Archie #627: Archie Meets Kiss, guest-starring Sabrina the Teenage Witch!
By Alex Segura (script), Dan Parent (pencils), Rich Koslowski (inks). Archie Comics, 2011.
Not the first comic book appearance by Kiss by a long shot, but easily the tamest. You might want to add “even by Archie standards,” but in fact this is the second Archie adventure in a few months where the townsfolk of Riverdale (and, since Josie of the Pussycats is seen, neighboring Midvale as well) are turned into drooling zombies.
No, the mildness comes from the band arriving as helpful heroes, summoned to round up some intergalactic monsters mistakenly conjured up by a jealous Veronica Lodge when she’s not allowed to join in on a proper spell planned by Sabrina. (Since Jughead #200 or so, Archie and his friends have been clued in to the fact that Sabrina is a witch.)
The members of Kiss go by their make-up names—The Demon, Starchild (ot “The Starchild”), Spaceman (again, not “The…”) and “Catman” (rather than “The Cat”). No wizard or fox. Artist Dan Parent doesn’t go in for detail, and fans of the band could justifiably raise hell with where he puts the cat’s facial stripes.
This is the first part of a four-issue miniseries, and Kiss’ presence can only increase. The band appears in only about a dozen panels of this 22-page initial installment. Not much for Kiss fans to salivate over. For Archie enthusiasts, however, the final full-page panel alone is worth the $2.99 cost: the horde of “mindless zombies” includes all three Pussycats, Chuck Clayton, Mr. Weatherbee, Cheryl Blossom, Ginger Lopez and even L’il Jinx.