Key Publications was an American

comic-book A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and written narrative, ...

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 Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...

, 280

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

, 175

Fifth Avenue Fifth Avenue is a major thoroughfare in the borough (New York City), borough of Manhattan in New York City. The avenue runs south from 143rd Street (Manhattan), West 143rd Street in Harlem to Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village. The se ...

, and 261 Fifth Avenue in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

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

, published

comic books A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

from 1951 to 1956.Key Publications
at the Grand Comics Database The first, an action-adventure series starring the titular ''Mister Universe'' published under the Media Publications imprint, ran for only five 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 unusu ...

d from July 1951 to February 1952, while the second, a horror anthology titled ''Mister Mystery'', ran 19 issues cover-dated 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. 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 ac ...

, the future co-creator of

Spider-Man Spider-Man is a superhero in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appearance, first appeared in the anthology comic book ''Amazing Fantasy'' #15 (August 1962) in ...

, began his professional comics career at Key in early 1953, illustrating writer Bruce Hamilton's

science-fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, sp ...

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

Ajax/Farrell Farrell Publications is 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. Farrell is partic ...

, 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 Historian Lawrence Watt-Evans wrote of Morse: 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, 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." At their peak in 1955, Morse's combined imprints published 56 comics across 18 titles, more than contemporary publishers such as Ace Magazines, Ajax-Farrell,

EC Comics E.C. Publications, Inc., (doing business as EC Comics) is an American comic book publisher. It specialized in horror fiction, crime fiction, satire, military fiction, dark fantasy, and science fiction from the 1940s through the mid-1950s, nota ...

Magazine Enterprises Magazine Enterprises was an American comic book publishing company lasting from 1943 to 1958, which published primarily Western, humor, crime, adventure, and children's comics, with virtually no superheroes. It was founded by Vin Sullivan, an ed ...

, or

Prize Comics A prize is an award to be given to a person or a group of people (such as sporting teams and organizations) to recognize and reward their actions and achievements.

Titles by imprint

Source:

Aragon

*''Battle Fire'' #1–4, #6 (April 1955 – May 1956; no issue #5) *''Mister Mystery'' #7–19 (September 1952–October 1954); continued from Media Publications *''Mutiny'' #1–3 (October 1954 – February 1955) *''Navy Task Force'' #1–6, #8 (December 1954 – April 1956; no issue #7) *''Weird Tales of the Future'' #5–6 (January 1953–March 1953); continued from S.P.M.

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

The "Medal Comics" imprint appears on the covers of ''Diary Confessions'' #14, ''Navy Patrol'' #4, and ''Flying Aces'' #3 & #5. *''Diary Confession'' #9–12, #14 (May 1955–April 1956; no #13); continued from ''Ideal Romance'' *''Flying Aces'' #1–3, #5 (July 1955–May 1956; no #4) *''Hector Comics'' #1–3 (November 1953–March 1954) *''Ideal Romance'' #3–8 (April 1954 – February 1955); continued from ''Tender Romance'', see ''Diary Confessions'' *''Navy Patrol'' #1–4 (May 1955–November 1955) *''Peter Cottontail'' #1–2 (January 1954–March 1954) *''Peter Cottontail Three Dimensional Comics'' #1 (February 1954) *''Prize Mystery'' #1–3 (May 1955–September 1955) *''Silver Kid Western'' #1–5 (October 1954–July 1955) *''Tender Romance'' #1–2 (December 1953–February 1954); see ''Ideal Romance'' *''Warpath'' #1–3 (November 1954 – April 1955) *''Weird Chills'' #1–3 (July 1954–November 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