Dell Comics & Gold Key Comics--A brief history

[paw broon]

Not British comics but as WDL reprinted so many Dell titles in the U.K. and as I am a big fan, I hope some of you might be interested in this video:-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxTLgX4nS1g
The link comes from:-
http://digitalcomicmuseum.com/forum/index.php

[philcom55]

Darn! I can't access Youtube on my computer anymore.

Have you seen the first volume of Twomorrows' American Comic Book Chronicles (covering the years 1960-64) yet Paw? It really is fascinating to see the output of Dell, DC, Marvel, Charlton, etc. compared on a year-by-year basis. Especially the way in which Western/Dell's long decline from a position of total dominance (remember the slogan 'Dell comics are good comics'?) can be traced precisely to their catastrophic decision to put their books up to 15 cents when none of their competitors did. DC must have enjoyed a fantastic sales boost during this period (encouraged, no doubt, by the prominent 'Still Only 10 Cents' sign that suddenly appeared on the covers of all their comics). In retrospect it's easy to see why all their editors, writers and artists seemed to go into creative overdrive during those critical months.

Ironically, of course, Marvel did exactly the same thing to them about ten years later...!

- Phil Rushton

[davidandrewsimpson]

From a childhood spent reading comic albums reprinting Del, and Gold Key comics, the phrase "Published by arrangement with the Western Printing & Lithographic Company, Racine, Wisconsin" is burnt into my brain.

Does anybody know if there are any websites devoted to British comic albums?

[philcom55]

I don't know of any website but there really ought to be one! I think most of the Dell albums were published by World Distributors of Manchester and, even though the interiors were printed in black & white, their front and back card covers were a veritable explosion of colour (Dell/Western being almost alone amongst American comic book publishers in employing cover artists who'd previously worked for the pulp magazines). It's worth remembering that during their heyday in the 1950s these substantial publications (often based on popular TV series) faced no competition at all from US comic books, which couldn't be directly imported until the very end of the decade.



- Phil R.

[standby4action]

I don't know of any website but there really ought to be one!
- Phil R.

Can I add to the mix that I'd love to know more about those elusive "Gold Token" comics?

I remember I sent off my tokens for a balsa wood airplane....so I suppose I cut the corners off mine!

I see Shaqui used to have a Space patrol page on which he displayed a comic - don't know which but here's a copy of one from GCD

[paw broon]

There doesn't seem to be site forWDL which is a real shame. Phil is bang on about those albums and I was fortunate to buy 2 of them at the last Glw. Mart, Cheyenne; Maverick and I'm sure thecovers were redrawn here. WDL also produced colour comics when they reprinted Delll Movie Classics. These had thicker card covers and slightly thicker matt paper interiors but pre. 1958? WDL also produced pocket library sized reprints of Dell westerns in b&w e.g. Gunsmoke, which was retitled Gunlaw in Britain (if anyone can tell me why, please do as I haven't a scoobie). There were also Australian editions in the small format but Gunsmoke stayed as Gunsmoke there.
Fortunately for me, a friend is selling off a lot ofhis Dell collection and I've been able to buy lots. Some of the art work inthe comics is superb. Sufficient to mention Toth; Manning; Kinstler and for a tutorial in how to tell a comic story, Jesse Marsh.
Writing this on a tablet and it's slow going.

[philcom55]

Yes. Many fans find Jesse Marsh's art a bit 'ordinary' but, as Alex Toth himself attested, his storytelling skills were quite outstanding. I particularly liked his John Carter.

- Phil R.

[philcom55]

Can I add to the mix that I'd love to know more about those elusive "Gold Token" comics?

Apart from the US-style comic-books they also produced hardback albums and digest comics such as the ones shown below:





To be honest I'm a bit puzzled by the contents myself. Some strips certainly seem to consist of repackaged material from Gold Key and King Features, but others are a complete mystery. Where, for example, did 'Black Mask' come from??? For the record the publisher is given as 'Young World Productions Ltd. - a subsidiary of the Thomson Organisation.'

- Phil Rushton

[davidandrewsimpson]

Hi

Black mask seems to be the Italian character Maschera Nera. Certainly, the drawings of him at http://www.comicvine.com/maschera-nera/4005-65755/ look the same as the Gold Token Black Mask

[philcom55]

Thanks Dave - that's definitely the same Black Mask (I thought the artwork seemed a bit 'european'!). In fact, now that I come to study that 'Champion the Wonder Horse' strip, it looks rather more like the work of the late Colin Andrew than any of Dell's regular artists (not to mention the majority of the covers, which don't appear to have originated in America either). Most Curious!

Incidentally, here's one of those Australian digests mentioned by Paw:



- Phil R.

[paw broon]

Yes, that's Maschera Nera, an Italian western hero created by Max Bunker (Luciano Secchi) in 1962. MN was his first but you might be more familiar with Kriminal and Satanik.
Kriminal Wiki with a classic cover here:-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kriminal