Posted By Dan Greenfield on Feb 21, 2024 | 8 comments

Scott and Dan hit up the comics racks from 63 years ago…

This week for RETRO HOT PICKS, Scott Tipton and I are selecting comics that came out the week of Feb. 21, 1961.

Last time for RETRO HOT PICKS, it was the week of Feb. 14, 1980. 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 Feb. 18 and Feb. 24.)

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So, let’s set the scene: It was a time very much of its time. John F. Kennedy was barely a month into his presidency. The first family had moved into the White House and first lady Jacqueline Kennedy had undertaken the refurnishing of the president’s residence.

On Feb. 21, astronauts John Glenn, Virgil “Gus” Grissom and Alan Shepard were selected by the Space Task Group to begin special training for the first crewed Mercury flight. (All three had the Right Stuff: Shepard and Grissom would each make it into suborbital flight by midyear; Glenn would become the first American to orbit the earth almost exactly a year after his selection.) Earlier in the month, NASA submitted its report, “A Plan for a Manned Lunar Landing,” for consideration by Kennedy.

Shepard, Glenn, Grissom

Americans were already feeling the future upon them in other ways: At the beginning of February, the push-button telephone was put into public service for the first time, with test-marketing in Carnegie, Pennsylvania, and Findlay, Ohio.

All the technological advances and hopeful spirit didn’t erase Americans’ capacity for gullibility, however: On Feb. 22, fans of the daytime soap opera The Edge of Night were horrified when Sara Lane Karr, the show’s female lead character, died. CBS received panicked calls from viewers and the next day, Teal Ames, who played the role, appeared as herself to explain that she was very much alive and had asked to be written out of the show.

Broadway still very much mattered: Camelot, starring Julie Andrews and Richard Burton, was a huge hit. Meanwhile, Come Blow Your Horn, the first play written by Neil Simon, debuted Feb. 22. It was the first of many hits for the playwright.

Although it’s widely considered a bomb, the top-grossing movie at the box office this week was The Misfits. Directed by John Huston, the film would be the last for both of its leads — Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe. Gable had died the previous fall at the age of 59, 12 days after shooting was completed; the film premiered Feb. 1, his birthday.

The Misfits was written by Arthur Miller, whom Monroe had divorced at the beginning of 1961. Her decline had already begun and just days after the movie opened, she checked herself into Cornell University Medical Center in New York City, where she was taken to the Payne Whitney Psychiatric Clinic. After three days at the clinic, she called her ex-husband, Yankees Hall of Famer Joe DiMaggio, who flew to the city and had her released.

Other movies in theaters included the epics Spartacus, Exodus and The Alamo, the adventure Swiss Family Robinson and the Disney animated feature One Hundred and One Dalmatians.

The Space Race was white hot but television was still the province of the Western: The Nielsen leaders included Gunsmoke, Wagon Train, Rawhide and Have Gun — Will Travel. Other hits included The Andy Griffith Show, which almost felt like a Western, and Candid Camera.

The No. 1 single in America was Pony Time by Chubby Checker, followed by Calcutta by Lawrence Welk and His Orchestra. Others among the big sellers were Dedicated to the One I Love by the Shirelles, at No. 6; Where the Boys Are by Connie Francis, at No. 7; and Shop Around by the Miracles, at No. 8.

The top LPs included the Exodus soundtrack by Ernest Gold; Bob Newhart’s comedy record The Button-Down Mind Strikes Back!; Bert Kaempfert’s Wonderland by Night; and the G.I. Blues soundtrack by Elvis Presley, who also had the No. 4 single, with Surrender.

But if you happened to be traveling through Liverpool, England, this month, perhaps you stopped in at a local hot spot called The Cavern Club or maybe another nearby venue. A young band of five local lads, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Pete Best and Stu Sutcliffe, were making the scene as the Beatles — having returned from a residency in Hamburg, Germany, and having changed their name from the Silver Beetles.

George, Paul and John, later in ’61

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Dan Greenfield, editor, 13th Dimension

Batman #139, DC. The not-exactly-million-dollar debut of Bat-Girl! I’ve always liked the original Bat-Girl because she’s quaint remnant of a particular time. She was only around three years before she was quietly dumped along with her aunt, Batwoman, Ace and Bat-Mite when DC unleashed the New Look Batman in 1964. Barbara Gordon was a far superior character from the jump — she came along in late 1966 — but Betty Kane, in her red-and-green tennis dress, did her best. Thank you, Bob Rozakis, for bringing her back in the Bronze Age as a member of Teen Titans West.

By the way, that dude on the lower left is a member of the Cobra Gang — a one-off crew of bad guys immortalized in the 1966 Batman TV series opening credits:

Scott adds: I’ve always been a big fan of Batwoman and Bat-Girl, thanks to their appearances in Batman: From the ’30s to the ’70s, which taught me all my Bat-knowledge.

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Sugar and Spike #34, DC. Boy people who love Shelly Mayer’s Sugar and Spike really love it.

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Strange Tales #84, Marvel. This is… Magneto! No, not that Magneto, this Magneto. One of a number of Kirby monster names to be recycled as the Marvel Age took off over the next few years. (By the way, only DC and Dell comics were released this week, so Scott and I are adding some others from earlier in the month since they’d presumably still be on the stands. Wanna paint a fuller picture, ya dig?)

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

Justice League of America #4, DC. Green Arrow joins the League! One of my favorite Silver Age JLA comics.

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Timmy the Timid Ghost #11, Charlton. This is obviously nothing like Casper the Friendly Ghost. I do like that he’s sponsored by a shoestore. Sure, why not?

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The Brave and the Bold #35, DC. Hawkman never looks right without the head-wings.

Dan adds: Boy, I am with you, Scott! Even the JSA yellow cowl looks weird to me. Anyway, this was Katar Hol’s second appearance as DC continued to revamp its Golden Age heroes for the Silver Age. (He and Shayera debuted the previous issue.)

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Four Color #1162: Yogi Bear Joins the Marines, Dell. I think this is the issue where Yogi learns to field-strip a pic-a-nic basket.

Dan adds: Uh, Yogi. Do you think joining the Marines in 1961 is such a good idea?

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Unusual Tales #27, Charlton. “Are these tales exciting or strange?”

“No.”

“Amazing?”

“…They’re unusual.”

Dan adds: Pre-Spidey Ditko!

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MORE

— RETRO HOT PICKS! On Sale The Week of Feb. 14 — in 1980! Click here.

— RETRO HOT PICKS! On Sale The Week of Feb. 7 — in 1976! Click here.

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