Archie Meets KISS!

Written by: Kevin Hunter, Special to CC2K

I may be dating myself here, but I remember as a kid reading Archie Comics and watching those wholesome kids from Riverdale on television. I can also remember listening to the legendary rock band KISS and some of the annoying kids I went to school with who were part of the “KISS Army.”

Archie #627: Archie Meets KISS

Writer: Alex Segura
Artist: Dan Parent

So the geneses who have been cranking out Archie Comics for 70 years, thought it would be a good idea for Archie, Reggie, Betty, Veronica, Jughead, and a special guest appearance by Sabrina The Teenage Witch, and Josie of Jose and the Pussycats fame to team up with Gene, Paul, Peter, and Ace. In the first of a four-part series, and in the words of Paul Stanley, “Are you ready to rock,?” In Archie #627, Archie Meets KISS!

The story begins with the Archie gang taking part in a Riverdale Monster Society meeting in a tree house (seriously? Teenagers meeting in a tree house?) right before Halloween. Sabrina has been called in to cast a spell to make sure that no monsters and other bad mojo disrupt the meeting. But Veronica, the spoiled brat we all love to hate, finds a way to screw things up. Because of her mishap Riverdale has been turned into a town filled with monster madness and zombies.

That’s where our heroes from KISS come in to try to save the day. Who else is there qualified enough fight off monsters and zombies, Black Sabbath? The guys, whose aliases are Demon, Starchild, Spaceman and Catman, come in out of nowhere (a wormhole actually) to fight off the bad guys with what else? Rock and roll baby that’s what! Our heroes’ goal is to rock those monsters back to where they came from!

Archie #627 Archie Meets KISS is a good read and just a lot of fun as the two pop culture icons from entirely different worlds come together for some monster, zombie and rock and roll mayhem. Writer Alex Segura takes his of the sweeter-than-sugar Archies and team them up with the band that used to strike fear in the hearts parents everywhere and somehow makes it work. Kids of all ages as well as well as their nostalgia adults will enjoy this typically campy Archies story. But just why do they need four issues to tell this story is beyond me, but it’s so much fun that I’m willing to stick with it and find out. Although this is great idea to combine two American icons, it should have been done 35 years ago when both were at the height of their respected popularity.