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Kiss!
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Nowadays a tie-in comic like this would probably be dashed off as a cheap knock-off designed to grab a few quid off a band's fans with little or no care given to what's actually inside, but this is something quite different all together. I mean, it's not something you'd ever read if you weren't a mad Kiss fan (or a serious scholar looking at important Doctor Doom appearances, OBVS) but everything about it is properly done by proper comics professionals at the top of their game including Steve Gerber, both Buscema brothers, Allan Weiss and Rich Buckler.
What's most interesting, from my point of view, is how much Gerber seeks to embed Marvel continuity (especially Doctor Doom) into the whole story, as an attempt to get Kiss fans to read comics. The story features members of Kiss talking about how brilliant comics are, and there are constant nudges towards the wider world of Marvel, including a grand tour around the Marvel Universe featuring guest appearances by Spider-man, The Fantastic Four, The Avengers and (probably because Steve Gerber was writing them around this time) The Defenders. There's even some rather jolly textual material about Doctor Doom, notably an Actually Quite Funny joke-advert for trips on Air Latveria
Doom doesn't appear until nearly halfway through the story, but his appearance is heralded on the back cover and, a few pages in, via a text version of his origin, heavily based on Fantastic Four Annual #2. The only difference from that version is that here Doom is clearly located in time, stating that he was born in the 1920s and that he went to Tibet after his accident rather than returning to Latveria because it was during World War Two. It's an interesting way to justify the original story which directly contradicts the usual date-avoidant policy of Marvel's sliding timeline. I know that Doom's appearing soon in an issue of The Invaders though, so we'll see if this timeline is upheld there (SPOILERS: don't hold your breath).
The first part of this issue is taken up with an origin story for Kiss, where a group of working class teenagers find a Mystical Box while trying to protect an old man from some muggers. They are transformed into the band Kiss, who already look like Superheroes so, in the Marvel Universe, are exactly that, powers and all.
Doom arrives (in a spaceship disguised as a full-moon!) heralded by a group of "Gypsy maidens, each more alluring than the one before, scattering delicate petals for their master's boot to trample!"
This is a new look for Doom, but one that makes a surprising amount of sense, as he acknowledges his own past as the son of a gypsy sorcerous. It turns out that the mystical box - The Box Of Khyscz - actually belonged to his mother, but was removed by one of his gypsy tribe because it was too dangerous for Doom to keep for himself. This, again, is neatly tied into his origin, where we saw his family friend Boris realising the danger in him early on - Boris clearly wasn't the only one to realise this, although the only one to actually do something about it.
There's more classic Doom action next, as Doom leaves his minions to fight for him and they turn out to be robots!
Again, this is a new twist on an old trope, and one I hope returns in the more mainstream version of the character!
Kiss use their own powers to try and give chase, but accidentally end up being split up, with two of them teleporting off to Hell to meet Mephisto, and the others ending up in a Space Disco. This is all filler, to be honest, and after the required number of pages are used up they telport back together again to Latveria where they are greeted by "Dizzy The Hun", the mystic who gave them the box in the first place. He doesn't have time to explain his name, or how he got to the other side of the planet, because he needs to quickly tell them that all of their experiences so far have been a training exercise to get them ready to fight Doctor Doom. This begins immediately, as they're attacked by a troupe of robot monks.
They then get sucked into some giant stone lips (I have no idea what's going on with this bit) and end up in space, where Doom immediately beats 75% of them up.
He's stopped by Ace Frehley, who points out that Doom was once a kid himself. This distracts Doom long enough for Paul Stanley to blast him with an Emotion Ray from his Star Eye, which leads to an extremely interesting insight into Doom's own origin.
This is a fascinating (and brief) psyhoanalysis of Doom which gives clear motivation for all of his actions, which is an odd thing to find in a tie-in comic with a heavy metal band! If part of the idea of this comic is to show Kiss fans what Marvel comics are really like, though, this really works.
Vinny The Hun reappears and takes things further, by telling Doom that he must recognise the worth of these youths.
It's strange to see Kiss being talked about this way, as nowadays they're a bunch of wizened old pensioners, but I suppose even they must have been young once! Doom refuses to accept this analysis and is about to strike down the old mystic, before realising that he can't bring himself to do it.
Yet more continuity here, as we discover that Vinny The Hun gave the euology at his mother's funeral. I really hope this comes up again in a mainstream comic so it counts as canon!
Unable to kill the old man Doom instead banishes him and Kiss from "this land", which is fine for everyone as they never really wanted to be on a space rock in the first place. "You've won more than you suspect this day", says Vinny to Doom as they depart, and then that's it. There's one more page about Kiss deciding to Use Their Powers For Good and then all we're left with is an inside cover about how the comic was put together (including an acknowledgement that "the deadly deadline doom" forced them to use several pencilers) and we're left with a back page illustration of a very pensive Doom, watching from his space rock.
This has been a (very) surprising comic to read - I thought it would be a tatty piece of merchandising designed to fleece some money out of Kiss fans, but it's actually a well thought out attempt to integrate them into the Marvel Universe in which Doctor Doom (as so often happens) comes close to becoming the main narrative focus. It introduces a couple of new twists on Doom himself and makes some insightful observations about his motivations too. We can only hope there's more of this to come - any chance of Doctor Doom fighting the Scorpions soon?
link to information about this issue
posted 11/10/2019 by Mark Hibbett
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