My Rating
“The Land of Khyscz”
In the peaceful city of Khyscz, located high up in the Himalayas, an evil wizard known as Khalis-Wu dreamed of world domination. Unlike his countrymen, this man was not content with the bountiful gifts received from the old gods. Khalis-Wu sought true power through his books and sorcery. In an ancient tomb titled “Emotions As Energy” the mad wizard found the answer to his quandary. Unlimited mystic energy could be siphoned from emotionally charged crowds gathered at large events.
Khalis-Wu gazed into his crystal ball insearch of past events containing the right crowd mixture. What about political rallies? No. Sporting events? Not exactly. He needed to find large crowds of youths hyped up into almost psychotic fenzies? Yes, he had finally found the answer in the form of Earth’s most bizarre gatherings, old rock concerts!
Elsewhere, inside a shady apartment somewhere on Broadway – Manhattan, four New Yorkers have just been teleported to the home of a man who has walked the Earth for quite some time. Ace Frehley calls out to the ancient gypsy known as Dizzy with a friendly tone. Gene Simmons on the other hand is not amused. It would take the street smarts of Peter Criss and the cool talk of Paul Stanley to calm the situation.
Over the next hour Gene, Paul, Ace, and Peter would learn their role in Himalayan Sorcerer’s dark plot. It was the gypsy who had granted Kiss their powers, what they didn’t know was its source. Yes, their superhero-like abilities originated from the land of Khyscz, and It would take the combined power of all four men to stop the subjection of Earth. The only question is, will Kiss agree to help.
Does the Space Ace have the ability to teleport through both time and dimensions? What horrors await Kiss in the Land of Leftovers? Is that an Elf with a gun? Collect the book to find out!
Reviewer Notes
What an odd, odd book this was. We find Kiss traveling to various points in rock n’ roll history, then becoming trapped in a pocket dimension filled with hippies and various d-list villains. My favorite part of this whole story was them meeting up with Elf with a gun. Apparently, Paul Stanley foresees the death of the Elf in the 1970’s run of the Defenders. Funny.
Along with the amazing artwork we are give full bios on the Marvel production team who worked on Super Special #5. The list includes Ralph Macchio, John Romita jr, Richard Marschall, and a young Jim Shooter. Some interesting facts. But this was not the cherry on top of the cake.
If you are a Kiss fan you will be thrilled to find an interview with the band in regards to their new movie “Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park”. I found it funny that Paul tried to hype up the behind the scenes moments, when years later they disclosed how big of a shit-show it was dealing with Ace and Peter. A Hard Day’s Night meets Star Wars it was not.
Overall I enjoyed this book even though it contains no major hero or villain crossovers. It was the 1970s and it is what it is I guess. There was enough extra fluff to engage both Marvel fans and Kiss fans alike. I’m giving the second major appearance of Kiss four out of five stars.
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