Gold Key Comics

Gold Key Comics was an imprint of Western Publishing. It was created in 1962, when Western Publishing decided to stop publishing its comic book properties for Dell Comics.

Related Topics:
Western Publishing - 1962 - Dell Comics

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Gold Key featured a number of licensed properties and several original titles. 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 an extensive amount of titles based upon both Walt Disney Studios and Warner Brothers animated properties. It was also the first company to publish comic books based upon Star Trek.

Related Topics:
1960s - Walt Disney Studios - Warner Brothers - Star Trek

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However, in the 1970s, Gold Key fell victim to plunging sales numbers, as the comic industry in general experienced a downswing. Gold Key was among the hardest hit in part due to the fact that most of its properties were licensed. By 1977, they had cancelled all their original series (most had been dropped around 1973/74), and their licensed series pretty much went to reprints-only. In 1981, Western dropped the "Gold Key" name and switched to "Whitman Comics" (a line they used for coloring books). They also switched to other methods of distribution (bagged set of comics in department stories being their main method) which didn't help. By 1984, Western was out of the comic book business.

Related Topics:
1970s - 1981 - 1984

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Three of Gold Key's original characters: Magnus the Robot Fighter, Doctor Solar and Turok, Son of Stone were later used to launch the Valiant Universe.

Related Topics:
Magnus the Robot Fighter - Doctor Solar - Turok, Son of Stone - Valiant Universe

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Dark Horse Comics has recently done reprints (several in an Archive format) of original Gold Key titles such as Magnus, Doctor Solar, M.A.R.S. Patrol, and the Russ Manning produced Tarzan work. Meanwhile, Checker Book Publishing Group, in conjunction with Paramount Pictures, began reprinting the Gold Key Star Trek series beginning in 2004.

Related Topics:
Checker Book Publishing Group - Paramount Pictures

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