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Gold Key Comics was an imprint of Western Publishing created for comic books distributed to newsstands. In the Publishing Industry, an imprint can refer to two different things It can mean a Brand name under which a work is published Western Publishing, also known as "Western Printing and Lithographing Co A comic book (often shortened to simply comic and sometimes called a comic paper or comic magazine) is a Magazine or Book of narrative A newsagent ( British English) newsagency ( Australian English) or newsstand ( American English) is often a small business that sells

Contents

History

Gold Key Comics was created in 1962, when Western switched to in-house publishing rather than packaging content for branding and distribution by its business partner, Dell Comics. Dell Comics was the Comic book publishing arm of Dell Publishing, which got its start in Pulp magazines.

Properties

Gold Key featured a number of licensed properties and several original titles (including a number of publications that spun-off from Dell's Four Color series). Four Color, also known as Four Color Comics and One Shots, was an extremely prolific American Comic book It maintained decent sales numbers throughout the 1960s, thanks to its offering many titles based upon popular TV series of the day, as well as numerous titles based upon both Walt Disney Studios and Warner Bros. animated properties. Warner Bros Entertainment Inc (or Warner Bros, Warner Bros Pictures) is one of the world's largest producers of Film and It was also the first company to publish comic books based upon Star Trek.

Over the years it did lose several properties, including the King Features Syndicate characters (Popeye, Flash Gordon, The Phantom, etc) in 1966, the Hanna Barbera characters (to Charlton Comics) in 1970, and Star Trek (to Marvel Comics) in 1979. King Features Syndicate, a Print syndication company owned by The Hearst Corporation, distributes about 150 Comic strips newspaper columns, Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional hero famous for appearing in comic strips and animated films as well as numerous TV shows Flash Gordon is the hero of a Science fiction adventure Comic strip originally drawn by Alex Raymond, which was first published on January 7, Charlton Comics was an American Comic book publishing company that existed from 1946 to 1986 having begun under a different name in 1944 Marvel Comics is an American comic book company owned by Marvel Publishing Inc

Key creators

The stable of writers and artists built up by Western Publishing during the Dell Comics era mostly continued into the Gold Key era. In the mid-60s a number of artists left to work for the newly formed Disney Studio Program. Disney comics are Comic books and Comic strips featuring Walt Disney characters Among the few new creators at Gold Key were writers Don Glut, Len Wein and Mark Evanier and artist Mike Royer. Donald F Glut is an American Writer, Motion picture director, Screenwriter, Amateur paleontologist, Musician Len Wein (born June 12, 1948) is an American Comic book Writer and editor best known for co-creating DC Comics Mark Stephen Evanier (born March 2 1952) is an American Comic book and Television Writer, particularly known for his Also in the 70s writer Bob Gregory started drawing stories, mostly for Daisy and Donald. Robert P Gregory (1921 Los Angeles California - 2003 was an American Comics artist and writer best known for various writing/drawing hundreds of

A striking difference between Gold Key and other publishers (which had been done by Dell as well) was to publish most of their mystery, jungle, science-fiction, adventure and the like series with full color painted covers rather than the standard line-artwork.

Hard times

In the 1970s, when the comics industry experienced a downswing, Gold Key was among the hardest hit. Its editorial policies had not kept pace with changing times and suffered erosion of its base of sales among children who could now instead watch cartoons and other entertainment on free television. [1] By 1977, all of the company's original series had been cancelled (most had been dropped circa 1973-1974), and its licensed series were virtually all reprint-only, although Gold Key was still able to obtain the rights to publish a comic book series based upon Buck Rogers in the 25th Century between 1979 and 1981. Buck Rogers in the 25th Century is an American science fiction adventure television series produced by Universal Studios.

In this period Gold Key experimented with digests, to some success, and distributing comic books simultaneously both on racks at drug stores, super markets and such under the Gold Key label and — usually in plastic bags of three — in toy and department stores, along with newsstands at airports and bus/train stations "as well as other outlets that weren't conducive to conventional comic racks"[2] under the Whitman logo which it also used for such products as coloring books. Pharmacy (from the Greek φάρμακον 'pharmakon' = drug is the Health profession that links the Health sciences with the chemical sciences Customer divider barjpg|thumb|In supermarkets sellers periodically change prices for classes of goods in response to market conditions rather than negotiating the price of each good A department store is a Retail establishment which specializes in selling a wide range of products without a single predominant merchandise line. A newsagent ( British English) newsagency ( Australian English) or newsstand ( American English) is often a small business that sells An airport is a location where Aircraft such as airplanes, Helicopters and blimps take off and land Western at one point also distributed bagged comics from its rivals DC Comics and Marvel Comics under the Whitman logo. DC Comics is an American comic book and related media company Marvel Comics is an American comic book company owned by Marvel Publishing Inc President of DC Comics Paul Levitz has stated "The Western program was enormous — even well into the '70s they were taking very large numbers of DC titles for distribution (I recall 50,000+ copies offhand). Paul Levitz (born 21 October 1956) is an American Comic book Writer, Editor and executive "[3] Continued declining sales forced Western in 1981 to cease newsstand distribution and thereafter release all its comics solely in bags as "Whitman Comics". The "Gold Key" logo was discontinued. Eventually arrangements were made to distribute these releases to the nascent national network of comic book stores as part of the Whitman alternate methods of distribution. The direct market is the dominant distribution and retail network for North American Comic books. All these efforts proved ultimately unsuccessful, and by 1984 Western was out of the comic book business.

Relaunches and reprints

Three of Gold Key's original characters — Magnus, Robot Fighter, Doctor Solar and Turok, Son of Stone — were used in the 1990s to launch Valiant Comics' "Valiant Universe". Magnus Robot Fighter is a fictional character created by writer/artist Russ Manning in 1963 based primarily on Tarzan. Solar is an American fictional Comic book character Originally known as Doctor Solar Man of the Atom, he first appeared in a comic book published by Gold Turok is a fictional American comic book character initially in comics from Western Publishing published through licensee Dell Comics. Valiant Comics was an American Comic book Publishing company founded by former Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Jim Shooter, writer/artists

Dark Horse Comics has published reprints, including several in hardcover collections, of such original Gold Key titles as Magnus, Robot Fighter, Doctor Solar, M. Dark Horse Comics is one of the largest independent American Comic book publishers behind dominant publishers Marvel Comics and DC Comics A. R. S. Patrol, and the Russ Manning-produced Tarzan series. Russell Manning (born 1929 California, United States; died 1981 was an American Comic book Artist who created the series Magnus The Checker Book Publishing Group, in conjunction with Paramount Pictures, began reprinting the Gold Key Star Trek series in 2004. Checker Book Publishing Group is an independent publisher of Comics reprints from newspaper strips to modern out-of-print titles and collections from defunct Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American motion picture production and Distribution company, based in Hollywood California.

Footnotes

  1. ^ It is also alleged by Carmine Infantino that in the mid-to-late 1960s, DC Comics attempted to pressure Gold Key from the stands by sheer weight of output. Carmine Infantino (born May 24, 1925) is an American Comic book Artist and editor who was a major force in the Silver Age DC Comics is an American comic book and related media company Quoted in: Ro, Ronin. Tales to Astonish: Jack Kirby, Stan Lee and the American Comic Book Revolution (Bloomsbury, 2004)
  2. ^ News from Me (column): "More on Comicpacs" (May 2, 2007), by Mark Evanier
  3. ^ ibid

Trivia

Selected titles

Original Series

Licensed Series

External links

Brothers of the Spear was a long-running backup feature in the Tarzan Comic book series created by Western Publishing and published first through Solar is an American fictional Comic book character Originally known as Doctor Solar Man of the Atom, he first appeared in a comic book published by Gold Doctor Spektor is a fictional Comic book " Occult detective " that appeared in Western Publishing 's Gold Key Comics. Golden Comics Digest was one of three Digest size comics published by Gold Key Comics in the early 1970s The Jungle Twins was an American Comic book series published by Gold Key Comics in the 1970s MARS Patrol Total War was a short-lived science fiction/war Comic book series published by Gold Key Comics for 10 issues from July 1965 to August 1969 Magnus Robot Fighter is a fictional character created by writer/artist Russ Manning in 1963 based primarily on Tarzan. Mighty Samson was an original Comic book series from Gold Key Comics. Mystery Comics Digest was one of three Digest size comics published by Gold Key Comics in the early 1970s Space Family Robinson was an original science-fiction comic book series published by Gold Key Comics. Lost in Space is a Science fiction TV series created and produced by Irwin Allen, produced by 20th Century Fox Television, and Tales of Sword and Sorcery Featuring Dagar the Invincible is a Comic book series created by writer Donald Glut and artist Jesse Santos for Turok is a fictional American comic book character initially in comics from Western Publishing published through licensee Dell Comics. Tragg and the Sky Gods was a Comic book title published by Gold Key Comics in the mid 1970s The Avengers was a British Television series featuring Secret agents in 1960s Britain. The Battle of the Planets Comic book series was based on a television series of the same name. Bonanza is an American television series that ran on NBC from September 12 1959 to January 16 1973 Thriller is an anthology television series that aired from 1960-1962 on NBC. Buck Rogers in the 25th Century is an American science fiction adventure television series produced by Universal Studios. Doc Savage The Man of Bronze is a 1975 camp Action film starring Ron Ely as pulp hero Doc Savage. Fireball XL5 was a Science fiction -themed children's television show produced in Slough, Berkshire, UK in 1962 by the husband and The Flintstones is an animated American television sitcom that ran from 1960 to 1966 on ABC. The Girl from UNCLE is an American Spy-fi TV series that aired on NBC for one season from September 16, 1966 Honey West is an American crime drama television series produced by the ABC network I Spy is an American television Secret agent adventure series Huey, Dewey, and Louie Duck are a trio of Ducks who appear in Animated cartoons and Comic books published by The Walt Disney Company In Disney 's fictional universe The Junior Woodchucks are the Boy Scouts of America -like youth organization to which Donald Duck 's nephews Huey Dewey Little Lulu is a Comic strip character created by Marjorie Henderson Buell. The Man from UNCLE is an American television series that was broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1964, to January My Favorite Martian is an American Television Sitcom that aired on CBS from September 29, 1963 to This article is about 1960s TV series aka "Secret Agent" also see 1990s TV series Secret Agent Man. The Star Trek franchise has produced a large number of novels comic books video games and other materials which are generally considered non-canon. Supercar was a children's TV show produced by Gerry Anderson and Arthur Provis's AP Films for ATV and ITC Entertainment. Tarzan aired on NBC from 1966 – 1968. The series portrayed Tarzan (played by Ron Ely) as a well-educated character The Twilight Zone is an American Television series created by Rod Serling. This article is about a comic book For information on the character see Scrooge McDuck. Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea was a 1960s American Science Fiction Television series based on the 1961 film of the same name. Walt Disney Comics Digest was one of three Digest size comics published by Gold Key Comics in the early 1970s Walt Disney's Comics and Stories (WDC or WDC&S for short is an Anthology Comic book that has an assortment of Disney characters including The Wild Wild West is an American television series that ran on CBS for four seasons (104 episodes from September 17, 1965 to
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