Key Publications was an American comic-book company founded by Stanley P. Morse that published under the

imprints Imprint or imprinting may refer to: Entertainment * ''Imprint'' (TV series), Canadian television series * "Imprint" (''Masters of Horror''), episode of TV show ''Masters of Horror'' * ''Imprint'' (film), a 2007 independent drama/thriller film ...

Aragon Magazines, Gillmor Magazines, Medal Comics, Media Publications, S. P. M. Publications, Stanmor Publications, and Timor Publications.

History

Stanley P. Morse's Reprinted as Key Publications, based variously at 1775 Broadway, 280

Madison Avenue Madison Avenue is a north-south avenue in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, United States, that carries northbound one-way traffic. It runs from Madison Square (at 23rd Street) to meet the southbound Harlem River Drive at 142nd St ...

, 175

Fifth Avenue Fifth Avenue is a major and prominent thoroughfare in the borough of Manhattan in New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 populatio ...

, and 261 Fifth Avenue in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, published

comic books A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

from 1951 to 1956.Key Publications
at the Grand Comics Database The first, a

horror Horror may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Genres *Horror fiction, a genre of fiction ** Japanese horror, Japanese horror fiction **Korean horror, Korean horror fiction * Horror film, a film genre *Horror comics, comic books focusing o ...

anthology titled ''Mister Mystery'', under the Media Publications imprint, ran 19 issues

cover-date The cover date of a periodical publication is the date displayed on the cover, which is not necessarily the true date of publication (the on-sale date or release date); later cover dates are common in magazine and comic book publishing. More unu ...

d September 1951 to October 1954, and featured much early work by the art team of

Ross Andru Ross Andru (; born Rostislav Androuchkevitch, June 15, 1927 – November 9, 1993) Part 1: Animation: We Leave the Army", p. 21. In 1948, Andru's first professional work as a comic strip illustrator was drawing layouts for the ''Tarzan (comics), T ...

and Mike Esposito. Wrote historian Lawrence Watt-Evans, During the 1950s boom in

horror comics Horror comics are comic books, graphic novels, black-and-white comics magazines, and manga focusing on horror fiction. In the US market, horror comic books reached a peak in the late 1940s through the mid-1950s, when concern over content and the ...

, Morse "produced several acutely vile horror comics", wrote one historian, Hajdu, David. ''The Ten-Cent Plague, The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America'' (

Farrar, Straus and Giroux Farrar, Straus and Giroux (FSG) is an American book publishing company, founded in 1946 by Roger Williams Straus Jr. and John C. Farrar. FSG is known for publishing literary books, and its authors have won numerous awards, including Pulitzer ...

, 2008), p. 190. and "some of the grossest and most vile" of the time, concurred another. Interviewed for a 2008 book on 1950s horror comics, Morse said, "You did what you had to do — what moved 'em off the racks. ... I don't know what the hell I published. I never knew. I never read the things. I never cared." Artist

Steve Ditko Stephen John Ditko Page contains two reproductions from school yearbooks. A 1943 Garfield Junior High School yearbook excerpt lists "Stephen Ditko". A 1945 Johnstown High School yearbook excerpt lists "Stephen J. Ditko" under extracurricular act ...

, the future co-creator of Spider-Man, began his professional comics career at Key in early 1953, illustrating writer Bruce Hamilton's

science-fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel univer ...

story "Stretching Things" for Key's Stanmor Publications, which sold the story to

Ajax/Farrell Farrell Publications is the name of a series of American comic book publishing companies founded and operated by Robert W. Farrell in the 1940s and 1950s, including Elliot Publishing Company, Farrell Comic Group, and Excellent Publications. Farre ...

, where it finally found publication in ''Fantastic Fears'' #5 (Feb. 1954). Ditko's first published work was his second professional story, the six-page "Paper Romance" in ''Daring Love'' #1 (Oct. 1953), published by Key's Gillmor Magazines.''Daring Love'' #1
at the Grand Comics Database

Titles by imprint

Source:

Aragon

*''Battle Fire'' #1-4, #6 (April 1955 - May 1956; no issue #5) *''Mister Mystery'' (see Media, below) *''Mutiny'' #1-3 (Oct. 1954 - Feb. 1955) *''Navy Task Force'' #1-6, #8 (Dec. 1954 - April 1956; no issue #7) *''Weird Tales of the Future'' (see Key, below)

Gillmor

*''Action Adventure Comics'' #2-4 (June-Oct. 1955) *''Climax'' #1-2 (July-Sept. 1955) *''Daring Love'' #1 (Oct. 1953) / '"Radiant Love'' #2-6 (Dec. 1953 - Aug. 1954) *''Real Adventure Comics'' #1 (April 1955) *''Super Fun'' #1 (Jan. 1956) *''Weird Mysteries'' #1-12 (Oct. 1952 - Sept. 1954) *''Western Rough Riders'' #1-4 (Nov. 1954 - May 1955)

Key Publications / Medal Comics

*''Flying Aces'' #1-5 (July 1955 - May 1956; Medal Comics imprint, #3-5) *''Hector Comics'' #1-3 (Nov. 1953 - March 1954) *''Navy Patrol'' #1-4 (May-Nov. 1955; Medal Comics imprint, #4) *''Peter Cottontail'' #1-2 (Jan.-March 1954) *''Peter Cottontail Three Dimensional Comics'' #1 (Feb. 1954) *''Prize Mystery'' #1-3 (May-Sept. 1955) *''Silver Kid Western'' #1-5 (Oct. 1954 - July 1955) *''Tender Romance'' #1-2 (Dec. 1953 - Feb. 1954) / ''Ideal Romance'' #3-8 (April 1954 - Feb. 1955) / ''Diary Confessions'' #9-12, #14 (May 1955 - April 1956; no issue #13; Medal Comics imprint, #14) *''Weird Chills'' #1-3 (July-Nov. 1954) *''Weird Tales of the Future'' #1-8 (March 1952 - July 1953; S. P. M. #1-2, 4 at least; Aragon #6 at least)

Media

*''Mister Mystery'' #1-19 (Sept. 1951 - Oct. 1954); Aragon imprint #7-19

S. P. M

*''Junior Hopp Comics'' #1-3 (Jan.-July 1952) *''Weird Tales of the Future'' (see Key, above)

Stanmor

*''Battle Attack'' #1-8 (Oct. 1954 - Dec. 1955) *''Battle Cry'' #1-20 (May 1952 - Sept. 1955) *''Battle Squadron'' #1-5 (April 1955 - Dec. 1955) *''Pete the Panic'' #1 (Nov. 1955) *''Warpath'' #1-3 (Nov. 1954 - April 1955)

Timor

*''Algie'' #1-3 (Dec. 1953 - April 1954) *''Animal Adventures'' #1-3 (Dec. 1953 - April 1954) *''Blazing Western'' #1-5 (Jan.-Sept. 1954) *''Crime Detector'' #1-5 (Jan.-July 1954)

References

{{reflist, 2 1951 establishments in New York City Publishing companies established in 1951 Comic book publishing companies of the United States Companies based in New York City Defunct comics and manga publishing companies Defunct companies based in New York (state) Horror comics