Basic Reading: Gold Key Comics Digests

 

Basic reading. A memory collection of books, comics, and magazines I read from elementary (McQueeney) through middle school (Briesemeister). Ranging from very simple to what I would describe as ‘cusp books’, that would lead to more adult reading. They will come in batches; some are representative parts of series. Some we had; some we saw in libraries. Most have appeared on the blog before, but I think arranged here by category and time they can be more illuminating of certain aspects of my childhood.

One peculiar joy of “the boys” (as my siblings were called before my sister came along) was the variety of Gold Key Comics Digests. They were bought for us from the time we were very young, before we could even read, which goes far to explain the condition of those original specimens that still survive. We read them literally to rags, so intense was our scrutiny of them. I have written (extensively) elsewhere on the Niche of my quest to finally own every Walt Disney Gold Key Comic Digests, and of my realization that the cover price of 50 cents is close to the modern equivalent of $5. It was quite an expenditure at the time, but a chunky little Digest was the best bang for their buck.

I know we had at least one 'Bugs Bunny' anthology, but I can't remember which one (it probably lost its cover early on). It always annoyed me that they would color in his white gloves on comic covers. I wonder how many people remember Space Mouse or Hashimoto-san ('So you soy!') these days?