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 Nov. 6, 1960.
Last time for RETRO HOT PICKS, it was the week of Oct. 30, 1966. 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 Nov. 3 and Nov. 9.)
So, let’s set the scene: Camelot Rising: In a squeaker, Sen. John F. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, defeated Republican Vice President Richard M. Nixon to become the 35th president of the United States. The popular vote was the closest in history — 34,220,984 to 34,108,157, a difference of a mere 1/6 of a percentage point.
The election result wasn’t clear until Wednesday, Nov. 9, when Minnesota tipped to Kennedy, giving the Democrat 272 electoral votes overall. (JFK ultimately won 303 electoral votes.) Nixon conceded less than 20 minutes after Minnesota was called. Despite bitterness in the Nixon camp, the transfer of power in the succeeding months was peaceful and smooth, as befits a representative democracy.
IN OTHER NEWS
— It’s an unsolved case that has been strangely forgotten in American history. A mad bomber who called himself “The Sick” in a letter to the city’s police commissioner, had been targeting locations in New York City across five successive weekends, culminating in a Nov. 6 subway explosion in Harlem that killed a teenage girl and injured 18 more.
Known publicly as the Sunday Bomber or the Holiday Bomber — the attacks were all on Sundays, except for one on Columbus Day — the case has never been officially solved. Police arrested a suspect, Walter Long, who is almost certain to have been the culprit, but he escaped while being transferred to Bellevue and was never heard from again.
— Filming of The Misfits, starring Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe, had just been completed when on Nov. 6, the King of Hollywood — who at the age of 59 had performed many of his own stunts in the movie — suffered a heart attack. Although he appeared to be improving, he died 10 days later of a second heart attack. The Misfits turned out to be the last film for both Gable and Monroe.
Midnight Lace, a psychological thriller starring Doris Day and Rex Harrison, topped the box office. But it was also the era of the epic and three huge ones were also in theaters: Ben-Hur, which had been released almost a year earlier; Spartacus; and The Magnificent Seven.
Two popular films opened this week: BUtterfield 8, starring Elizabeth Taylor, and G.I. Blues — Elvis Presley’s first movie after his discharge from the Army.
The most popular TV shows were Gunsmoke, Have Gun — Will Travel, The Debbie Reynolds Show and The Real McCoys. Among the new shows that fall were The Andy Griffith Show, My Three Sons, Surfside 6 — and The Bugs Bunny Show, which was originally in prime time on ABC, and featured three theatrical Looney Tunes cartoons, plus new linking sequences.
Wagon Train was also hugely popular and this week its star, Ward Bond, suffered a massive heart attack. He died Nov. 5 at the age of 57. John Wayne delivered the eulogy at his funeral. The show continued until 1965.
The most popular singles on the Billboard 100 included Save the Last Dance for Me, by the Drifters; Georgia on My Mind, by Ray Charles; Stay, by Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs; Blue Angel, by Roy Orbison; and Chain Gang, by Sam Cooke.
The top albums included Nice ‘N’ Easy, by Frank Sinatra; The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart; String Along, by the Kingston Trio; and Elvis’ G.I. Blues soundtrack LP. The King also had a new single: Are You Lonesome Tonight?
Are you lonesome tonight? Do you miss me tonight?
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Dan Greenfield, editor, 13th Dimension
Mad #60, EC. The famed flip cover! No matter who won, the Usual Gang of Idiots would be right! (“I Like Dick.” Snort.)
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Falling in Love #40, DC. What the fuck, man?
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Katy Keene #57, Archie. Alas, poor Katy’s days of stardom were coming to an end. Her series would end the next summer.
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Archie Giant Series Magazine #10, Archie. Now, there’s a classic Harry Lucey-pencilled cover for you.
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Fascinating tidbit: Not a single issue from Atlas Comics — soon to become Marvel — was released this month!
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Scott Tipton, contributor-at-large, 13th Dimension
Famous Monsters of Filmland #10, Warren. Wonderful cover here by Basil Gogos.
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Superman #142, DC. Lois is very blase about the whole flaming-nostril space dragon.
Dan: I like that the dragon has a zipper up the front. Just like the movies!
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Our Fighting Forces #59, DC. That’s a good dog.
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Walter Lantz Woody Woodpecker’s Christmas Parade #40, Dell. A rare cover appearance by Charlie Chicken!
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MORE
— RETRO HOT PICKS! On Sale The Week of Oct. 30 — in 1966! Click here.
— RETRO HOT PICKS! On Sale The Week of Oct. 23 — in 1980! Click here.
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Primary comics sources: Mike’s Amazing World of Comics, the Grand Comics Database.
