History:
Kings of the Night Time World
In 1973, Stanley Eisen and Gene Klein formed a band named KISS.
Adopting the stage names
of Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons respectively,
they soon recruited Peter Criscoula (Peter Criss) and Paul Frehley (Ace Frehley)
to complete their quartet.
The band they formed featured
costumes and make-up that pre-figured their destinies, had they but known.
By 1975, although success continued to elude them, they had released three
albums.
It was in that year that
these four young men received the four Talismans of Khyszc, battling Dr Doom
to retain them.
They were granted superhuman powers, becoming the vessels for a fraction of
the Elder's powers.
And their fourth and fifth albums made them international superstars.
Their empowerment helped
to awaken the slumbering Elder. They appeared in times in visions to a variety
of mortals,
including the anthropomorphic duck named Howard and four young men from the
KISS cover band Mystery.
In 1978, they battled
a revived Khalis-Wu and the mad roboticist known as the Phantom of the Park,
who built evil robot doubles of KISS.
But four such strong personalities
cannot co-exist forever.
In 1980 Peter Criss left the band and foreswore the use of his powers.
In 1984, Ace Frehley also left. He continued to use his power, although he
perverted them for his own gratification.
At times, the four would re-unite for serious missions, but never for the
music.
Simmons and Stanley played
on, both as heroes and as musicians.
Despite the fact that KISS were the world's greatest heroes, most people saw
them as a particularly flamboyant band.
Most of their battles were assumed to be parts of their stage show.
In 1992, Stanley and Simmons
called it a day. The heroes formally disbanded.
Paul Stanley retired to a hidden society of artists and romantics in South
America.
Ace Frehley used his powers to journey to the far side of the universe and
explore.
Peter Criss disappeared, saying only that he wanted to get in touch with his
animal side.
Only Gene Simmons stayed in the public eye, working as an actor and businessman,
and parlaying his fortune into a massive bounty-hunting business that he hoped
would fill the gap left by KISS's departure.
In 1997, the recruitment
of Kismet the Disappearing Girl to the Psycho Circus
heralded a period of greater activity by the Elder and their avatars.
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