On 21. June 1977, Marvel published their first comics issue with Kiss as their main super heros. In 1977 Marvel began publishing a full-color magazine series devoted to concepts thought to be deserving of special treatment, such as Kiss’ first comics appearance as headliners, new stories of Conan, Star-Lord and Weirdworld, and occasional movie adaptations. This lasted for 41 issues, until 1986.
The premiere issue, dated simply 1977, featured Kiss in a 40-page story written by Steve Gerber, penciled by John Romita Jr., Alan Weiss, John Buscema, Rich Buckler, and Sal Buscema, which saw the quartet battling Marvel supervillains Mephisto and Doctor Doom.
In their usual inimitable fashion, Kiss seize the marketing opportunity afforded by the comic, and arrange for vials of their own blood to be mixed in with the ink used to produce the comic book. The blood was drawn during a concert at New York’s Nassau Coliseum on February 21, 1977. It was then mixed with the production ink, in the presence of a public notary, at the Borden Ink Plant in Depew, New York, on May 26th.
Kiss’s appearance in a Marvel comic book is not their first: the band appeared in issues #12 and #13 of Howard the Duck earlier in the year. This is their first appearance as the heroes, and band members Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Ace Frehley and Peter Criss take on their alter egos The Demon, The Starchild, The Spaceman, and The Catman in a storyline that sees them battle against Doctor Doom. It is published in a larger magazine format rather than the regular comic book size.
Gene Simmons:
“Sean Delaney had a lot to do with that comic. He wrote some of the story. There was a trial run. Sean wrote a two-page comic strip for Creem magazine where we were semi-super-heroic kind of guys. Marvel Comics put us in a Howard the Duck comic where Howard the Duck was possessed by Kiss. It also happened to be a very big seller for them so they thought, “We’ve got something here.” I insisted that we don’t do just a comic book. I told everyone it’s got to be a $1.50 comic book. I’d rather do it in magazine style so you don’t have to go to the comic book section because lots of fans don’t want to read comic books. I’d rather be next to Time magazine. So reluctantly Marvel went along with it. Those two Kiss Marvel comic books were their biggest sellers for twenty years.”
– “Kiss: Behind the mask” by David Leaf.
Steve Gerber (Marvel Comics writer and editor):
“It was really the first comic book of its kind. The difference in those earlier comic books is that they were all aimed at children. The KISS comic was aimed at the real audience of the band. It was a leap for comic books at the time. The first rock ’n’ roll comic that Marvel ever did was the KISS book. In fact it established a whole line of similar comics. It was the first magazinesized comic book done in color, and it was a real fight to get it done that way. It had to be approached like we were publishing a rock ’n’ roll magazine because it was going to be out there on the stands with all these other rock magazines. There was no reason for anyone to buy this if it didn’t look as good as any of the music magazines. In that sense, it had to be something spectacular. It had to be something to just leap off the stands at you. That’s why I used the metallic ink and we did the red hellish cover.”
– “Kiss: Behind the mask” by David Leaf.
