Posted By Dan Greenfield on Jun 5, 2024 | 3 comments

Scott and Dan hit up the comics racks from 64 years ago…

This week for RETRO HOT PICKS, Scott Tipton and I are selecting comics that came out the week of June 5, 1960.

Last time for RETRO HOT PICKS, it was the week of May 29, 1970. 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 June 2 and June 8.)

So, let’s set the scene: Summer was on the way and so were the national political conventions. The events were not the rubber-stamp pep rallies they are today, and there was still plenty of political intrigue to go around, but the primary season ended this week with Democratic Sen. John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts and Republican Vice President Richard Nixon as their parties’ de facto presidential nominees.

President Eisenhower, meanwhile, would have been prepping for a trip to the Soviet Union if not for May’s infamous U-2 spy plane debacle. Instead, on June 5, he became the first sitting president to deliver the commencement speech at the University of Notre Dame.

Internationally, Nazi haven Argentina on June 3 demanded the return of Adolf Eichmann, one of the chief architects of the Holocaust, who had been nabbed by Israeli Mossad agents the month before. Israel refused.

Laredo Times, June 2, 1960

Back in the States, nobody was paying attention except for the local news, but a 25-year-old pimp named Charles Manson was behind bars after getting pinched in Laredo, Texas. He stayed in the penal system, including a federal prison in Washington state where he took guitar lessons, until 1967.

Everyone and their mother, father, sister and brother smoked cigarettes. At least it seemed that way. On June 6, the American Heart Association announced a “statistical association” between heavy smoking and coronary heart disease — with heavy smokers having up to a 150 percent greater death rate from heart disease than non-smokers.

Football in America was on the verge of massive change: The fledgling, headline-making American Football League, which included teams such as the Oakland Raiders, Boston Patriots, New York Titans and the Dallas Texans, had yet to play a down but on June 9 signed a five-year TV contract with ABC for $8.5 million.

The movie in America was Ben-Hur. The 1959 biblical epic starring Charlton Heston dominated the box office throughout 1960 (and won fistfuls of Oscars, to boot).

If you were at the theater this week, chances are you might see coming attractions for two movies opening later in June — Billy Wilder’s superb The Apartment, starring Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine; as well as Alfred Hitchcock’s latest, a black-and-white noir with a heinous twist: Psycho, one of the greatest films of all time.

Oh, and Ronald Reagan on June 7 resigned as president of the Screen Actors Guild.

The top TV shows included the usual early ’60s suspects: Gunsmoke, Wagon Train, Have Gun — Will Travel, The Red Skelton Show and 77 Sunset Strip.

My all-time favorite Everly Brothers tune, Cathy’s Clown, led the Billboard 100, followed at No. 2 by Stuck on You, Elvis Presley’s first single since his discharge from the Army. (It had hit the top in late April.) For what it’s worth, there was a song at No. 10 called Greenfields by the Brothers Four. Should have been No. 13, if you ask me.

On June 9, however, Roy Orbison released the song Only the Lonely, which would become his first major hit.

The best selling albums included Sold Out by the Kingston Trio; The Sound of Music Broadway soundtrack; Theme From A Summer Place by Billy Vaughn and His Orchestra; and Persuasive Percussion by Terry Snyder and the All Stars.

Far away from the top of the charts, an 18-year-old from Brooklyn began her professional singing career by winning a talent show at The Lion, a gay bar in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village. Barbara Streisand wowed the crowd, pocketed 50 bucks and a star was born. (She dropped the second “a” later.)

Four days earlier and 3,304 miles away, five young men from the city of Liverpool played a gig at the civic hall in Neston, Cheshire, England. The group — John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Stu Sutcliffe and Tommy Moore — had been trying out names and would continue to do so for a while. On this night, though, for the first time publicly, they played as… the Beatles.

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Dan Greenfield, editor, 13th Dimension

Batman #133, DC. The cover story is classic pre-New Look Batman, from the cast to the concept to the headline. Who says editor Jack Schiff didn’t know what to do with Batman? Guy was a freaking genius! Plus, the first story in the issue? The first appearance of Kite-Man!

Scott adds: This comic has everything.

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Mystery in Space #61, DC. OK, in a really, really, really convoluted way, this is the first appearance of the Silver Age Red Tornado. See, in this ish, Adam Strange defeats a sentient twister named Ulthoon, the Tornado Tyrant. It later decided to become a force for good as the Tornado Champion and even later was merged by T.O. Morrow with an android that had Ma Hunkel’s memories and became the Red Tornado. Or something like that. I can’t really keep it straight. But it does make this a footnote in DC history.

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Archie’s Pal Jughead #63, Archie. I can’t believe Fredric Wertham never targeted Jughead. The quack was looking for subtext everywhere.

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Scott Tipton, columnist, 13th Dimension

The Flash #114, DC. Captain Cold only looked really cool (no pun intended) when Carmine Infantino drew him.

Dan adds: I grew up with Mr. Freeze being the big “ice villain” because of the Batman TV show. Little did I understand that Captain Cold was the era’s real cool cat.

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World’s Finest Comics #111, DC. Nice hat, Kal.

Dan adds: Anytime you had Wacky Despot Superman, you had magic.

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Space Adventures #35, Charlton. One of the few appearances of the least well-remembered Captain Atom costume.

Dan adds: This is one of those weeks where we let ourselves make a pick or two from earlier in the month because virtually everything out this week was DC or Archie Comics. Scott chose a good one — only the third appearance of Joe Gill and Steve Ditko’s hero. (No Marvels came out until the end of the month. Worth noting that one of them was Tales to Astonish #13 — the first appearance of Groot.)

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MORE

— RETRO HOT PICKS! On Sale The Week of  May 29 — in 1970! Click here.

— RETRO HOT PICKS! On Sale The Week of May 22 — in 1987! Click here.

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