Gene Simmons Reveals Stan Lee Sent Him Inspirational Letter (Exclusive)

By Adam Barnhardt

Gene Simmons has spent his entire life as an avid comic book reader, with his iconic "Demon" persona in KISS being crafted as a direct result of his fandom. The rocker has even dipped his toes into creating comic books like Gene Simmons' House of Horrors and Dominatrix. Born and raised in New York City, Simmons tells ComicBook.com he often contacted the Marvel publishing offices growing up in hopes of landing a gig writing at the House of Ideas. Though his calls usually went unanswered, the musician got the surprise a lifetime one day—a surprise in the form of a personal letter from Stan Lee himself.

"What an amazing person [Stan Lee] was. I'd known him for decades and decades, but as a 13-year-old kid, I used to torture Flo Steinberg, his assistant at 645 Madison Avenue. Out of nowhere, I actually got a postcard from Stan himself and it said, in his handwriting, 'Gene, you are destined to do great things. Excelsior, Stan,'" Simmons tells us.

He adds, "And for me, as a 13-year-old little shmuck in Queens, New York, this was a sign from the gods that he actually existed instead of just in the fan pages. That he would say something kind to me, when I had nothing on my resume, inspired is a soft word for that."

Simmons spoke with us to promote the aforementioned Dominatrix, which will be published by Opus Comics in July.

"Gene Simmons is a creative powerhouse and a comics aficionado to boot, one of the first to explore the convergence of music and comics, and just a huge inspiration for all that we do here," said Opus Comics and Incendium founder, Llexi Leon, "We're excited to launch our collaboration with a complete reimagining of Gene's Dominatrix series for the comics market."

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"It's a huge thrill to reintroduce fans to Dominatrix with this fresh new take," adds series writer, Holly Interlandi, "Gene has been so open to working with us and taking his characters and story in a new, yet somewhat familiar, direction. I'm looking forward to seeing what fans make of it all."

Interlandi wrote the script for the series based on a story by Simmons. Art was done by S.L. Galant and Maria Keane while Jim Balent handled the artwork for the comic's debut cover.

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