Posted By Dan Greenfield on Oct 29, 2025 | 5 comments

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

This week for RETRO HOT PICKS, Scott and I are selecting comics that came out the week of Oct. 29, 1961.

Last time for RETRO HOT PICKS, it was the week of Oct. 22, 1983. Click here to check it out.

(Keep in mind that comics came out on multiple days, so these are the comics that went on sale between Oct. 26 and Nov. 1.)

Soviet tanks at Checkpoint Charlie

So, let’s set the scene: The Berlin Crisis — one of the most tense standoffs between East and West during the Cold War — came close to erupting into armed conflict this week. U.S. and Soviet tanks had amassed on either side of the Berlin Wall, which had been erected just months before.

On Oct. 27, less than a week after an initial confrontation, 33 Soviet tanks drove to the Brandenburg Gate to face American tanks on the other side of the border. Ten of the tanks took up a separate position. The standoff continued for 16 hours before both sides withdrew, following intense negotiations. The Soviet moved a tank back, the Americans followed, and the armored vehicles retreated one at a time.

Construction of the Wall in August

The Crisis, which began in June because of tensions over Communist objections to Western military presence in the city, as well as an exodus of East Germans fleeing to the West — culminating in the Wall’s construction — was over. In the end, Berlin would remain a divided city until November 1989 — a defining symbol of the seeming intractability of the American and Soviet geopolitical positions.

All of this and more played out as the U.S. and U.S.S.R. continued frightening nuclear tests. (On Oct. 6, President Kennedy advised Americans to build fallout shelters.) On Oct. 30, the Soviet Union detonated a 50-megaton hydrogen bomb called Tsar Bomba over Novaya Zemlya — the largest such explosion ever. The weapon itself was so huge it was deemed impractical to deploy. There were, after all, other ways to fire nukes. On Nov. 1, the first Soviet intercontinental ballistic missile was put on active status.

Tsar Bomba

IN OTHER NEWS

— General Maxwell Taylor and Deputy National Security Advisor W. W. Rostow had been sent by Kennedy to South Vietnam to assess the situation. In early November, the Taylor-Rostow Report called for improved training for South Vietnamese troops; an increase in U.S. personnel in the army and government; bolstered use of helicopters in counterisurgency missions; consideration of bombing in North Vietnam; and, the commitment of 6,000-8,000 combat troops (though in a logistical role). The report seriously escalated the Kennedy Administration’s commitment to Vietnam. (Historically, it’s been seen as a striking misunderstanding of the conflict.)

Taylor (center) with Rostow (right) in South Vietnam

— The U.S. Interstate Commerce Commission’s order banning racial segregation at all interstate public facilities went into effect. The move was a result of pressure from the Freedom Rides.

— On. Oct. 27, NASA’s Space Task Group finished its plan for U.S. human spaceflight for 1963-65, including the Mark II Mercury spacecraft that could carry two astronauts, instead of one. The Mark II program would soon be renamed Project Gemini. Earlier in October, NASA approved construction projects for what would become the Johnson Space Center near Houston. On Nov. 1, NASA’s Space Task Group was renamed the Manned Spacecraft Center.

The No. 1 movie was Breakfast at Tiffany’s, starring Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard, directed by Blake Edwards, and based on Truman Capote’s novella. But West Side Story, which had opened a couple weeks later in October, would become an absolute box-office juggernaut. Other choices included Elia Kazan’s Splendor in the Grass, with Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty in his film debut; King of Kings, with Jeffrey Hunter as Jesus; The Hustler, starring Paul Newman; the star-studded The Guns of Navarone; and the Rock Hudson-Gina Lollobrigida comedy Come September.

The Broadway smash How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying — starring Robert Morse, who would decades later play Bert Cooper on Mad Men, in a bit of uncannily meta casting — opened earlier in the month. It would run for 1,417 shows, win a Pulitzer Prize and seven Tony Awards. (I saw the revival with Matthew Broderick.)

Major League Baseball’s modern expansion era had begun. The American League had just finished its season with an additional two teams. The National League would follow suit for 1962 and on Oct. 10, an expansion draft was held to build the rosters for the Houston Colt .45s and New York Mets. This week, on Oct. 28, ground was broken in Queens on what was originally to be called the Flushing Meadow Park Municipal Stadium. It would become known as Shea Stadium.

The birth of basketball’s three-point shot! On Oct. 27, the American Basketball League — founded by Harlem Globetrotters owner Abe Saperstein (of course!) — began play, and was the first league to use the three-point shot. It had been tried out in college games here and there but the ABL was the first to institute the rule. The league folded the next season but the three-pointer caught on with later leagues before becoming a part of the NBA and college hoops in the late ’70s/early ’80s.

The top shows on television were Wagon Train, Bonanza, Gunsmoke, Perry Mason, Sing Along With Mitch, and the new program, The Defenders. Other shows debuting this season included Ben Casey, Dr. Kildare, Mr. Ed, Hazel, Car 54, Where Are You?, and the game show Password.

But a new comedy would have by far the widest reach and impact: The Dick Van Dyke Show stumbled out of the gate, like a tall man over an ottoman, but went on to become one of the most beloved sitcoms of all time.

Dion’s Runaround Sue was the biggest single, with Ray Charles’ Hit the Road Jack, Jimmy Dean’s Big Bad John and Roy Orbison’s Crying all in the mix. 

Judy Garland’s classic live album Judy at Carnegie Hall was a chart-topper, with original Broadway cast recordings of The Sound of Music, My Fair Lady and Camelot also bringing in the sales. Elvis Presley had moved into his movie phase, but he had four hit albums all at once: G.I. Blues, Elvis Is Back! Something for Everybody and the newest, Blue Hawaii.

Elvis was the King, but there were princes in waiting: On Oct. 17, a 17-year-old British boy was standing on a platform at the train station in Dartford, Kent, when he saw an old schoolmate. He noticed that the other kid was carrying under his arm a couple of record albums that were hard to come by: The Best of Muddy Waters and Chuck Berry Is on Top. So the lad, named Keith Richards, said to his 18-year-old childhood friend, Mick Jagger, “Hey, man, nice to see you — but where’d you get the records?!’”

The rest of the world didn’t know it, but it was forever changed in that moment.

—

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

Adventure Comics #291, DC. Look, I’ll go along with Cleopatra somehow arriving from the past, and I’m even OK with Superboy rasslin’ leopards to try and impress her. But why is Lana Lang’s dad on the cover?

—

Detective Comics #298, DC. First appearance of Clayface II, a.k.a. treasure hunter-turned shapechanger Matt Hagen.

Dan adds: This ish is getting renewed attention because of its cameo appearance in the brand new show, It: Welcome to Derry. That’s cool and all, but my prediction is that this’ll be a Facsimile Edition next year in anticipation of the Clayface movie in the fall. Bet the cover’ll look cool in foil!

—

The Brave and the Bold #39, DC. In the early ’60s, Suicide Squad comics were very different…

—

Action Comics #283, DC. An “All Red Kryptonite Issue”?! When you’ve made the sale, stop sellin’.

Dan adds: Hey, Todd McFarlane — where’s the action figure!

—

Dan Greenfield, editor, 13th Dimension

Combat #2, Dell. This was a really interesting series of true-life war stories, with interiors by Sam Glanzman. Peter Bosch did a terrific piece on it for Memorial Day in 2024.

—

Archie’s Girls Betty and Veronica #73, Archie. See, the joke is that the aliens think the other aliens are better looking than Betty and Veronica, who are pretty by Earth standards. Just wanted to sort that out for you.

—

Have Gun, Will Travel #12, Dell. Whenever I hear, “Have Gun, Will Travel,” I can’t help but think of Stand by Me.

—

Tales Calculated to Drive You Bats #2, Archie. Hey, look! Scott Shaw! just featured this in last week’s ODDBALL COMICS column.

—

Four Color #1253, Dell. This cover (dunno by whom) has 1961 written all over it.

—

MORE

— RETRO HOT PICKS! On Sale The Week of October 22 — in 1983! Click here.

— RETRO HOT PICKS! On Sale The Week of October 15 — in 1977! Click here.