Gold Key Comics - Wikipedia. Gold Key Comics was an imprint of Western Publishing created for comic books distributed to newsstands. Also known as Whitman Comics, Gold Key operated from 1. Watch Full Dino Time 3D 2002.
History[edit]Gold Key Comics was created in 1. Western Publishing switched to in- house publishing rather than packaging content for branding and distribution by its business partner, Dell Comics.[1] Hoping to make their comics more like traditional children's books, they initially eliminated panel line- borders, using just the panel, with its ink and artwork evenly edged but not bordered by a "container" line. Within a year they had reverted to using inked panel borders and oval balloons. They experimented with new formats, including Whitman Comic Book, a black- and- white 1. Golden Picture Story Book, a tabloid- sized 5.
A vast archive of episode guides for radio series past and present. Billie Hayes, Actress: Shrek Forever After. Delightfully talented Billie Hayes was born August 5, 1932 in the small town of DuQuoin, Illinois, USA. She started in. Charles Nelson Reilly was born to Charles Joseph Reilly and Signe Elvera Nelson. His father was Irish-American and Catholic, his mother was. · It started off as a one-shot deal, but has now emerged as a much-anticipated yearly tradition in The Underworld. When the rainy month of April comes around. Willie Oleson from Little House on the Prairie played by Jonathan Gilbert.
In 1. 96. 7, Gold Key reprinted a number of selected issues of their comics under the title Top Comics which were sold in plastic bags containing five comics at gas stations and various eateries. Like Dell, Gold Key was one of the few major American publishers of comic books never to display the Comics Code Authority seal on its covers.[4]Properties[edit]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, or were published as standalones by Dell. It maintained decent sales numbers throughout the 1. TV series of the day, as well as numerous titles based upon both Walt Disney Studios and Warner Bros.
It was also the first company to publish comic books based upon Star Trek.[5] While some titles, such as Star Trek and The Twilight Zone, were published for many years, many other licensed titles were characterized by short runs, sometimes publishing no more than one or two issues. Gold Key considered suing over the similarly themed television series Lost in Space for its resemblance to the pre- existing Space Family Robinson but decided their business relationship with CBS and Irwin Allen was more important than any monetary reward resulting from such a suit.[6]Editor Chase Craig stated that Gold Key would launch titles with Hanna- Barbera characters with direct adaptations of episodes of the program because "[t]he studio had approval rights and the people there could get pointlessly picky about the material.. Therefore, it simplified the procedure to do the first issue as an adaptation and maybe the second.
They couldn't very well complain that a plot taken from the show was inappropriate".[7]Over the years, it lost several properties, including the King Features Syndicate characters (Popeye, Flash Gordon, The Phantom, etc.) to Charlton Comics in 1. Hanna- Barbera characters also to Charlton Comics in 1. Star Trek to Marvel Comics in 1.
Creators[edit]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- 1. 96. Disney Studio Program and thereafter divided their output between the Disney Program and Western.
Writer/artist Russ Manning and editor Chase Craig launched the Magnus, Robot Fighter series in 1. Jack Sparling co- created the superhero Tiger Girl with Jerry Siegel in 1. Microbotsone- shot,[1. Family Affair, The Outer Limits, and Adam- 1. Dan Spiegle worked on Space Family Robinson,[6]The Green Hornet, The Invaders, Korak, Son of Tarzan, Brothers of the Spear, and many of Gold Key's mystery/occult titles.[1.
Among the other creators at Gold Key were writers Donald F. Glut, Len Wein, Bob Ogle, John David Warner, Steve Skeates, and Mark Evanier; and artists Cliff Voorhees, Joe Messerli,[1.
Gold Key Comics was an imprint of Western Publishing created for comic books distributed to newsstands. Also known as Whitman Comics, Gold Key operated from 1962 to 1984. Watch TV. Anytime. Anywhere. Download the TV Guide app for iPhone, iPad and Android!
Carol Lay, Jesse Santos,[1. Mike Royer. Glut created and wrote several series including The Occult Files of Dr. Spektor,[1. 9]Dagar the Invincible,[2. Tragg and the Sky Gods.[2. Also in the 1. 97. Bob Gregory started drawing stories, mostly for Daisy and Donald.
Artist/writer Frank Miller had his first published comic book artwork in The Twilight Zone for Gold Key in 1. Diana Gabaldon began her career writing for Gold Key, initially sending a query that stated "I’ve been reading your comics for the last 2. I’m not sure if I could do better myself, but I’d like to try." Editor Del Connell provided a script sample and bought her second submission.[2. According to former Western Publishing writer Mark Evanier, during the mid- 1. Jerry Belson, whose writing partner at the time was Garry Marshall, also did scripts for Gold Key while writing for leading TV sitcoms like The Dick Van Dyke Show. Among the comics he wrote for were The Flintstones, Uncle Scrooge, Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny, The Three Stooges, and Woody Woodpecker.[2.
Leo Dorfman, creator of Ghosts for DC Comics, also produced supernatural stories for Gold Key's similarly themed Twilight Zone, Ripley's Believe it or Not, Boris Karloff Tales of Mystery, and Grimm's Ghost Stories. One of Gold Key's editors at the time told Mark Evanier, "Leo writes stories and then he decides whether he's going to sell them to DC [for Ghosts] or to us. He tells us that if they come out good, they go to us and if they don't, they go to DC. I assume he tells DC the opposite."[2. Editor Frank Tedeschi, who left in 1. Walt Simonson, Gerry Boudreau, and John David Warner.[2. Later years[edit]The comics industry experienced a downswing in the 1.
Gold Key was among the hardest hit.[1] Its editorial policies had not kept pace with the changing times and suffered an erosion of its base of sales among children, who could now watch cartoons and other entertainment on television for free instead. It is also alleged by Carmine Infantino that in the mid- to- late 1. DC Comics attempted to pressure Gold Key from the comics business through sheer weight of output.[2. Among the original titles launched by Gold Key in the 1. Baby Snoots[2. 8] and Wacky Witch[2. By 1. 97. 7 many of the company's series had been cancelled and the surviving titles featured more reprinted material, although Gold Key was able to obtain the rights to publish a comic book series based upon Buck Rogers in the 2.
Century between 1. It also lost the rights to publish Star Trek- based comic books to Marvel Comics just prior to the revival of the franchise via Star Trek: The Motion Picture, with the final Gold Key- published Star Trek title being issued in March 1. In this period, Gold Key experimented with digests with some success. In a similar manner, to explore new markets, in the mid- 1. Disney characters by Carl Barks and Floyd Gottfredson (Best of Walt Disney's Comics). In the late 1. 97. Dynabrites),[3. 1][3.
Starstream, a four- issue series adapting classic science fiction stories by authors such as Isaac Asimov and John W. Campbell.[3. 3] Golden Press released trade paperback reprint collections such as Walt Disney Christmas Parade,[3. Bugs Bunny Comics- Go- Round,[3. Star Trek: The Enterprise Logs[3. Gold Key label. The same comics were simultaneously distributed, usually three comics in plastic bags, to toy and department stores, newsstands at airports, bus/train stations, "as well as other outlets that weren't conducive to conventional comic racks",[3. Whitman logo, which it also used for products like coloring books.
Western, at one point, also distributed bagged comics from its rival DC Comics under the Whitman logo. Former DC Comics Executive Paul Levitz stated that the "Western program was enormous — even well into the 1. DC titles for distribution (I recall 5. The continued decline in sales forced Western to cease newsstand distribution in 1. Whitman Comics" and the "Gold Key" logo was discontinued.[1] Eventually arrangements were made to distribute these releases to the nascent national network of comic book stores.
Western also prepared a prospectus in the early 1. Carl Barks reprint project aimed at the collector market that was never published.[3. All these efforts ultimately proved unsuccessful and by 1.