Gold Key Spotlight #9
Published and © by Gold Key (Western), September 1977
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 twenty 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 back story 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!)
Editor’s note: This review was originally published by Comics Bronze Age on Nov. 4, 2010.
