Key Publications Explained

Key Publications
Founded:1951
Status:defunct 1956
Founder:Stanley P. Morse
Headquarters:New York City, New York
Country:United States of America
Publications:Comic books
Genre: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.

History

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,

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. 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."

Artist Steve Ditko, the future co-creator of Spider-Man, began his professional comics career 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

Source:

Aragon

Gillmor

Key Publications / Medal Comics

Media

S. P. M

Stanmor

Timor

Notes and References

  1. The Other Guys. Watt-Evans. Lawrence. The Scream Factory. 19 . Summer 1997. https://web.archive.org/web/20090422090241/http://www.watt-evans.com/theotherguys.html. April 22, 2009. dead. Reprinted as The Other Guys: A Gargoyle's-Eye View of the Non-EC Horror Comics of the 1950s. Alter Ego. 97. October 2010. 22.
  2. http://www.comics.org/issue/9100/ Mister Mystery #1
  3. http://www.comics.org/issue/274620/ Crime Detector #5
  4. http://www.comics.org/issue/274632/ Ideal Romance #5
  5. http://www.comics.org/issue/274622/ Diary Confessions #10
  6. http://www.comics.org/publisher/252/ Key Publications
  7. http://www.comics.org/series/849/ Mister Mystery, Key Publications, 1951 Series
  8. [David Hajdu|Hajdu, David]
  9. Bell, Blake. Strange and Stranger: The World of Steve Ditko (Fantagraphics Books, Seattle, Washington, 2008), p. 20.
  10. http://www.comics.org/details.lasso?id=244841 Fantastic Fears #5
  11. http://www.comics.org/issue/241499/ Daring Love #1

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