Thursday, October 3, 2019

Adventures in Comic-Boxing: Scooby-Doo You Are New!


To continue celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Scooby-Doo, let's go all the way back to the beginning... of Scooby's COMICS career!  It all started with a rather ordinary blurb that would... um, "unleash" something special, that still continues today!  

...But, first, some background! 

The "Gold Key Comics Club" was, to me, a decidedly unwelcome alteration to my favorite line of comics, since it first appeared in issues released in January, 1967!  

I first saw it in DONALD DUCK # 112!   


It carved out SIX PAGES that would otherwise be devoted to comics material for nonsensical things having nothing to do with the particular comic or the characters found therein.

But, eventually, at least ONE PAGE of those wasted six would be put to good use, as a guide to what was coming up in Gold-Key-World!


And, in those days where there was virtually NO information available on which comic titles were available and which ones had been cancelled (without any formal notice), this was a very useful resource indeed! 


Per that page, here are the Gold Key Comics that were released in December, 1969.


And, with all that good stuff to choose from back at the close of the 1960s, one might very well have overlooked a modest announcement of the first issue of a new title, based on a Saturday morning cartoon that had just debuted that past September!


And here IS that first issue of SCOOBY-DOO WHERE ARE YOU!


At the time, comic book distribution was so inconsistent and haphazard that, despite being a fan of the cartoon - and despite the notice from Gold Key - I never found that first issue!  And would wait until I purchased it as a back issue (something also unheard of in 1969 - at least to me) in the 1980s!

I did, however, find the SECOND ISSUE at my corner newsstand/soda fountain/candy store... you know, the kind of place that you bought comic books from back then!


And, from that point on, I collected as many of them as the (...all together now) inconsistent and haphazard distribution methods of the time would allow...

...Eventually subscribing, once mail subscriptions to the SCOOBY-DOO title were allowed...


...And following Scooby and the gang through a variety of publishers! 

GOLD KEY:


CHARLTON:


MARVEL:


HARVEY (Which reprinted CHARLTON, with only new covers!):


ARCHIE:


And finally - DC COMICS, where Scooby-Doo remains from 1997 to the present day, in a variety of forms:


...Including even THIS!


WHEW!  That dog sure gets around!  


But, it all started with THIS...


...And, before that, THIS!



...Poor BANDIT, Hanna-Barbera's ORIGINAL cowardly adventuring dog can only look on in grudging appreciation of Scooby's comic-book accomplishments!   

2 comments:

Comicbookrehab said...

It would be neat if there was a "Scooby-Doo: A Celebration of 50 Years" hardcover collection from DC Comics that reprinted a selection of Scooby Doo comics over the years..I still have the Gold Key issue with the haunted dollhouse.
And how can a "kids club" not offer a membership card?

Joe Torcivia said...

‘Rehab:

Despite the fact that such a book was once done for Looney Tunes, I cannot imagine any sort of “collection” complied today to contain anything but DC material.

And, that’s not a bad thing, as the DC material has generally been of high quality, both at the beginning in 1997-98 (with those wonderful comedic back-ups) and later on, especially since Sholly Fisch has been involved.

But, the logistics, mechanics, rights issues, and even locating the materials in a reprint-able form, is most likely far more trouble – and expense – than DC would be willing to do.

And that’s a pity because Gold Key (especially), Marvel, Archie… and, yes, even Charlton, all had some worthy material to contribute to such a dream project. I know I’d like to be part of the selection/curation process! I could easily pick some good ones from each publisher.

At New York Comic-Con this past week, at the Midtown Comics mega-booth, I saw a TPB called (I believe) “Scooby-Doo’s Greatest Adventures”. All DC material, but culled from a nice cross section, including some from SCOOBY-DOO TEAM-UP! …That may be as close as we get.

The Gold Key Comics Club, at least in its earlier pages, did indeed offer a membership card… but you had to cut it out of the comic! …And, for the sake of later and future readers, I’m glad not many kids did that!