The first song my first band ever played in public was Kiss’ "Cold Gin" and I’ve never been embarrassed to admit that. Even during the years when I frankly wasn’t listening to anything old or new by them, just catching a glimpse of the stylized Kiss logo could send my mind spinning back...sixteen years old, drunk for only the second time and peeing into a boot, hiding in my girlfriend’s closet and waiting for her dad to go to bed! To drown us out later, we turned up "Destroyer" loud enough so that Gene, Paul, Ace and Peter were winking accomplices in our carnal crime.
That nearly perfect rock ‘n’ roll high, marred only by the bummer of a ruined boot, was years behind me when I found myself working at Revolutionary on Rock ‘N’ Roll Comics, published by the late Todd Loren. Kiss was featured in Rock ‘N’ Roll #9, but the company was going through unexpected growth at the time and some pretty bad work slipped past everyone. Todd mentioned that the new freelance writer, Spike Steffenhagen, a virtual Kiss freak, hated the issue. "He has some big hairy balls. He read me the riot act about how the comic should have been done and then he begged me for his next assignment!"
In 1991, Revolutionary launched new titles like Starjam and Hard Rock Comics, which I was writing and drawing thumbnails for as well as doing the flagship book Rock ‘N’ Roll. I was also taking on more research and editorial work, so I let Spike, whose big hairy balls had so impressed Todd, take over Hard Rock. Shortly after that, Kiss offered Revolutionary an exclusive interview for an issue of the title. Hard Rock #5, titled "Kiss: Tales From The Tours," came out in June ‘92, a time when most people would have been hard pressed to name the current members of Kiss - if they even knew the band still existed. Still, the issue sold a little better than the average Hard Rock comic, proving Kiss fans were still out there. Gene Simmons seemed supportive of the book, turning up in videos, magazine photos and on the cover of "Kiss Alive III" wearing our Hard Rock Comics and Rock ‘N’ Roll Comics T-shirts. Shortly after the issue’s release, Todd Loren was found dead in his Hillcrest condo, the victim of a still-unsolved murder.
His father Herb Shapiro hired me to replace Todd and it was a turbulent, emotionally charged time for everyone, to be sure. Focusing on the business of publishing left me little time for creative work so I reluctantly doled out assignments for projects I’d rather have done myself. I’d gotten to know Spike - turns out he grew up just six miles from my own Connecticut hometown - and one of the first things he pitched to me as his new boss was "More Kiss."
From a boss’ POV, my own balls didn’t feel very big and hairy. All comic publishers were experiencing a precipitous sales slump. Also, Herb and I were still in shock over Todd’s death and operating on professional and personal autopilot. We weren’t looking for risks and Spike was asking us to commit a lot of time, money and effort to do a lengthy series about a group at the nadir of its reputation and career.
I dug into Todd’s Rolodex to find Gene Simmons’ fax number and sent a couple of notes asking if the group would participate in such a project, telling Spike that, if Kiss agreed, we’d do three issues and see how they sell. Herb reluctantly went along and Spike made his own calls to the band’s label. I was surprised but pleased when Gene agreed to give interview access exclusively for the comics. The sixteen year old fan inside me was pretty jazzed to pencil the project I called "Kiss Pre-History" onto the Spring ‘93 schedule, even as the businessman I’d become sweated the sales potential since part of my job now involved making sure everyone got paid.
We re-hired the artist from Hard Rock #5, Scott Pentzer, who was supernaturally skilled at capturing Kiss’ likenesses down to the last stroke of eyeliner. As Spike and I rewrote each other’s script drafts, we discovered that we both liked Kiss’ obscure sword and sorcery concept album Music From The Elder, and agreed it’d make a great comic story. During one research interview with Gene, done on a speaker phone with Spike, Herb and myself on our end, Spike asked Gene how he’d feel about letting him write an Elder comic script. Gene’s casual "Sure, go for it" reply didn’t constitute a legal licensing agreement but he seemed to be inviting Revolutionary to at least pitch ideas and a business plan to him. A project such as this was close to my own goal for the company, to get more bands to work with us and share the marketing and profits, so I wrote a few more informal letters to Gene pitching a cooperative publishing effort.
I’d heard that Gene is a hands-on guy when it comes to Kiss business but I was startled when the secretary buzzed to say he was on the line. Herb joined in and I took notes: "You know I could sue your company over the comics but I haven’t," Gene said, "they’re not really authorized like a license. And I’ve really had to hold the lawyers back, they’re sure we could own you. We’re suing some other comic companies. When you drew us in makeup, we own the trademarks on the makeup." Herb pointed out that Kiss had not only approved of "Pre-History" but had participated in its creation, with the comic clearly mentioned in all the taped interviews. "That doesn’t alter my point," Gene said. " However, I like you guys, I like what you do and maybe we can talk about something we can all work together on." He didn’t have to open our discussions with a (highly improbable) lawsuit threat to get us interested in talking more.
What evolved over several discussions was an outline for production of an oversized hardcover book tentatively called "Kiss 20th Anniversary Book" and then simply "KISStory." Gene and Paul had already given a lot of thought to what they wanted included in such a book and Kiss lawyer Jess Hilsen firmed up the subsequent plans with reams of memos and contract drafts. What they seemed to want from us was production guidance, to help them with what technically and graphically could be achieved, and a creative team to help put it all together into a comic-heavy package. It also quickly became clear that they wanted someone to foot the bill for the elaborate production.
One of their early written offers stated "Kiss will agree to the concept of an equal division of profits, although consideration must be given to a minimum guarantee to Kiss by Revolutionary," but nothing specific was ever confirmed about what our profit share would be or where it would come from. Memos dated November 1993 from Kiss’ lawyers estimate "contemplated production costs of approximately $300,000" which Revolutiomary was expected to cover, though we wouldn’t retain any copyrights or ownership connected to the book we’d be publishing, marketing and co-creating. Nobody at Revolutionary would get paid until - and unless - the proposed four pound, 300 page book made a profit. We were interested, yes, but mighty wary.
We scheduled a meeting with Gene and Paul, who wanted us to send details in advance of all participants including job descriptions and home phone numbers. Our list included myself, Herb, Spike and a potential investor we’ll call Paulie, whose promised capital never came through and who never actually became a company partner. His soon-to-be-bankrupt company did help us produce a stunning 3-D mockup of the KISStory book, with its die-cut leather cover and raised embossed Kiss logo.
We met over breakfast in L.A. and Gene and Paul told us about then-secret plans they had, like the "Kiss My Ass" tribute CD and upcoming TV appearances. They were confident they’d be able to secure the rights to have a CD of rare songs included with the book. When we showed them art samples, Gene, a comic book scholar, compared rendering techniques to those of other creators, both famous and obscure. As we wrapped up, I gave Gene a video of rare cartoons by Hugh Harman and Rudolph Ising. He recognized their names and mentioned a few of their other shorts and we stood around talking about cartoons for another ten minutes, long after Paul Stanley picked up the tab on his credit card.
They clearly wanted us to feel we were being welcomed to a team as sure to win as the Harlem Globetrotters. Gene invited several of us to his birthday party, to mingle with a-list (Roseanne and Tom) to z-list (porn star Ron Jeremy) celebs. Paul Stanley seemed to go out of his way to make us feel welcome, waving and calling us over to introduce us around while Gene prowled from photo op to photo op. We were treated like VIPs behind the velvet ropes when Kiss put their handprints in cement on the Rock Walk Of Fame. Their fans rushed the barricade when we tossed comics into the crowd and, for a moment, some of Kiss’ considerable fame actually seemed to rub off on us. Which I suspect was the purpose of inviting us.
Back at the office, the KISStory book deal was in the lawyers’ hands. Spike pitched a comic project to Revolutionary, Kiss: The Elder, as if he somehow owned the official license for the property. I wasn’t particularly offended by this, even though Kiss had called Revolutionary, not Spike, and he’d only been afforded the opportunity to ask Gene about an Elder comic while on paid assignment for Revolutionary. I told Spike to write a preliminary draft which I then rewrote, and we gave the finished script and art designs (again by Scott Pentzer) to Gene while Kiss was in San Diego to sign at Tower Records near SDSU. He called the office about a week later to say "Everything looks great but let’s just sit on this because there are big things happening," hinting none too subtly about the impending reunion of the original four Kiss members.
One afternoon, Herb came into my office to tell me "Gene called and said Goldmine magazine is doing an all-Kiss issue. He said the ad deadline is in two days and we’ll be missing the boat if we don’t get something in there to create a buzz about the KISStory book." Paulie offered to rush out a full page ad, which promoted our Pre-History comics and included a small drawing of the KISStory cover and a blurb saying the book was "coming soon" and would include a CD of rare songs, with our 800 phone number in the ad as well. The day the issue came out, Gene called my direct line. "What the Hell is this, I can’t believe you put this out without showing us! We own that 800 number as of now, everybody who calls it, your mailing list, it’s ours now, those are our customers!"
He accused me of covering for Herb and Paul when I honestly said neither were in the office and seemed enraged that I had no answer to his frequent shouts of "How did this happen?" I got Paulie on another line for a phone conference, with both Gene and Paul Stanley on their end accusing us of taking their 20 years’ hard labor and ripping them off by prematurely announcing the book. Gene insisted that Herb had misinterpreted what he’d said about the Goldmine special (obviously) and that somebody in our "amateur hour organization" should have thought to run the ad by them (not so obvious with the tight deadline and Herb’s assumption that Gene’s instruction and consent is always the final word from Kiss).
That ended Revolutionary’s involvement in publishing KISStory, though Kiss hired the Pre-History creative team to do a comic section for the book which finally came out two years later. Gene and I occasionally talked and bumped into each other (at comic conventions, parties, backstage, clubs, etc.) and he mentioned that he could get me a job working directly for Kiss. The casual carrot-on-a-stick "offer" was preceded by a "friendly warning - if you ever reprint your Kiss comics, we’ll sue you for everything you own down to your underpants." I said I was doing fine with the publishing company I’d come to own, Re-Visionary Press. Herb retired in 1994, selling all the Kiss artwork and reprint rights to Gene (the purchase seemed to belie Gene’s original claim that Kiss automatically owned our comics by virtue of their trademarks on the makeup).
In late 1999, I was working on a lengthy book called "Rock ‘N’ Roll: A Cartoon History - The 70s." I faxed Gene a note asking for permission to show Kiss, in makeup, in a section about theatrical rock. Only a couple of hours passed before my answer machine picked up and Gene’s voice was saying "Jay, we have a problem here, I don’t think this is something you want to do and I’ll tell you why." I still marvel that Gene Simmons had nothing better to do in the middle of the Second Coming Of Kiss than to call me at home to say "I can’t tell you what to do but Todd [McFarlane, "Psycho Circus" publisher] will probably sue the pants off you if you show Kiss in your book." I was relieved to hear that at least this potential lawsuit would leave me with my underpants.
"Do what you want though and good luck," he finished, and Kiss ended up not being mentioned or shown. In a book about 70s rock. When I think about Kiss now, my old pee-stained boot isn’t the only bummer that comes to mind.