But 1979 was the beginning of the end of Gold Key, as the company was purchased by Mattel, Inc., which essentially ended newsstand distribution and began selling Gold Key books almost exclusively in plastic 3-paks found in your local department store. The ol’ PEWPEWPEW, that’s how! It’s a pretty common tale in the Gold Key line, though, as the consistency of the line was in getting the books OUT on time, not in fealty to any hypothetical source material. In the second feature in this issue, the entire story is ship-to-ship combat between the Phoenix and another Spectran giant robot, seemingly based on the Space Terrapin from the first American episode.Īnd how do we deal with the giant alien threat from beyond space? Their only sorties out of the ship are in individual fighter jets (all of which are visually based on Mark’s craft, the only fighter jet seen in the animated series) and that one battle sequence in the Sahara. For one, most of the issue features the team in their ship, the Phoenix, like the crew of the Starship Enterprise. That’s not to say it’s not an attractive comic, as Win Mortimer does interesting illustrations that keep the characters recognizable, but… even by Battle of the Planets standards, this one is a weirdie. It’s about entertaining 9-year-olds for twenty minutes or so, but the abrupt ending of the first story seems like it might not even do that. Now, why an alien overlord would be hiding out in a castle in the desert is unexamined, but this book isn’t really about examination. Or at least, they think they do, as the real Zark had a decoy set aside for just such an emergency, with a tracker so the heroes can follow Zoltar to his lair. (If only Fred Schneider were here to help!) While the heroes are busy with Zoltar’s beast, the evil overlord himself kidnaps 7-Zark-7! Zark then gets an emergency message and sends the G-Force team out to fight a giant crab. This issue kicks off with 7-Zark-7, the robot narrator of the cartoon, explaining the premise of the comic we’re about to read, as happened with the syndicated show. Generation X kids like me may remember Battle of the Planets better as G-Force, the English name of the super-team known in Japan as Science Ninja Team Gatchaman.
#SLAPDASH COMIC BOOK CHARACTER TV#
As with Dell, Gold Key was (you should excuse the expression) a gold mine of licensed properties, including the book of the cartoon that would inspire one of the longest-running TV franchises in the modern world.
Western, on the other hand, created their own comic line in Gold Key, including a number of titles previously seen under Dell. In 1962, though, Western and Dell parted ways, with Dell ceasing comic publishing in 1974.
#SLAPDASH COMIC BOOK CHARACTER MOVIE#
Western provided the actual material that Dell printed, including stacks and stacks of licensed comics featuring Disney characters, TV show adaptations, movie tie-ins, and more. It was 1934 when Dell Comics published the first issue of Famous Funnies, but not long afterward, Dell partnered with a company called Western Publishing. But the story of Gold Key can’t be told without momentarily jumping back to the dawn of the Golden Age of Comics, several decades earlier. Previously in Battle of the Planets:If you grew up in the ’70s, you might have the same memories I do – memories of Gold Key “funnybooks” on spinner racks and in grocery stores everywhere. He is chaos come to life, a character that will enthrall audiences for years to come.Always five! Acting as one! Even in a bizarro out-of-character adaptation! Your Major Spoilers Retro Review of Battle of the Planets #1 awaits! His influence spreads beyond the pages and into movies and television. Nowadays, the Joker is seen as the ultimate comic book villain. The Bronze Age would see him return to his darker roots, with some of his most seminal stories- A Death in the Family, The Killing Joke-taking place in the late '80s. In the 1950s and '60s, he became a literal buffoon in both the comic books and the Batman tv show. Since his debut, the Joker's characterization has shifted according to the times. Eventually, Batman and Joker came to depend on each other, and it was unclear who was the cat and who, the mouse. Their cat-and-mouse dynamic would define American comic books, even as the roles reversed over the years. Introduced as a remorseless murderer and thief, the Joker became Batman's first and most enduring villain. Batman #1 saw the debut of the Clown Prince of Crime himself, the Joker. April 25, 1940, was a landmark day for comic books.
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