Comic Review - KISS #1

After weeks of average to downright terrible comics to review, I came into this week with very high hopes based on not only my love of the source material, but also with an expectation that really, it couldn't get any worse.  I lucked out this week because, right there on the shelf was KISS #1.  Now let me be frank with you, I was going to pick this one up anyway.  I have been a fan of KISS comics almost as long as I have been a fan of KISS (which is quite a while).  I have the image series from the late nineties (Psycho Circus with the awesome Angel Medina art) as well as the Dark Horse series from five or six years ago (it was short lived but it I enjoyed it).  You may think that this is a biased review based on the subject matter alone, but rest assured that this review will be just as thorough as any other. 

Cover- 

There were multiple covers yet again, but the one that I chose (and my favorite by far) was cover A by Nick Runge.  It was a take on the Dressed to Kill album cover, which coincidentally is the name of the first story arc.  I loved the palette and design of the cover.  It wasn't too flashy, and had more of a painted tone to it.  It was very appropriate for the feel of the series as this is not a traditional flashy super hero with capes series.  As you will see the series takes place in 1929, and not only the clothes but also the way it was painted as well as the overall design of the cover lends itself to the era that it is supposed to be set in.

9/10 - The cover is awesome.  The understated, muted quality of the colors, while something I enjoy, does not pop off the shelf like a cover should.  In fact the only thing that really does pop is the KISS logo (maybe this is by design) but it is still effective and entertaining so conventional wisdom be damned.

Story- 

The story is basic good versus evil.  The first issue does a good setup job and introduces us to the main characters, both good and bad.  We get to see the human hosts for the "four who are one" also known as the members of KISS.  The most interesting thing about this book is that it is not a reboot of the KISS mythos per se.  This actually takes every past series and past parts of the various stories (except for KISS meets Archie) and incorporates them into the current plotline seamlessly.  

It's like looking into a scrapbook of my KISS comic reading past.

It uses the ideas in many of the other books, even though they are from different publishers and different decades and incorporates them into the story here.  The story also has a multitude of in-jokes and references that only KISS fans would really understand.  Sometimes they don't blend too well into the story itself (the main female character is named "she"?) Being the KISS fan that I am though, I got most of the in-jokes, such as the name of the villain is "Wicked" Lester McGhee, an amalgamation of the Paul and Gene’s band that predated KISS (Wicked Lester) and Doc McGhee, their longtime manager.  There are also lyrics to the song "She" placed on the top and/or bottom margins of many of the pages that was not only a Wicked Lester song, but was also contained on the Dressed to Kill album.  I wonder if this will continue in subsequent issues.  I think it would be very interesting if they were able to incorporate the entire KISS catalogue (or most of it at least) before their time is done.  I think it is also very interesting that the main heroic force, even though he is not seen at all, is the Elder: largely regarded as the worst album in the discography, while the evil force, who is also not seen, is the Destroyer: largely regarded as one of the best albums in the discography.  While this probably does not actually mean anything, the irony is not lost on me. 

I think that one of the most effective plot devices in this story is that the reintroduction of the members of KISS to our timeline is started by a kiss from She to the Celestial’s host body.  I am sure that this is intentional, but it is also a nice touch by Chris Ryall to separate the story from the source material.  There is a real attempt made to make this a comic that stars the members of KISS as opposed to a KISS comic.  Because of his plot device of starting the action through a kiss, it even strips the title, ever so slightly, of its true meaning and repurposes it for use in his book.  Obviously everything is done with the band’s blessing I’m sure, but it’s a smart way to approach the series in my opinion.

There is not too much that I dislike about the writing in this book.  The cliffhanger at the end seems pretty convenient and predictable, but it’s not necessarily bad.  It does set up the next issue quite nicely and I like that we see the group getting right into the heart of the matter right away as opposed to toiling around in boring exposition for three issues.  If this was a Marvel book, the cliffhanger at the end would have come at the end of book four or five.  Bravo to Ryall for bucking modern trends.  

While I enjoy the designs of the monster/demon things, the fact that they are shot out of guns carried by the gangsters seems kind of cheesy.  It doesn’t ruin the story in any way, but I would have liked it more if the gangsters were just demons themselves, that would lend an air of mystery that the book could exploit in later issues “Was Al Capone just a monster/demon in disguise?” sort of thing.

9/10 – It sets up enough of the story to make me want to come back for more and does a great job of doing the setup and introduction of key characters as a number one issue should while also moving the story along and keeping me interested in the outcome.

Art-

The art by Jamal Igle is detailed and believable.  I really think that I am in Chicago at the height of prohibition because everything is well thought out and researched ahead of time.  

Now this is how you draw the first page of your comic book

All aspects are referenced from the guns to the clothes to the backgrounds, and there are a bunch of backgrounds.  I only counted a handful of panels that did not have backgrounds and it fed so seamlessly into the story that it did not matter to me.  

Between the tilted panel and the motion on the monsters and people, this panel shows expert craftsmanship.

I like the movement within and the composition of the panels as well.  Igle does not try and get too fancy with multiple overlapping panels and thirty panels per page, that kind of thing.  He just draws the scenes within the panels and lets the story and his storytelling really shine through.  I really enjoyed the coloring by Romulo Fajardo, Jr. on this as well.  It is not oversaturated or too dark, but it does play a large part in setting the mood and works incredibly well with the line art by invoking that feeling of nostalgia.

While the designs of the monster/demons were interesting and inspired, I felt that the human characters themselves lacked definition.  It was hard to tell one from the other for the most part as they all had a similar look.  Most of the characters were very well drawn and showed a lot of movement in and amongst their own forms, but the picture of She on the second page looks rather stiff, like Igle may have found a picture of that pose in a magazine and used it for the drawing.  Other than that it looks great.

Kinda stiff, and I'm not talking about the guy in the suit.

Great panel, so much going on, so full of reaction and background, things to look at and notice on subsequent read-throughs

10/10 – Backgrounds!  The art by Igle was great but that first page just keeps pulling me in.

Overall 9/10 – I know that it is hard to believe that a comic with the KISS name on it could be of such high quality, but besides the fact that it is not the same superhero drivel, it is just very well written and drawn and takes the best of both the Dark Horse and Psycho Circus series and incorporates them into an interesting setting.  I can’t wait until next month.