Posted By Dan Greenfield on Aug 7, 2024 | 10 comments

Scott and Dan hit up the comics racks from 55 years ago…

This week for RETRO HOT PICKS, Scott Tipton and I are selecting comics that came out the week of Aug, 7, 1969.

Last time for RETRO HOT PICKS, it was the week of July 31, 1966. 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 Aug. 4 and Aug. 10.)

So, let’s set the scene: For the first time since RETRO HOT PICKS launched in 2020, we’re going to do back-to-back weeks from a single year — 1969. The reason is simple: It’s the 55th anniversary of some extraordinary events and so it seemed fitting to do this as a special two-parter.

Here is PART 1, covering, as it says above, Aug. 4 to Aug. 10:

Shortly after midnight Aug, 9, three mysterious strangers burst into the Los Angeles home of director Roman Polanski and his wife, actress Sharon Tate, and slaughtered everyone in sight.

Polanski was in Europe filming, but Tate, who was eight and a half months pregnant, was hosting three friends who were staying over at the Benedict Canyon house on Cielo Drive: renowned hair stylist Jay Sebring; coffee heiress Abigail Folger; and her boyfriend, Wojciech Frykowski. The word “PIG” was written on the front door in Tate’s blood. Also killed was teenager Steven Parent, who happened to be leaving after visiting the property’s caretaker, just as the killers arrived.

Less than 24 hours later, on Aug. 10, supermarket mogul Leno LaBianca and his wife Rosemary were murdered in their Los Feliz home in similar fashion: Leno LaBianca was found with the word “WAR” carved into his abdomen; “Rise” and “Death to pigs” were scrawled on the walls and, misspelled, “Healter Skelter” on the refrigerator door, all in his blood.

The attacks grabbed worldwide headlines, given the victims’ fame and social status, and the ferocity of the shootings, stabbings and hangings.

The killers would not be identified for months.

All of this occurred as California was already creeped out by what was happening in San Francisco: Less than a week earlier, an unidentified man sent letters and cryptograms to local newspapers, claiming that he’d murdered three people. The Zodiac Killer had begun his reign of terror.

(A serial killer in Michigan, the Co-Ed Killer, was arrested the same week.)

One of the cryptograms

On Aug. 4, Henry Kissinger, President Richard Nixon’s national security adviser, secretly met in Paris with North Vietnam’s foreign minister to negotiate an end to the Vietnam War. While not known to the public at the time, the talks were essential in eventually bringing formal peace years later. Nixon was also in Europe. On Aug. 9, he flew to a new residence in San Clemente, California, that he called the “Western White House.”

Neil Armstrong

Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins on Aug. 10 were finally allowed to leave the “mobile quarantine facility” where they and two scientists lived for three weeks while being examined for possible contamination from lunar soil. Three days earlier NASA had announced that testing of the soil and rocks produced no positive traces of life. On Aug. 5, as it happens, the Mariner 7 satellite transmitted the closest pictures of Mars, up to that time.

The top-grossing movie in the country was Midnight Cowboy, starring Jon Voight as hustler Joe Buck and Dustin Hoffman as the disgustingly inimitable Ratso Rizzo. Other popular movies included Easy Rider; Goodbye, Columbus; True Grit… and The Love Bug.

It was still weeks before the new TV season would begin. The most popular shows were Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In and Gunsmoke.

The Haunted Mansion, the first addition to Disneyland since the death of Walt Disney, opened Aug. 9 to a limited number of guests, before the official opening three days later.

The overwrought but of-its-time In the Year 2525 by Zager and Evans led the singles chart, followed by Crystal Blue Persuasion by Tommy James and the Shondells (No. 2); and the Rolling Stones’ Honky Tonk Women (No. 3) — one of the greatest rock and roll songs ever. Neil Diamond’s beloved Sweet Caroline was at No. 5; Johnny Cash’s outstanding A Boy Named Sue — from his landmark live album At San Quentin (which was No. 6 on the album chart) — was at No. 7. Jackie DeShannon‘s sweet Put A Little Love In Your Heart was at No. 9.

Blood, Sweat & Tears’ self-titled album was the best-selling LP, with the Who’s groundbreaking Tommy at No. 10 and Led Zeppelin’s eponymous debut at No. 11. But it was very much the Age of Aquarius: the Hair Original Cast Recording was second on the chart and the 5th Dimension’s The Age of Aquarius — featuring the single Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In, covered from the Broadway show — was slotted at No. 13.

And what were the Beatles doing? On Aug. 8, they had a photo shoot for the cover for their next album, just up the street from Abbey Road Studios at the intersection with Grove End Road. Police blocked traffic so the band could have a clear crossing. (Decades later, in 1997, my wife took a picture of me in the crosswalk while on our honeymoon. Like the idiot I am, I walked in the wrong direction.)

Chatting up a neighbor

But change in the rock scene was in the offing: The Stooges on Aug. 5 released their self-named first album, a proto-punk flashpoint that, improbably, led Iggy Pop to become a national treasure. (It would just take some time.)

And now I wanna be your dog…

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Dan Greenfield, editor, 13th Dimension

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Thor #169, Marvel. A fab cover, with Thor illustrated by John Romita, and Jack Kirby-pencilled interiors framed around negative-space Galactus (who tells Thor his origin inside).

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Dr. Strange #183, Marvel. Isn’t there a part of you that wishes Dr. Strange stayed with the whole blue face thing? There’s definitely a part of me. Then again, I also like Namor’s groovy 1970s threads.

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Sub-Mariner #19, Marvel. Speaking of awesome looks: Let’s hear it for Stingray, folks, making his first appearance!

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Superman #220, DC. You know what would make more sense than having Superman and Batman team up in World’s Finest? Superman and the Flash. It’s a much better pairing of power sets and they could constantly bicker about who’s faster. Then again, if these two teamed up regularly, all crime would be eradicated and what’s the fun of reading about that?

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Millie the Model #176 and Mad About Millie #5, Marvel. So popular, she had two titles!

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Leave it to Binky #69 and Swing With Scooter #22, DC. Or you could have gone with DC’s Archie-flavored books. (Archie Comics itself only had That Wilkin Boy #5 this week.)

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Scott Tipton, columnist, 13th Dimension

World’s Finest Comics #188, DC. I’ll bet Negative Superman is really hard to hang out with.

Dan adds: Negative illustration is magic.

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The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #6, Marvel. When I think “Spidey Annual,” I always think “Sinister Six.” And check out Doc Ock’s purple jammies!

Dan adds: An all-reprint issue — but oh, what reprints: stories from the classic Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1, Fantastic Four Annual #1 and The Amazing Spider-Man #8. I dig Jazzy John Romita’s cover more than Steve Ditko’s original. (That’s not a knock, folks. Just an opinion.)

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Captain America #119, Marvel. I often kind of forget that the Falcon, introduced two issues earlier, is an original Stan Lee co-created character. (Artist Gene Colan came to him, wanting to introduce a Black hero.) Cool to see him deservedly toplining a movie soon.

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Fantastic Four Annual #7, Marvel. Odd mix here: very dynamic Kirby action cover, with a wacky appearance by the Mole Man at bottom, holding up a sign like Wile E. Coyote.

Dan adds: More nifty reprints!

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MORE

— RETRO HOT PICKS! On Sale The Week of  July 31 — in 1966! Click here.

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

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