7 From the 70s - Comic Book Memories

 

Comic Book Memories with Gold Key Adventure Titles, Charlton’s Phantom, and Marvel Monsters - by Joseph Perry

Gold Key was my favorite comic book publisher growing up. I was a big fan of the underdog publishing companies at that age, so I was big on Dell — a former powerhouse that was on its final legs — King, and Charlton, too. Make no mistake about it — I loved Marvel and DC stuff, as well, but for whatever reasons, I tended to gravitate toward the smaller publishers. This time, I’ll discuss some more Gold Key offerings that hooked me as a six-year-old, and then dive into a Charlton title and some Marvel monster comics.

7 From the 70s - Gold Key Comics

 

Some of My Favorite Gold Key Comic Books - by Joseph Perry

I became a huge comic book fan at age six when, after moving from northern California to Corral, Idaho (population 32 when we lived there in 1968, if I recall correctly), I discovered a stack of old comics in one of the storage sheds at the ranch to which my family moved. I was already well aware of, and quite interested in, Marvel and DC superheroes thanks to coloring books, cartoons, and television shows, but the comic books I happened upon opened up a whole new world to me. Fortunately the general store in Corral and the drug store in nearby Fairfield stocked the latest issues in spinner racks stuffed full of colorful goodness.

Gold Key publishing company boasted beautiful, painted covers that set the brand’s books apart from other publishers’ titles. Though the books usually didn’t credit their writers and artists the same way that Marvel and other publishers did, Gold Key had a rich group of talented people behind their comics. Best of all, for six-year-old me, Gold Key had many titles that appealed to my love of monsters and robots, an affection that I still hold to today.