Dell/Gold Key/Whitman (1929-1984)
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Comic books:
Misc. Publishers:
Dell/Gold Key/Whitman (1929-1984)
This is for the comics produced by Dell &/or Western Printing.
Basically Dell Publishing had Western Printing produce their comics for them. Dell put up the money & okayed how many issues of each comic that would be produced each year, while Western hired the writers & artists as well as acquiring the licenses for their licensed comics.
In 1962 Dell & Western had a falling out (refered to as "The Divorce"). Western formed the Gold Key imprint and continued printing most of their old titles. Dell took the Dell name and tried to recreate a new line of Dell Comics. The second Dell Comics lasted until 1969 or thereabouts & folded. Gold Key continued on, changing the name to Whitman in the late '70s or early '80s and eventually Western went out of business.
Note: Western also used the Whitman name for comics it produced before hooking up with Dell.
While Gold Key was most known for it's Licensed Properties it did have original titles such as Turok, Son Of Stone, Doctor Solar, Man Of The Atom, Space Family Robinson Lost In Space, Doctor Spektor, Magnus, Robot Fighter among others.
Some of Gold Keys' original titles were acquired by Jim Shooter's Valiant Comics in the 1990s and by Dynamite in the 2010s.