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Sep22

RETRO HOT PICKS! On Sale This Week — in 1980!

Posted by Dan Greenfield on Sep 22, 2021

RETRO HOT PICKS! On Sale This Week — in 1980!

Scott and Dan hit up the comics racks from 41 years ago! This week for RETRO HOT PICKS, Scott Tipton and I are selecting comics that came out the week of Sept. 22, 1980. Last time for RETRO HOT PICKS, it was the week of Sept. 15, 1991. Click here to check it out. (Keep in mind that comics came out on multiple days, so these are technically the comics that went on sale between Sept. 19 and Sept. 25.) — So let’s set the scene: Jimmy Carter was holding onto the presidency with his fingertips. In less than two months, he would lose the election to Ronald Reagan. Something called The Exterminator starring someone named Robert Ginty was actually the No. 1 movie in all the land. (If you were lucky, maybe you had a theater near you that was still playing The Empire Strikes Back or Airplane!) 60 Minutes was the top-rated show in the Nielsens. Diana Ross had the best-selling pop tune on the Billboard 100 with Upside Down. Also on the list was middle-school slow-dance staple All Out of Love, by Air Supply (No. 2). Number 3? One of Queen’s catchiest hits — Another One Bites the Dust, which came from the week’s best-selling album, The Game. (I listened to that album every day after school for months.) Wicked. — Dan Greenfield, editor, 13th Dimension Detective Comics #497, DC. This was right around the time when Batgirl was becoming less and less relevant, even as she was given a cover shot here for her back-up tale. From the end of the ’70s into the early ’80s, DC didn’t seem to have a handle on what to do with her and by the middle of the decade, she had been pretty much put on a shelf. Post-Crisis, she became better known as the Joker’s victim in The Killing Joke, which has put a shadow on everything about Barbara Gordon since. It’s unfortunate because I loved ’60s and ’70s Batgirl. Scott adds: Jim Aparo didn’t draw Batgirl very often; he gave her a maturity and a lanky kind of physicality that I always found appealing. Also: What the hell was Batman doing in Baja California? — Battle of the Planets #8, Gold Key/Whitman. Man, I loved this show. I loved Star Blazers more, but this was a...

Sep15

RETRO HOT PICKS! On Sale This Week — in 1991!

Posted by Dan Greenfield on Sep 15, 2021

RETRO HOT PICKS! On Sale This Week — in 1991!

Scott and Dan hit up the comics racks from 30 years ago! This week for RETRO HOT PICKS, Scott Tipton and I are selecting comics that came out the week of Sept. 15, 1991 — the first time we’ve done this particular year. Last time for RETRO HOT PICKS, it was the week of Sept. 8, 1972. Click here to check it out. (Keep in mind that comics came out on multiple days, so these are technically the comics that went on sale between Sept. 12 and Sept. 18.) — So let’s set the scene: George H.W. Bush was in his only term as president. Remember how last week, when we did 1972, The Godfather was No. 1 at the box office? Well, this time around it’s Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare. Oy. Roseanne was pretty much the most popular show on TV. By the time the early ’90s rolled around, I was mostly checked out when it came to Top 40 music. Probably because groups like Color Me Badd could lead the Billboard 100 with songs like I Adore Mi Amor, as they did this week. Then again, there were ferociously catchy tunes like Things That Make You Go Hmmmm… by C+C Music Factory, which was at No. 4. The Billboard albums chart was still the province of rock though (at least partially): Metallica’s eponymous album was the best-seller — featuring the spectacular Enter Sandman. Ever badass. — Scott Tipton, contributor-at-large, 13th Dimension The Incredible Hulk #387, Marvel. At this point in Peter David’s lengthy run as writer, Bruce Banner was practically a supporting character in his own book, as David had become so taken with his new creation the Pantheon, a globetrotting team of world-saving types based on figures from various mythologies. I didn’t mind either, as it was really good stuff. — The Infinity Gauntlet #5, Marvel. The miniseries that spawned the Marvel Cinematic Universe, pretty much. At the time, the notion of taking what had up till then been called the “soul gems” (appearing all around the Marvel universe, usually on the foreheads of characters like Adam Warlock, the Gardener and the Stranger) and putting them all on a glove seemed wacky and unique. I don’t think anyone thought it would lead to 22 movies. — The Sandman #32, DC Comics. This was about the...

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