Gold Key was essentially a comic book ghetto during much of its existence. While Marvel and DC were slowly changing the world with superheroes during the 1960s, Gold Key was gobbling up media licenses to publish mostly forgettable comics based on movie and TV properties. It's not that Gold Key hired poor talent; but they certainly provided poor editorial leadership. I try not to think about the good work that might have been produced with a good editor at the helm of the company's DARK SHADOWS, STAR TREK or THE MAN FROM UNCLE comics. Imagine Steve Ditko drawing DARK SHADOWS and try not to cry.
Gold Key's status as third-class citizens in the comic book world makes some of their books that much more interesting, though. That's not the same thing as good, mind you, but it's hard not to smile when seeing the likeness of Jonathan Frid buried in the back pages of Gold Key's THE BANANA SPLITS comic. Last week, Miss Baconalia found a teaser for the DARK SHADOWS comic in the pages in the second issue of THE BANANA SPLITS and sent me a few photos.
If you've got the theme from THE BANANA SPLITS stuck in your head now, I've included a video at the bottom of this post to help you get through it. Yes, that's Liz Phair singing.
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