PLACE:
Santa Barbara, California; The Psycho Circus, New Jersey; A racetrack outside of Los Angeles, California; Toured in England

FIRST SIGHTINGS:
Romeo Blade - aka Ben Roberts, Jade, Tommy, Mick, Ronny Boston

IN JOKES:
Sword in the Stone - page 3, frame 2
Twenty five years ago - page 4, frame 1
Tarot cards - page 4, frame 5
Star - page 5, frame 4
Little Caesar's Pawn Shop est. 1950 - page 6, frame 1
Black Sabbath Vol. 4, The Who, The Doors, Black Diamond music sheet - page 6, frame 4
Punisher Bass, star - page 7, frame 1
MSJ Project - page 7, frame 2
Magic Touch - page 8, frame 3
Creatures - page 8, frame 4
Stars - page 10, frame 2
4 Avatars - page 11, frame 4
Beast - page 13, frame 3
Blood - page 14, frame 1
Alive, Hate tattoo - page 14, frame 2
Star, blood from mouth- page 16, frame 2
Blood - page 17, frame 1
Star in the sky - page 18-19, frame 6
'Hear one of his old songs on the radio' - page 20, frame 6
Demons - page 21, frame 1
'...open 'A' chord and it shakes his sternum.' - page 21, frame 2
Alive - page 21, frame 3
Coming Home, She, Rain - page 22

BRIEF STORY SYNOPSIS (SPACEBASS):
    When Ben Robert's girlfriend Jade drags him to the Psycho Circus, he pays a visit to Madam Raven to get his fortune told. After he chooses the Starbearer talisman, a bargain is made and Ben becomes a Rock 'n Roll legend named Romeo Blade. Although Madam Raven warns him to respect his newfound talents, Romeo walks down the wrong road and eventually has to pay the price...

SPACEBASS SAYS:
    When I first heard that Angel Medina was going MIA from Kiss Psycho Circus in order to pencil the upcoming Sam & Twitch mini-series, I must admit that I was kind of worried. While I was happy to see that Angel was getting a new opportunity, I was really concerned about who would be taking over the pencils for Kiss Psycho Circus. A while later I heard that Clayton Crain would be penciling, and all my worries went far, far away. Clayton has penciled a number of 'Curse of the Spawn' issues, and I loved his artwork in them. (Particularly the one with the Pandemic character in it.) The readers of Kiss Psycho Circus have been very lucky so far in getting an extremely talented creative team.

    Then, when I heard that this issue was about a Rock 'n Roller, I was concerned again. Why all the worry, you ask? Easy. I just don't want this book to become what some other comic readers think of the book. You know, the people that dislike Kiss Psycho Circus without ever having read one issue of the book. (Most probably due to some dislike of KISS, the band.) I was afraid that perhaps doing a story about Rock 'n Roll might be a little too close to the source, or the comic's inspiration. I thought that the story might be too much of a cliche'. You know the whole 'Live fast, die young' attitude, drugs, etc. Once again, Brian Holguin delivers an excellent story that rises above all the cliches' and pokes fun at them along the way. As a rock bassist, I could really relate to the story. I've seen all the destructive Rock 'n Roll pitfalls firsthand, and unlike the protaganist of the story, Ben Roberts, I have thankfully steered clear of them.

    Let's talk about Ben, or Romeo Blade, I should say. The first time I read his stage name, I chuckled. But as the story went on I started thinking about the amusing tolerance music lovers have of stage names. Often, a musicians stage name is only enjoyed by the fans of the music. To outsiders that haven't been converted to the bands music, a stage name can sound trite. As the story went on, and I enjoyed it, the name Romeo Blade became more palatable until I finally had to admit that I actually liked it. (Remember, the guys wanted to be just like him, and the girls fainted at the sight of him.) The name evokes something for the girls 'Romeo', and 'Blade' for the guys. Holguin was also smart to keep this story to a single issue. I don't think it would have been as great if it was stretched out over a few issues. The old 'live fast, die young' attitude perhaps?

    I also enjoyed the accuracy shown in the artwork, especially when Romeo Blade was playing guitar. The hand positions for the guitar chords were real ones, and the instruments were drawn well. (Punisher bass, yeah!) Nothing screws up a movie that has musicians in it more than when the actors are 'playing' their instruments wrong. None of that here.

We work long & hard on many of the pictures found on this site. Please do us a favor: don't
rationalize stealing ANYTHING. If you can't create an original web site, don't do one!
Real simple, right? Anyway, if you do, I'll let my boys Nicky & Mickey pay you a visit. I may
even go as far as getting the Nightmare King to resurrect Deuce! This could get ugly...
-KISS PSYCHO CIRCUS by SPACEBASS (hey, good idea for an issue...)