San Diego Reader

Contents:

1 – Rock and Roll Comics: The Inside Story, by JAS (50 new graphics and updated text added 9-21-08)

2 – Carnal Comics: The Inside Story, or "Why I No Longer Date Porn Stars," by JAS

3 - KiSStory: Side A – The Biz, by JAS

4 - KISStory, Side B – The Buzz, by Spike Steffenhagen

5 – Deepest Dimension Terror Anthology: Locally Produced Twilight Zone spin-off comic, co-created locally with original Zone writer George Clayton Johnson

6 – The Birth of Image Comics - told in comic form!

7 - The New Kids On The Block VS Revolutionary Comics – told in comic form, illustrated by Superman/Supergirl artist Stuart Immonen

8 - “Unauthorized and Proud Of It: Todd Loren’s Rock and Roll Comics” Documentary Film Reviews, Video Trailer

---

I told Todd Loren in 1988 that I thought his newest brainstorm was the dumbest idea I’d ever heard. Comic books about rock and roll bands? I'd seen it already. In the Seventies, Marvel Comics released two magazine-sized Marvel Super Specials featuring the band Kiss as cosmic powered superheroes. Alice Cooper played a character somewhat closer to his real self in a 1979 issue of Marvel Premiere, and I even remembered an unauthorized Beatles comic from years back. None of those titles ever came close capturing any sort of rock and roll spirit. All were illustrated in the same stiff and characterless style as any issue of the Uncanny X-Men, and none ran more than a couple of issues.

Todd's idea was Rock ‘N’ Roll Comics. Each issue would be about a different band, with straight biographies and Mad magazine styled parodies. A freelance writer at the time, I owned an extensive archive of research material, and Todd wanted me to research scripts for the line. I was a little confused about how he planned to pull off his proposed venture.

(Todd Loren)

Todd was a longtime comic book collector who'd run a series of related fan conventions, but he knew virtually nothing about publishing comics. Plus, he already had a full time job running his mail order rock memorabilia business, Musicade (with a retail outlet near the Sports Arena), where I worked for him part time.

In a self-penned bio, Todd described how he got into the business of selling T-shirts, patches, backstage passes and pop culture clutter. He was still called Stuart Shapiro then, living near Detroit and promoting comic conventions and record collector shows. "[I] printed up a few thousand black and white eight page catalogs and within six months (mid-1984) I was just barely making enough money to walk away from the convention business. Actually, I drove away. To San Diego...I changed my name to Todd Loren. I guess I thought it was a rebellious thing to do, and I always liked the name Todd."

He also once admitted that he thought the cadence of the new name, and the single hard consonant, made it sound like a name thought up by Ayn Rand, one of his favorite authors.

I was amazed when that first issue of Rock ‘N’ Roll Comics, on Guns N’ Roses, sold almost 10,000 copies in just a few short weeks. Those were big numbers, even in those days of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Todd would call me every time a big order came in, and then he'd call to tell me every time the comic was mentioned in some major mag or newspaper, which was happening almost every day. "Someday, we’ll be selling millions of comics," he’d say. I was doubtful, but I allowed room for the possibility.

It sure seemed like a long shot, however. The comic was black and white, on cheap newsprint and crudely drawn, with several factual errors and misspellings. The flimsy publication felt like a Home Depot mailer than a comic book, but collectors were snapping it up. Especially after Rolling Stone mentioned that GNR’s lawyer Peter Paterno sent Todd a cease and desist order. Todd's comic biographies were strictly unauthorized, or unbiased as Todd would say, which made his publications sound more like journalism and less like crass exploitation (as they were already being called by critics).

Todd wasn't interested in publishing illustrated press releases. He wanted Revolutionary's writers to feel free to call it like we saw it, to talk about the heroin and the illegitimate kids and the backstage gangbangs or whatever. GNR’s lawyer never filed their lawsuit, but comic collector magazines like Comics Value Monthly were already calling Rock ‘N’ Roll Comics revolutionary. Which is what Todd named his company, Revolutionary Comics.

"I wanted to do a comic that had all the sex and drugs that is rock and roll," Todd wrote. "Rock and roll is bigger than life. The stage presence these bands have...they don’t need superpowers because they’re already hero worshipped by their fans. And those fans love to spend money on anything featuring the bands they love."

The second RNR issue, on Metallica, was a little more readable and had improved artwork, and suddenly the comics were selling in the same quantities as mainstream superhero titles.

Each RevComic featured an editorial written by Todd. Many of the columns were antagonistic, some bordered on outright slander, but Todd was genuinely worked up over the topics he wrote about. His essays gave each issue an actual editorial voice, and a convincing patina of rebellion. "I helped spread the word about censorship by distributing Jello (Dead Kennedys) Biafra’s No More Censorship newsletter,” he later wrote. “But it wasn’t enough. I needed a creative outlet.”

Todd ran things from his Musicade office in Sorrento Valley, and then downtown in the heart of Hillcrest, from the entire top floor of what was then a bank building on University and Fourth.

We began filling stacks of milk crates full of articles and newspaper clippings from decade’s worth of rock magazines that we were buying in bulk at swap meets and record stores. We hunted down every book we could find on music and talked about how great it would be to chronicle the entire history of pop music in comic book form. About how some day our comics could be used in schools, and sold in bookstores.

(Todd’s corner office overlooking heart of Hillcrest, story conference with Spike)

Looming as large as our artistic hope, however, was the fact that Rock ‘N’ Roll Comics was a meal ticket that would last as long as people loved rock and roll and loved comics (which, back then, seemed like a long time indeed). He didn't talk much about the money, but it was easy to do the math. Revolutionary was fast becoming one of the top selling independent comics. The first GNR issue would sell over 175,000 copies, over multiple printings, with the second issue on Metallica doing nearly as well.

Issues number three and four, on Bon Jovi and Motley Crue, brought the momentum to a halt. The bands had exclusive merchandising deals with Great Southern/Winterland Productions. To their lawyer, Ken Feinswog (a very Ayn Rand-like name for an adversary), Todd's comics were bootleg merchandise, akin to an unauthorized T-shirt.

"He managed to scare most of the major comic book distributors into dropping all of our books," Todd wrote after distribution of the Bon Jovi comic was halted. "Never mind that he had no legal grounds to make his threats, never mind that licensing rights such as those which Great Southern owns do not entitle anyone to censor First Amendment protected free speech."

Todd was ecstatic to have been targeted. He wanted to go public, in a Jello Biafra-inspired blaze of rage and indignation, to rally against the fascist corporations. He did get quoted in quite a few magazines, but meanwhile the publishing machine (and the income) stopped cold. Virtually all of the major comic distributors refused to carry the Bon Jovi issue, and they were threatening to boycott the entire line for fear of performer lawsuits.

Todd's argument was simple and eloquent. If Sports Illustrated and Rolling Stone don't have to pay someone every time they write about them (and show a picture), why should Rock ‘N’ Roll Comics? Todd was sure that his own unauthorized bios, like any tome by Kitty Kelly or any magazine article, were First Amendment protected free speech. "We keep hearing words like authorized, permission, sanction, approval. [I] yearn for the day when we can hear these words replaced by quality, integrity, truthfulness and objectivity. We're not merchandise. We're a communications medium just like newspapers. We shouldn’t have to have permission to write about someone."

One rival publisher, Gary Groth at Fantagraphics, saw it differently. "Actually, Loren's legal problems (and losses) have nothing to do with First Amendment freedoms,” he wrote in an editorial. “They are civil suits based upon property rights such as copyright and trademarks. The First Amendment theoretically protects the freedom to publish something as long as someone else doesn’t own it - a fine distinction that has escaped Loren's brilliant legal mind.”

Slowly, shops began calling the Revolutionary to get the comics that were no longer available through their distributors. "It turns out that it was a very lucky thing that I had Musicade," Todd said. "Using Musicade’s shipping facilities, we quickly set up our own comic book distribution system." Todd felt he could win against Great Southern in court, but there was a wrinkle to contend with. He already had an adversarial history with Great Southern.

Musicade had carried unauthorized merchandise related to bands on Great Southern’s roster. Todd, to avoid a lawsuit he’d likely lose, signed an agreement that his comic books would not feature any bands on that roster. Thousands of remaining copies of the Bon Jovi and Motley Crue comics were destroyed, creating somewhat scarce collectibles. Even the upcoming issue number eight, on Skid Row, was summarily canceled, though Todd chose not to feature an alternate band in that issue. Instead, he moved right on to number nine.

Rock 'N' Roll Comics number 8 on Skid Row was never published, a fact which continues to perplex catalogers and collectors. Few know that it was actually completed. I have a Xerox of the art and it’s no great loss to the line, believe me. So those of you who thought you still needeed number 8 for a complete set of RnR Comics, sorry - number 8 doesn't exist (despite it being listed for sale on several clearly specious websites).

(Motorhead comic page, along with my original thumbnail sketch the artist worked from…hey, it was 1989, and I hadn’t drawn any comics since my old high school newspaper! Note that the final comic was the first artwork ever published by Stuart Immonen, who later became very well known for his work on DC's flagship Superman comic)

Eventually, comic distributors began carrying our comics again. The demand - and profit - must have been difficult to ignore. With the income pumped up again, Todd decided to expand the line with more titles, to try publishing color comics, and even to bump RNR Comics up to twice-monthly.

(AC/DC comic, along with my own original thumbnail sketch)

I took over writing Rock ‘N’ Roll Comics, as Todd focused on new titles and closed down the mail order business (embroiling himself in another legal battle, this time against former employee Gary Whitehead, who alleged that Todd hid company assets before filing bankruptcy for Musicade in 1991).

(Queen comic cover, with working sketches)

"I had to focus my concentration on one project so Musicade had to go," Todd wrote, and he invited his father, Herb Shapiro, to work as Vice President for the growing Revolutionary Comics.

"I hadn't lived with him since I was seventeen, so I’d had enough time to come to terms with him as more than just a father, but as a friend as well. I knew there'd be complications, hiring my dad and all. How often do you hear of a son and father team, in that order?"

Todd branched off from bio comics and launched a dramatic horror anthology, Tipper Gores Comics And Stories. As to its title, he wrote "We just wanted to make fun of a ridiculous person." Todd sent Mrs. Gore copies of the comic, hoping for a PR coup by provoking public condemnation from her, but she never took the bait. The stories read like venerable EC Tales From The Crypt comics, only with contemporary and even political themes (pollution, hero worship, addiction, crooked government, etc.). Painter Robert Williams - whose work graces the cover of Guns N' Roses' Appetite for Destruction - provided artwork for the Tipper title.

One Tipper Gore writer was Spike Steffenhagen, who'd met Todd at a San Diego Comic Convention. Among his earliest Gore stories was one about child abuse. "Todd surprised me by asking if a child was being raped behind closed doors in a particular panel,” he says. “I had originally shown the actual rape happening. No penetration or anything like that, just a few panels with the kid crying out with the perpetrators large hand holding the child’s smaller hand down. I changed to the closed door because I thought the scene was too much. Todd told me that if I was going to have the balls to take that subject on, then I needed to have the balls to put it right in the readers face and leave them no room for denial. He assured me that he wouldn’t censor me, and that I shouldn't censor myself."

"Then," says Spike, "he did something very Todd-like. He didn't actually censor me, but he did keep bugging me for a happy ending. I killed the main character and he just didn’t like it. He said it was too depressing. Todd also insisted on telling people I was seventeen for some reason. I was twenty or twenty-one at the time."

Artist Mike Clift has drawn gory, zombie-heavy record covers for bands like GutRot, Nocturnus, DiamondHead, and Skinlab. He’s probably best known for his sleeve artwork for long-gone locals Psychotic Waltz. “I used to put my phone number on my flyers, and I got a call about doing [Psychotic Waltz] artwork. They also contacted the infamous artist Pushead, but luckily my design beat his out.”

Clift describes how he went from Psychotic Waltz covers to drawing the comic book Tipper Gore’s Comics and Stories. “I met Todd in 1989 through a guy named Vinnie, who worked in Todd's rock merchandise mail order business, and Todd and I hit it off. His sexual orientation may've played a part in this, as I was young and cute at the time, but he showed a real enthusiasm for my art and told me about his upcoming horror comics that he planned to do, specifically to piss off Tipper Gore.”

“I was all for it, man. I was stoked, because all this was hitting at the same time as Psychotic Waltz for me. He offered me 80 dollars per page, and we wrote the stories together and met quite a bit at his place, or he'd take me out to eat and stuff. He was living in the UTC area back then, and he got kinda weird at home, showing me his safe. He was paying me cash as I turned in each page of artwork, and one time he tricked me into watching a porno tape - yikes! - but please do not think I’m trying to disparage Todd. He was one of the sweetest guys, and very polite and apologetic when he noticed my discomfort. I am so grateful to Providence that he and I connected and had that time. He had a huge hand in launching my career; He licensed a line of t-shirts of my work, he let me do the horror comics, and he brokered a couple painting sales for me. He was awesome.”

In early 1990, RNR issue number twelve, on New Kids On The Block, got us sued again by Great Southern/Winterland.

Todd set up a 900 # Nuke the New Kids to raise money for our defense ($10.00 per call, billed by the phone company). Famed Boston attorney Robert Dushman commented "It's a fascinating case that fits in between the cracks of a lot of other cases. You clearly cannot prohibit an unauthorized biography even if it has some pictures. But is it primarily the pictures that are being sold? It comes down to this question: is a comic more like a statue of Elvis, or more like an unauthorized book? That's what the judge will have to decide."

Todd: "Comics are an expression that is a form of speech. Look...if I wanted to make money, I would have become a lawyer, not a comic book publisher. But...I want to document the history of rock and roll in comics. What’s wrong with that?"

In mid-April 2000, U.S. District Judge John S. Rhoades declared that RNR #12 could legally be distributed, because it was part biography and part satire. His twelve page ruling stated "Bookstores are filled with biographies - both authorized and unauthorized - of public figures. And, while the subjects of such biographies may be offended by the publication of their life stories, they generally have no claim for trademark infringement." He added that "It appears that the First Amendment may trump any claim that the plaintiffs have for trademark infringement."

The order stated that Winterland Concessions failed to show that the case met the standards required to issue a preliminary injunction. This dissolved the temporary restraining order issued in early April 1990. The New Kids respond by filing suit for trademark infringement, since their logo appeared in the comic.

With the help of longtime RevCom lawyer Andy Verne, a settlement between The New Kids and Revolutionary was reached in August. It permanently enjoined Revolutionary from advertising, manufacturing, distributing and/or selling or otherwise commercially exploiting any publication displaying the trademark and/or logo of the New Kids On The Block, either as a group or individually. In other words, Todd was found to have (ab)used the band's logo, with the rest of the comic being deemed as permissible.

Todd had to destroy 12,000 copies of the original comic printing, creating a rare collectible which now goes for around $20.00 in comic shops. He spent over $18,000.00 in legal fees.

He promptly reprinted the New Kids story in magazine format, without depicting the bands logo anywhere in the story. The Kids lawyer, David Phillips, was mad. "My clients are absolutely furious about this,” he said in a press statement. “We’re considering whether or not we’re actually going to go through with this agreement [to settle for destruction of RNR #12 and not seek monetary damages]."

Todd on the New Kids settlement: "It has never been proven that I violated the New Kids property rights by using their logos, nor did I admit that I had violated them. I was willing to stop using their logos in order to settle the case. This does not mean that what I was doing was illegal...we did not get a chance to argue that point in court because it never got that far."

Several months later, Todd decided to poke the bear again by announcing a New Kids Hate Comic. Sales came in startlingly low, so he put out a press release claiming the art had been stolen from his car, hinting that the culprits were agents of the New Kids. Some of the unpublished material later turned up a Rock ‘N’ Roll Comics issue called Fall Of The New Kids, which I wrote.

Capital City Distribution, one of the two main comic distributors, refused to carry The Fall Of The New Kids, sight unseen. Spokesman John Davis said "Whenever there is litigation, we like to back off and let the parties settle their dispute."

Todd's reply: "Capital should be supporting us and saying 'Here's somebody who stood up for comic books as literature and as communication. Instead, they're acting like we lost. To me, that's a totalitarian attitude."

You can imagine my surprise when I read that Capital was already calling the comic "inflammatory and incendiary," given that I hadn’t written one word of the script yet.

Competitor Gary Groth at Fantagraphics Publishing wasn’t happy with Revolutionary Comics. "Todd Loren is the latest in a long line of vulgar, self-promoting buffoons that makes the comics profession such a sinkhole of shoddiness and opportunism,” he wrote in an editorial. “Since Loren and his ilk are an inexhaustible and permanent part of American life - indeed, the very definition of American life – it’s worth wasting little space documenting the wide-ranging immensity of his delusions and cupidity."

(Robert Smith meets Death in the Cure comic)

In October 1990, The Comics Journal, a critical magazine published by Groth, ran an article entitled Todd Loren: First Amendment Or Lying Sack Of [expletive]? In it, Groth complained about "Loren's deranged communiqués - filled with paranoid conspiracy theories and testimonials to his grandeur."

Another rival publisher, Denis Kitchen, had an even more specific reason to grouse. His company, Kitchen Sink Press, had purchased an official license to publish comic books featuring the Grateful Dead. His series mostly featured illustrated lyrics and short fictions. He was decidedly unhappy with the unauthorized three issue Dead biography which I wrote and Canadian cult artist Blackwell illustrated. By most distributor accounts, Revolutionary’s Dead comics far outsold Kitchen’s.

(Unpublished Grateful Dead comic art, by original Dead album cover painter Phil Garris, famed for his skeleton fiddler on “Blues For Allah”)

In February 1992, Grateful Dead Merchandising Corporation attorney Joseph A. Yanni sent us a cease and desist letter. The Dead had the same merchandising agent as New Kids - MCA/Winterland Productions. Denis Kitchen: "Weve gotten a lot of good publicity and reviews for our Grateful Dead Comix. The argument is going to come down to confusion in the marketplace...were not saying he can't do unauthorized biographies. He just can't do it with the band's name so dominant on the cover that it's creating confusion with our series." Winterland was also cracking down on other producers of unlicensed Dead merchandise, like T-shirts and jewelry.

Todd wrote a letter to Comics Journal, stating "What will it take before you acknowledge that comic books have the same rights as any other form of communication? What will it take before you realize that integrity and credibility cannot be bought for the price of a licensing fee?"

In a faxed letter to Todd (later published in one of our own Dead comics), Kitchen said that Todd had shown himself to be "at best, an ill-informed jerk. Everything I hear about you from other professionals is negative. My opinion of your product I’ve seen is negative. You appear to be an arrogant, confrontational loudmouth...I think you were smart enough to see a vacuum in the market for rock comics and filled the void with quantity at least, and so there's something to be said for your business acumen. And you certainly have enough chutzpah, if that's a favorable observation. I guess, in summary, I think of you as the comics counterpart to Larry Flint: he also has, thankfully, a First Amendment right to produce Hustler and is often the one obnoxious enough to be on the visible cutting edge of the law, but no one respects him or his product or takes him seriously."

Todd loved the Flynt comparison. "Just about every innovator, every visionary since the dawn of time experienced this," he said. "The man who discovered fire was probably burned at the stake. Did you see the movie Tucker? Have you read The Fountainhead? In fact, I would go as far to say, show me a man who is hated by his peers, and Ill show you a fearless innovator."

Spin Magazine accused us of "ripping of rock and rollers with relative ease...selling standard biography material in the form of cheesy comics."

Todd wrote in reply "How can Spin be objective? They depend on the record companies to provide them with the materials, the information, the access and the advertising which keeps Spin in business."

I was meeting a lot of band members and talking to their managers and press people. More and more performers were making positive comments about the comics, and even asking when we'd be covering them. It was becoming a sort of status symbol, being immortalized in a comic book!

Billy Gibbons from ZZ Top raved about their issue, and both Ice-T and NWA called the office to compliment the research done on their respective comics.

Anthrax offered our comic about them through their fan club. Frank Zappa's wife Gail mentioned that her husband had a copy of the cover of his comic mounted on his office wall, and we even began getting positive notices and media coverage (Entertainment Tonight, numerous MTV News spots, etc.).

Todd was ecstatic when he called to tell me that the Metallica comic had been used as a prop on Married...With Children, and he was really dancing on air when Kiss Gene Simmons turned up in several published photos and on the cover of “Kiss Alive III” wearing a Revolutionary Comics t-shirt!

Others were singing our praises. Professor Deena Weinstein began using the comics in her sociology class at De Paul University. "The history of the bands is detailed very accurately in the books, even though they are in comic form. They are really well researched and insightful." She feels unauthorized is the way to go. "Every rock group has an image they want to project or protect and they have a whole staff of people working on that. An authorized biography can never get beyond that."

(De Paul University Professor Deena Weinstein, with Revolutionary’s Megadeth/Motorhead comic poster in background)

June 18, 1992: "I called the office in Hillcrest," says Spike, "and the secretary told me he hadn't come in all day and that his father went over to check on him. I knew something was way out of line."

Herb drove over and found the door to Todd's Canyon Woods condo was locked. Concerned, he called a locksmith to open the door. He found Todd upstairs, dead, in his own bed. He'd been repeatedly stabbed. He was 32, the same age as me.

When I got the phone call, I thought it was another of Todd's jokes. It would be just like him, to circulate a press release faking his own death. However, when homicide detectives called to ask me questions about who might want to kill him (yes, Axl Rose and all the New Kids had alibis), the reality began to hit me.

Both Herb and Todd's mom, Marylin, were devastated. I assumed the company would be closing. I was surprised when Herb told me that there would be an office staff meeting after the funeral, to discuss upcoming plans. What upcoming plans, I wondered?

"At the funeral," remembers Spike, "Elvis Costello’s What's So Funny About Peace Love And Understanding was played over and over. It was Todd’s favorite song. Herb read an editorial of Todd’s...it was a history of Todd's founding of Revolutionary and everything that led up to it. He had shown it to me and I'd said it was a bit self-congratulatory. He said no one else was tooting his horn so he might as well do it."

The fact that Todd had been gay had never really affected the way Spike and I interacted with Todd. I soon found out that few others seemed to know about it, however, including his immediate office staff. At the wake, the first thing I was asked by all three woman employees (none of whom I'd met before) was "Is it true Todd was gay?"

The murder investigation never seemed to go anywhere. They only interviewed a few of Todd's friends and associates. His car, a convertible Chrysler Le Baron, had been stolen from the condo parking lot and was found a few days later in parking lot at a junior college in Hayward CA.

Homicide Lt. John Welter said "Whomever took the car is probably the one who killed him." Since Todd's house keys were on same keychain as car keys, Police think his killer walked out front door, locked it and went to take the car. "There was nothing taken that we could tell. Stereo and VCR equipment and a big screen TV were still there. As of yet, there is nothing that links any one person to the crime."

Gary Groth at Fantagraphics had a theory. "I don’t think anyone in our industry hated him enough to kill him...but it wouldn’t surprise me if someone in the music industry did. There is a lot more money at stake in the music business, and he was publishing all those unlicensed biographies."

Denis Kitchen of Kitchen Sink Press says he immediately announced to friends and comic biz associates that "I have an alibi." Kitchen’s company has since gone out of business, reportedly due in part to losses related to their license to produce authorized Grateful Dead comics.

A week after the funeral, the office reopened. Herb announced that he’d decided to keep Revolutionary open. "Todd had indicated to me with some sort of prescience that if anything ever happened to him, that he would like his dream fulfilled,” he said in a press release, “and that is what we are going to do."

I took over Todd’s job as Managing Editor, while Herb would continue on as company President.

The logistics of taking over the operation were hard enough. I literally lived in Todd’s office for the first few weeks, sleeping on the couch, reading all his files, and calling everyone in his phone book while piecing together where we were and where Todd had planned on taking us. Dozens of people’s livelihoods depended on me keeping the machine humming and well oiled. Longtime contributors like cover artist Scott Jackson made a substantial part of their living doing work for Revolutionary ---

The most difficult thing, though, was sitting behind Todd’s desk. The job was getting done and we barely missed a beat with our publication schedule, but the psychic toll on myself and on the staff was enormous.

We ended up moving our office from Hillcrest to Miramar. There was just far too much Todd in the old office, and at various turns every one of us felt haunted there. Not too mention the murderer was still on the loose and nobody knew the motivation for the killing. You can imagine how jumpy I'd be, sitting alone in his office at ten p.m., and suddenly hearing a scritching noise outside the balcony window (“It’s only a pigeon, only a pigeon...”)

(Me with Tom Potts at the then-new Miramar office)

We put out over a hundred comics over the next two years. More than Revolutionary had released during Todd's lifetime. We hired a slew of well-known illustrators and improved the quality and reputation of the entire line.

We were one of the first and only independent comic companies on newsstands, in places like 7-11 and in bookstores. We went full color on many titles and, for the first time, we began getting positive press coverage, on TV, in mainstream magazines and, shock of all shocks, even in the comic book trade press.

We worked directly with Kiss on an acclaimed three issue series called Kiss Pre-History, that became a top seller of the era. Jimi Hendrix bassist Noel Redding called me to compliment our Hendrix comic, and we struck up a friendship we maintained through his death a few years ago.

Doors drummer John Densmore favorably reviewed our two issue Doors series. King Diamond, Soundgarden, Prong, Mojo Nixon and others worked directly with us on various comic related projects, while Motley Crue licensed our Crue comic for their CD box set “Music To Crash Your Car To II.”

(Comics autographed by Motley Crue, Paul McCartney, Queensryche, Slash, and Metallica)

We began publishing more music titles, covering everything from rap to punk to disco, plus we expanded the lines Todd had just launched featuring sports, film, and television figures as well.

This period, while rewarding and productive, was hard on Todd's parents, both of whom worked at the office full time. "The first six or seven months after Todd’s death were a lot of chaos," says Herb. "It took me a good six months to get refocused so that I could fully concentrate on what was going on."

Many RevCom contribs, like Elvis Shrugged scripter Patrick McCray, were finding their talents in demand elsewhere - Patrick went to work on the Babylon 5 TV series, artists Stuart Immonen and Len Kirk got mainstream comic gigs like Superman and Star Trek, and Demi the Demoness creator SS Crompton signed a deal with Rip Off Press to publish his cult comic character.

Unfortunately, what was going on was that sales for all comics, from all publishers, began to drop in late 1993, including our own books. Dozens of new publishers had sprung up to flood the market with over six hundred titles per month, up from only a couple hundred in 1990.

The niche we'd pioneered - comics based on real people- become crowded with imitations from companies like Personality Comics, Rock Fantasy, and First Amendment press. Even the big mainstream publishers began publishing rock comics. Harvey (Casper, etc.) had an authorized New Kids comic (it quickly flopped). A press kit for Trixter had comic art by legendary illustrator Neal Adams. Marvel did a Cheap Trick comic that almost nobody seems to have seen.

DC Comics – home of Superman - put out two Prince comics, with fictional storylines about the musician’s own super-powered alter-ego. DC’s Andy Helfer said at the time that "Revolutionary is just making excuses because they don’t want to go through the expense and time consuming process of authorization. That's why they were out there first. We had the idea [for rock comics] but we were still tied up in authorization."

Marvel later announced their own Marvel Rocks line, which was canceled after just a few issues. Malibu tried something called Rock-It Comics (also soon canceled), run by RevCom defector Rob Conte. All these poor sellers and failures made store owners reluctant to carry any biographical comics, and our own sales slipped further.

Behind the scenes at RevCom, a merger with a company in L.A. called Sportstime cost us a lot of time and money when the merger was called off after several unproductive, troubled months. The capital they promised never appeared and they racked up several sizable bills which were difficult to pay off after so many weeks of having things on hold.

(Unpublished cover for a Meatloaf/Lenny Kravitz issue)

Herb and his wife grew increasingly tired of the grind of putting out comics each and every month. Profits were down and the excitement and adrenaline we’d once been infused with had long since drained. With several production bills still outstanding, Herb declared bankruptcy for the company in June 1994, and we all moved on to other endeavors.

It was strange, in July 1997, as I began hearing the reports about Andrew Cunanan and his killing spree. He targeted well off gay businessmen who were prominent in their communities. Brutally murdering them. Sometimes stole their car. And he hung out in Hillcrest at the same places as Todd. Plus, Cunanan collected home-made voyeuristic videotapes, which Todd also bought and traded through local adult newspaper ads.

Could Todd have known Cunanan?

I got a call from Herb and Marylin, who were wondering the same thing. "Prior to his death," Herb told one reporter, "he talked to us about a fellow who sounds a lot like [Cunanan]. He said he met a younger man at a gay bar in Hillcrest and had a brief affair. He said he was very taken with him. He was young, with dark hair, active in financial circles and might have been living with an older guy in La Jolla."

Local police and the FBI were looking into the Todd/Cunanan link as well. All I could confirm for them was that Todd was an intensely private individual. He rarely told anyone where he lived, and only someone very close to him could get access to his condo, let alone his bedroom.

Since there were no signs of forced entry, and no evidence of kidnapping, Todd’s killer would have to be a good friend or lover. Could Todd have been Cunanan’s first victim?

Cunanan's suicide in a Florida houseboat effectively ended the investigation, as no physical evidence could ever be found linking the two. At the time, homicide Lt. Jim Collins held out very little hope for any resolution. "It's a real long shot. I don't want to get the [family's] hopes up. But we'd be remiss if we didn't compare the evidence."

Around 2001, Chicago-based BulletProof Film began production on a documentary film, “Unauthorized and Proud Of It: Todd Loren’s Rock ‘N’ Roll Comics.” They shot interviews with Todd's family and surviving Revolutionaries, comic book colleagues, adversaries and supporters, even past and present rock 'n' roll stars featured in Revolutionary Comics, as well as spending an afternoon at my place in La Mesa...

(World Premiere of “Unauthorized & Proud Of It” documentary, during 2005 San Diego Comic-Con: Me with Mojo Nixon, and me with Revolutionary co-creators SS Crompton, Scott Jackson and Spike Speffenhagen kneeling)

Filmmakers also confronted San Diego police about their supposed "investigation" into Todd's murder, interspersed with clips of friends who say they weren't even interviewed, or who had to force feed evidence and information to investigators who seemed uninterested.

“They looked at it as just another fag murder,” says local underground cartoonist Mary Fleener.

(Me with Spike at the Unauthorized premiere)

The documentary debuted in San Diego in 2005, in conjunction with that year’s Comic-Con. The fact that "Unauthorized And Proud Of It" is told by those who lived it gives the docu the same kind of "You Were There" feel as Todd’s own comics. Video footage of Todd from the late ‘80s shows him giving a tour of his office, just as he was forming the rock comic line. Outtakes show both his humor and his controlling presence ("It's my video and we'll shoot it my way").

(Rarity from the archives – unpublished Beatles cover! Tryin’ to make this blog worth yer while, dontcha know…)

Edited alongside recollections of the few people who were close to him, it's a fascinating insight into a guy whose death, coming just a few days after Mad founder William Gaines, was overlooked by the comic industry that Todd helped Revolutionize.

Interviewees include Alice Cooper (who pitches a Keith Moon comic; "There could fifty issues") and others kindly disposed to Loren's unauthorized biographies. Cynthia Plaster Caster checks out a comic scene of her casting Jimi Hendrix's penis in plaster, and praises its accuracy.......

Gene Simmons refused to be interviewed on camera, saying he considered Loren's comics "bootlegs" even though he and Paul Stanley worked with Revolutionary on four true-life Kiss Comics.

However, Gene Simmons manages to get a film cameo via a recording of a phone conference, during which he both threatens us with a lawsuit over our earlier unauthorized comic AND praises us ("the work is excellent") with an offer to "do something together" (later resulting in the aforementioned Kiss bio comics).

When we’re heard telling Simmons "and hopefully we'll all make some MONEY," and he cheerfully pipes in with "That's the MAIN thing!", it provides fascinating insight into exactly HOW comic books and rock and roll were intertwined by Todd's ingenious antics.

(After Simmons hangs up, you can hear us at RevCom all whooping and hollering, patting each other on the back for having apparently made a deal with the devil-tongue.)

(Another rarity: never-published Howard Stern Fartman comic page…someday, I’ll write about our falling out with Howard, and why someone else ended up doing the comic insert for his second book…)

Publisher Gary Groth at Fantagraphics is interviewed, appearing clearly nonplussed as he discusses a rival whose "shoddy and exploitative" comics broke most sales records for indie comics. The fact that, so many years after his death, Todd Loren is the topic filmmakers are asking him about, seems to bemuse and pester Groth.

Artist Robert Williams - famed for his painting on the cover of Guns N' Roses' Appetite for Destruction - says of working for Todd at Revolutionary "I warned him that he didn't really know what he was getting into."

(Robert Williams with Revolutionary comic cover)

"Stickboy" creator Dennis Worden balances the Todd-bashing by praising his former publisher, revealing that Todd paid him four times as much as Gary Groth at Fantagraphics. Mary Fleener and Rock 'N' Roll Comics creators Steve Crompton and Spike Steffenhagen share revealing and moving stories about what Todd was like behind-the-scenes.

Gonzo rocker Mojo Nixon - who helped create Todd's first AUTHORIZED rock comic – is shown explaining that Todd's outspoken willingness to be "outlaw" was not only the secret but the purpose of his success.

(Mojo Nixon playing at Revolutionary’s San Diego Comic-Con booth)

The documentary later concentrates on Todd's unsolved murder, and the possible links to Andrew Cunanan. It makes a compelling case that Todd may have been Cunanan's first victim, years before the killing spree "officially" started.

San Diego police recently reopened the investigation into Todd Loren’s murder. Evidence is being examined again, some of which could provide new clues via forensic technology unavailable in 1992. Details of the crime are posted on a new cold case website, in hopes that new leads may come in:

CBS News affiliate KFMB channel 8 ran a report on August 8, interviewing Todd’s parents at their home. "It would mean a great deal to us to see the person who murdered our son…brought to justice," Herb Shapiro told the news crew.

Crimestoppers is offering a $1,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest in the murder of Todd Loren.

"Todd was a visionary," says Spike Steffenhagen, "with a solid belief and a stubborn willingness to stick to that belief, when changing it would have been more convenient. He took a lot of [expletive], and he dished a lot out as well. They say that having a common enemy makes people closer. At Revolutionary, we had a lot of enemies. It was very much an us-against-the-world attitude. We were almost like family. A dysfunctional family, but family all the same."

(Bart Mendoza and the Shambles and Collage Menage performing at Revolutionary Comic-Con booths, and Spider-Man co-creator Stan Lee drops by the booth to sign the bio comic I wrote about him)

3-19-07: The Rock 'N' Roll Comics documentary screens at New York City's famed Pioneer Theater

(Ad for unpublished issues)

http://www.rocknrollcomics.com

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I blame Gene Simmons.

Yes, that Gene Simmons, bassist and founding dragonlord of Kiss. Gene was a fan of Revolutionary Comics Rock N Roll Comics line, which I began writing for in 1989. The company's founder, Todd Loren, died in June 1992, the victim of a still-unsolved murder. However, Revolutionary kept on producing comic books, including a Kiss biography, under the leadership of Todd’s father and myself.

I contacted Gene Simmons in 1993 about doing some new Kiss comics together, and the band ended up working with Revolutionary on several titles, as well as a hardcover coffee table book called Kisstory. This was before the four original Kiss members reunited, during a period when the group was essentially a trivia footnote in rock history. Kiss financial coffers were fading and they wanted Revolutionary to cover the cost of producing the Kisstory book. Hoping to impress us with their potential to still generate merchandising income, Gene invited me and several Revolutionary staffers to his birthday party, to be held in an L.A. bowling alley, promising a star-studded evening of rock and roll nirvana.

It was during a meeting leading up to this event, at the Beverly Hills Hotel, when Gene took me aside and said "Jay, instead of just rock stars, you should do something like Jesus comics. Or maybe porn star comics. People will always be into Jesus and porn stars."

"Hopefully not in the same comic," I allowed, and the subject was dropped.

I didn’t mention to him that I'd already looked into doing porn star biographies, but since the girls use pseudonyms and work in a somewhat secretive underground subculture, I'd had little luck making the necessary contacts. Pity, I thought. Todd had started an adults-only line in '92 called Carnal Comics - sex filled fictional stories having nothing to do with the adult film industry, but the series was cancelled after only three money-losing issues. I felt the name Carnal Comics would make a great imprint title for a porn star bio series, but the moniker had died with Todd.

It would have stayed buried, were it not for ol’ lizard-tongue’s birthday party.

Gene’s bash was filled with celebrities like Tom and Roseanne Arnold, Dweezil and Moon Zappa, famed groupie and author Pamela Des Barres ("I'm With The Band") and many others. One of the people Gene introduced me to was a hairy, nearly hunchbacked little man named Ron Jeremy, whom I recognized as The Hedgehog of countless porn loops. I did not shake his hand (I've seen where it’s been).

Looking around, I thought I recognized many of the half-nekkid ladies in attendance as porn starlets, but I hadn't been an active porn watcher in some time so I wasn't positive.

At one point, Gene asked me if I had any business cards, because "This would be a good opportunity to make some contacts." I handed him a dozen or so and off he went. I found out later that he placed those cards in the palms of porn stars throughout the room, telling them "That guy over there wants to do a comic book about you."

The following Monday, I was mystified when I began getting calls from sexy sounding women telling me that they were anxious to meet me and work with me. Most started right off by saying they wanted to send me naked pictures of themselves, and did I want to see them in softcore or hardcore shots?

This was not the usual Rock 'N' Roll Comics morning, to be sure!

One woman with a veddy propah British accent announced "I seduce women who’ve nevah been with a girl before…I’ll send you some tapes."

This turned out to be Miss Sarah-Jane Hamilton and I decided that I liked her quite a bit. I wrote up a contract to do a three issue comic book series with the beautiful, busty redhead. The comics would serialize her illustrated life story and each issue would have a fictional fantasy tale which Sarah herself would write, with my help, based on her own fantasies.

Todd's father and I met with Sarah-Jane at her Hollywood bungalow and she greeted us at the door in a skintight red leather mini dress, fishnet stockings, sky-high red stiletto heels and, as I saw when she bent over to pick up the newspaper on her porch, no underwear. We had lunch together at a Hollywood bistro where my fruit salad cost $15.00 and later that day we were in her bedroom, shooting photos for the comic, which we'd sell in the ad pages.

I met a female artist at a Pittsburgh comic convention, a busty redhead who bore a resemblance to Sarah-Jane herself. I felt her sensual artwork was perfect for the comic. This was Fauve, aka Holly Golightly, and Carnal Comics would become her first published work. She drew for all three Sarah Jane issues and I'm proud to have watched her go on to become a well known and popular illustrator and writer. She currently publishes her own comic book titles as Broadsword Comics, assisted by Catwoman artist Jim Balent. She did several early Carnal Comics and many feel, myself included, that her feminine style set the tone for the entire line - sexy stories told from a female point of view rather than the usual pornographic male fantasies.

(Me and Fauve at 2005 SD Comic-Con)

By the time the third and final Sarah-Jane issue was nearing its press date, sales returns made it clear that Carnal Comics was a huge hit. I began planning new editions with other well-known porn stars, but then Todd Loren’s father decided it was time to retire. It had been two years since Todd had died, and the flood of competing copycat titles were whittling into the sales for Rock 'N' Roll Comics. The company was in debt over the expenses incurred by a failed sports comic line and Todd's family was tired of the grind, wanting to move to the east coast and close Revolutionary's doors for good.

I’d invested a lot of my time efforts into Carnal Comics, and sales for the line were higher than our rock comics - higher than most other independent comics coming out at the time - so, in June 1994, almost two years to the day after Todd’s death, I became a publisher myself by purchasing the entire Carnal cache - lock, stock and barrel.

Sarah-Jane Hamilton #3 came out so quickly after this that I didn't even have time to alter the logos. There's still a Revolutionary masthead, as well as a small logo my then-common law wife Heather created for the company I’d decided to call Re-Visionary Press.

Why Re-Visionary? Truth to tell, because this placed our product listings in the same alphabetical-based spot that Revolutionary had occupied in consumer and wholesale catalogs. I didn't want to lose any of the sales momentum that the Sarah-Jane series had established and I certainly wanted the public to know that Carnal Comics were still being produced by the same successful creative team as previously.

Our flagship title was formally christened Carnal Comics: True Stories Of Adult Film Stars Told By The Stars Themselves. The stars of erotica worked directly with us, to turn their life experiences into comics. We focused on the pivotal events in their lives, the moments that defined who they are and what they’ve achieved. Most of the women were very honest and upfront, revealing things never known about them before. For most issues, we also included a fantasy backup feature, where the star tells their wildest dream and we illustrated it, using their own words. The women themselves chose artists out of our large stable of regular and part-time freelancers. The entire comic was crafted with the stars' full input and participation, with some even writing their own scripts.

(Carnal promotions: If you recognize most of these women, you spend far too much time with your hand in your lap!)

Heather and I basically ran the entire operation ourselves at first, in addition to the freelance art contributors based all over the country and in Canada. We seemed to work around the clock most days, and any money that didn’t go into rent and food was re-invested in advertising, production and retail promotion, not to mention contacting everyone we could find involved in wholesale distribution to adult bookstores. Our hope was to get our comics into that market rather than settling for the traditional comic book shop network. This had been Rock N Roll Comics secret of success, being carried by music stores, rock memorabilia dealers and fan clubs.

By the time our first non-Sarah issue came out three months after SJ #3, Tiffany Million #1, we'd made serious inroads into this market, partly on the strength of Miss Millions popularity as a former pro wrestler for G.L.O.W. - Gorgeous Ladies Of Wrestling. Miss Million recently had her own TV reality show - Mom, Wife, Bounty Hunter.

We'd met Tiffany through Sarah, but she wasn't nearly as charming or as easy to work with. I didn't find her sexy or even interesting, regardless of whether or not she showed up for our meetings wearing underwear. In fact, she was one porn star whose moneymaker I didn’t want to see, in any position or from any angle. Our relationship was adversarial from start to finish –

In many ways, the Million situation foreshadowed my eventual anti-porn feelings and activities, but we’ll get to that in a bit…

(Carnal signings: Melrose Larry Green, Porsche Lynn, Lisa Ann and cover artist Michaela Tomassini, and John “Gomez Addams” Astin visits Nightingale at the Carnal booth)

A little Hispanic dynamo named Alicia Rio came to San Diego for a dance gig at Déjà Vu on Midway Drive, requesting a chance to meet with us. Heather and I decided she was likeable and she had a positive story to tell, something that became more and more important to us in our attempt to avoid putting out mere illustrated press releases. The darker side of the porn business - domination and S&M videos - was intriguing as well, if only as a story subject, and so dominatrix Nicole London was signed up. Then came superstar girl-girl film star Janine, pillowy girl-next door Julia Ann and a parade of pulchritude to make any man (and many women) twitch and writhe.

(Stan Lee visits Carnal at Comic-Con, and autograph signing with Spike)

In one afternoon of L.A. meetings, I was scheduled to meet with, at different times, Howard Stern fave Aja, one of porn’s biggest stars, and Pamela Des Barres, who'd written a book about her experiences as a groupie associated with members of Led Zeppelin, the Who and dozens more. First, there was lunch with Aja, during which I mentioned my upcoming meeting with Miss Des Barres. "My God," Aja grimaced, "how can that woman do what she does? I mean, f-ing guys just ‘cause they play guitar? At least with me, it’s my job, my profession. I'm great at what I do, I get paid well for it and then I go home feeling good about it all. She's nothing but a screwed up slut with delusions of grandeur!"

During dinner with Des Barres, I dropped Aja's name and said I'd met with her that afternoon. "What a filthy little thing," she frowned. "When I have sex with a guy, its because there’s something about him I’m already attracted to. I know and respect his music, I feel something from him and want to share some of myself with him in return. But that girl's nothing but a porn slut - hand her a few bucks and she’ll do it with anybody." I ended up publishing the Aja comic, which went into three additional printings, but passed on doing a comic version of Pamela Des Barres "I'm With The Band."

Soon, we began launching additional titles, sometimes several per month, such as Porn Star Fantasies, Superstars Of Erotica, The Golden Age Of Triple-X (adaptation of vintage adult films), the psychosexual horror series Nightingale, Mistress Of Dreams and many others. Every new issue seemed to outsell the previous one. Jenna Jameson, an X-rated film actress with a role in Howard Sterns Private Parts, appeared several times on Stern’s radio and television shows, and Re-Visionary enjoyed skyrocketing sales on her comic every time she mentioned it on the air.

Jameson also hosted several specials on the E! Entertainment network, where she promoted her comic as well. Jasmin St. Claire, star of 1996s award winning top-selling adult video The World's Biggest G-bang II, appeared on the Stern show, along with Nico Treasures and other stars, managing to not only plug the comic but to promote autograph signings they were doing for us at various comic book shops and conventions.

Janine and Julia Ann, the dance duo known as Blondage, appeared on the syndicated radio program Loveline, talking at length about the creation of their edition of Carnal Comics. Another X-rated performer, Lilli Xene, taped an episode of the Jenny Jones show where she also got to show some of the non-explicit artwork from her comic book to the audience, while Anna Malle discussed her Carnal Comic on HBO's Real Sex. Brittany OConnell was featured in a long interview for WBAI FM radio in New York, and Porsche Lynn taped an episode of the Marc Scott show on WXYT radio, a CNN outlet in Michigan. Carnal Comics were everywhere, and it seemed almost everyone was talking about us. "Comics definitely aren't just for kids anymore" would be the inevitable byline.

(Me and Deja Sin)

Heather and I were making a comfortable living, with the ability to pay our contributors well and to offer more consistent work than most other independent comic book publishers. Illustrators were having trouble lining up jobs working for big guns like Marvel and DC Comics and instead began requesting the chance to work for us, albeit sometimes with the admitted hope of meeting (and mating) with their favorite sex star. This happened often enough, in fact.

More than once, I set up meetings at comic conventions between a porn starlet and an aspiring artist who ended up painting a cover or drawing a story without ever requesting a paycheck the artist had already made an arrangement to spend some quality time with the starlet subject.

One woman who shall remain both nameless and shameless talked her cover artist into the gig while performing oral sex on him under a covered table at the San Diego Comic Book Convention, while the artist was signing autographs for fans lined up in front of the table! I was standing nearby and can attest that most of those signatures came out pretty shaky.

Not that it was all bread and roses. Many stores and municipalities still considered our publications obscenity and sometimes our comics were seized by police and border officials as such. Even advertising outside the adult magazine market was a challenge, as newspapers and magazines often rejected our ads because of the sexual nature of the comics, without ever inspecting copies of the comics themselves.

We doubled our net profits in 1996 and reached the million comics sold mark late that year. Re-Visionary’s major 1997 project was a three issue series called Triple-X Cinema: A Cartoon History. Participating in its creation were dozens of the major figures of the erotic film industry including Marilyn Chambers, Bill Margold, Hyapatia Lee, Porsche Lynn, Nina Hartley, Seka, Kay Parker and dozens of other producers and performers, including the elusive Gerard Damiano, who directed the original Deep Throat film.

Re-Visionary was placing its adults-only line in places that had never been exposed to comics before. Our biggest boost came from joining forces with Adam And Eve, the largest mail order catalog of adult merchandise in the world. A&E even have their own cable network, so this provided us with real growth. The women who star in Carnal Comics began promoting the line on the Adam And Eve Channel and Spice, as well as on The Playboy Channel and TV shows like Jerry Springer and Geraldo, and the comics generated positive press in Hustler, Chic, High Society, Screw, Adult Video News and dozens of other major magazines.

It was probably inevitable that we'd spin off the Carnal Comics into a comic strip version as well. We began producing a multi-page full color version of Porn Star Fantasies for various adult magazines, most notably Oui Magazine, one of the three top selling men’s periodicals. Oui's Carnal Comics ran for well over a year before their company went bankrupt and we stopped turning in work to them, whereupon I began producing similar strips for Hustler, Adult Cinema Review and others.

To our surprise, Heather and I found ourselves becoming friends with some of the women we worked with. Kimberly Kupps introduced herself to Heather by offering to let Heather feel her new 72GGG breast implants, which for some reason was endearing to us. We particularly grew to love Hyapatia Lee, the Amerindian superstar whose class and sensuality is sorely missed. All of these women were upfront but not overpowering with their sexuality, and none tried to tempt me - or Heather - away from our commitment to each other.

A few of the women did indeed profess to developing crushes on Heather, as she was and is one of the prettiest women on the planet, and a couple of the stars went as far as asking me if I was interested in, well, tasting the merchandise. None ever asked twice, once I told them that Heather and I were a team.

Unfortunately, the stress of working so closely together contributed to Heather and I eventually separating. During that separation, I strayed sexually and that put an end to our professional and personal pairing after having been a couple over fifteen years.

With most of my social companions being porn stars and strippers, it goes to follow that I began dating those very same women.

It's interesting, dating porn stars. Especially the way the public reacts, ranging from worshipful praise to shocking condemnation. As the woman’s companion, that recognition, or rather infamy, reflected on and affected me as well.

I was fascinated to discover how many women are porn fans. When I’m with, say, Jasmin St. Claire, the girls who ask for her autograph treat her like a revered rock star - and treat me like the consort of a goddess. And, when it comes to preferred treatment on airplanes, in restaurants and at clubs, man oh man, having someone like Alicia Rio on your arm allows for the kind of pampering I once thought was reserved for Hef, Brad Pitt and, well, Gene Simmons.

Some of these relationships got quite serious. For several weeks, I took to the road with blonde bombshell Christina Angel, attending stripper conventions and dance dates at clubs with her and catching her clothes as they flew from the stage. Every night, I considered myself the luckiest guy in the world to be sleeping with a one-time Playboy Playmate who’d been voted one of the ten most beautiful women in the world after her third Penthouse centerfold.

It was while I was with Christina that I discovered how many regular women want to sleep with porn stars and, simultaneously, with the porn star's man. I can’t count how many young girls wanted to come home with Christina and I, apparently hoping that we'd teach them whatever supposed tantric sexual secrets people in the sex biz must know.

I gave up a lot of my personal time while dating the women of erotica, but I managed to keep up my workload. With help. For the editorial department, I hired a new Managing Editor, Karen Misty, who previously served as editor of various mens magazines including Hustler and Oui.

When Sordid Stories, a combination film and comic book which I wrote and which came out simultaneously, was nominated for two Adult Video News Awards (the adult industry’s Oscar equivalent), more filmmakers began contacting Karen and Re-Visionary about storyboarding and other pre-production work.

Before long, we were doing full film treatments and shooting scripts, most all of them based around fantasy and science fiction storylines. One was a superhero thriller from Wicked Pictures, known for their high gloss big budget adult features, starring Jenna Jameson, then the best known and most popular porn star in the world. The half-million dollar movie was shot on film (a rarity in adult movies these days).

As with Sordid Stories, the Wicked Weapon comic book and video was released and cross-promoted simultaneously in the comic and adult boutique markets. We even produced a special 16 page mini-comic which was included with the entire initial video run of the big budget adult film Wicked Weapon, packaged with the video itself, now one of the rarest of all Carnal publications. The Wicked Weapon video was nominated for five AVN awards, increasing our credibility and reputation in the adult marketplace even more. By this point, I was long past calling prospective subjects to work with - I had a year-long waiting list of girls clamoring to be in a Carnal comic book.

Publishers in thirteen countries bought exclusive licenses to reprint Carnal Comics, such as Christos Koudakis & Associates, which has the exclusive rights to publish 48 page magazine versions of Re-Visionary’s adults only line in Greece. I was thrilled to see stories I co-wrote published beneath covers by famed movie poster and book cover artist Boris Vallejo, though I cant read a word of the re-lettered dialogue. My name looks pretty cool in Greek though. And of course I like being paid for doing little more than sending artwork stats overseas accompanied by a signed license agreement.

As the end of the nineties approached, I launched even more new titles, since everything I published seemed to outsell the previous comics. Issue number one of Legends Of Porn featured one of the best known names in the history of erotica, Annie Sprinkle. Sprinkle is the author of a best selling book Post Porn Modernist, as well as being in demand as a university lecturer. Her performance art stage show Herstory Of Porn has been playing sold out houses around the world for over four years (Senator Jesse Helms called the show a sewer of depravity, which Sprinkle cites as her favorite review quote). The star of hundreds of adult films in the seventies and early eighties, she’s also written over three hundred articles for magazines like Penthouse, Hustler, Oui, The Utne Reader and many others.

"I'm basically a total multimedia whore," Annie says. "People either love me or hate me. At times, I'm worshipped as a sex goddess, and other times I'm screamed at, snubbed, arrested, censored - I've even had my life threatened for daring to call myself a feminist porn star! After all, I'm a lot of things people love to hate: a prostitute, a pornographer, a witch, a Jew, an artist, a full figured woman, a bi-sexual, an avowed masturbator and, perhaps worst of all, a New Yorker!" A Carnal Comics kinda gal, to be sure. She and I ended up becoming very close and I still consider her a valued friend and always fascinating conversationalist – when she brought her stage show to San Diego’s 6th@Penn, we gave out her comic to all attendees and had a wonderful time visiting with her after the show.

I was given the chance to publish comics featuring two of the biggest names in erotica. During a meeting with one of my all time favorite adult film stars, Veronica Hart (Pandora’s Mirror, Roommates), she told me she was directing two films featuring comeback appearances by women who'd long been out of the biz but whose names were still legendary - Ginger Lynn (1985’s New Wave Hookers) and Marilyn Chambers (1971's Behind The Green Door).

Chambers' last X-rated film had been 1980's Insatiable. She remained in the public eye with R-rated TV series on HBO, Cinemax, The Playboy Channel and more. Lynn retired from hardcore in 1986, and had gone on to some success in films like the Vice Academy series and music videos.

Chambers’ new film was to be called Still Insatiable, while Lynn’s was called Torn. Both were filmed by VCA Pictures, known for lavish, groundbreaking and expensive feature films and an exclusive stable of the industry’s most popular performers, and I was contracted to do official comic book souvenir magazines based on the two most heavily promoted films in X-rated history.

The films and the comics broke all sales records for such endeavors. The two issues were Carnal’s best sellers since the Triple-X Cinema: A Cartoon History project.

By early 1999, I was tiring after six years of non-stop Carnal Comics production. I was suffering from my second bout with illness in two years, and my health was not improving. My romantic liaisons with various porn stars had disillusioned me in regard to most aspects of the business. If you've never been in a room filled with men who've just had sex with the girl who’ll be sleeping with you later, you can’t imagine the disgusting physical smell, and the emotional reek that comes with reliving that thought as your lover climbs under the covers with you an hour later.

One day, I was watching TV when a porn star lover of mine brought up our relationship on The Jerry Springer Show. I hadn’t been given any warning that this was coming.

I decided on the spot that, when my life is being discussed on TV with Jerry Springer, it's definitely time to change my life.

I set about wrapping up my involvement in the Carnal biz and began talks with a prospective new publisher, Steven S. Crompton, who’d made his Demi The Demoness character into a cult figure of great renown and popularity, perhaps helped in part by her many appearances in my own Carnal line alongside real-life porn stars.

I used my portion of the Ginger Lynn/Marilyn Chambers proceeds to pay for a major medical procedure and checked myself into the hospital. When I came out, much of my recuperation took place with my newest girlfriend Susan at my side, an ex-porn star (Shyanne) who’d sworn off the business and who, with her six month old baby, was living with me at the time. As were, for a time, two other women - a curvy platinum blonde stripper calling herself Savannah who “danced” at the Jolar Cinema on University Avenue and an internet sex performer named Tricia.

Three beautiful women, a man and a baby. What a life. Who needed comic books? Especially dirty comic books.

I actually became somewhat of a family man. Midnight feedings, baby shots, shopping for cribs - a far different life from the porn magnate Id been known as. I still sold a lot of Carnal Comics through mail order and magazine ads, and there were a million back issues floating around with ordering information printed in the back pages.

However, when the opportunity came to hand the whole shebang over to S.S. Crompton, it was a relief and a pleasure to do so.

(Lisa Ann, Kylie Ireland, and SS Crompton with Nightingale)

Susan moved out but we remained close, and I pretty much swore off dating porn stars from that point on, current or ex. If nothing else, I no longer need to buy condoms and K-Y lubricating jelly by the case, and it’s made for a lot less leather and freaky looking lingerie cluttering up the closets of my house.

My friends react with horror and disbelief that I now pass up the invitations to attend swinger sex parties with porn biz associates. And, even though my current girlfriend is stunningly beautiful and sexy, I regularly get grief from guys who gasp "You actually broke up with a Penthouse centerfold? Are you out of your mind?"

Of course, none of these guys had to drive that centerfold to the Methadone clinic or hide her heroin needles, or sit at a restaurant dinner table with a girl while men come up to compliment her sexual skills.

I’ve now concluded that the porn industry is no road to fame and riches – it’s a dark, dirty, and depressing dead-end. At the moment, I’m working on a comic book with a Porn Survivor’s group – few people really have a clue about what goes on and what often happens to these women, not to mention what happens with their friends and family. And lovers (he said, raising his hand sheepishly….)

If it sounds like I’ve given up the life of a junior Hefner for a boring, humdrum, day-to-day existence, all I can say is "Pay more attention to what I've just told you."

If you still can't understand, don’t blame me.

Blame Gene Simmons.

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THE KOMPLETE KISSTORY KRONICLES

I decided to compile a bunch of stuff I’ve done about working with Kiss on a comic book series, along with a bunch of never-before-seen artifacts from the Kiss Komix archives AND an article by Kiss comic author Spike Steffenhagen, offering his own very-different take on the same events I describe in my essay below ------- following all that is a repost of “Rock ‘N’ Roll Comics: The Inside Story,” some rare unpublished artwork, and film reviews of the documentary “Todd Loren’s Rock ‘N’ Roll Comics” from Variety magazine and the Internet Movie Database.

ON WORKING FOR KISS – JAS

The first song my first band ever played in public was Kiss' "Cold Gin" and I've never been embarrassed to admit that.

Even during the years when I frankly wasn't listening to anything old or new by them, just catching a glimpse of the stylized Kiss logo could send my mind spinning back...sixteen years old, drunk for only the second time and urinating into a boot, hiding in my girlfriend's closet and waiting for her dad to go to bed! To drown us out later, we turned up "Destroyer" loud enough so that Gene, Paul, Ace and Peter were winking accomplices in our carnal crime.

That nearly perfect rock 'n' roll high, marred only by the bummer of a ruined boot, was years behind me when I found myself working at Revolutionary on Rock 'N' Roll Comics, published by the late Todd Loren.

Kiss was featured in Rock 'N' Roll #9, but the company was going through unexpected growth at the time and some pretty bad work slipped past everyone. Todd mentioned that the new freelance writer, Spike Steffenhagen, a virtual Kiss freak, hated the issue. "He has some big hairy balls," Todd told me. "He read me the riot act about how the comic should have been done and then he begged me for his next assignment!"

In 1991, Revolutionary launched new titles like Starjam and Hard Rock Comics, which I was writing and drawing thumbnails for as well as doing the flagship book Rock 'N' Roll. I was also taking on more research and editorial work, so I let Spike, whose big hairy balls had so impressed Todd, take over the Hard Rock title.

Shortly after that, Kiss offered Revolutionary an exclusive interview for an issue of the title. Hard Rock #5, titled "Kiss: Tales From The Tours," came out in June '92, a time when most people would have been hard pressed to name the current members of Kiss - if they even knew the band still existed. Still, the issue sold a little better than the average Hard Rock comic, proving Kiss fans were still out there.

Gene Simmons seemed supportive of the book, turning up in videos, magazine photos and on the cover of "Kiss Alive III" wearing our Hard Rock Comics and Rock 'N' Roll Comics T-shirts.

Shortly after the issue's release, publisher Todd Loren was found dead in his Hillcrest condo, the victim of a still-unsolved murder.

Todd's father Herb Shapiro hired me to repla