Welcome back, my friends, to the show that seemingly never ends. Heh. On this supposedly luckiest of all days, the topic is under lock and key. Well, maybe not lock. You'll have to click through the fold to find out what my terrible hint refers to! I promise you lots of pretty pictures, as well as a chicken in every garage, a car in every pot, and an archive link in every post. Also, revisit the final DITKO WEEK entry for some newly-added content.
7/7/07
188. Gold Key covers
Gold Key was an interesting publisher. There wasn't a single TV property they didn't seem to have a book out for-- from live-action shows like the Man from U.N.C.L.E., I Spy, and Lancelot Link, to cartoons from Disney and Hanna Barbera, including Atom Ant and the Harlem Globetrotters.
My favorite stuff from Gold Key, however, is the cover design. Yes, they used traditional linework and photo covers quite often, but the painted covers are my favorite. I always stop to admire them when I come across them, whether it's in an auction house or on a comic shop wall. They're gorgeous works from great artists, many of whom go unnamed. But a few don't, and those are men like George Wilson and Morris Gollub, who were experts at their craft. The covers had to sell the books by then, and by God, they must have.
Even if one knows nothing about the interiors, the covers alone stand as great pieces of art. I'd gladly buy a collection of painted Gold Key covers. The art, the little captions, the logo design, the typesetting-- all of it is wonderfully done. I wish we still had covers like this.
If a picture is worth a thousand words, you're getting the wordiest Reason to Love Comics of them all. Enjoy the gallery. Click on any picture to enlarge it. And let's hope I haven't crippled the server or your browser.
(Where's my Doc Magnus/Magnus, Robot Fighter crossover?)
(The Space Family Robinson comic actually pre-dates the Lost in Space TV Show and doesn't feature the same characters, but it served as the only comic tie-in to the show.)
(That'll teach you to wear a red shirt, Spock.)
(If only the Valiant revamps of some of these books were as crazy good.)
Wow, that was a lot of images. If your eyes are still functioning enough to read this, and your modem hasn't tried to kill you, then congratulations on making it to the end. Heh. As I said, Gold Key had some absolutely beautiful covers. Does anyone here own any of these babies? How were the stories in the Gold Key books? Did they live up to the promises of the covers?
Even if the stories were awful, though, I think we can agree that the covers themselves are a Reason to Love Comics. Goodnight, Seattle dear readers.
(God Bless the Grand Comics Database for their dedication and their marvelous cover scans. Without them, this column would not exist. Thanks, fellas!)