Gene Simmons Shares Inspirational Letter That Stan Lee Sent Him When He Was 13-Years-Old

Iconic rock star Gene Simmons of the band KISS is a big comic book fan, and like many of us, he was a fan of Marvel Comics when he was growing up. His love of comics was a huge inspiration for the "Demon" persona in the band. He also created a couple of comics of his own with Gene Simmons' House of Horrors and his new comicDominatrix.

During a recent interview with CB, Simmons said that he was also looking to land a job at Marvel Comics and reached out to the publishing office in New York City often in hopes to land a writing gig. He was only a young teen at the time and as you might imagine, his calls usually went unanswered.

However, one day Simmons did receive a personal letter from Marvel legend Stan Lee. He talked about that letter and shared what was written in it saying:

"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.’”

He went on to talk about what went through his head when he received the latter saying:

"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."

The rest is history, Simmons did go on to do great things! It’s pretty incredible to see what he’s accomplished in his life.