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Gold Key Comics is coming back—and they’re bringing Boris Karloff

Chris Well

The long gone Gold Key Comics brand is coming back—and kicking off by launching a new horror comic Boris Karloff’s Gold Key Mysteries.

The classic 1960s comic book brand Gold Key is being restarted with new owners. And they’re kicking off the production with a Kickstarter event to support the launch of a new Boris Karloff-themed comic book anthology.

The new Gold Key comes from entrepreneurs (and comics enthusiasts) Lance Linderman, Adam Brooks, Mike Dynes, and Arnold Guerrero. Their first project—in partnership with the Boris Karloff Estate—is to launch Boris Karloff’s Gold Key Mysteries. A horror anthology, Boris Karloff’s Gold Key Mysteries is packed with ALL NEW stories (not reprints).

“Titillating tales have been carefully crafted by several of today’s most talented comic creators,” say the owners, “and we can’t wait for you to experience it.”

Each issue of this ongoing series will contain complete stories and a continuing narrative, ensuring a satisfying reading experience while building the foundations of a multi-issue storyline to be carried forth in subsequent issues.

The new series blends the feel of the classic horror anthology with a modern, ongoing narrative in a way that is sure to excite fans new and old. To reward early supporters, Gold Key has created a unique, early special edition of issue one available through Kickstarter.

The special edition offers a one of a kind reading experience peeling back the layers of the creative process to give readers a behind the scenes look into the creative process. The high-quality printing will be akin to that of an artist’s edition. With a hardcover printed exclusively for backers of the Kickstarter campaign, the special edition will be desired among fans and collectors.

Wrapped inside a beautiful cover by Johnny Dombrowski, issue one of Boris Karloff’s Gold Key Mysteries contains three original stories from talented creators including Michael W Conrad, Steve Orlando, Artyom Trakanov, Kelly Williams, Jok, Craig Hurd-Mckenny, Sergey Nazarov, and Kyle Arends.

Gold Key Comics originally published nearly 100 issues of the series, Boris Karloff Tales of Mystery, between 1964 and 1980. Find out more about the new Gold Key Comics at their official website.

About Boris Karloff

Legendary actor Boris Karloff (1887-1969) starred in lots of classic monster movies. His portrayal of Frankenstein’s monster in the 1931 horror film Frankenstein established him as a horror icon—and he replayed the role in movies Bride of Frankenstein (1935) and Son of Frankenstein (1939). He was also the star of the 1932 classic The Mummy. Other notable films include Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome (1947), Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff (1949), Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1952), The Raven (1963) and The Terror (1963).

Karloff also starred on TV, including the anthology series Thriller (AKA Boris Karloff's Thriller and Boris Karloff Presents). The show, which aired on NBC in the 1960s, featured Karloff hosting suspense and macabre horror tales.

He also starred as the master criminologist on Colonel March of Scotland Yard, solving bizarre crimes as the main detective of The Department of Queer Complaints. I’m a fan of this old 1950s show, based on the impossible crimes and locked-room whodunits from mystery writer John Dickson Carr.

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About Gold Key Comics

Gold Key Comics was created in 1962, when its parent Western Publishing Company switched to in-house publishing rather than packaging content for branding and distribution by its business partner, Dell Comics. Hoping to make their comics more like traditional children's books, they initially eliminated panel line-borders, using just the panel, with its ink and artwork evenly edged, but not bordered by a “container” line.

Within a year, they had reverted to using inked panel borders and oval balloons. They experimented with new formats, including Whitman Comic Book, a black-and-white, 136-page, hardcover series consisting of reprints, and Golden Picture Story Book, a tabloid-sized, 52-page, hardcover containing new material.

In 1967, Gold Key reprinted a number of selected issues of their comics under the title Top Comics. They were packaged in plastic bags containing five comics each and were sold at gas stations and various eateries. Like Dell, Gold Key was one of the few major American comic book publishers never to display the Comics Code Authority seal on its covers.

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