Mystery Comics Digest #23 - Gold Key

Behind a typically gorgeous cover, this edition of Mystery Comics Digest (May 1975) features eighteen "spine-tinglers in the Karloff tradition!"

• "Lo! The Mighty Hunter"
• "The Man Who Thought He Had Wings"
• "The Phone to the Past"
• "The Room That Never Grew Old"
• "Benefactors From Worlds Beyond"
• "The Face in the Jewel"
• "The Gypsy Curse"
• "The Room of Madness"
• "Pictures at an Execution"
• "The Dragon Tattoo"
• "The Death Bell"
• "Disaster in 3D"
• "The Scavengers"
• "The Plague of Gornau"
• "The Metamorphs"
• "One For The Herd"
• "When Children Speak"
• "Monster Mountain"

I have to admit, I didn't find a single one of these stories even remotely scary. Dell/Gold Key prided itself on being family entertainment (they never submitted their comics to the CCA, objecting to the very suggestion that their publications even needed such review), so you can imagine it'd be kind of hard to do horror comics in that context. But, of course, these books weren't meant for me, reading them in 2016. I'm sure these comics were read on many a family vacation by kids eager to pass the time. I mean, over 125 pages of comics for a measly 69c is quite a deal.

The artwork (entirely uncredited) is pretty serviceable to the point of being bland, except for one story, "The Face in the Jewel", which stands out thanks to the visuals. Still, the book is a nice little package and seeing it makes me wish DC, Marvel, or maybe even Warren had tried such a thing with their horror comics!

Golden Comics Digest #38 - Aug. 1974

Digest Fan Chris Franklin was kind enough to send me this book a few months ago, and who doesn't like a digest comic in the mail?

As the cover indicates, this is a reprint collection of Pink Panther and The Inspector comics, comprising 28 stories across 128 pages. Given the short nature of these stories, it must have been fairly easy to find just enough material to fill a book, whatever the page count. To that end, there are no bonus features to be found, save for some ads for other Gold Key titles.

I was never that big a fan of the Pink Panther, given his generally bland personality. but I loved The Inspector shorts, and I could hear those voices in my head as I read the comics. Thanks Chris!

Tarzan of the Apes Story Digest Magazine - June 1970

Like I said yesterday, these Gold Key digests always had such beautifully painted covers, and this edition is no exception.

Most of the other Gold Key stars got lumped in to the Golden Comics Digest umbrella title, but of course Tarzan was a big enough star to earn his own digest title!

But this was not a series of reprints--no, this is a prose story book, featuring spot illustrations by the legendary Dan Spiegle.

Golden Comics Digest #31 - Aug. 1973

These Gold Key digests always had such beautifully painted covers, and this edition is no exception.

Stories include:
Turok in "The World Below", "The Terrible Ones", "The Mystery of the Mountain", "The Missing Hunters", and "The Deadly Jungle."

There are other features reprinted, like Young Earth in "The Armored Ones" and "The Ice Age", and Indian Chief in "The Exile" and "Invaders from the North."

132 pages!

Magnus The Robot Fighter Golden Comics Digest

Digest Fan Neal Snow was so bothered at the idea that Gold Key never did a Magnus, Robot Fighter digest collection that he went ahead and made one up for himself! Love that good old-fashioned "can do" spirit!

Beautiful job, Neal, now get going on the other hundred or so pages!

Golden Comics Digest #34 - Jan. 1974

Another guest submission, this time from DigestFan Neal Snow:
"Lotsa reading fun for a measly 50 cents. Looney Tunes favorites like Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, Tweety, Elmer Fudd, Speedy Gonzales, Sylvester, Daffy Duck and the Roadrunner are featured, and I have no clue which Gold Key artists are responsible, but it's a solid package.

Sad that these kind of comics, especially in this format, are not published anymore."

Amen to that, Neal, and as anyone can see from the scan you sent, this copy was obviously read, re-read, and re-read some more, just like good comics are supposed to be!

Mystery Comics Digest #6 - Aug. 1972

Hmm, while this is a nicely painted cover, it doesn't really look like anything I'd associate with The Twilight Zone. But what the heck--Rod Serling was probably a little busy doing Night Gallery and smoking two cartons a day to oversee some silly comic book.

All these stories are uncredited, unfortunately(though a few have to have been drawn by Dan Spiegle):
"The Shield of Medusa", "Luck in the Twilight Zone", "The Legacy of Hans Burkel", "The Shadow of Fate", "Wings of Death", "No Place to Hyde", "Lost Acre", "Journey Into Jeopardy", "Voyage Into the Twilight Zone", "The Vial of Evil", "The Fortune Hunters", "Doomed to Battle", "Birds of a Feather", "Do Not Touch the Exhibit", "The Doom Days", "The Sinister Satano", "Night Train to Eternity"(oh man, have I been there!), "The Ray of Phobos", and "The Street Where Evil Dwealt."

I know some of you out there are a lot more familiar with the Gold Key digests(Craig, I'm looking in your directon), so if any of you ever want to write up a review of a digest I never got to, please feel free! We'll have our first guest review here tomorrow!

Golden Comics Digest #9 - March 1970

Ah, Tarzan--another staple of the comics industry of olden days. There was a time he had more titles going than Batman or Spider-Man...how times change.

Anyway, this tale features the King of the Jungle plus other similar-themed characters, like Korak, Son of Tarzan(nice to see Dad help his son get work) and The Brothers of the Spear.

The main story is an adaptation of the ERB book Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar by Russ Manning, plus:
Tarzan in "The City Under the Sands"(by Dan Spiegle!), "The Guilt of Belazi"
Brothers of the Spear in "Battle in the Boma", and "Tembo! Tembo!"
Korak in "Perilous Passage", and "The Pit"

...over one-hundred and sixty pages of jungle adventure!

Boris Karloff Tales of Mystery #1 - June 1970

Gold Key did pretty well with the digests; they had a number of titles in this format that ran for many years. I can't hope to talk about only but the smallest fraction of their output as we wind up the initial run of Digest Comics--maybe over time we'll get to more of them.

Anyway, this is Boris Karloff's very own comic digest, probably another thing that Bela Lugosi was jealous about(although Bela was dead by now, so...), featuring eleven stories all by Dick Wood and Luis Dominguez. They're mostly text stories with Big Little Book-style, intermittent single-page illustrations.

The stories include:
"Terror of the Black Pearl", "Restless Hands", "The Strange Fate of E.Neadle", "Cry Wolf", "Voyage of No Return", "The Well of Fear", "Vengeance of the Castle Creature", "The Iron Mask", "The Quill Pen", "Old Jeb's Bitter Secret", and "Escape Into Fear."

The cover is nice and spooky, too!