Publisher: Dynamite
Writer: Amy Chu & Erik Burnham
Artist: Eman Casallos
Colourist: Omi Remalante
Release Date: OUT NOW!
Price: $3.99

KISS: The Demon #3 is your everyday story of ruthless big business shenanigans putting the safety of the planet one step behind maximising profits. So, just how do rock’s premiere face-painted combo fit into all this? Well, they kind of hover over proceedings like leering spectators in a way that needs the word “contrived” to be re-defined to make the title KISS: The Demon #3 in any way relevant.

KISS: The Demon #3 is a sort of prequel to previous KISS tales, set in a time before. Blackwell became an underground metropolis and the all-controlling AI Automation System, Morpheus, is still being developed. Milo, Sam and Kimi were childhood friends but both Sam and Milo had the hots for Kimi and, since Sam is Sam Blackwell, heir to the Blackwell fortune whereas Milo is just a computer hacker, guess who won?

Naturally, they are all major KISS fans which makes the title so much more appropriate. For Kimi’s birthday, Sam throws a party at his mansion and uses the occasion to unveil his plans for Blackwell Industries. The bearded, drunken fly in the ointment is Frank Worrell who has Sam pegged as the devil and brands his bio-engineered fertiliser programme a weapon of mass destruction.

Things get murkier in KISS: The Demon #3 as Sam Blackwell takes steps to swat that fly but not before he manages to pass on crucial information to Milo. Will Kimi fall for the billionaire playboy, or will she eventually come to her senses and go for the dirt poor but lovable and honourable Milo?

You’ll have to keep reading KISS: The Demon #3 to find out that and how this eventually links in to previous KISS outings. Amy Chu and Erik Burnham have perpetrated a spectacular sleight of hand by having KISS invade every stage of this story but never actually appear in it. Good fun all the same but KISS fans may feel a little short-changed.

 

 

Reviewer: Gary Orchard
Reviews Editor: Steve Hooker