Posted By Dan Greenfield on Jul 23, 2025 | 4 comments

Scott and Dan hit up the comics racks from 60 years ago…

This week for RETRO HOT PICKS, Scott Tipton and I are selecting comics that came out the week of July 23, 1965.

Last time for RETRO HOT PICKS, it was the week of July 16, 1991. 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 July 20 and July 26.)

So, let’s set the scene: DYLAN GOES ELECTRIC! On July 25, Bob Dylan turned the worlds of folk and rock music upside down by playing the Newport Folk Festival with an electric guitar. Dylan first burst into a rollicking Maggie’s Farm, then cruised along with the epic Like a Rolling Stone, which had only been released five days earlier. He and his band finished with a raucous, early version of It Takes a Lot to laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry.

The performance, a major turning point in music and pop-culture history, has taken on mythic proportions, with (conflicting) reports of loud boos from the hardcore folkies in the crowd, mixed in with cheers from those who loved Dylan’s ballsy move, which not only heralded a bold new direction, but also unleashed the folk-rock genre.

Dylan returned to the stage and played two acoustic numbers: Mr. Tambourine Man and It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue. The entire affair was dramatized in 2024’s A Complete Unknown, starring Timothee Chalamet and made with Dylan’s input.

My wife Wendy and I saw the movie with our close friend Gary, who has probably read more words about Dylan than anybody on the planet, save maybe Pod Dylan podcaster and 13th Dimension pal Rob Kelly, and A.J. Weberman. “That was exactly how I always imagined it,” Gary said as we left the theater.

Dylan did not return to Newport for 37 years, and when he did, he wore a wig and a fake beard.

LBJ at the meeting

The same week, a fateful decision was being made that would have vast consequences and alter the direction of the nation. Behind closed doors, President Johnson on July 21 held a meeting of the National Security Council at the White House, where they debated the next steps in the Vietnam War. George Ball, the Under Secretary of State, not only argued strenuously against Defense Secretary Robert McNamara’s push to substantially increase the troop count, he urged the U.S. to “cut its losses” and get out.

It would be revealed years later that Ball predicted that South Vietnam would lose and that “we’ll double our bet and get lost in the rice paddies.” Ball was alone. One week later, Johnson announced that he was sending 50,000 more troops to South Vietnam — boosting the number there by two-thirds, to 125,000, and more than doubling the monthly draft from 17,000 to 35,000, so that more than 1,000 young men would be called up every day.

Johnson made his speech at 12:33 p.m. on July 28, avoiding prime time and without going before Congress.

Coward.

IN OTHER NEWS

— On July 25, New York Mets manager Casey Stengel, days shy of 75, fell off a barstool at the renowned New York City watering hole Toots Shor’s. He didn’t immediately realize that he’d broken his hip and would later be hospitalized. The injury would lead Stengel to retire and the Mets would finish last. Again.

— Also on July 25, Martin Luther King Jr. spent the day giving speeches in and around Chicago, decrying housing discrimination. Speaking to a largely white crowd in Winnetka, he said, “We must now learn to live together as brothers or we will perish together as fools.”

— London Bridge was falling down. For real. The famed span over the Thames, last rebuilt in 1831, was cracking and slowly sinking. The city on July 23 said it would be replaced.

— On July 24, the Detroit Triple Fan Fair was first held. It’s considered one of the first comics conventions in the U.S.

It was yet another week where The Sound of Music was atop the American box office. (Coincidentally, our pal Gary’s wife Anne is an enormous fan.)

Other films included What’s New Pussycat? — Woody Allen’s first produced screenplay and featuring a theme song belted out by the brilliantly bombastic Tom Jones; the critically panned The Sandpiper, starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton; Cat Ballou; The Sons of Katie Elder; and, How to Stuff a Wild Bikini. My Fair Lady was still kicking around, too.

It was thick into rerun season but the most popular shows included Bonanza, The Lucy Show, The Fugitive, Gomer Pyle and Bewitched.

The public was unaware but shooting was under way for a second pilot of a pie-in-the-sky, science fiction TV series pitched to NBC. The first pilot hadn’t gained traction, but execs were intrigued by the concept and made the rare move of green-lighting a second one.

The cast was completely overhauled save for one actor — Leonard Nimoy, as a devilish-looking alien named Spock. He was joined by the series’ new lead, Canadian character actor William Shatner, who took on the role of Captain James Kirk of the starship Enterprise. Star Trek was on its way.

The greatest riff in rock history? Hard to argue against the Rolling Stones’ (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction, which was in the midst of a four-week run at No. 1. The hard-driving banger — with rip-roaring music by Keith Richards (who wrote it in his sleep), and chip-on-the-shoulder, nasty lyrics by Mick Jagger — is one of the great touchstones in music and took the Stones, who were already popular, to a whole new level. Only the Beatles were bigger.

The Fab Four themselves held the top-spot on the albums chart with the Frankensteined-for-North America Beatles VI, featuring the wonderfully bubbly Eight Days a Week.

Fellow Brits Herman’s Hermits were also in the big time with the No. 2 single I’m Henry VIII, I Am and the No. 2 and No. 7 albums, but they couldn’t touch the hems of the Beatles, who just released the smash single Help! in anticipation of their new movie of the same name.

But every now and then I feel so insecure, I know that I just need you like I’ve never done before…

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Dan Greenfield, editor, 13th Dimension

Justice League of America #38, DC. The third JLA/JSA team-up and a floating-head extravaganza! This two-parter — which focuses much more on Earth-Two’s Justice Society — took a different tack from the previous year’s introduction of the Crime Syndicate of Earth-Three.

Earth-A wasn’t actually a separate universe; Earth-One was corrupted and the Justice League was transformed into the Lawless League. Highlights include the Flash’s pencil-thin mustache, Superman’s blond buzzcut and villainously oversized jawline, and Batman’s five-o’clock shadow before Batman’s five-o’clock shadow was a thing.

Scott adds: One of the few JLA/JSA appearances of my favorite JSAer, Mr. Terrific!

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Fantastic Four Annual #3, Marvel. One of those weeks where there were no Marvels, so Scott and I are reaching back to earlier in the month since those mags were still on sale. Given that, you cannot pass up the wedding of Sue and Reed — especially because this is FANTASTIC FOUR WEEK! Anyway, if we ever go back and do the week of July 1, you’ll see this again.

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Sea Devils #25, DC. Sea Devils was all plot — but such fun plot! Probably too obscure for a DC Finest edition but this series rocked.

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Fightin’ Five #34, Charlton. For Paul Kupperberg.

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Doctor Solar, Man of the Atom #14, Gold Key. Great cover by George Wilson, natch.

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

The Avengers #20, Marvel. Hawkeye should really be readying a “Cap-Catching Arrow” right about now.

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The X-Men #13, Marvel. Second appearance of the Juggernaut!

Dan adds: “Bitch!”

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Mystery in Space #102, DC. “Finally,” thought Cage-O-Bot, “I truly feel alive!”

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MORE

— RETRO HOT PICKS! On Sale The Week of July 16 — in 1991! Click here.

— RETRO HOT PICKS! On Sale The Week of July 9 — in 1971! Click here.

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