Kiss have their blood extracted for their first Marvel comic book
On 21. February 1977, Kiss had their blood extracted backstage at Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York to be mixed in with the red ink for their comic book Marvel Super Special #1. A notary public duly certified the authenticity of the process, and the notarized document was made available as the “Kiss comic book contract”. A subsequent rumour maintained that, due to a mix-up at the printers’, the batch of red ink containing the blood of Kiss members was actually used for a print run of Sports Illustrated magazine and did not end up in the Marvel Comic as intended.
Gene Simmons: “As the Kiss comic book project moved along, someone came up with the idea of putting real blood in the ink. It wasn’t me — maybe it was Bill [Aucoin] or Sean [Delaney]. We got into a DC3, one of those big prop planes, and flew up to Buffalo to Marvel’s printing plant, where they pour the ink and make comic books. A notary public actually witnessed the blood being drawn.”
Kiss comic book contract: “This is to certify that Kiss members, Gene Simmons, Ace Frehley, Paul Stanley and Peter Criss, have each donated blood which is being collectively mixed with the red ink to be used for the first issue of the Marvel/Kiss comics. The blood was extracted on February 21st, 1977 at Nassau Coliseum and has been under guarded refrigeration until this day when it was delivered to the Borden Ink plant in Depew, New York.”
