Showing posts with label Gold Key Entertainment (2023). Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gold Key Entertainment (2023). Show all posts

Tuesday, November 11, 2025

Now It Can Be Told!

 The time has come, the Walrus said... 


...To speak of many things!  

...Of why this Blog was left for dead...

...Despite your many "pings"! 


My sincerest apologies to all you wonderful friends (friends both to me and to this humble Blog) for your concern - and especially your continued contact with comments - and it's time I finally shared the long, long story.  

Frankly, from mid-summer until very recently, it's been a bad time for us.  

To those brave solus that inquired, my stock reply was "It's not health! It's not divorce! Anything else can work itself out!" 

And, after a long series of unpleasant experiences that brought us unprecedented levels of stress, things did - actually, and in total - work themselves out!  

I'll not go into details, as living through it once was difficult enough, but neither Esther nor I were at fault... and, paradoxically, we also both were!  

BUT, IT'S OVER NOW!  HOORAY! 

The end result is that we are moving! But a mere 6.30 miles from our present address. There were reasons having to do with the neighborhood - one that I've lived in (or around) since I was 14 (with only some small breaks) - but, having spent some time at our future address just this very day, we both love it, and can't wait until our closing date.  

So, I thank you for sticking with us, lo these many blog-barren months - and especially for all the comments, which kept coming in despite my lack of response.  I WILL (hopefully) GET TO THEM ALL IN THE NEAR FUTURE, among and around the herculean task of packing for the move!   

The comments actually meant a great deal to me as (...if you've followed some squarely-dropped hints) I was - and, to some degree, still am - considering ending this Blog.  I will do a post as to WHY at some point, but you're welcome to drop an opinion of your own!  

TO HAPPIER THINGS:  My work with Fantagraphics and Gold Key continues with great stuff coming from both publishers... and then there's THIS... 


YES!!!  IT'S MICKEY!!!  IT'S THE PHANTOM BLOT!!! ...and I'm there, too! 

I must have turned this in close to two years ago, but IT'S FINALLY HERE!  

And, if I've got the schedule right, Issues 2 and 3 will have an amazing story by Casty (...with me as a hanger-on... of the "for dear life" variety) using another villain from the Gottfredson/Walsh era who has been too seldom seen - and, as a writer, I can say - with good reason!  GREAT VILLAIN, but very hard to write.  Some of you should guess it pretty quickly, with THAT hint! 

It WAS the most difficult and effort-intensive task I ever performed for Fantagraphics (...and all those drop-out Disney publishers that preceded them)... but I did it for our esteemed editor David Gerstein, for Mickey, for the Very-Hard-To-Write-Villain... and especially for YOU!   

Gold Key is way too early to talk about, but I've taken on some interesting duties there as well.  

See you in the Comments Section (...I hope?) 

Friday, March 28, 2025

Now on Sale: Gold Key Select: Boris Karloff Thriller #1!

 It's HERE and ready to "THRILL" you!

The long-awaited Gold Key Select: Boris Karloff Thriller #1 from Gold Key Entertainment "thrillingly" takes its proud place alongside the previously released Boris Karloff Gold Key Mysteries #1 and #2


Even if you never read the original Boris Karloff comics - or their recent versions - THIS IS A GREAT PLACE TO START! ...No experience necessary, just enjoy the goosepimples! 

What makes this book different from the others is that, while the "Gold Key Mysteries" issues were all new and original material, Gold Key Select: Boris Karloff Thriller #1 is a collection of classic-era stories culled from the earliest days of Western Publishing's Gold Key Brand's Boris Karloff Thriller #1-2... down to the "Early Gold Key Look" of rectangular dialogue balloons with wide, perfectly aligned page-bisecting panel gutters - often in various colors! 
[Click to Enlarge]

Another unique facet of this issue is that, despite the excellent cover choice, it is not merely a reprint of Boris Karloff Thriller #1 (1962)...
 [Back-to-back - or side-by-side - THRILLS!] 

...But, as mentioned, select "Tales of Mystery" from original issues #1-2, resulting in a book that is more than a mere "replica edition" as has become so common these days!  

Finally, there is one more feature that you won't find in the original Boris Karloff comics -- and pretty much NOT ANYWHERE in modern comic books...


...The GOLD KEY CLUB READER'S PAGE!  A place where YOU can become involved with this and any of the upcoming titles from Gold Key Entertainment!  Letters of Comment, questions, likes and "likes-not-so-much", suggestions, and all things Gold Key!  

A modern version of the original Gold Key Comics Club pages instituted by Western Publishing in 1967...
 [Join the Club - 2025 or 1967!] 

...This Gold Key Reader's Page, while steeped in its original incarnation at its core - right down to its retro logo design, takes less of a juvenile focus and is written for more of a general comics-consuming audience!  

And ALL OF YOU can join in the fun by sending in those "Letters of Comment, questions, likes and 'likes-not-so-much', suggestions, and all things Gold Key" to this address: 


So, how do I know that the Gold Key Reader's Page will be "fun"?  ...Simple, because I am writing/preparing the page and, if you're familiar with this humble Blog (...if you're reading this, you probably are) you know how I handle contributions and comments to it.  I look forward to bringing that manner to a wider scale with Gold Key Comics!  

I thank Gold Key Entertainment CEO Lance Linderman and all of the Gold Key Team for their faith in me to allow this undertaking and, as you all know from everything else I do in comics, I will make this new Gold Key Reader's Page the very best it can be!  

You're all invited to kick things off by reading the book and participating in the experience! 

Let's turn out a big response, and make it a regular ongoing thing across the Gold Key line!  

See you there...


Wednesday, February 14, 2024

Today is "New Gold Key Day" -- #2!

 Today, February 14, 2024, is not only Valentine's Day...

(...and what better way to introduce the main subject of this post than with a Classic Gold Key Valentine's Day cover...) 

It is also... NEW GOLD KEY DAY #2!

New logo is compared here with the classic (Western Publishing) Gold Key Logo. 

For this iconic (yet excitingly new) brand's second foray into the 21st century, Gold Key Entertainment presents BORIS KARLOFF GOLD KEY MYSTERIES #2!


A successor to "Gold Key Classic'sBORIS KARLOFF TALES OF MYSTERY...

...And it's own BORIS KARLOFF GOLD KEY MYSTERIES #1!

You can see my GCD Index/Review of the first issue HERE!

I just picked up my copy of #2 today and, as with the first issue, the mere mention of the Gold Key name, and sight of its iconic logo, just "lights-up" this original Gold Key Kid!  


Again, I wish our 
"New Gold Key Kids" much success in the months and years to come - and hope they continue to follow in the indelible footprints of their predecessors, and revive a few "funny" titles as well! ...Something which DOES appear to be on the horizon! 

And, to bring this post full circle back to Valentine's Day, check out the back cover of BORIS KARLOFF GOLD KEY MYSTERIES #2!


Gold Key Entertainment - and Boris Karloff, wherever he might be - have a special Valentine's Day message for us!  Gotta love it!


"Key" ya real soon! 

 UPDATE: February 15, 2024: 
In our Comments Section, you will read about Gold Key Entertainment's second title, FIGGY FURTHERMORE THE SPIRIT GUIDE DOG, coming in 2024 - and the Kickstarter campaign to help Gold Key "get Figgy flowing"! 
 
Toward our humble Blog's (...all together now) humble efforts to form all of you into fervent Figgy-followers, we present this Gold Key house ad from the inside-back-cover of BORIS KARLOFF GOLD KEY MYSTERIES #2...


Let's show 'em that "We Dig Figgy"! 

Finally, is it just me, or does that white FIGGY FURTHERMORE cover that "Uncle Boris" is holding conjure up images of THIS mid-1960s Gold Key cover?  

If so, they are really doing their job well!  

Wednesday, October 11, 2023

Today is "New Gold Key Day"!

 Today, October 11, 2023, is NEW GOLD KEY DAY!

And with it comes the new and simultaneously classic logo of Gold Key Entertainment (2023).  Only two color side-stripes (not three), but a perfect recreation of both design and color scheme!

As you can see, the magenta is very reminiscent of the classic logo... and so is the shade of blue.  

You heard it here first, folks... back in THIS POST! 

For this iconic brand's first foray into the 21st century, Gold Key Entertainment draws from it's (pardon) "storied" past reviving one of the original incarnation's better known titles with... BORIS KARLOFF GOLD KEY MYSTERIES!

A successor to "Gold Key Classic's" BORIS KARLOFF TALES OF MYSTERY! 

I just picked up my copy today, as did at least two others, at my small local comic shop. The mere mention of the Gold Key name, and sight of its iconic logo, just seemed to "do-it" for us!  

Especially so, coming out of the gate with a classic title that was EXCLUSIVELY associated with Gold Key over the years! 
I'll be back shortly with a review of this first issue, but right now I'm gonna set it up at GCD, then sit back and enjoy reading the first new Gold Key Comic in many decades!   

I wish our "New Gold Key Kids" much success in the months and years to come - and hope they continue to follow in the indelible footprints of their predecessors, and revive a few "funny" titles as well!

"Key" ya real soon!