History Creator / GoldKeyComics

** ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'', ''MickeyMouse'', ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'', ''Series/DarkShadows'', ''Series/TheManFromUNCLE'', ''Series/Adam12'', ''Series/{{Bewitched}}'', ''Franchise/TheLoneRanger'', ''ComicStrip/BuckRogers'' (both the original and the [[Series/BuckRogersInTheTwentyFifthCentury 1979 series)]], ''Franchise/FlashGordon'', ''Anime/BattleOfThePlanets'', and on and on. The ''Star Trek'' comics have been collected in a trade paperback.

** ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'', ''MickeyMouse'', ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'', ''Anime/BattleOfThePlanets'', ''ComicStrip/BuckRogers'', ''Series/TheManFromUNCLE'', ''Series/Adam12'', and on and on. The ''Star Trek'' comics have been collected in a trade paperback.

** ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'', ''MickeyMouse'', ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'', ''Anime/BattleOfThePlanets'', ''ComicStrip/BuckRogers'', ''Series/TheManFromUNCLE'', ''Series/AdamTwelve'', and on and on. The ''Star Trek'' comics have been collected in a trade paperback.

** Gold Key and Whitman's ''ComicBook/LooneyTunes'' comics deserve special mention. They ran for decades and built up an ExpandedUniverse, complete with original characters like WesternAnimation/BugsBunny's girlfriend Honey Bunny, Porky's nephew Cicero, the Road Runner's wife and three sons, and Sniffles's human friend Mary Jane. The comics are also the only reason anyone is familiar with Petunia Pig, who was a regular cast member in print, but who only appeared in a small handful of early cartoons. [[note]] She does have a cameo in the 1970's TV short, "Bugs Bunny's Christmas Carol," which not coincidentally was produced when the Gold Key comics were going strong. [[/note]] Bugs's nephew Clyde, a relatively obscure character from the classic animated shorts, is another prominent AscendedExtra in the comics. The Bugs Bunny newspaper strip and all Looney Tunes books and merchandise of those years featured these characters prominently, and any fan of that period would be likely to recognize them. The stories' style arguably bore more resemblance to the ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse than to the faster-paced Warner animated shorts (and Whitman did publish Duck comics for Disney). Since Gold Key/Whitman went under, though, this version of the characters and their world seems to have been completely forgotten by Creator/WarnerBros (despite the fact that it would seem like an obvious model for how to handle long-form storytelling with the characters, something WB seems to perpetually struggle with). One of the most notable writers was Creator/MarkEvanier. Creator/CarlBarks (of the aforementioned [[ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse duck comics)]] even did a little work for them.

** Gold Key and Whitman's ''ComicBook/LooneyTunes'' comics deserve special mention. They ran for decades and built up an ExpandedUniverse, complete with original characters like WesternAnimation/BugsBunny's girlfriend Honey Bunny, Porky's nephew Cicero, the Road Runner's wife and three sons, and Sniffles's human friend Mary Jane. The comics are also the only reason anyone is familiar with Petunia Pig, who was a regular cast member in print, but who only appeared in a small handful of early cartoons. [[note]] She does have a cameo in the 1970's TV short, "Bugs Bunny's Christmas Carol," which not coincidentally was produced when the Gold Key comics were going strong. [[/note]] Bugs's nephew Clyde, a relatively obscure character from the classic animated shorts, is another prominent AscendedExtra in the comics. The Bugs Bunny newspaper strip and all Looney Tunes books and merchandise of those years featured these characters prominently, and any fan of that period would be likely to recognize them. The stories' style arguably bore more resemblance to the ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse than to the faster-paced Warner animated shorts (and Whitman did publish Duck comics for Disney). Since Gold Key/Whitman went under, though, this version of the characters and their world seems to have been completely forgotten by Creator/WarnerBros One of the most notable writers was Creator/MarkEvanier. Creator/CarlBarks (of the aforementioned [[ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse duck comics)]] even did a little work for them.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The early Star Trek comics were drawn by Italian artists who had not seen the show and were working from publicity stills. The artwork is intriguing, but varies wildly from the style of the show, with unrecognisable machines flanking the transporter pad, and tricorders used as communicators. The writing is also bizarre, with the Enterprise exploring other galaxies, entering planets' atmospheres, and in one entertaining but [[http://www.comics101.com/comics101/?mode=project&action=view&project=Comics+101&chapter=105 notorious example]] committing planet-wide genocide against a plant civilisation to prevent it spreading to other parts of an otherwise ''[[WhatTheHellHero uninhabited galaxy]]''.

The bulk of Dell, Gold Key, and Whitman's output always consisted of licensed properties based on cartoons, TV series, and films (and they did adapt ''everything under the sun'' -- see ComicBookAdaptation, below; or just google "Gold Key Comics"), but they did have their own small stable of original characters as well.

** Gold Key and Whitman's ''ComicBook/LooneyTunes'' comics deserve special mention. They ran for decades and built up an ExpandedUniverse, complete with original characters like WesternAnimation/BugsBunny's girlfriend Honey Bunny, Porky's nephew Cicero, the Road Runner's wife and three sons, and Sniffles' human friend Mary Jane. The comics are also the only reason anyone is familiar with Petunia Pig, who was a regular cast member in print, but who only appeared in a small handful of early cartoons. [[note]] She does have a cameo in the 1970's TV short, "Bugs Bunny's Christmas Carol," which not coincidentally was produced when the Gold Key comics were going strong. [[/note]] Bugs's nephew Clyde, a relatively obscure character from the classic animated shorts, is another prominent AscendedExtra in the comics. The Bugs Bunny newspaper strip and all Looney Tunes books and merchandise of those years featured these characters prominently, and any fan of that period would be likely to recognize them. The stories' style arguably bore more resemblance to the ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse than to the faster-paced Warner animated shorts (and Whitman did publish Duck comics for Disney). Since Gold Key/Whitman went under, though, this version of the characters and their world seems to have been completely forgotten by Creator/WarnerBros One of the most notable writers was Creator/MarkEvanier. Creator/CarlBarks (of the aforementioned [[ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse duck comics)]] even did a little work for them.

For decades, [=Dell/Gold Key/Whitman=] were also the publishers of Literature/BigLittleBooks, small prose novels based on the same licensed properties as their comics, with subjects like ''The Lone Ranger,'' ''Lassie,'' ''Batman,'' ''Donald Duck,'' and on and on. Every turn of the page revealed a page of text on the left and a full page illustration on the right. Some featured flip-book animations of the characters in the corner of the pages that you could see move by flipping through the pages of the book in your fingers.

For decades, [=Dell/Gold Key/Whitman=] were also the publishers of Literature/BigLittleBooks, small prose novels based on the same licensed properties as their comics, with subjects like ''The Lone Ranger,'' ''Lassie,'' ''Batman,'' ''Donald Duck,'' and on and on. Every turn of the page revealed a page of text on the left and a full page illustration on the right. Many featured flip-book animations of the characters in the corner of the pages that you could see move by flipping through the pages of the book in your fingers.

[[CanonInvasion Several of Gold Key's original properties]] (Dr. Solar, Magnus and Turok) were sold to Creator/ValiantComics in the 1990s, and have more recently reappeared in Creator/DarkHorseComics. In 2013, it was announced that these properties would be published by Creator/DynamiteComics.

** Gold Key's ''ComicBook/LooneyTunes'' comics deserve special mention. They ran for decades and built up an ExpandedUniverse, complete with original characters like WesternAnimation/BugsBunny's girlfriend Honey Bunny, Porky's nephew Cicero, the Road Runner's wife and three sons, and Sniffles' human friend Mary Jane. The comics are also the only reason anyone is familiar with Petunia Pig, who was a regular cast member in print, but who only appeared in a small handful of early cartoons. [[note]] She does have a cameo in the 1970's TV short, "Bugs Bunny's Christmas Carol," which not coincidentally was produced when the Gold Key comics were going strong. [[/note]] Bugs's nephew Clyde, a relatively obscure character from the classic animated shorts, is another prominent AscendedExtra in the comics. The Bugs Bunny newspaper strip and all Looney Tunes books and merchandise of those years featured these characters prominently, and any fan of that period would be likely to recognize them. The stories' style arguably bore more resemblance to the ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse than to the faster-paced Warner animated shorts (and Whitman did publish Duck comics for Disney). Since Gold Key/Whitman went under, though, this version of the characters and their world seems to have been completely forgotten by Creator/WarnerBros One of the most notable writers was Creator/MarkEvanier. Creator/CarlBarks (of the aforementioned [[ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse duck comics)]] even did a little work for them.

** Gold Key's ''ComicBook/LooneyTunes'' comics deserve special mention. They ran for decades and built up an ExpandedUniverse, complete with original characters like WesternAnimation/BugsBunny's girlfriend Honey Bunny, Porky's nephew Cicero, the Road Runner's wife and three sons, and Sniffles' human friend Mary Jane. The comics are also the only reason anyone is familiar with Petunia Pig, who was a regular cast member in print, but who only appeared in a small handful of early cartoons. [[note]] She does have a cameo in the 1970's TV short, "Bugs Bunny's Christmas Carol," which not coincidentally was produced when the Gold Key comics were going strong. [[/note]] Bugs's nephew Clyde, a relatively obscure character from the classic animated shorts, is another prominent AscendedExtra in the comics. The Bugs Bunny newspaper strip and all Looney Tunes books and merchandise of those years featured these characters prominently, and any fan of that period would be likely to recognize them. The stories' style arguably bore more resemblance to the ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse than to the faster-paced Warner animated shorts (and Whitman did publish Duck comics for Disney). Since Gold Key/Whitman went under, though, this version of the characters and their world seems to have been completely forgotten by Creator/WarnerBros One of the most notable writers was Creator/MarkEvanier. Creator/CarlBarks himself (of the aforementioned [[ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse duck comics)]] even did a little work for them.

** Gold Key's ''ComicBook/LooneyTunes'' comics deserve special mention. They ran for decades and built up an ExpandedUniverse, complete with original characters like WesternAnimation/BugsBunny's girlfriend Honey Bunny, Porky's nephew Cicero, the Road Runner's wife and three sons, and Sniffles' human friend Mary Jane. The comics are also the only reason anyone is familiar with Petunia Pig, who was a regular cast member in print, but who only appeared in a small handful of early cartoons. [[note]] She does have a cameo in the 1970's TV short, "Bugs Bunny's Christmas Carol," which not coincidentally was produced when the Gold Key comics were going strong. [[/note]] Bugs's nephew Clyde, a relatively obscure character from the classic animated shorts, is another prominent AscendedExtra in the comics. The Bugs Bunny newspaper strip and all Looney Tunes books and merchandise of those years featured these characters prominently, and any fan of that period would be likely to recognize them. The stories' style arguably bore more resemblance to the ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse than to the faster-paced Warner animated shorts (and Whitman did publish Duck comics for Disney). Since Gold Key/Whitman went under, though, this version of the characters and their world seems to have been completely forgotten by Creator/WarnerBros One of the most notable writers was Creator/MarkEvanier. Creator/CarlBarks even did a little work for them.

** Gold Key's ''ComicBook/LooneyTunes'' comics deserve special mention. They ran for decades and built up an ExpandedUniverse, complete with original characters like WesternAnimation/BugsBunny's girlfriend Honey Bunny, Porky's nephew Cicero, the Road Runner's wife and three sons, and Sniffles' human friend Mary Jane. The comics are also the only reason anyone is familiar with Petunia Pig, who was a regular cast member in print, but who only appeared in a small handful of early cartoons. [[note]] She does have a cameo in the 1970's TV short, "Bugs Bunny's Christmas Carol," which not coincidentally was produced when the Gold Key comics were going strong. [[/note]] Bugs's nephew Clyde, a relatively obscure character from the classic animated shorts, is another prominent AscendedExtra in the comics. The Bugs Bunny newspaper strip and all Looney Tunes books and merchandise of those years featured these characters prominently, and any fan of that period would be likely to recognize them. The stories' style arguably bore more resemblance to the ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse than to the faster-paced Warner animated shorts (and Whitman did publish Duck comics for Disney). Since Gold Key/Whitman went under, though, this version of the characters and their world seems to have been completely forgotten by Creator/WarnerBros One of the most notable writers was Creator/MarkEvanier.

The bulk of Dell, Gold Key, and Whitman's output always consisted of licensed properties based on cartoons, TV series, and films (and they did adapt ''everything under the sun'' -- see ComicBookAdaptation, below), but they did have their own small stable of original characters as well.

[[quoteright:215:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gold_key_whitman_logos_for_tvtropes.jpg]]

[[quoteright:250: [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/4_20_wdymiwmod_Resized__8596.jpg]]]]

** ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'', ''MickeyMouse'', ''Series/TheTwilightZone'', ''Anime/BattleOfThePlanets'', ''ComicStrip/BuckRogers'', ''Series/TheManFromUNCLE'', ''Series/AdamTwelve'', and on and on. The ''Star Trek'' comics have been collected in a trade paperback.

Gold Key Comics began in 1962, although the history extends back further. Western Publishing and Lithography had published some comics under the Whitman imprint in the 1930s, then in 1935 Dell Publishing contracted and distributed comics from Western as Creator/DellComics. This ended in 1962, an event known as "the divorce", when Dell and Western went their separate ways.

* ComicBookAdaptation: Gold Key published a ''lot'' of these. If you think Creator/DarkHorseComics publishes a lot of licensed titles today, you haven't looked at Gold Key's line:

Gold Key soon entered the visual novel market and started doing the entire ''Franchise/{{Barbie}}'' visual novel series, marketed towards preteen girls. The novel series was often known as ''Generation Girl'', aptly omitting the word ''comics'' from their brand name.

[[CanonInvasion Several of Gold Key's original properties (Dr. Solar, Magnus and Turok) were sold to]] Creator/ValiantComics in the 1990s, and have more recently reappeared in Creator/DarkHorseComics. In 2013, it was announced that these properties would be published by Creator/DynamiteComics.

Gold Key soon entered the visual novel market and started doing the entire ''Franchise/{{Barbie}}'' visual novel series, marketed towards preteen girls. The novel series was often known as ''Generation Girl'', aptly omitting the word ''comics'' from its brand name.