| Status | defunct 1956 |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1951 |
| Founder | Stanley P. Morse |
| Country of origin | United States of America |
| Headquarters location | New York City, New York |
| Publication types | Comic books |
| Fiction genres | Horror, War, Mystery, Western, Crime, Science fiction, Adventure |
| Imprints | Aragon Magazines Gillmor Magazines Medal Comics Media Publications S. P. M. Publications Stanmor Publications Timor Publications |
Key Publications was an American comic-book company founded by Stanley P. Morse that published under the imprints Aragon Magazines, Gillmor Magazines, Medal Comics, Media Publications, S. P. M. Publications, Stanmor Publications, and Timor Publications.
Contents |
History[edit]
Stanley P. Morse's[1] Key Publications, based variously at 1775 Broadway,[2] 280 Madison Avenue,[3] 175 Fifth Avenue,[4] and 261 Fifth Avenue[5] in New York City, New York, published comic books from 1951 to 1956.[6] The first, a horror anthology titled Mister Mystery, under the Media Publications imprint, ran 19 issues cover-dated September 1951 to October 1954, and featured much early work by the art team of Ross Andru and Mike Esposito.[7]
Wrote historian Lawrence Watt-Evans,
His titles often changed publishers from one issue to the next as he dodged creditors or changed partners, and would sometimes have cover art taken from a story from a different issue as deadlines were missed. If he came up a story short, he would simply reprint something. If he couldn't get an artist for a particular slot, he'd have his editor cut up and rearrange the art from an old story to make a new one.[1]
During the 1950s boom in horror comics, Morse "produced several acutely vile horror comics", wrote one historian,[8] and "some of the grossest and most vile" of the time, concurred another.[1] Interviewed for a 2008 book on 1950s horror comics, Morse said, "You did what you had to do — what moved 'em off the racks. ... I don't know what the hell I published. I never knew. I never read the things. I never cared."[8]
Artist Steve Ditko, the future co-creator of Spider-Man, began professionally illustrating comic books at Key in early 1953, illustrating writer Bruce Hamilton's science-fiction story "Stretching Things" for Key's Stanmor Publications, which sold the story to Ajax/Farrell, where it finally found publication in Fantastic Fears #5 (Feb. 1954).[9][10] Ditko's first published work was his second professional story, the six-page "Paper Romance" in Daring Love #1 (Oct. 1953), published by Key's Gillmor Magazines.[11]
Titles by imprint[edit]
Source:[6]
Aragon[edit]
- Battle Fire #1-4, #6 (April 1955 - May 1956; no issue #5)
- Mister Mystery (see Media, below)
- Mutiny #1-3 (Oct. 1954 - Feb. 1955)
- Navy Task Force #1-6, #8 (Dec. 1954 - April 1956; no issue #7)
- Weird Tales of the Future (see Key, below)
Gillmor[edit]
- Action Adventure Comics #2-4 (June-Oct. 1955)
- Climax #1-2 (July-Sept. 1955)
- Daring Love #1 (Oct. 1953) / '"Radiant Love #2-6 (Dec. 1953 - Aug. 1954)
- Real Adventure Comics #1 (April 1955)
- Super Fun #1 (Jan. 1956)
- Weird Mysteries #1-12 (Oct. 1952 - Sept. 1954)
- Western Rough Riders #1-4 (Nov. 1954 - May 1955)
Key Publications / Medal Comics[edit]
- Flying Aces #1-5 (July 1955 - May 1956; Medal Comics imprint, #3-5)
- Hector Comics #1-3 (Nov. 1953 - March 1954)
- Navy Patrol #1-4 (May-Nov. 1955; Medal Comics imprint, #4)
- Peter Cottontail #1-2 (Jan.-March 1954)
- Peter Cottontail Three Dimensional Comics #1 (Feb. 1954)
- Prize Mystery #1-3 (May-Sept. 1955)
- Silver Kid Western #1-5 (Oct. 1954 - July 1955)
- Tender Romance #1-2 (Dec. 1953 - Feb. 1954) / Ideal Romance #3-8 (April 1954 - Feb. 1955) / Diary Confessions #9-12, #14 (May 1955 - April 1956; no issue #13; Medal Comics imprint, #14)
- Weird Chills #1-3 (July-Nov. 1954)
- Weird Tales of the Future #1-8 (March 1952 - July 1953; S. P. M. #1-2, 4 at least; Aragon #6 at least)
Media[edit]
- Mister Mystery #1-19 (Sept. 1951 - Oct. 1954; Aragon imprint #7-19</ref>
S. P. M[edit]
- Junior Hopp Comics #1-3 (Jan.-July 1952)
- Weird Tales of the Future (see Key, above)
Stanmor[edit]
- Battle Attack #1-8 (Oct. 1954 - Dec. 1955)
- Battle Cry #1-20 (May 1952 - Sept. 1955)
- Battle Squadron #1-5 (April 1955 - Dec. 1955)
- Pete the Panic #1 (Nov. 1955)
- Warpath #1-3 (Nov. 1954 - April 1955)
Timor[edit]
- Algie #1-3 (Dec. 1953 - April 1954)
- Animal Adventures #1-3 (Dec. 1953 - April 1954)
- Blazing Western #1-5 (Jan.-Sept. 1954)
- Crime Detector #1-5 (Jan.-July 1954)
References[edit]
- ^ a b c Watt-Evans, Lawrence (Summer 1997). "The Other Guys". The Scream Factory (19). Archived from the original on April 22, 2009. Reprinted as "The Other Guys: A Gargoyle's-Eye View of the Non-EC Horror Comics of the 1950s". Alter Ego (97): 22. October 2010.
- ^ Mister Mystery #1 at the Grand Comics Database
- ^ Crime Detector #5 at the Grand Comics Database
- ^ Ideal Romance #5 at the Grand Comics Database
- ^ Diary Confessions #10 at the Grand Comics Database
- ^ a b Key Publications at the Grand Comics Database
- ^ Mister Mystery, Key Publications, 1951 Series at the Grand Comics Database
- ^ a b Hajdu, David. The Ten-Cent Plague|The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008), p. 190. ISBN 978-0-374-18767-5
- ^ Bell, Blake. Strange and Stranger: The World of Steve Ditko (Fantagraphics Books, Seattle, Washington, 2008), p. 20. ISBN 978-1-56097-921-0
- ^ Fantastic Fears #5 at the Grand Comics Database
- ^ Daring Love #1 at the Grand Comics Database
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