Are you prepared for the glory of Detroit Rock City and its new incarnation, Detroit Metal City, which combines two glorious things: metal and manga. More importantly, it combines the glory of manga and KISS. 

In case you've forgotten, behold the awsomeness of KISS:

Yes, the KISS Army is prepared to mobilize even on ice.

I myself was a child soldier in the KISS Army. But I was never more than a grunt in a state where almost all the kids were mobilized and Detroit Rock City was our capital. When I was little, KISS was the most awesome thing on the face of the earth. Fire, fireworks, smoke, electricity. A Space Ace, a Catman, a Demon, a Starchild.

Not this funkadelic Star Child

My first album was Destroyer. Collectors may cringe to read that I stuck the stickers included with Rock and Roll Over all over the side of my dresser. I listened to Destroyer, Rock and Roll Over and Love Gun on my little plastic turntable and sometimes on my parent's stereo, steeping myself in the evil commands parents' groups were sure KISS was embedding in our tiny, impressionable minds. I know I was. And while I wasn't entirely clear on what it entailed, I was prepared to rock and roll all nite and party every day.

As an adult, I owe nearly all my make-up skills to dressing up as a monster, alien or alien-monster every Halloween and to KISS. At the civics end of the geek spectrum, Sarah Vowell writes about how she can't pick up a cottonball to remove her eye make-up without thinking of the history of cotton. Me too. But I also can't use powder without thinking about Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons talking about the importance of setting make-up with powder. And the importance of not touching it.

Don't touch your make-up!

Hey kids, Paul Stanley says, ?Don't touch! Even if your face itches!"

Especially if you're getting all gussied up for Detroit Metal City and the DMC Army.