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

Jun16

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

Posted by Dan Greenfield on Jun 16, 2021

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

A special SUPERMAN II edition — with Dan, Scott and guest Chris Franklin… This week for RETRO HOT PICKS, Scott Tipton and I are joined by Chris Franklin in selecting comics that came out the week of June 16, 1981. Why that year? Because Superman II came out 40 years ago! Why is Chris the guest? Because he co-hosts with Rob Kelly the superb Superman Movie Minute podcast! (Click here to check it out.) So, in addition to picking the week’s comics, we’re also sharing our memories of Superman II, one of the greatest adventure sequels of all time. (Feel free to share your own memories in the comments!) Last time for RETRO HOT PICKS, it was the week of June 9, 1970. Click here to check it out. (Keep in mind that comics came out on multiple days back then — as has become the case now. So these are technically the comics that went on sale between June 13 and June 19.) Let’s the scene: Ronald Reagan was president — and E.G. Marshall played an unnamed version of him in the movie. At the box office (obviously) Superman II was released in the U.S. on June 19. At the time, its $14.1 million take was the highest weekend debut ever, topping the $11.9 million mark set by Star Trek: The Motion Picture. The film hit the U.S. more than two months after its U.K. debut. (It premiered in Australia the previous December.) Quick aside: Superman II replaced Raiders of the Lost Ark — which came out the week before — at No. 1. Raiders would later reclaim the top spot. A MASH rerun — Season 9’s No Laughing Matter — led the Nielsens. Medley by Stars on 45 was the best-selling single on the Billboard 100, interrupting a run by Kim Carnes’ Bette Davis Eyes. REO Speedwagon’s Hi Infidelity led the album chart. (I’ll take the No. 3 album, AC/DC’s Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap any day.) Up, up and away! — Chris Franklin, co-host of the Superman Movie Minute and 13th Dimension contributor Superman II. It’s the question that has perplexed man for 40 years: Which is better: Superman: The Movie or Superman II? While 6-year-old me walked out of the theater in the summer of 1981 convinced that the sequel was the superior film, since...

Jun09

RETRO HOT PICKS! On Sale This Week — in 1970!

Posted by Dan Greenfield on Jun 9, 2021

RETRO HOT PICKS! On Sale This Week — in 1970!

Scott and Dan hit up the comics racks from 51 years ago! This week for RETRO HOT PICKS, Scott Tipton and I are selecting comics that came out the week of June 9, 1970. Last time for RETRO HOT PICKS, it was the week of June 2, 1975. Click here to check it out. (Keep in mind that comics came out on multiple days back then — as has become the case now. So these are technically the comics that went on sale between June 6 and June 12.) So let’s set the scene: Richard Nixon was in the middle of his first presidential term. The Watergate break-in was almost exactly two years away (June 17, 1972). The top movie at the box office was the of-the-moment comedy Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice — which actually came out the previous fall. But thanks to the vagaries of box-office patterns at the time, it didn’t hit No. 1 until more than six months after its release. Nielsen ratings for the week weren’t readily available but the most popular show was Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In. (Verrrrrry interesting!) The Beatles’ The Long and Winding Road was the top single on the Billboard 100 — even though (or maybe because) the Fab Four had just broken up. The ballad is one of the best-known songs from Let It Be, which was the best-selling album of the week. (Personally, I think the Let It Be album is woefully underrated and, in my not so humble opinion, is one of the lads’ two or three best.) Dig it. — Dan Greenfield, editor, 13th Dimension Fantastic Four #102, Marvel. The end of an era! This was Jack Kirby’s final regular issue of Fantastic Four, the title that launched the Marvel Age and altered the comics landscape forever. Romita did the cover but the interiors were by the classic Lee/Kirby/Sinnott team. (Romita would take over pencilling interiors for a spell before John Buscema jumped on the book.) — The Amazing Spider-Man #88, Marvel. The first part of one of the most famous Spidey stories in history — culminating in Issue #90’s death of Captain Stacy. Other than Uncle Ben, this was Spidey’s first real personal loss and it gave the series a darker, even angstier tone that hit its peak with the death and aftermath...

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