Posted By Dan Greenfield on Jul 31, 2024 | 5 comments

Scott and Dan hit up the comics racks from 58 years ago…

This week for RETRO HOT PICKS, Scott Tipton and I are selecting comics that came out the week of July 31, 1966.

Last time for RETRO HOT PICKS, it was the week of July 24, 1982. 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 28 and Aug. 3.)

So, let’s set the scene: On Aug. 1, Charles Whitman, a student at the University of Texas at Austin and a former Marine sniper, shot 47 people — 16 fatally — from the observation deck on the 28th floor of The Tower overlooking the campus.

At 11:48 a.m., Whitman began shooting victims at random, and was not stopped until 96 minutes later, when two policemen were able to get close enough to kill him. Before the bloodbath began, Whitman stabbed his mother and wife to death, to save them the embarassment of his rampage. An autopsy showed later that Whitman had a brain tumor.

Mass shootings have become all too commonplace in today’s world, but Whitman’s assault stunned a nation already reeling from mass murderer Richard Speck’s July 13 slaying of eight student nurses at a dorm near the South Chicago Community Hospital. Whitman’s slaughter was up to that time the worst mass murder by a single gunman in U.S. history and it remains one of the nation’s most infamous crimes.

The Vietnam War continued to ratchet up under the Johnson administration: On July 30, the United States began its first bombing of the Demilitarized Zone that was supposed to be a buffer between North and South Vietnam. Just a couple weeks earlier, despite worldwide condemnation by its allies, the U.S. increased its bombing attacks on the North.

Bombing of North Vietnam, aka Operation Rolling Thunder, earlier in 1966

On Aug. 3, groundbreaking, iconoclastic comedian Lenny Bruce, 40, was found dead from an overdose of morphine in the bathroom of his home in Hollywood. He had received a foreclosure notice the day before and is said to have been found with the needle still in his arm.

Hollywood was already haunted by two other tragedies from the last two weeks: Montgomery Clift, 45, died of a heart attack on July 23. On July 26, movie star William Holden was driving his Ferrari over 100 miles per hour, from Florence to Pisa, Italy, when he smacked into a Fiat, killing the other driver. Holden would later pay $80,000 to settle a civil suit brought by the man’s widow and would be convicted in absentia of manslaughter. He received a suspended eight-month jail sentence.

The New York Times

On the other side of the country, Bob Dylan on July 29 was injured in a motorcycle accident near his home in Woodstock, N.Y. Dylan wouldn’t be seen in public again for more than a year, and his condition remained something of a public mystery, with fans not knowing whether he was crippled or if he would ever record again.

One of the great culture clashes of the ’60s was also playing out: Earlier in the year, John Lennon was quoted by a British interviewer as saying, “We’re more popular than Jesus now,” but the comment was largely ignored until it was reprinted July 29 in the new issue of the also-ran American teen mag Datebook. WAQY-AM radio in Birmingham, Alabama, stopped playing the group’s music and announced a July 30 bonfire of Beatles records and merchandise.

The station also urged listeners to boycott stores that sold Beatles music and memorabilia, provoking an enormous American backlash against the band, which was preparing to tour the United States after a rancorous swing through Asia. Radio stations from as far away as Europe and Africa joined the boycott. The band was also getting shellacked in other quarters for its outspoken opposition to the Vietnam War.

Lennon apologized for his comment when the group arrived in Chicago on Aug. 11, but the dark side of Beatlemania was taking its toll. The band was frustrated by the sound levels at stadiums and their inability to play live the more sophisticated music from the new album Revolver, released just days after the boycott was launched. The summer 1966 tour would be the Fab Four’s last.

Despite the grim nature of much of the news, there were moments of triumph and downright silliness.

On July 30, England beat West Germany, 4-2, to win the World Cup before nearly 100,000 spectators at Wembley Arena in London. Much to the chagrin of English fans, however, its national team hasn’t won it since.

TV viewers had something new to entertain them — The Newlywed Game, which had premiered in July on ABC. It was rerun season but Bonanza was overall the most popular program on television at the time, with variety shows hosted by Red Skelton, Jackie Gleason, Ed Sullivan, Dean Martin and Lawrence Welk also among the favorites.

The Newlywed Game

Batman had finished its boffo first season and on July 30, the show’s big-screen production had its world premiere amid much ballyhoo in Austin, Texas, home of Glastron, which built the Batboat. (You can click here for much more on the premiere, including ginchy video of its parade. Sadly, the groovy vibe in Austin was silenced by Whitman’s rampage in the same city, two days later.)

Blockbusters The Sound of Music and Doctor Zhivago had been duking it out for the top slot at the box office, but by July, the momentum was taken over by the grimly disquieting drama Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? starring glamorous marrieds Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.

The Troggs’ classic Wild Thing sat atop the Billboard 100, which also included among the leaders Summer in the City by the Lovin’ Spoonful (No. 3); the novelty song They’re Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa! by Napoleon XIV (No. 5); I Saw Her Again by the Mamas & the Papas (No. 6); and, the Stones’ caustic Mother’s Little Helper (No. 9).

The most smoothly soulful song on the chart? Bobby Hebb’s Sunny, at No. 11. Paul Revere & the Raiders’ Hungry, which has seen renewed popularity because of the movie Once Upon a Time in… Hollywood, was at No. 12.

The Beatles’ U.S. compilation Yesterday and Today led the albums chart, and the Stones were at No. 3 with the American version of Aftermath. At No. 13 was one of pop music’s greatest achievements — Pet Sounds by the Beach Boys (but really Brian Wilson).

The table was otherwise dominated by Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass. The pop jazz group had no less than three LPs in the Top 13, including What Now My Love (No.4), !!Going Places!! (No. 6), and Whipped Cream & Other Delights (No. 8).

Man, I love Herb Alpert.

—

Dan Greenfield, editor, 13th Dimension

Detective Comics #355, DC. Easily one of the best Carmine Infantino Batman covers, which is saying something. Dramatic and ominous. (Inked by Joe Giella.) The story inside, written by John Broome and also with art by Infantino and Giella, holds up too: Batman takes on a professional wrestler, which is actually more dramatic than it sounds. It was considered worthy of reprinting in the first Batman treasury edition, 1974’s Limited Collectors’ Edition #C-25.

—

The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #3, Marvel. By the way, I’m solo this week because Scott is on the road. Anyway, I never thought that Spider-Man belonged on a team. He just works best as a solo act or in team-ups. In this ish, Marvel confronts the idea with a lead story in which the Avengers ask Spidey to join — but, as a test, he has to catch the Hulk. Without giving any details — 58-YEAR-OLD SPOILER ALERT — Ol’ Web-Head remains on his own.

—

Fantastic Four Annual #4, Marvel. The return of the original Human Torch! Which I suppose is the kinda-sorta first appearance of the modern Vision. Either way, another Lee-Kirby-Sinnott classic.

—

Thor #133, Marvel. The first full appearance of Ego the Living Planet! Boy is this a great week for comics, or what? And we’re just getting started!

THORCVR_1

—

Dr. Who and the Daleks #1 (officially Movie Classic #12-190-612), Dell. An oddball bit of Doctor Who ephemera: The comic adapts the 1965 film Dr. Who and the Daleks, which was a loose reinterpretation of the British TV show. (The movie came out in America in July 1966.) Either way, this is the first printed story related to Doctor Who to hit the U.S. It’s not known who wrote the script for the comic, but the art was pencilled by Dick Giordano and inked by Sal Trapani.

—

Judomaster #91, Thunderbolt #54, Charlton. The Action Heroes were in fine fettle, with two issues out this week.

—

Action Comics #341, Superman #190, DC. Just to remind you that even amid Batmania, Superman was hugely popular.

—

Frankenstein #3, Superheroes #1, Dell. When Dell tried to cash in on Batmania, it turned classic monsters into superheroes or just ripped off others’ ideas.

—

Jughead as Captain Hero #1, Archie’s Joke Book Magazine #105, Archie’s Madhouse #50, Betty and Me #4, Josie #23, Pep #198, Reggie and Me #20, Archie. So much Batmania!

—

Mighty Mouse #169, Dell. I watched Mighty Mouse regularly as a kid but I never read any comics that I can recall. If I had seen this one, I would have snapped it up because who could resist Pirate Space Cats in a rocket that certainly seems to have been influenced by Batmania, complete with SPLAT! sound effect.

—

Dynamo #2, Tower. The T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents spinoff only lasted four issues but you can’t say they didn’t try to give you a big bang for your quarter — 64 pages, with five new stories and two character profiles featuring the talents of Wally Wood, Dan Adkins, Dick Ayers, Mike Sekowsky, Chic Stone, George Tuska and more. (T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #9 also came out this week.)

—

I Dream of Jeannie #2, Dell. My sister loved I Dream of Jeannie so much that we saw Barbara Eden at the Garden State Arts Center. She also loved Jeannie so much that she once forgot to switch the laundry over from the washer to the dryer and my fed-up Mom banned her from watching the show ever again. It was a thing. I don’t remember how long it took my mother to relent but I’m sure she did at some point. It’s one of those nutty things that you remember from childhood as if it were yesterday.

—

Wonder Woman #165, DC. Because I’d hate myself if I left this out.

—

MORE

— RETRO HOT PICKS! On Sale The Week of July 24 — in 1982! Click here.

— RETRO HOT PICKS! On Sale The Week of  July 17 — in 1989! Click here.

—

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