Kiss Kids, an upcoming comic book series from local publisher IDW, will be co-created by previous Kiss series writers Chris Ryall and Tom Waltz with art by Jose Holder (Mars Attacks, the Real Ghostbusters).

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"Kiss is used to rocking and rolling all night and partying every day, but back when they were little'uns, those things only happened around nap time," says Ryall, IDW's Chief Creative Officer/Editor-in-Chief. "This series will appeal to kids and Kiss fans of all ages, as we see the school-age band engage robots, evil teachers, other students, and much more, all filtered through the Kiss lens. Beth, the school's Doctor Love, the snooty Torpedo Girls, the bratty Wicked Lester, nefarious Principal Elder… they're all here."

IDW's working relationship with Kiss dates back quite a few years now. In 2007, band bassist Gene Simmons was working with IDW on a horror anthology comic titled Gene Simmons House Of Horrors. “Think Chiller meets the Twilight Zone,” Ryall told the Reader at the time.

Kiss Kids follow IDW's 2012 Kiss comic series, loosely based on the band members' original 1970s solo albums, with Kiss mythos characters like Wicked Lester, the Destroyer, She, the Elder, and more. That series was written by Ryall (Zombies vs Robots) with art by Jamal Igle (The Ray) and with special “solo album” covers by artist Michael Gaydos.

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IDW Publishing has risen to become one of the top-five best selling U.S. comic companies, thanks in part to developing licensed properties based on CSI, 24, Angel, Transformers, Star Trek, Dick Tracy, G.I. Joe, Doctor Who, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (which actually started as a small press comic book).

“I’m roughly the same age as Comic-Con,” IDW publisher and writer Chris Ryall told the Reader in 2011 for a cover feature tied into Comic-Con, "Keys to the Comic Kingdom" ( http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2011/jul/20/cover-key-comic-kingdom/ ). “I think my first show was in 1997. I've been a comic fan since I was a kid, and have vague recollections of getting [Superman co-creator] Joe Shuster’s autograph at a show in Los Angeles when I was about four or five.”

Regarding Hollywood-VS-comics, Ryall counters that “Comic-Con is so large now that you can easily make it into whatever you want the show to be. If you want movie trailers and to see stars, sure, that’s an option. But there’s so much more, from talking to publishers and creators of current books, to seeing people from your childhood favorites, and everything in between.”

Having already reached the status and sales only dreamed by the majority of Comic-Con hopefuls, Ryall says “IDW doesn’t really do [conventions] to make money as much as getting directly in front of fans, offering an outlet for fans to meet IDW creators, and hopefully expose some new people to our books. It also serves as a nice place to meet and talk to creators face to face, which has led to some nice projects.”

IDW also co-published the infamous Archie/Kiss crossover (above). Previous Kiss comics have been published by Marvel, Revolutionary (also based in San Diego), Personality Comics, Celebrity Comics, Dark Horse, Rock Fantasy, and Image.

Kiss Kids co-writer Tom Waltz previously wrote a comic series called Children of the Grave, loosely based on the same-named Black Sabbath album.

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