Tales of Syzpense #93
Ace Frehley in comics, Conan the Barbarian to kick off '26, early word about my coming Bloomsbury books; King Sorrow flies on tour, and other Book-Talk. Plus a final Spinner Rack of horror!
I’ve been thinking more about Ace Frehely’s passing. There’ve been these three constants throughout my entire life: KISS, the Dodgers (even more notable than the players, who constantly change, was their longtime announcer Vin Scully), and comic books. And then Vin Scully retired and passed away. Stan Lee died. And now one of the founding members of KISS is gone, too. Life is full of change, and reminders of all of our mortality, but KISS were real-life superheroes (when I was a kid, I mean), they’re not supposed to die.
There’s a freelance music publicist called Eric Alper who I don’t know but have seen all over social media. He usually posts memes, ads for his music PR services, and engagement-hungry music queries. But he also posted something this this week that wasn’t anything specific but it resonated with me, coming as it did on the day Ace Frehley passed away. It got me thinking about my early exposure to Ace and his band. What Alper posted was :
“Having an older sibling is weird. It’s like I’ll give you my kidney if you need it, but don’t touch my records.”
This rings true. My older brother, with whom I shared a bedroom through my high school years, exposed me to both vinyl records (mostly early heavy metal like Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, and KISS) and comic books, both of which he collected and kept displayed in our room. And both of which he forbid me to touch. Of course, being that he was four years older than me and therefore already developing a social life that would elude me for a while longer, he was often out. I had the room to myself. All those records, and all those comics.
So KISS and superhero comics became a part of my daily diet. And when he brought home the Marvel Comics KISS magazine, where the band were portrayed like real superheroes, well, that was everything I needed back then. KISS were every bit the real-life superheroes I always wanted to exist.
As everyone knows, the coolest member of most bands and superhero teams is rarely the leader. The Avengers’ Captain America and KISS’ Gene Simmons never possessed the casual cool of say, the Avengers’ Hawkeye, or KISS’ lead guitarist, Ace Frehley.
While Gene and Paul ran KISS like a, well, KISS army, Ace treated the band like his playground. His guitar smoked when he played; he performed in all states of inebriation; he seemed to crash cars on a regular basis. And he couldn’t even get it together to act in KISS’s TV-movie debut. Ace was rock and roll. Ace was cool because he didn’t try to be cool. And he, more than anyone else, gave the band its signature sound with his unique guitar tones. He even tossed off the best Rolling Stones cover ever made in “New York Groove,” off his 1978 solo album.
(See, in 1978, KISS’ members all released solo albums at the same time. People still speak fondly about exactly one of them:
KISS were even comic-book heroes, which blurred the lines of two of the favorite parts of my childhood. And in 2012, I made a deal with the band (which Ace had long since exited. At least twice.) to do new KISS comics.
Tom Waltz and I split up the writing of the comics: I’d write two issues, he’d take two, then back to me for two more, and so on. When we did a KISS SOLO miniseries, I claimed the Demon (Gene’s persona) and Space-Ace (well, “the Celestial,” as we called him then). The Ace I wrote was basically the one I remembered from interviews: devil-may-care, slightly flippant, seemingly distracted (spaced out), and calling everyone “Curly.” He was easily the most fun character of the four to write, and to watch in concert, too.
And just to turn the ridiculousness up even louder, me and my Spaceman artist Alan Robinson also once turned Ace and the others in the band into Mars Attacks martians in a comic that was pretty much a cosmic tribute to the old and much-beloved Marvel Comics KISS comic:
Ace made great music in the band, despite a relatively short stint as their lead guitarist. Despite all his various chemical travails over the years, he also kept his voice, and his playing, and put on a full show with or without the makeup. He left quite a mark, and his loss is for many of us, on par with losing Prince, David Bowie, or Lemmy. One of those foundational soundtracks of our childhoods now gone. Ace was fun to play with as a character; he was even more fun to experience live. And his music will live on.
Speaking of Eric Alper, who I mentioned at the top, he dropped these 74 Facts About Ace Frehley on October 16 after Ace passed. They’re fun enough but after you read them, throw on “New York Groove” or maybe “Cold Gin” from Kiss Alive! and experience a bit of the gift that Ace, and my older brother, gave to me and all kinds of people like me.
Incidentally, I grew up on guitar rock and so I’m not the right person to write at length about the importance of D’Angelo’s music to millions of people, too, his loss last week is equally crushing. While Ace was 74, D’Angelo was sadly only 51, taken by cancer far too soon. It’s been a rough couple of weeks for some of of our disappearing icons. There’s a nice remembrance of D’Angelo here, among many others that are worth seeking out, along with his music.
Barbarian at the Gate
Having to keep things under wraps is never fun, especially when those things are comics and they feature otherworldly art by Gabriel Rodriguez. And while we can’t yet share the pages, we can at least talk about the project itself, since it was officially solicited this week.
And that project is, Gabriel Rodriguez and I are doing a 48-page Conan the Barbarian story, with Gabe working in glorious B&W with grey tones, for Titan and Heroic Signatures’ Savage Sword of Conan magazine.
The official solicits and the issues two covers are here. The covers themselves are below:
And the issue is described like this:
THE SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN #12 (ONGOING)
(W) Chris Ryall, Fabian Nicieza, Patrick Zircher
(A) Gabriel Rodriguez, Mirko Colak
Publisher: Titan Comics and Heroic Signatures
B&W • 64pp • $6.99 • On Sale January 7, 2026Featuring a cataclysmic CONAN story from writer Chris Ryall and artist
Gabriel Rodriguez, a twisting BRAN MAK MORN prose tale from writer
Fabian Nicieza, the return of EL BORAK from writer Patrick Zircher and
artist Mirko Colak, captivating covers from Adrian Smith and Geof
Isherwood, plus art pin-ups and more, SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN Issue #12
closes out its second year in sword-swinging style!COVER A: ADRIAN SMITH
COVER B: GEOF ISHERWOOD
COVER C: ADRIAN SMITH FOIL TRADE ($16.99)
COVER D: ADRIAN SMITH VIRGIN
While we can’t yet share pages from the issue, here’s a Conan pinup Gabriel did for the magazine last year to give you a look at what’s coming.
Our story is called Heart of “Darkness” and it introduces a new cast of characters surrounding Conan as they head into a subterranean kingdom even as a massive volcano is wreaking havoc, all of which is just a precursor to an even bigger cataclysm. I never would’ve thought I’d be writing a big Conan story, let alone one with art that feels like the Crom-blessed offspring of Moebius and Barry Windsor-Smith but it’s been an utter blast so far. Nice way to start 2026.
But ahead of that, my non-fiction Marvel book for Bloomsbury’s new Marvel Age of Comics line, is being released on November 13. There’ll be a fun release event for it in San Francisco a few days later, but more on that soon.
In the meantime, there was a nice advance review of the book at this blog:
“Fascinating, insightful and compelling, and laced through with Ryall’s contagious enthusiasm, this is a book I highly recommend if you’ve loved the Born Again saga and want to revisit it from a new viewpoint. If the other volumes in the Marvel Age of Comics series are on a par with this one, we’re in for a treat.”
And this past Friday, Barnes and Noble in Mira Mesa/San Diego had me in for a Megalopolis graphic novel signing, the first time I’ve signed solo at a B&N. Had a great time putting our book into peoples’ hands.
Lit Hub
And speaking of launches, my pal Joe Hill launched his long-time-in-coming new novel, King Sorrow, this week, and he’s out on a signing tour where you can meet him and get a signed copy now. He kicked off the tour on the west coast, and Warwick’s Books here in San Diego was the third stop on the tour.
King Sorrow is an epic 900-page book that reads like a short, urgent page-turner. It’s been nearly ten years since Joe’s last novel and it feels every bit worth the wait. I started my 2025 by reading an advance of the book and I knew even then that I’d be hard-pressed to read anything better this year. I loved it, and am so happy to see how well it’s already gone over with people who’ve seen it.
Joe’s hitting the east coast now before heading to England for some overseas signings, so hopefully you’re able to catch him while he’s out riding the dragon.
Joe is also the subject of a lengthy, wide-ranging 3-part interview at Comic Book Creator, conducted by writer Glen Cadigan. The interview is a good one — the final part is releasing in this issue in January:
But Glen also writes fiction and has a new novel out now, The Strawman, which feels perfectly timed to Halloween and the harvest season. Especially if you like books on the darker side that involve creepy-ass cornfields that hide even darker secrets. Click the cover below and you can check out an excerpt of what Glen’s put together for this one:
Also available now and perfect for Halloween week is a special retailer-exclusive edition of Archie Comics’ new Josie and the Pussycats Annual, with a special cover by Guy Dorian Sr. Guy, my collaborator on some very fun Rom Spaceknight comics, is making his Archie Comics debut here, and his style feels like a perfect fit for this one. It’s only available through Comics and Gaming in Virginia, the site of the Rom signing that me, Guy, and Sal Buscema did a couple years back.
JOSIE ANNUAL SPECTACULAR (ONE-SHOT) Guy Dorian Sr Comic And Gaming Variant Pre-order
Our first entry is a great way to kick off the season with Monsters and the PUSSYCATS themselves! It’s got Mystery, Witches, and even Serpents (kinda!). Three rockin’ ladies with long tails and ears for hats! The possibilities are endless.
And this is made special with an Exclusive Guy Dorian Sr Variant cover! In collaboration with Comics and Gaming stores!
Description:
Halloween isn’t here yet, but it’s monsters vs. Pussycats in this spectacular issue, now packed with over 30 PAGES of content, including a BRAND NEW STORY! The South Side Serpents are once again looking to toughen up their image, and they’re trying to last overnight in a haunted section of the woods, where witches have been rumored to once exist. But when the Pussycats arrive on the scene, more than their musical pasts are called into question!
Exclusive Variant Cover: Guy Dorian Sr
Script and Pencils: Dan Parent
Inks: Bob Smith
Colors: Glenn Whitmore
Letters: Jack Morelli
Pre-order now ($10, signed) by contacting: insta: @guydorianart or guydorian@guydorianart.comhttps://www.instagram.com/guydoriansrart?igsh=MXg4cGYxNHgwYmxzZQ==
Release: 11/5/25
On-Sale: 11/19
And there’s just time before Halloween hits for me to dig a little deeper into the latest Ghost Box, this beautiful little set of short horror stories curated by Patton Oswalt and packed inside this great little box:
It’s been a few years since the last Ghost Box so it was a nice surprise to see it return this year.
Spinner Rack of Horror, Part II
On one hand, after posting pictures of roughly 40 horror comics I’ve picked up for the Halloween-focused spinner racks I set up every October, it occurs to me that maybe I’ve gone overboard. Then again, I also feel nowhere near done. And by the way, here are roughly 40 more. There are worse vices. Also, as it turns out, all of these have been research for… something I’ll discuss more soon.
Holy crap, you're doing a Savage Sword of Conany story with Gabriel? I'm so in (which is easy to say because SSoC is one of the few comics left on my pull list these days).
Glad we had a chance to hang in San Diego, can't wait for your Conan to thunder forth and lay waste to imaginations everywhere.