Review: KISS Forever Special #1
2001: A Space Odyssey meets the Kings of the Nighttime World as the Spirit of Kiss is seen influencing mankind throughout its History. It truly is a Forever tale of an uneasy existence as our make-up clad heroes are righting wrongs from the dawn of time.
This issue opens in cave-man days as an early Cro-Magnon seeks to avenge sevenfold the murder of his brother, but is his brother really dead? In his search, he discovers the Cat-man and asks him what kind of a creature he is. The Cat-man responds that he and “…his brothers (Demon, Starchild and Space-Ace) are part of an unending pattern, formed of the underworld and the wilderness, the sky and beyond…” We are then taken on an anthology of wrongs righted through the ages.
The Creative Team:
Erik Burnham has interwoven the Kiss mythos into the very creation of our world. He gives us exciting tales of how each spirit affected different civilizations in different time periods. I loved how he made our Gods of Thunder into beings whose existence was for the betterment of mankind. Much like Marvel comics used to do with Thor. As I’ve mentioned the first story deals with humans at the dawn of mankind. The second story takes us to Rome, 64 A.D. Its citizens are pleading with their gods to make Rome great again “at any price.” And this leads us into a ‘be careful what you ask for, you just may get it’ scenario. It’s an action-packed tale that pits Roman gladiators against demons from hell until the very burning of Rome itself. The third part takes us out to the ocean in more modern times and the Star-child seeks revenge on a group of thieves. Our final chapter takes us to April 11, 1970 and the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission, a perfect setting for the Space-Ace’s involvement. It seems that there is a reason for preventing this mission from successfully landing on the moon. A great read for any Kiss fans and fans of anthology comics.
Daniel HDR brings the Kiss characters to life showing us awesome imagery in several different eras. I really loved how he placed the iconic rock stars in the exhaust from the launch of the Apollo spaceship. I loved how he drew the battle between the pirate ships in the Star-child story, his angles brought us right into the action. Great Stuff.
In Conclusion:
It seems that Dynamite has some terrific ideas in mind with the future of Kiss in their pages. Even though this issue seemed a little rushed and didn’t develop certain characters as well as I’d wished, they still gave us a compelling read in this one shot. In addition to the remarkable stories they’ve already given us we can expect future Kiss comics to take us into worlds that no other comic book company has taken us to with these iconic rock stars. I have a good feeling about future Kiss comics with Dynamite and I can’t wait to see what’s in store for us. ***1/2 (8.8 rating.)
KISS Forever Special #1
Writer: Erik Burnham
Artist: Daniel HDR
Publisher: Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: May 24, 2017
Cover Price: $7.99
About the Author
Kevin Given Kevin Given has studied with "Longridge Writers Group" and "Writer's Boot Camp" a speech/communications major from the University of Maine Presque-Isle/Orono sites. He has created the "Karl Vincent Vampire Hunter" franchise which includes 2 novels and 8 comic books. They can be found on amazon, Indyplanet and Kindle. For a limited time you can get digital copies of "Karl Vincent: Vampire hunter" #1 and "Files of Karl Vincent" #1 for free on Indyplanet. Kevin is producing the third novel in the series "Dracula Rising" (working title) and developing "Foul Blood" into comic book form.
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