Posted By Dan Greenfield on Mar 27, 2024 | 2 comments

Scott and Dan hit up the comics racks from 59 years ago…

This week for RETRO HOT PICKS, Scott Tipton and I are selecting comics that came out the week of March 27, 1965.

Last time for RETRO HOT PICKS, it was the week of March 20, 1979. 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 March 24 and March 30.)

Martin Luther King leads marchers across the Edmund Pettis Bridge on March 21.

So, let’s set the scene: Tensions in America were reaching new heights — with the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War escalating in violence in a way that would define the rest of the decade, and beyond.

The nation was already taken aback by February’s assassination of Malcolm X in New York. In Alabama, hundreds of civil-rights protesters attempted to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge, from Selma to Montgomery, twice — on March 7 and 9 — only to be met with beatings and bloodshed at the hands of police and related, fatal violence by the Ku Klux Klan. March 7 would become known in the movement as Bloody Sunday.

March 7, “Bloody Sunday”

Over the coming weeks, the conflict was underscored by the first civil-rights sit-in at the White House, and meetings between President Johnson and Martin Luther King Jr., and Johnson and racist Alabama Gov. George Wallace. Johnson also called for federal legislation that would become the Voting Rights Act of 1965. After further violence, court orders and a move by Johnson to give federal protection to the protestors, on March 21, King and other marchers were able to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge — on the same day that homemade time bombs were found in five locations in Black neighborhoods in Birmingham, Alabama, including in a Roman Catholic Church and outside a high school.

On March 25, King and more than 25,000 activists successfully finished the four-day march. King gave one of his most notable speeches: “How Long, Not Long.” Hours later, Viola Liuzzo, a 39-year-old white, Detroit homemaker with five children, was shot dead by Klansmen as she was driving between Selma and Montgomery with a Black teenager. Four men were arrested the following day and Johnson urged Congress to investigate white supremacist organizations. On March 30, Wallace met with 15 Black civil rights leaders, for all the good it did.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, the United States substantially escalated the Vietnam War (without acknowledging it was, in fact, a war). Operation Rolling Thunder, the daily bombing of North Vietnam, had begun earlier in the month and soon expanded. The bombing campaign, which went on for years, was ultimately ineffective in shutting down the communist forces. A similar, naval effort, proved more effective in disrupting supply lines.

To top it off, the first American military combat troops arrived in South Vietnam; Johnson authorized the use of a newer, more flammable version of napalm B for the bombs dropped by American forces; and, on March 29, the use of defoliants and herbicides in combat zones intensified, leading to the 1967 deployment of what became known as Agent Orange.

Segments of the American public were not responding well: On March 24, the first “teach-in” on the Vietnam War took place at Angell Hall at the University of Michigan. The organizer, the Faculty Committee to Stop the War in Viet Nam, set an event at Columbia University the next night and at 25 other universities over the following three weeks.

The Space Race was also in full swing: On March 23, the United States launched Gemini 3, the nation’s first space mission with two astronauts. It was the first maneuverable spacecraft from any nation. This just days after Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov left the airlock on his spacecraft Voskhod 2 for 12 minutes and 9 seconds, becoming the first person to walk in space.

The top film at the box office was My Fair Lady, which had been released the previous fall, and Bondmania was still in ascendancy with Goldfinger. The newly released The Sound of Music, which came out earlier in March, would soon eclipse them all and dominate theater grosses deep into 1966.

The Nielsens were led by the usual suspects — Bonanza, Gomer Pyle, Bewitched, The Fugitive and The Dick Van Dyke Show, for starters. The Andy Griffith Show, Gilligan’s Island and The Beverly Hillbillies were also hits, with other notable shows including Hullabaloo and Peyton Place. (Gomer, Betwitched, Gilligan and Peyton Place were all in their first seasons.)

Hullabaloo had only premiered earlier in 1965 and this week’s episode was hosted by Michael Landon and featured Dionne Warwick, Cannibal & the Headhunters, among others.

Still, the rock scene, already terrifying to anxious parents and other pearl-clutchers, was becoming edgier. It wasn’t exactly throwing televisions out of hotel windows or groupie sex on chartered airplanes, but those boisterous boys from the Rolling Stones were making headlines for their bad behavior. Earlier this month, Mick Jagger, 21, Brian Jones, 23, and Bill Wyman, 28, were busted for urinating on the wall of a London garage after an attendant refused to let them use the bathroom because of their long hair. Think about this: The Stones are going back on tour in 2024 and the combined ages of those three troublemakers (72) is less than Jagger, now 80, Keith Richards, also 80, or Ron Wood, 76.

Topping the Billboard 100 was Stop! In the Name of Love by the Supremes, followed by Can’t You Hear My Heartbeat, by Herman’s Hermits. The Beatles’ Eight Days a Week was at No. 4.

Shirley Bassey’s magnificent Goldfinger was at No. 8 — and the full soundtrack album topped the LP chart. The Mary Poppins soundtrack was at No. 2 and the U.S.-Canada release Beatles ’65, which used material from British records, including Beatles for Sale, was at No. 3.

He’s the man, the man with the Midas touch…

—

Dan Greenfield, editor, 13th Dimension

Detective Comics #339, DC. Batman hadn’t hit the camp stage yet — that was still almost a year away — but that didn’t mean the “New Look” Caped Crusader could evade DC’s obsession with gorillas. (Hey, did you know it’s BATMAN WEEK? It is!

—

Showcase #56, DC. This was a two-parter and as a kid, it made me think Dr. Fate and Hourman team-ups were a thing. They weren’t but I still pair the two in my mind.

Scott adds: A rare Silver Age starring turn for Hourman! Unfortunately, the “Super-Team Supreme” failed to catch on.

—

Adventures of the Fly #31, Archie. This is one of those weeks with limited distribution by different companies, so we’re bending the rules and picking a few issues from earlier in the month that would still have been on the stand. I am a big fan of the Mighty Crusaders — or at least the idea of them — and would like to pick this up now.

Scott adds: I can’t think of a bunch of comic-book superheroes who have had more reboots, restarts and revisions than Fly Man and his buddies in the Mighty Crusaders.

—

The Avengers #16, Marvel. A landmark issue, the first Avengers roster shake-up and the introduction of Cap’s Kooky Quartet.

—

The Amazing Spider-Man #25, Marvel. No one ever drew a more sinister J. Jonah Jameson than Steve Ditko.

Dan adds: 1960s J. Jonah Jameson should have been put in prison.

—

Superman’s Girl Friend, Lois Lane #57, DC Comics. Lois Lane spanking a baby Superman is just weird and kinda creepy.

Dan adds: What’s creepy is that he’s enjoying it.

—

MORE

— RETRO HOT PICKS! On Sale The Week of March 20 — in 1979! Click here.

— RETRO HOT PICKS! On Sale The Week of March 13 — in 1972! Click here.

—

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