BRONZE AGE MINUTE: Gold Key Spotlight #9

Gold Key (Western); September 1977
Cover by Jesse Santos

Title: “Where Prowls the Devil Shark”
Synopsis: Tragg has to save a Sky God defector from her own people – and from a monstrous “devil shark.”

Writer: Don Glut
Artist: Dan Spiegle

Review: If Gold Key Spotlight is meant to offer an entryway into the Gold Key line, this issue fails miserably. The story seems to pick up where some previous issue left off – but it wasn’t an earlier issue of this series. Little effort is made to bring the new reader up to speed. Tragg seems to be a fairly typical cave man type, but who exactly are the Sky Gods? Instead of spending 20 panels telling us sharks get hungry, perhaps writer Don Glut should have provided a brief series recap. Dan Spiegle’s storytelling shows promise, but his rendering lacks polish.

Grade: C

Cool factor: There’s a hint of some potential here, but the lack of backstory makes this comic a tough nut to crack.

Notable: Also includes an uncredited, one-page text story titled “Valley of the Shadow.”
Collector’s note: According to the Grand Comics Database, there is also a Whitman edition of this issue.

Character quotable: “Once again I’ve let my emotions rule my actions!” – Tragg, cave man with control issues (shocker!)

Copyright ©2022 Off the Wahl Productions, all rights reserved. Each week, T. Andrew Wahl offers up a Bronze Age Minute for Scoop. For daily reviews like this one, check out Wahl’s website, offthewahl.com.