GOLD KEY COMICS Primary Product: Comic books Producing from: 1962-84 Noted For: Comic book adaptations of many licensed properties, including Warner Bros., Disney, Walter Lantz, and more; and some original material. If this site is enjoyable or useful to you, Please contribute to its necessary financial support. Amazon.com or PayPal To the average comic book reader of the early 1960s, Gold Key seemed to burst on the scene from nowhere. But in reality, it was just a new imprint of a company that had been … continued below

… an important, behind-the-scenes part of the comic book industry since the very beginning. Gold Key's parent company, Western Printing and Lithographing Co., was the publishing arm of Kay Kamen, a prominent figure in the history of character licensing, who had been the first to license the cartoon characters of Walt Disney — among others — for use in other media. From 1938-62, Western contracted with Dell Comics to produce its comic books. In 1962, the arrangement came to an end, and Western launched Gold Key to perform that function. The majority of Dell's licensed titles — which by that time included not just the Disneys, but also the characters of Warner Bros., Walter Lantz, Hanna-Barbera, and many others, plus a wide variety of TV shows, newspaper strips, etc. — were not the only ones included in the Gold Key launch. There were also properties Western had not licensed previously, such as The Phantom and those of puppet animator Gerry Anderson, and original titles, such as Magnus, Doctor Solar and Space Family Robinson. (The latter, in fact, did the licensing routine in reverse, becoming the basis for television's Lost in Space.) Gold Key continued to license new properties, such as those of the DePatie-Freleng studio and new movies and TV shows, and to produce its own original works, such as Wacky Witch and Baby Snoots, for the rest of the 1960s and '70s. By the late 1970s, however, comic book sales in general were down, and Gold Key, which had started out with sales in the millions, felt the crunch particularly badly. Exacerbating the situation was the fact that other publishers were compensating for sales shortfalls with revenue from licensing their characters — but Gold Key was mostly a licensee, not a licensor, and therefore couldn't tap this resource. In the late '70s, they experimented with pulling their comics off of newsstands and distributing them through toy stores and other non-traditional outlets, in bags of three comics each; but this was a dismal failure. In 1981, Western dropped the Gold Key logo and put the comics under the Whitman imprint, which had long been used for coloring books, Big Little Books, and some comics. Eventually, they started doing what had once been unthinkable — voluntarily letting some of the licenses lapse. By 1984, they were completely out of the comic book business. Today, the Warner and Hanna-Barbera comics are published by DC Comics, with which the companies now have corporate ties. The Disneys go through Gemstone Publishing, which exists largely just to publish them. Most of the others have completely disappeared from American comic books. — DDM Gold Key Comics articles in Don Markstein's Toonopedia™: • 101 Dalmatians • The Addams Family • Alice in Wonderland • The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan • Andy Panda • The Aristocats • Atom Ant • Augie Doggie and Doggie Daddy • Autocat and Motormouse • Baby Snoots • Bambi • Carl Barks • Barney Google • Beetle Bailey • Believe It or Not • The Big Bad Wolf • Birdman • Bongo Bear • Brer Rabbit • Brothers of the Spear • Buck Rogers • Bugs Bunny • Bullwinkle • The Cattanooga Cats • Cave Kids • Chip'n'Dale • Cinderella • The Close Shaves of Pauline Peril • Daffy Duck • Dagar the Invincible • Dastardly & Muttley in Their Flying Machines • Dell Comics • Deputy Dawg • Dewey, Huey and Louie • Dick Dastardly • Dinky Duck • Dino Boy • Doctor Solar, Man of the Atom • Doctor Spektor • Donald Duck • Donald Duck's nephews • Dopey • Dumbo • Elmer Fudd • Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids • Fearless Fly • Flash Gordon • The Flintstones • Fractured Fairy Tales • Frankenstein Jr. • The Funky Phantom • The Galaxy Trio • George of the Jungle • Gladstone Gander • Goofy • Grandma Duck • Gyro Gearloose • Hanna-Barbera Studio • The Harlem Globetrotters • Hashimoto-San • Heckle and Jeckle • Hector Heathcote • The Herculoids • Hokey Wolf • Huey, Dewey and Louie • Huckleberry Hound • The Impossibles • Inch High, Private Eye • The Inspector • Jay Ward Productions • The Jetsons • Jonny Quest • The Jungle Book • The Jungle Twins • The Junior Woodchucks • King Leonardo and His Short Subjects • Korak, Son of Tarzan • Lady and the Tramp • Li'l Bad Wolf • Little Lulu • The Little Monsters • Looney Tunes • Lost in Space • Louie, Huey and Dewey • Magilla Gorilla • Magnus, Robot Fighter, 4000 AD • M.A.R.S. Patrol • MGM cartoons • Mickey Mouse • The Mighty Hercules • The Mighty Mightor • Mighty Mouse • Mighty Samson • Milton the Monster • Moby Dick • Moby Duck • Mr. and Mrs. J. Evil Scientist • Mushmouse and Punkin Puss • The Minute and a Half Man • Motormouse and Autocat • The Occult Files of Doctor Spektor • O.G. Wotasnozzle • 101 Dalmatians • Oona Goosepimple • The Owl • Pauline Peril • Peanuts • Penelope Pitstop • The Perils of Penelope Pitstop • Peter Pan • Peter Potamus • The Phantom • The Phantom Blot • The Pink Panther • Pinocchio • Pixie and Dixie • Pluto • Pooh • Popeye the Sailor • Porky Pig • Punkin' Puss and Mushmouse • Quick Draw McGraw • Raggedy Ann and Andy • The Reluctant Dragon • Ricochet Rabbit • Ripley's Believe It or Not • Road Runner • Rocky and Bullwinkle • The Roman Holidays • Samson and Goliath • Scamp • Scooby-Doo • Scrooge McDuck • Secret Squirrel • Shazzan • Sleeping Beauty • Snagglepuss • Snooper and Blabber • Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs • Snuffy Smith • Song of the South • Space Family Robinson • Space Kidettes • Space Ghost • Space Mouse • Speed Buggy • Super Goof • Sylvester Pussycat • Tarzan • Tasmanian Devil • Terrytoons • Tiger Girl • Tom and Jerry • Tom Slick • Tono and Kono, the Jungle Twins • Tooter Turtle • Top Cat • Total War • Tragg and the Sky Gods • Turok, Son of Stone • Tweety Bird • Uncle Remus • Uncle Scrooge • Underdog • Universal Studios Cartoons • Wacky Races • Wacky Witch • The Walt Disney Company • Walter Lantz Studio • Warner Bros. Cartoons • Where's Huddles? • Wile E. Coyote • Winnie the Pooh • Woodsy Owl • Woody Woodpecker • Yakky Doodle • Yellow Submarine • Yosemite Sam • Yogi Bear • Young Samson BACK to Don Markstein's Toonopedia™ Home Page Today in Toons: Every day's an anniversary!

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