Archie Meets KISS

A new comic book mini series will be teaming KISS up with Riverdale's oldest teenager. I can't help but think how huge this would've been if it happened in, say, 1978. Nowadays I think most people are just gonna go "meh."

'Archie Meets Kiss' Aims To Bring Together Two Pieces Of Americana For First Time - Sep. 22, 2011

According to ABC News, KISS has partnered up with Archie Comics to launch a new, four-part story called "Archie Meets Kiss". The comic will reportedly follow Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley and their band as they protect the comic's regulars from an invasion of monsters. Gene says that the illustrations will not offend the young fanbase that the comic has.

Simmons told the New York Post, "KISS is all things to all people. A five or 10-year-old fan doesn't look at the lascivating nature of my tongue the same way someone much older would — such a thing is not obvious to a five-year-old, and nor should it be."

The series launches November 30 and, in the words of writer Alex Segura of Archie Comics, "brings together two pieces of Americana for the first time.”

Jon Goldwater, CEO of Archie Comics, is a self-described "crazy KISS fan, who says, "Younger kids will enjoy the magical nature while older audiences will enjoy old rock 'n' roll."

Saw this on Facebook, and I agree, this would have been much bigger in 1978. Didn't know they were still making Archie.

They'll try anything.

kmorg wrote:

Didn't know they were still making Archie.

I still see the pocket-size Archie Digests in stores occasionally, haven't looked at one in years though.

kmorg wrote:

I agree, this would have been much bigger in 1978

Y'know, even when I used to read Archie as a kid, they seemed to be perennially behind-the-times when it came to "youth trends" (i.e. every time the Archie gang did a story that involved some fad - breakdancing, Rubik's Cubes, arcade games, etc. - it was already long over with)... so who knows, maybe the Archie people just heard of KISS recently?

geez these guys will put their name on anything.

This is gonna be almost as weird as the time Archie met the Punisher.

I wish The Punisher would meet Kiss & then kill them.

mc666 wrote:

I wish The Punisher would meet Kiss & then kill them.

Saw this awhile back. I was a huge Archie fan as a kid and with KISS being my favorite band, this is actually somewhat interesting to me. I've liked the covers I've seen so far.

Archie has been going strong since the '40s. They still do the digests, double digests and monthly comic books. They've been branching out a bit in recent years, experimenting with new art styles and slightly more-mature stories. The core books are still the Archie books everyone thinks of though.

Fat Freddy wrote:

This is gonna be almost as weird as the time Archie met the Punisher.

I had that book. It was interesting. They also released another book simultaneously called The Punisher Meets Archie.

Metal Misfit wrote:

Fat Freddy wrote:

This is gonna be almost as weird as the time Archie met the Punisher.

I had that book. It was interesting. They also released another book simultaneously called The Punisher Meets Archie.

Yup, I had it too. Though if my memory serves me right, the only difference between the "Punisher Meets Archie" and "Archie Meets the Punisher" books were the covers. Marvel distributed it to the specialty/comic store market so their version gave Punisher top billing on the cover, Archie's version went to supermarkets/newsstands/etc. and naturally they gave Arch the top spot on the logo.

I'm sure the dozen or so fans that still read Archie comics will be outraged by KISS and their satanic hijinks!!

MetalGuy71 wrote:

I'm sure the dozen or so fans that still read Archie comics will be outraged by KISS and their satanic hijinks!!

The late Al Hartley, who wrote and drew the Archie Christian Comics series for Spire Publications in the 70s and 80s, is probably doing 50,000 RPM in his grave right now.

I get reminded Archie is still around because the 3 or 5 different smaller, hand-sized monthly digests they print are sold with the tabloid magazines and gum in front of the checkouts at grocery stores near me.
I rarely buy them but give them to my friend for his daughter to read. They seem too thin for the price they charge these days, compared to the 1980s.

KISS being in it these days... well, the diehard KISS collectors might buy it, but will it bump up the sales that much from what it usually is? Wonder how much Gene is making on this deal?

I'd like to violate Betty and Veronica 3 ways to Sunday while Archie watched in horror and cried.

Speaking of KISS comics, anybody remember this short lived series?

manny wrote:

Speaking of KISS comics, anybody remember this short lived series?

I have a few of those.

I remember the Kiss comic, but I didn't get them. I have the Alice Cooper and Megadeth ones though.

I have that KISS Omnibus that collects every KISS comic ever. Pretty cool thing to own but I'm still at the beginning of it.

Fat Freddy wrote:

kmorg wrote:

Didn't know they were still making Archie.

I still see the pocket-size Archie Digests in stores occasionally, haven't looked at one in years though.

I heard a news story earlier this year where Archie Comics recently revealed it's first ever openly g-a-y character. So things a have probably changed drastically since you have looked.

How about Archie meets Godzilla???

DallasBlack wrote:

Fat Freddy wrote:

kmorg wrote:

Didn't know they were still making Archie.

I still see the pocket-size Archie Digests in stores occasionally, haven't looked at one in years though.

I heard a news story earlier this year where Archie Comics recently revealed it's first ever openly g-a-y character. So things a have probably changed drastically since you have looked.

Oh yeah, I forgot about that one. I think it was just a four-issue mini-series. Not sure how much he's featured in the main books.

A video trailer for this titanic team-up. Check out Zombie Mr. Weatherbee!!!

Fat Freddy wrote:

A video trailer for this titanic team-up. Check out Zombie Mr. Weatherbee!!!

I missed the part where The Punisher comes to kill off KISS.

Meh...

I like how around the :57 mark, the trailer asks "What's the worse that could happen?"

Well, A 60 year old man in spandex, make-up and bad wig could show up at your door and make akward sexual advances towards your teenage girlfriend. That's pretty frightening, I'd imagine.