Gold Key/Whitman Variants - Is There Anyone Tracking These?

[mrwoogieman]

I ran across a pile of old Disney Gold Keys from the 70s and noticed that a couple dozen of them are Whitman variants. Some googling shows that STLComics was busy putting together a list of DC superhero Whitman variants, but I couldn't find anyone doing the same for the Gold Key books.

 

Does anyone know of anyone keeping such a list?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

 

[Number 6]

You might want to check the OSPG #40. There's an article in the back titled A History of Publisher Experimentation and Variant Comic Books by Jon Martin McClure. I think Doug Sulipa contributed quite a bit to this.

 

There's a section in there listing the issues/dates of Gold Key comics with Whitman variants, as well as price varitants, Whitman white-logo variants etc. Also estimates the percentage that these variants would sell above the the regular copies. Might want to take that info with a grain of salt.

 

It has a lot of great stats on variants, but in my opinion it's not the most accessible. All those numbers, dashes and parentheses crammed together can make you go a bit bug-eyed.

 

 

[shadroch]

That article confused the out of me. Knew less when I finished than when I started.

[Comicdey]

There's an alaskan collector that contributed to that variant article quite a bit. Not me.

[Number 6]

I have a question about Gold Key pre-packs: what role did they play in Western's distribution?

 

I've seen several Gold Key pre-packs for sale and just purchased one myself.

 

Here's the thing: the issues in these packs all have Whitman cover variant counterparts, which would have been distributed in Whitman pre-packs on a non-returnable basis.

 

If the purpose of the Whitman packs was to distribute to the non-returnable market, what purpose do the Gold Key packs (with identical issues) serve?

 

Were the the Gold Key packs, like the Gold Key individual issues, returnable?