Gene Simmons loves comic books. Ask anybody who's heard him on Howard Stern, or read Mojo magazine ... or listened to Terry Gross. Or anybody who's ever taken the time to consider where his band's whole schitck came from. And it is schtick. Gene's none too shy about that point. Which makes it easy to talk openly about how to reimagine KISS as a superhero comic. 
Joe Casey loves KISS. Jeph Loeb, the charming and talented writer of certain high-profile Batman, Spiderman, and Daredevil comics, let me know this at a Chicago Convention last year. His timing was great. I'd decided that the only way to do this comic was to get a really terrific writer who already knew how to do great superhero comics. Not only does Joe love KISS, but he writes WildCATS, Superman, and X-Men. So I figured that fit the bill. If you're asking how Loeb got involved in this, you must not work in comics. Jeph is involved in everything. Turn around, there he is, hard at work making something happen either for himself or a friend ... or someone he just met. So he knew Joe, he knew me, and he was already friends with Gene. Weird.
I love cell phones. Senility and brain cancer run in the men in my family, so I figure why not use a cell phone? Dark Horse got me a cell phone so Gene can reach me on weekends. The guy works all the time. Right now my voice mail has stored messages telling me that Joe Casey's a fantastic writer; offering ideas on how to incorporate certain classic KISS elements into our new version; saying that Mel Rubi's pencils are a perfect mix of Kirby action and that current manga flavor; that the dialogue and interaction in issue two of the comic are perfect; and that I need to start answering my phone when it rings.
Fans love meeting Gene. Last year he was at Chicago to announce the new comic with us, and this year he'll be at San Diego Comicon for the debut of our book. He's amazing with the fans. We all know that he pays special attention to the ladies, but watching him with kids is surreal. You think of everything this guy has built his image on, and then you look at him charming some little eight-year-old boy who cannot believe his luck at meeting The Demon. It's a sight, man. Sorry we couldn't get the rest of the band to come to the shows. Paul Stanley has been very closely involved with us on the comic, though. He's not as steeped in comics know-how as Gene is, but he's been talking over the story with Joe and I, contributing ideas and building upon what we were already doing--making it feel more like KISS. For all of Gene's controversial public persona, when you talk to Paul, you're just talking to a regular guy. The greeting on his cell phone voice mail is his little boy. Now that is charming.
None of this has much to do with making a good comic, though. Fact is, Joe wrote a great story, Mel drew the hell out of it, and you should all be looking forward to reading it. Gene finally gets his dream of being in a superhero team--he's already gotten as close as anyone to his dream of being the Beatles. When I commented to him on an aspect of our contract of which I could think of no precedent, he said, "There's also never been a member of the Fantastic Four doing approvals on the Fantastic Four artwork." I didn't really know how to respond to that one.
Scott Allie
Wishing he was Abe Sapien in the movie