Gold Key Sealed Prepacked comics questions

[xsquealx-migration]

 

I recently happened upon a sealed pack of 3 gold key comics. I havent seen anything like this before. Its there anyway to tell what number the comics are? Is there a separate listing in price guides for these? Any help would be greatly appreciated. There is a Bugs Bunny comic, a Walt Disney Comics and Stories comic, and a third comic that is in the middle that I cant see. Any clues? Included are two scans of them.

 

 

 

[agentdynamo-migration]

Usually you can see the edge of the middle comic by prying up the plastic with your fingers.

 

Gold Key comics printed a date code under the Gold key emblem on every comic. You'll have to pinch the plastic near that spot to lift the oversized printed gold key emblem on the plastic that is covering up the comics emblem. The Gold Key code has a five digit number followed by a dash, then three digits. The three digits show the date code. The first number is the year, the second two numbers are the month, so -308 is August 1973. You have to use the cover price to identify the decade. In this case, 25 cents is clearly a mid 1970s comic.

 

Then go to the Grand Comics Database and search for the title, go to its index and search for the right dated comic to get the number.

 

http://www.comics.org/index.lasso

 

It may be easier to just identify the covers using the cover gallery feature of GCD. I found WD C&S # 407 easily:

 

http://www.comics.org/coverview.lasso?id=27680&zoom=4

 

Bagged comics were fairly common in the 1970s. I found some as early as 1968-1969, using them as my first source of back issues. In this case, the bags contained three comics for 25 cents, when comics were selling for 12 to 15 cents each. I found the comics at a chain called the Eagle Army Discount store, or Eagle Army Navy Store (my memory is a bit fuzzy), which was a small general department store. These polybags contained multiple brands of remaindered or surplus comics, primarily Marvel, Charlton and Archie, sometimes Tower, and perhaps Harvey (again, can't remember). THere were definitely no DCs or Gold Keys in these bags at the time. Often the comics were 2-3 years old, so it was a great source for back issues in the days before comics shops, and before I found paperback/comic trading post stores that had back issues. I fondly remember picking up my first Thunder Agents comics that way, Thunder Agents #12, 13, 15,16, Marvels like Spider-Man #28, Sub-Mariner #1, Tales of Suspense #83, Avengers #34, X-Men #22, Tales of Asgard #1, plus Charlton hero comics Captain Atom #85-89 and Blue Beetle #1-4, Peacemaker, Judo Master, etc. all around the 1969 time frame. The only downside was that the mix of comics was random, so one bag might contain a Marvel superhero comic, a Charlton hot rod comic, and an Archie comic. I had quite a few extra undesirable comics after a while, eventually unloading them when I found a coin/paperback/comic trading post where I could trade comics.

 

As I recall, Gold Key was the first brand I saw bagged by itself, maybe starting around 1970. I believe DC followed them by a few years, but by then the bags were no longer "back issues" to me, i.e., pre 1968, so I had no interest in them.

[brasseye]

(thumbs u great post.

[Duffman_Comics]

Usually you can see the edge of the middle comic by prying up the plastic with your fingers.

 

Gold Key comics printed a date code under the Gold key emblem on every comic. You'll have to pinch the plastic near that spot to lift the oversized printed gold key emblem on the plastic that is covering up the comics emblem. The Gold Key code has a five digit number followed by a dash, then three digits. The three digits show the date code. The first number is the year, the second two numbers are the month, so -308 is August 1973. You have to use the cover price to identify the decade. In this case, 25 cents is clearly a mid 1970s comic.

 

Then go to the Grand Comics Database and search for the title, go to its index and search for the right dated comic to get the number.

 

http://www.comics.org/index.lasso

 

It may be easier to just identify the covers using the cover gallery feature of GCD. I found WD C&S # 407 easily:

 

 

 

http://www.comics.org/coverview.lasso?id=27680&zoom=4

 

Bagged comics were fairly common in the 1970s. I found some as early as 1968-1969, using them as my first source of back issues. In this case, the bags contained three comics for 25 cents, when comics were selling for 12 to 15 cents each. I found the comics at a chain called the Eagle Army Discount store, or Eagle Army Navy Store (my memory is a bit fuzzy), which was a small general department store. These polybags contained multiple brands of remaindered or surplus comics, primarily Marvel, Charlton and Archie, sometimes Tower, and perhaps Harvey (again, can't remember). THere were definitely no DCs or Gold Keys in these bags at the time. Often the comics were 2-3 years old, so it was a great source for back issues in the days before comics shops, and before I found paperback/comic trading post stores that had back issues. I fondly remember picking up my first Thunder Agents comics that way, Thunder Agents #12, 13, 15,16, Marvels like Spider-Man #28, Sub-Mariner #1, Tales of Suspense #83, Avengers #34, X-Men #22, Tales of Asgard #1, plus Charlton hero comics Captain Atom #85-89 and Blue Beetle #1-4, Peacemaker, Judo Master, etc. all around the 1969 time frame. The only downside was that the mix of comics was random, so one bag might contain a Marvel superhero comic, a Charlton hot rod comic, and an Archie comic. I had quite a few extra undesirable comics after a while, eventually unloading them when I found a coin/paperback/comic trading post where I could trade comics.

 

As I recall, Gold Key was the first brand I saw bagged by itself, maybe starting around 1970. I believe DC followed them by a few years, but by then the bags were no longer "back issues" to me, i.e., pre 1968, so I had no interest in them.

 

 

Ditto on the great post - but better yet GREAT first post. The bit about Gold Key numbering / yearing(?!) was worth the price of admission.

 

I know that is nothing, but sometimes I feel I should be paid to attend these Boards.