Posted By Dan Greenfield on May 29, 2024 | 2 comments

Scott and Dan hit up the comics racks from 54 years ago…

This week for RETRO HOT PICKS, Scott Tipton and I are selecting comics that came out the week of May 29, 1970.

Last time for RETRO HOT PICKS, it was the week of May 22, 1987. 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 May 26 and June 1.)

The aftermath of the Jackson State massacre

So, let’s set the scene: The expansion of the Vietnam War, campus strife and counter-demonstrations dominated headlines all month long, with the low point one of the most shameful incidents in American history — May 4’s slaughter of students at Kent State University by National Guard forces. Four students were killed and nine were wounded.

There was also the heinous May 15 assault on predominantly black Jackson State College in Mississippi, where state law enforcement officers fired upon a college dorm, killing two and injuring 12. The Mississippi State Police shot into rooms at the Alexander Hall women’s residence and into a crowd of demonstrators. They claimed to have seen a sniper in a window, but no sniper was ever located.

President Richard Nixon on May 9 also visited demonstrators at the Lincoln Memorial and hardhats made headlines in New York by cracking down on antiwar students at City Hall Park on May 8 and then two weeks later, on May 20, holding a pro-war rally of 150,000 at the location.

Amid all the domestic upheaval, the families of the servicemen in Southeast Asia were suffering deeply. This week, on May 28, the National League of POW/MIA Families was incorporated by a group of wives of Vietnam prisoners of war and those listed as missing in action. (Less than two years later, the organization adopted an emblem that is still flown on flags across the country.)

While all this played out, a seismic event had rocked popular culture. The Beatles officially broke up the month before and the band’s final album, Let It Be, was released May 8, five days after the world premiere of the film of the same name. (It’s now finally available for viewing, on Disney+, after being mothballed for decades.)

The album — which is one of my very favorites though it was critically panned at the time — entered the Billboard 200 this week at No. 104. Much to the chagrin of John, George and Ringo, Paul’s solo debut McCartney was at No. 1. (Let It Be would eventually hit the top). The Beatles did have three albums on the chart: the American-release compilation Hey Jude (No. 7); 1969’s epochal Abbey Road (No. 34) and Polydor’s In The Beginning (Circa 1960), a repackaging of early music of the band backing Tony Sheridan (No. 142).

On the Billboard 100, the song Let It Be was at No. 10 and The Long and Winding Road, the band’s last American single, was at No. 12. (Ray Stevens’ Everything Is Beautiful was the No. 1 song and other top-selling albums included Deja Vu by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (No. 2) and Bridge Over Troubled Water by Simon & Garfunkel (No. 3).

On TV, the hit shows included Marcus Welby, M.D., 60 Minutes, The Carol Burnett Show and The Doris Day Show.

Airport and Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice were box office hits, Robert Altman’s M*A*S*H had just made a splash in Cannes — and Beneath the Planet of the Apes this week premiered on May 26:

The only good human… is a dead human!

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Scott Tipton, columnist, 13th Dimension

Detective Comics #401, DC Comics. Prime Neal Adams Batman cover here. Plus I dig the logo.

Dan adds: Yeah, what he said. A great one. And that logo is also one of my all-time faves. The back-up is the second half of a groovy, two-part team up between Batgirl and Robin, by Denny O’Neil, Gil Kane and Vince Colletta.

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The Phantom #39, Charlton. I really wish someone would find a way to put together a nice complete collection of the Charlton Phantom run.

Dan adds: Yeah, what he said. Again.

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Green Lantern #78, DC Comics. To be honest, anyone wearing a fringe leather jacket kinda has it coming.

Dan adds: The “Family” here is a riff on Charles Manson. O’Neil and Adams, keeping it timely.

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Iron Man #28, Marvel. It seems like Marvel tried to make the Controller a big-time Big Bad for decades, but it would just never stick.

Dan adds: This is one of those weeks where no Marvels actually came out, so we’re bending the rules to include a couple that came out earlier in the month. They were still on sale, after all.

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Dan Greenfield, editor, 13th Dimension

Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #130, DC. Besides having one of the great Jimmy Olsen covers (by Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson), we get the groovy back-up, where Robin teaches Jimmy how to impersonate him, in Olsen, the Teen Wonder, by Bob Haney and Anderson.

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The Amazing Spider-Man #87, Marvel. Stan Lee, John Romita and Jim Mooney for some prime, grade-A Spidey here. A feverish Peter does actually unmask himself and throws Gwen into an absolute tizzy but he — 54-YEAR-OLD SPOILER WARNING! — manages to tie it all up by the end.

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The Governor and J.J. #3, Gold Key. I’ve said this before, but Gold Key would adapt anything. Anything. This actually made it to three issues!

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Hod Rods and Racing Cars #103, Charlton. Another reminder that I really need to do something on hot-rod comics one of these days.

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Reggie’s Wise Guy Jokes #13, Archie. I don’t know who did the cover (Dan DeCarlo?) but that’s actually a pretty cool-looking baseball uniform Reggie is wearing. Nice design.

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MORE

— RETRO HOT PICKS! On Sale The Week of May 22 — in 1987! Click here.

— RETRO HOT PICKS! On Sale The Week of  May 15 — in 1964! Click here.

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