Posted By Dan Greenfield on Jan 15, 2025 | 4 comments

Scott and Dan hit up the comics racks from 70 years ago…

This week for RETRO HOT PICKS, Scott Tipton and I are selecting comics that came out the week of Jan. 15, 1955.

Last time for RETRO HOT PICKS, it was the week of Jan. 8, 1990. 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 Jan. 12 and Jan. 18.)

So, let’s set the scene: It was hip-shaking, knees-quaking, pelvis-gyrating history… from a distance. On Jan. 15, an illegal immigrant named Andreas Cornelis van Kuijk, who had adopted the American nom de voyage “Col. Tom Parker” traveled to Shreveport, Louisiana, to check out a kid named Elvis Presley, who had just turned 20 the week before and was making a ruckus on radio stations in the South.

Parker first heard about the young man a few days earlier and wanted to see for himself whether the singer might have what it takes. Presley, a popular act on the radio show Louisiana Hayride, had three singles out — That’s All Right, Good Rockin’ Tonight and Milkcow Blues Boogie — but he was just a regional name. Parker was impressed by what he saw at the Louisiana Hayride show and, weeks later on Feb. 6, the two would meet for the first time. The world would never be the same.

Life imitating art imitating life? On Jan. 17, the U.S.S. Nautilus, the first nuclear-powered submarine, was put to sea for the first time, launching from Groton, Connecticut. The vessel was named in December 1951 after the sub in Jules Verne’s classic novel, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas. That’s the same month that it was reported that Disney had purchased the film rights to the book. The No. 1 movie this week? That very film, released the previous December — 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, starring Kirk Douglas and James Mason.

Preparations were being made for the first filmed presidential press conference. President Eisenhower would field questions Jan. 19 at the White House and the footage would be used for clips. (The first live TV presser wouldn’t come until Kennedy assumed office.)

Besides 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, other hit movies included Irving Berlin’s There’s No Business Like Show Business, starring the bombastic Ethel Merman, Donald O’Connor, Marilyn Monroe, Dan Dailey, Johnnie Ray and Mitzi Gaynor; and the Gary Cooper/Burt Lancaster Western Vera Cruz.

I Love Lucy was unquestionably the most popular show on television, and in this week’s episode, airing Jan. 17, the Ricardos and Mertzes stop in Ohio on their way to Hollywood. The accomodations are far from ideal and antics ensue. (This is the one where the trains shake the Ricardos and Mertzes’ beds across the room.)

Another big program, also on CBS, was The Jackie Gleason Show, a variety show that included a recurring skit about a Brooklyn bus driver, his best friend and their wives. The Honeymooners would become television’s first spinoff the following fall.

The Nielsen report covered two weeks, with Lucy in the top two slots and Gleason in the third. They were followed by Groucho Marx’s You Bet Your Life; Dragnet; Walt Disney’s Disneyland; and The Buick-Berle Show.

Radio was still a major media force and popular shows included The Lone Ranger, The Cisco Kid, Gunsmoke, and Our Miss Brooks.

Billboard’s Honor Roll of Hits, which predated the Hot 100, listed Let Me Go, Lover by Joan Weber at No. 1, followed by the Chordettes’ Mr. Sandman at No. 2, and Hearts of Stone by the Fontane Sisters at No. 3 (Elvis played it on the Jan. 15 episode of Louisiana Hayride). The most popular album was the soundtrack to 1954’s The Student Prince, featuring Mario Lanza.

Rock and roll, however, had a foothold: Bill Haley and the Comets’ version of Shake, Rattle and Roll, released in 1954, was in the middle of a 27-week run on the charts, with this week at No. 18. (Big Joe Turner’s earlier, superior version had also been a hit.) But also kicking around was Haley’s Rock Around the Clock, which didn’t take off as a huge hit until it was used in the movie The Blackboard Jungle, released in March. By midyear, it hit No. 1, becoming rock’s first real anthem.

Get out in that kitchen and rattle those pots and pans…

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Dan Greenfield, editor, 13th Dimension

Extra! #1, EC. This was it. The last gasp. After the intense pressure of the Wertham witchunt, EC launched a series of books dubbed the “New Direction.” These were far less scandalous than the earlier mags, but Bill Gaines still refused to submit the titles to the Comics Code Authority. Finally, he gave in with the line’s second issues, and within months, they were all cancelled.

But in a very real way, Gaines had the last laugh: Within a few months, Mad was converted to a magazine and it became one of the world’s most successful humor publications, helping to shape the satirical and subversive sensibilities of generations, with far more impact than EC’s comic books ever did. (Dig that Johnny Craig illo, by the way.)

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Bulls Eye #5, Mainline. Damn, check out this Jack Kirby cover — in 1955! I wish I knew who did the colors.

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Archie’s Girls Betty and Veronica Annual #3, Archie. Betty and Veronica are 100 percent correct. Except I still don’t understand why, if they can read Archie like an open book, they waste any time on him. What a clod.

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Della Vision #1, Atlas. The first of three issues and out. I’m amazed that Marvel has never dusted her off, put her in spandex and had her join the Defenders or something.

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G.I. Combat #23, Quality. Well before DC acquired the title. Featuring the talents of Dick Dillin, Chuck Cuidera, Reed Crandall and more.

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Romance, Romance Everywhere, Various Publishers. By my count, there were 11 romance books out this week alone, from Ace, Atlas, DC, Harvey, Lev Gleason, and St. John. (11 Westerns too!) This is DC’s Girls’ Love Stories #34.

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Four Color #614, Dell. Of course, there was a Dell adaptation of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Interiors are by Frank Thorne but the cover artist is unidentified. Came out earlier in the month but how could I not include it?

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Scott Tipton, contributor-at-large, 13th Dimension

Blackhawk #87, Quality. Ten years after the end of the war, surprisingly the Blackhawks were still flying.

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Pep Comics #108, Archie. I do enjoy a cover with a fuming Betty Cooper.

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Western Comics #50, DC. I wonder if Outlaw X’s secret involves a bear trap.

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Batman #90, DC. Yes, that is indeed Batboy.

Dan adds: Things were already getting silly for the Caped Crusaders. Not as ridiculous as they would get, but they were on the way.

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MORE

— RETRO HOT PICKS! On Sale The Week of Jan. 8 — in 1990! Click here.

— RETRO HOT PICKS! On Sale The Week of Jan. 1 — in 1964! Click here.

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Primary comics sources: Mike’s Amazing World of Comics, the Grand Comics Database.