Posted by Dan Greenfield on Apr 15, 2026
RETRO HOT PICKS! On Sale This Week — in 1961!
Scott and Dan hit up the comics racks from 65 years ago… This week for RETRO HOT PICKS, Scott and I are selecting comics that came out the week of April 15, 1961. Last time for RETRO HOT PICKS, it was the week of April 8, 1982. Click here to check it out. (Keep in mind that comics came out on multiple days, so these are the issues that went on sale between April 12 and April 18.) So, let’s set the scene: Not a good week for the ol’ U.S. of A. Amid high Cold War tensions, the Russians schooled us in the Space Race and the Kennedy administration backed an invasion of Cuba that backfired spectacularly. Let’s take it chronologically: On April 12, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man launched into outer space. He made one orbit around the Earth before re-entry. Like everything in the USSR, the mission was cloaked in secrecy and not announced until Gagarin was already in orbit. Two days later, Gagarin received a hero’s welcome at Vnukovo airport, where he was met by Soviet dignitaries, and along the 10-mile route to Moscow’s Red Square. It was televised throughout the USSR and Eastern Europe. While Gagarin and the Russians’ achievement was admired, it stoked fears the Soviet Union was besting the U.S. in space, particularly after Sputnik in 1957. Perhaps the most unhappy was American astronaut Alan Shepard, who seethed over the news. Shepard was supposed to be the first man in space but his mission was delayed six times. Meanwhile, eight days before the launch, final plans for the U.S.-supported invasion of Cuba at the Bay of Pigs were signed off on by President Kennedy. The initial stages of the invasion began April 15, when eight bombers attacked Cuban airfields. Two days later, thousands of troops made up of Cuban exiles, with CIA and Navy support, unleashed an amphibious assault at the Bay and a second location, with paratroopers dropped at four other spots. The results were catastrophic: The Cubans retaliated in force and by the end of the day, one invading ship was beached and another sunk. Other vessels were forced to retreat to international waters, and four B-26 bombers had been shot down, with the invaders under fire. On April 18, the Cubans continued their advances, despite attacks by B-26s that...
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