Boris Karloff Gold Key Mysteries
Before there was The Hourglass, there was ... Longbox Graveyard! My comics & pop culture blog ran for a dozen years, focusing mostly on Silver & Bronze Age comics from Marvel and DC.
This blog focuses on crime fiction, but I can extend that focus to comics when the topic is Boris Karloff, and the month is October (or close enough). Plus it says "mysteries," right on the cover! Something for everyone.
“Boris Karloff Gold Key Mysteries” is the flagship product of the revived Gold Key Comics. The original Gold Key operated from 1962 to 1984, mostly doing licensed comics and books for kids. (No snickering in the back there about all comics being for kids -- in Gold Key's case, I'm referring to things like Hanna-Barbera adaptations and Disney properties). You can peruse Gold Key's eclectic oeuvre at their Wikipedia page. You can also read a bit about the company's history at Gold Key's new webpage.
The Gold Key trademark was acquired in 2021 and the new owners are making a go of bringing back the brand. Their first publication is “Boris Karloff's Gold Key Mysteries,” funded on Kickstarter in April of this year, with the digital version available now, and the physical edition "in the hands of the print gods." Leading with a revived Boris Karloff book checks a lot of boxes for Gold Key, in that “Boris Karloff Tales of Mystery” was one of the original company's longer-running books (lasting nearly 100 issues), and in a title library heavy with licenses Gold Key can no longer claim (Star Trek has long since left the building), I suspect the Karloff license was as gettable as it was nostalgic.
Regardless of its origins, Karloff is here, and I am firmly in the target market -- I'm old enough to remember Gold Key when they were on the racks (though I don't recall buying any of their books); I revere Boris Karloff, and I write and read mysteries. How did the issue land with me? Read on!
My first impression was not favorable. I have to get this out of the way -- I don't get that cover, at all. I like the retro coloring, title treatment, and trade dress, but this just doesn't look like Boris Karloff to me. Hoagy Carmichael, maybe, but not Boris. The original Gold Key Karloff books had an erudite photo of Karloff integrated into the logo of their painted covers, which struck a better tone -- teasing the mystery in that issue while also reinforcing the brand. This cover is a total miss.
The book leads with an essay about Karloff's life and career, which is nice to have and sets a respectful tone. I'm a Famous Monsters kid, so I eat this stuff up. It's more hagiography than history, but that's fine -- I don't need a critical assessment of Boris Karloff from my Boris Karloff comic. That Karloff had already acted in 80 films when he became famous as Frankenstein's Monster is a cool little factoid. Mention of Karloff's role in founding the Screen Actors Guild, his voice work in animation, and later career pictures with Val Lewton and Peter Bogdanovich was also welcome, but I found it curious there was no mention of Karloff's Thriller TV show, especially considering the first two issues of the original Gold Key Karloff run were branded under that title.
The meat of the issue kicks off with the first of three stories -- “Where House,” with art by Kelly Williams and script from Michael W. Conrad. It concerns a black ops team tasked with investigating a haunted house that appears and disappears. It is a servicable premise and the script offers some welcome characterization for the cold-hearted leader of the investigative team, but I found the art style a poor match for the story. The art was skillfully rendered and I appreciated the effort put into expressions, but I think the tale would have been better served by a more realistic style.
This story has a bit of gore and colorful language, too, which is fine, but it doesn't align with the classic Gold Key Karloff brand. Which raises the question of what exactly this new brand is to be. What is a Boris Karloff story? As a reader, what should I expect when I pick up an issue of this comic? From the cover, I expect Karloff to read me stories, but there's no Karloff "voice" within the issue, as was the case in the original Gold Key run.
There's also a production error in this story -- or at least an oversight -- in that the story appears to end abruptly on pg. 26, only to resume a couple dozen pages later. I chalk it up to growing pains but I found it distracting. The tale ends with "To Be Continued" and reveal of a character that might (?) be Boris Karloff, but if so I'm afraid I still couldn't recognize the guy.
Next is “My Twin No More,” with art from Jok and script by Craig Hurd-McKenney. This is the most purely visual of the stories on offer, and it worked for me stylistically, but there were leaps in the storytelling I didn't always follow. It's clear enough what was going on by the time you get to the end, but I wasn't fully on board while I got there. An entertaining execution, even if I found the story murky.
The third tale comes from artist Artyom Trakhanov and writer Steve Orlando, with color credits to Sergey Nazarov, which are well-earned. “Cherry” is a one-and-done story that feels a bit more like what you'd experience on a Boris Karloff anthology TV show, revolving around a celebrity chef with a dark secret. It checks all the boxes, including the cathartic comeuppance at the end. As with the first tale, the art is on the whimsical/stylistic side, but it suits the story, and serves to mute what could be some gore and grossness, in line with the story's ironic tone.
Rounding out this issue is some fan art (a nice nod to the orignal Gold Key run); liner notes about the stories; early pencil and script excerpts; and photos and quotes from a visit with Boris Karloff's daughter, Sarah. There's also a timeline of legacy Gold Key titles, and headshots for the creators, with a roll call of Kickstarter backers.
It’s a mixed bag. Boris Karloff fans won't regret having a copy on their shelf. It does no harm but it's not a memorable beginning. Since baseball season just concluded, I'll say that as a leadoff hitter, “Boris Karloff's Gold Key Mysteries” scratched out a single.
We might hope the next batter up will put one off the wall. This was an issue #1, which along with the conclusion of “Where House” implies there will be #2, but there’s no indiction of when that might be coming. The publisher website hints toward additional series coming soon, both original and legacy titles. We shall see.
I wish Gold Key all the best, and I hope they can build on this modest start to grow this title and their brand. Comics are a hard dollar, friends. A hard, hard dollar. But when they click, there's nothing like them. It's a worthy struggle, and a struggle I've shared. Keep fighting the good fight!