GENE SIMMONS Discusses All Things Comic

KISS bassist/vocalist Gene Simmons recently spoke to WizardUniverse.com about all things comic, the status of KISS today and whether he's ever turned down sex to read a comic. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:

Wizard: Is it safe to say that the name KISS Comics Group is a nod to Marvel's former moniker, Marvel Comics Group?

Simmons: Absolutely. Marvel changed the landscape. I was an immigrant who came to America [from Israel] and could barely speak English, and through Marvel Comics, television and a few other things, my imagination just soared. The magic of Marvel is to see the tragedy and heartbreak of being a superhero. You can be Spider-Man and have pimples and be hunted by the cops and the bad guys, be alone living in your [aunt's] house and not even be getting laid. I mean, for a short time I taught sixth grade in Spanish Harlem [in 1972] and I brought in Spider-Man as required reading.

Wizard: Was it just Spider-Man, or were there other titles?

Simmons: No, just Spider-Man. [My students] didn't want to read Jane Eyre. Their mom was on crack, their dad was out pimping or whatever and there was drugs and violence, and so they couldn't relate to anything. So I was trying to just get them to be literate. Here was a guy who was hunted by the cops, but he was really a good guy and that's what they felt like, you know?

Wizard: What was the first comic you bought as a kid that really had an impression on you?

Simmons: Amazing Fantasy. I quickly picked up all the Lee/Kirby monster books and became a fan. Loved Ditko and all that stuff. I bought every single book. Tales to Astonish, Tales of Suspense, anything with "Tales" in it. Anything with Marvel on it.

Wizard: How else have comics inspired you?

Simmons: My wings [for the Demon] were completely stolen from the Jack Kirby/Joe Sinnott Black Bolt. [And] the big lizard boots were certainly a cross between Godzilla and Dragon Man.

Wizard: What will your role be in the creation of the KISS Comics Group?

Simmons: "Oversee" is kind of the right vibe. In the same [way] that Stan Lee [did], once he stopped writing the books. [He] just wanted to see the pages before they went, but every once in a while would send it back.

Wizard: Is it true that KISS deposited their blood in the ink at the production plant for the 1977 Marvel comic?

Simmons: That's true. We all flew up in a DC-3, by the way. And Stan Lee was with us and we were in full KISS makeup, and we arrived and went to the printing plant in Buffalo. We literally had doctors draw blood out of our veins and poured it into the red ink, so there were, in fact, KISS comics that came out with our DNA.

Wizard: You once met Jack Kirby and his daughter Lisa at a KISS concert. Did he have any idea how big a comics fan you are?

Simmons: I made sure. I was very "heart on the sleeve." [I said,] "I can't tell you how much your books have meant to me, both the monster and the superhero books. The idea of punching somebody and having them fly out of the panel made me understand what a punch really was in comic book terms." The idea that a panel can stop your reality from going somewhere is really sort of analogous to what life became for me. Everybody corners themselves into "these little rules that are my life." And ever since those Marvel books, I never listened to anybody. Always broke through all kinds of panels.

Read the entire interview at KissOnline.com.