) found an ingenious way to relaunch the four personas of KISS. His concept gives the book a feeling of freedom. He can take the Starchild, the Demon, the Spaceman, and the Catman's "essences" and plug them into anyone or anything in any time period or place in the universe. There are no limits to what Ryall could do with these characters in the future. Wouldn't it be cool if the adventures leave the Earth and their forces are put into alien beings?

The art by Jamal Igle (Superman) vibrantly brings to life the hottest band in the world. His illustrations are exciting while keeping one foot in realism. There's a classic essence to his work as well. The coloring by Romulo Fajardo Jr. (Transformers) perfectly accentuates Igle's illustrations and makes them jump off the page at the reader.

Issues #1 and #2 of IDW Publishing's KISS are a great start to what could be a long-running series. It's up to fans of the band to pick it up and show the comic book world their support for them. Chris Ryall's concept has endless potential and could carry the title for a very long time.

Excerpts from Melissa Ruggieri's review for Access Atlanta / AJC.com

It�s another blandly named tour that is the antithesis of dull.

�The Tour� is Motley Crue and KISS, sharing a bill and seeing who can light up the stage with the most pyro and rattle your chest the hardest.

It�s a draw, really, between these two titans of tinnitus-causing rawk and if you�re a fan of both bands� fist-thrusting, innuendo-filled pop-metal, then you couldn�t have left Aaron�s Amphitheatre at Lakewood disappointed Tuesday night.

Tuesday�s crowd was stocked with members of the KISS Army, and for nearly 90 minutes, Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer gave their best because the crowd wanted the best. Right?

KISS� setup was the opposite of Motley Crue�s, all open spaces with stacks of amplifiers, some lighted stairs and the HD screen behind Singer�s raised drum kit offering frequent close-ups of the band.Excerpts from Melissa Ruggieri's review for Access Atlanta / AJC.com

It�s another blandly named tour that is the antithesis of dull.

�The Tour� is Motley Crue and KISS, sharing a bill and seeing who can light up the stage with the most pyro and rattle your chest the hardest.

It�s a draw, really, between these two titans of tinnitus-causing rawk and if you�re a fan of both bands� fist-thrusting, innuendo-filled pop-metal, then you couldn�t have left Aaron�s Amphitheatre at Lakewood disappointed Tuesday night.

Tuesday�s crowd was stocked with members of the KISS Army, and for nearly 90 minutes, Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer gave their best because the crowd wanted the best. Right?

KISS� setup was the opposite of Motley Crue�s, all open spaces with stacks of amplifiers, some lighted stairs and the HD screen behind Singer�s raised drum kit offering frequent close-ups of the band.

And from the opening �Detroit Rock City� to the platform-boot-stomp of �Shout it Out Loud� and �I Love it Loud,� flash pots exploded with every cymbal crash and punctuated every song ending, sending fans into a devil horn-throwing frenzy.

Stanley, who looked as if he was wearing the remains of a black ostrich around his shoulders, and Simmons, who had a noticeable new accessory to his bat wings and frizzy topknot � a wedding band � appeared gleeful as they dug into their familiar bag of razzle-dazzle tricks.

Simmons grabbed his flaming sword and turned it into a whooshing fireball with one spit of accelerant during �Firehouse� and later dribbled blood during his bass solo/ �God of Thunder� routine � which of course never gets old if you love the band�s brand of theater rock.

Stanely did, in fact, go to see the people in the back, ziplining to a rotating makeshift stage for �Love Gun.� He also engaged in his patented sideways wiggle as Thayer and Singer handled the heavy lifting on �Shock Me� and ended the song with a lengthy whiz-bam jam.

At the turn of the century, KISS embarked on what they dubbed a �farewell� tour. Obviously, they changed their minds. And why not? As long as there are venues full of fans eager to fist-pump along to �Lick it Up� and �Rock and Roll All Nite� and the band looks and sounds this sharp, they might as well follow the money.

By ALAN SCULLEY for 85-26.com

Kiss has never worried about being upstaged by an opening act.

"We've always believed in letting the best bands available go out there and do what they do because it only fires us up that much more," singer/guitarist Paul Stanley said in a mid-July phone interview. "Our track record is pretty stellar, whether it's, my gosh, Bob Seger, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Bon Jovi, early (Motley) Crue, John Cougar Mellencamp, AC/DC. The list just goes on and on."

On one of this summer's biggest tours, Kiss will close out an evening that also includes a 75-minute set from co-headliner Motley Crue, a band that is famous for making its own show a visual spectacle and non-stop party.

But Stanley knows his band will deliver as well, if for no other reason than the enthusiasm he sees in the band 40 years into its career.

"Kiss today is Kiss as I've always wanted it � four guys who get along great, who play fiercely and are proud of who we are, proud of our fans and celebrate what we do from the time we wake up to the time we go to bed," Stanley said.By ALAN SCULLEY for 85-26.com

Kiss has never worried about being upstaged by an opening act.

"We've always believed in letting the best bands available go out there and do what they do because it only fires us up that much more," singer/guitarist Paul Stanley said in a mid-July phone interview. "Our track record is pretty stellar, whether it's, my gosh, Bob Seger, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Bon Jovi, early (Motley) Crue, John Cougar Mellencamp, AC/DC. The list just goes on and on."

On one of this summer's biggest tours, Kiss will close out an evening that also includes a 75-minute set from co-headliner Motley Crue, a band that is famous for making its own show a visual spectacle and non-stop party.

But Stanley knows his band will deliver as well, if for no other reason than the enthusiasm he sees in the band 40 years into its career.

"Kiss today is Kiss as I've always wanted it � four guys who get along great, who play fiercely and are proud of who we are, proud of our fans and celebrate what we do from the time we wake up to the time we go to bed," Stanley said.

Of course, Kiss also knows a thing or two about putting together a spectacular live show. And the band has reloaded for the tour with Motley Crue.

"It's a whole new show, a whole new stage," Stanley said. "Everything is brand new. It's not what we've had or recycled over the last, almost decade, I'd say. The same stage had gone through all kinds of upgrades and things. But we will have a brand new show and a brand new stage and just some pretty amazing visuals. This whole summer is giving new meaning to bang for the buck.

"If anybody's expecting high tech subtlety, forget about it," he said. "What we're trying to do is build a bigger bomb."

As is evident by Stanley's enthusiasm for this summer's tour � as well as Kiss' recently completed new CD, "Monster," which will be released in October � Kiss is experiencing a rebirth that few would have predicted when the new century rolled around.

At that point, the band seemed to be trying to recapture past glories for one last time.

In 1996, Stanley and bassist Gene Simmons had reunited with the two other original members of Kiss � guitarist Ace Frehley and drummer Peter Criss � for what became a blockbuster reunion tour.

This was followed by the release in 1998 of "Psycho Circus," a reunion album that was a reunion in name only.

Criss and Frehley made only minimal contributions to "Psycho Circus," although the CD was billed as being made by the original Kiss lineup. In reality, guitarists Tommy Thayer and Bruce Kulick and drummer Kevin Valentine played on the vast majority of the material.

Today, Stanley is open in admitting the shortcomings of "Psycho Circus" and the tensions that existed with Frehley and Criss during the reunion years.

"�Psycho Circus,' as I've said before, was such a debacle and such a distortion of what making an album should be," Stanley said. "You can't make a Kiss album without a band, and we didn't have

one. We did as gallantly as we could, but if people had any inkling of what was going on behind the scenes, it's a miracle that we even got an album done."

The reunion tour, though, did restore momentum for Kiss as a touring act, as did a 2000/2001 outing that was billed as a farewell tour (although obviously, that notion changed soon afterward).

And when Criss and Frehley departed the lineup for the final time, the replacements � Thayer and drummer Eric Singer (who had been in the band in the late �90s, prior to Criss' return) � injected new life into Kiss as a band.

And in 2008, work began on a new Kiss album. This time the band decided it would either succeed or fail on its own terms with the album, as Stanley took on the role of producer and the group kept all key aspects of the project in-house.

"To go back into the studio after not having done an album in probably 10 years is a risky move," Stanley said. "But you have to decide at some point are you really going to celebrate and live off of your past accomplishments or are you ready to stake new ground and take new blood. The band was just so strong live, just so potent, that I thought we have to make an album.

"But I didn't want any of the pitfalls that had happened in the past," he said. "Democracy in the studio is way overrated. It only leads to compromise and compromise means nobody wins. So I wanted to be the team captain, the director � the coach, not the dictator. A dictator usually oversees people who don't agree with him. We were all in agreement. It was just somebody's got to drive the car. And I needed some ground rules just to make sure that everybody stayed focused and committed. And the key one was all writing had to be within the band. No outside writers, no phoning in your parts, and the band was going to play live and the band was going to record on tape. And whatever songs went on the album would be my choice. That's a producer's job,"

The 2009 album that came out of the sessions, "Sonic Boom," was widely hailed as the best Kiss CD in years and a return to form for the group.

Now three years later, Kiss has "Monster" ready for its October release. And as with "Sonic Boom," the new CD was produced by Stanley and it was written and recorded entirely by the current lineup of Kiss.

Stanley isn't shy in expressing his excitement about what fans will hear on "Monster."

"�Monster' is exactly what the name implies. It's just a ferociously good album," Stanley said. "We had a ball making it because we enjoy each other's company and nobody sees an album as a vehicle to spotlight or propel themselves. Everyone was trying to make the band stronger. That's the key to a great band. If you want to make yourself look great, make the band look great. So �Monster' is far, far, far beyond �Sonic Boom.' It's a much more focused, a much bigger sounding album. The songs are better. And everybody's playing more assuredly. We clearly established on �Sonic Boom' who we are now. And �Monster' just reinforces that like a sledgehammer."

The new CD is a lean and direct production, centered around guitars, bass and drums � and avoiding synthesizers, orchestration or other instrumental add-ons that have been part of some Kiss albums. Instead, Stanley simply wanted the album to feel fresh and to rock.

"The last thing I wanted to make was a retro album," he said. "I hate the idea of somebody putting on an album and going �Gee, that sounds like it came from the �70s. That's the last thing I wanted

to do. I wanted to build on everything we've done and not make a great Kiss album, but make a great rock album. I wanted to make an album that could stand up with the bands that influenced me and that

inspired me, as opposed to let's narrow it down to let's make a great Kiss album. I want to make a great rock album. I wanted to make an album where every track could be somebody's favorite. And we did it."