Gene, Paul, Ace and Peter were just four hot-blooded youths in The Big
Apple, when they got ahold of The Box of Khyszc... trouble is, Doctor Doom saw
it first, and what Doom wants, he takes! Can even the rockingest quartet in the
universe stop mankind's greatest villain?
Given their flamboyant, cartoon-like
appearance, KISS appearing in their own comic seemed almost an inevitability.
Indeed the band’s eccentric outfits, camp make-up and self-created pseudonyms owe much of their influence from Stan Lee and co’s iconic characters.
The band are as much about their
image than anything else - including the music, indeed KISS have had made more money from merchandise
and have lent their likeness to more memorabilia than any other band (including The Beatles) becoming an almost billion
dollar global brand. As well as the usual concert t-shirts and posters, the roughly
3,000 KISS products on sale have included action figures, board games, video games, pinball
machines, credit cards, suits, condoms and - for die-hard fans: coffins.
The bizarre story begins with Simmons and Stanley wandering the streets of The Big Apple, the former is complaining
about how his father wants him to become an accountant: “He actually ordered me
to ditch my comic collection!”
As they turn a corner they encounter a blind old barbarian dressed in a yellow vest and furry pants(!) fighting some muggers. As Simmons and Stanley dawdle over helping him, the old man throws
them a mysterious object that the attackers are trying to steal from him. The item turns out to be the magical Box of Khyszc. Apparently.
“Heads up flaming youth! Hither cometh thy destiny!!”
Simmons and Stanley then flee the
scene to a pinball parlour where they encounter Criss and Frehley. The
goons then burst into the arcade demanding the object. They then open the box out of sheer desperation and pull out four KISS dolls - which were also marketed at the time. There is an explosion from which the quartet emerge as their Marvel alter-egos.
KISS then embark on a cosmic journey through
time and space where they must defeat Marvel villain Dr Doom and his undead
groupies. In between they take the scenic route home through Hell where Simmons battles another Marvel regular Mephisto.
Unbelievably - or perhaps not, the
comic was printed with the band’s own blood! It was donated by each member
during a concert stop in February 1977. A registered nurse – with a notary to
witness, drew the blood. When the time
came for the comic to go to print the blood was taken to the Borden Ink plant
in New York where it was poured into vats of red ink for printing, which all sounds very hygienic.
Although it's highly debatable that the blood ink marketing gimmick shifted any more units of the issue, it did go on to become Marvel’s best-selling ever, with a second outing for KISS - the fifth in the series of Super Special comics, was released the next year. However, rumour has it that the blood ink was involved in a mix up at the plant where it was mistakenly used for an issue of Sports Illustrated.
