RETRO HOT PICKS! | 13th Dimension, Comics, Creators, Culture

Aug10

RETRO HOT PICKS! On Sale This Week — in 1973!

Posted by Dan Greenfield on Aug 10, 2022

RETRO HOT PICKS! On Sale This Week — in 1973!

Scott and Dan hit up the comics racks from 49 years ago! This week for RETRO HOT PICKS, Scott Tipton and I are selecting comics that came out the week of Aug. 10, 1973. Last time for RETRO HOT PICKS, it was the week of Aug. 3, 1981. 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 Aug. 7 and Aug. 13.) So, let’s set the scene: The Watergate scandal had enveloped the zeitgeist. A couple of weeks prior, President Nixon refused to turn over presidential tapes to the Senate Watergate Committee or the special prosecutor. In the fall of 1973, Spiro Agnew would resign, to be replaced by Gerald Ford; Nixon would execute the Saturday Night Massacre — and less than a month after that would give his infamous “I am not a crook” speech. Coffy — starring the fabulous Pam Grier — was the top box-office attraction but also in theaters was Roger Moore’s debut as James Bond in Live and Let Die, as well as the Ryan and Tatum O’Neal starrer Paper Moon. It was the depths of the summer rerun doldrums but the top shows on TV overall were All in the Family, Sanford and Son and Hawaii Five-0, which to this day has one of the greatest theme songs ever. Maureen McGovern’s The Morning After, which figured prominently in The Poseidon Adventure, was atop the Billboard 100 but Paul McCartney’s Wings was right behind with Live and Let Die, which is not only one of the greatest 007 themes ever, but one of McCartney’s very best post-Beatles tracks. Chicago VI led the album charts, followed by Pink Floyd’s epic The Dark Side of the Moon. Far out. — Dan Greenfield, editor, 13th Dimension Swamp Thing #7, DC. An outright Bronze Age classic, by Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson. Swamp Thing comes to Gotham and quickly dons a fedora and trench coat to stay incognito. So, he’s basically a gigantic, muck-encrusted private eye who naturally crosses paths with Batman. A brilliant mix of noir, subtle satire and horror. Superb. Scott adds: An amazing, moody cover by the legendary Bernie Wrightson. And I love the lack of cover copy, so unusual for the time. — 100-Page Super Spectacular DC-22: The Flash, DC....

Aug03

RETRO HOT PICKS! On Sale This Week — in 1981!

Posted by Dan Greenfield on Aug 3, 2022

RETRO HOT PICKS! On Sale This Week — in 1981!

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 Aug. 3, 1981. Last time for RETRO HOT PICKS, it was the week of July 27, 1983. 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 July 31 and Aug. 6.) So, let’s set the scene: Ronald Reagan was in his first year as president. Raiders of the Lost Ark was the No. 1 picture in theaters, but good gravy, dig these other major choices: Superman II, a re-release of The Empire Strikes Back — hell, even the awful Tarzan, the Ape Man, which still appealed to the fevered brains of adolescent males thanks to Bo Derek’s barely clothed Jane. You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have The Facts of Life, which enjoyed a summer rerun week at No. 1 in the Nielsens. OK, fine. The Big Deal in TV this week was the Aug. 1 launch of MTV, which I consider to be the actual start of the 1980s. It’s impossible to state what an enormous impact the channel had at the time and you can certainly trace a lot of today’s pop culture phenomena back to MTV’s heyday. I would come home from school, flip it on, and just leave it there for hours — even when they didn’t have enough videos to fill 24 hours and would run these instrumental interstitials with scenes of badass nature, like lava flows and whatnot. Meanwhile, Rick Springfield’s ever-catchy Jessie’s Girl, a middle-school staple, topped the Billboard 100. But hanging out at No. 3 was Theme From ‘Greatest American Hero’ (Believe It or Not) by Joey Scarbury, with Diana Ross and Lionel Richie’s mawkish Endless Love in between. The Moody Blues’ Long Distance Voyager led the album charts. He’ll play along with the charade… — Dan Greenfield, editor, 13th Dimension The New Teen Titans #13, DC. “Heralding Our SECOND Sensational Year!” And the boys were just getting started. — Best of DC #18, DC. An often-forgotten footnote in New Teen Titans lore: The digest mostly comprises reprints but the 10-page lead tale is a new story...

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