Posted By Dan Greenfield on Sep 4, 2024 | 16 comments

Scott and Dan hit up the comics racks from 53 years ago…

This week for RETRO HOT PICKS, Scott Tipton and I are selecting comics that came out the week of Sept. 4, 1971.

Last time for RETRO HOT PICKS, it was the week of Aug, 14, 1969. 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 Sept. 1 and Sept. 7.)

So, let’s set the scene: The public was unaware of it at the time but the Nixon administration took a fateful step that would ultimately lead to its undoing.

Earlier in the year, the Pentagon Papers, which revealed dirty secrets of the Vietnam War from 1945 to 1968, were leaked by military analyst Daniel Ellsberg to The New York Times, The Washington Post and other media. While the documents didn’t cover the current Republican White House, the notoriously paranoid Richard Nixon, egged on by National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger, fought hard against publication of the documents for fear of the precedent such disclosure set.

It also led to the creation of what became known as the White House Plumbers, a group of zealots, including G. Gordon Liddy and E. Howard Hunt, whose purpose was to stop or respond to leaks. (Nixon’s infamous Enemies List, which was begun in August, further added to the atmosphere of sweaty-palmed skulduggery.)

On Sept. 3, under authorization by Nixon adviser John Ehrlichman, five Plumbers broke into the Los Angeles offices of Dr. Lewis Fielding, Ellsberg’s psychiatrist, in search of material they could use to discredit the analyst. They found nothing of substance, but the exceptionally disgusting maneuver normalized illegal behavior within the White House and ultimately set the stage for two break-ins of the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate Building Complex the following spring.

G. Gordon Liddy

E. Howard Hunt

This is what happens when a president and his aides believe they are inured from the legal consequences of conduct justified by a nebulous concept of national security that is in actuality cover for spectacularly gross misuse of executive power.

The annual, star-studded Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon, benefitting the Muscular Dystrophy Association, was held Sept. 5 and 6. This was always a big deal at Chez Greenfield and my parents let us camp out in front of the TV and stay up as long as we could. Which, at the age of 4, meant that I was probably out by 8:45, tops. The litany of stars included Burt Bacharach, Milton Berle, Maria Callas, Johnny Carson, Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash, Joan Crawford, Sammy Davis Jr., Joe Frazier, Frank Gorshin, Danny Kaye, B.B. King, Joe Namath, Tiny Tim, Betty White and dozens more.

It was a thing.

At the end of the Labor Day weekend, the Coney Island Amusement Park in Cincinnati closed after 84 years. Most of its rides, however, became the core of the new Kings Island theme park that would open in 1972 and lead to one of the daffier and more memorable episodes of The Brady Bunch.

The 1971-72 television season was right around the corner with a new look: FCC regulations went into effect Sept. 1 that, on most nights, basically codified network prime time as 8 p.m. to 11 p.m., giving more flexibility to local stations to schedule their own programming. The rule, which was modified over the years, is no longer into effect, though prime time is essentially the same. (It begins at 7 p.m. on Sundays.)

Popular returning shows included Gunsmoke, Here’s Lucy, Marcus Welby M.D., Mannix, Adam-12, The Flip Wilson Show, plus two shows that had shown promise the previous season: The Mary Tyler Moore Show finished No. 22 in the Nielsens the year before and was heading into its second season. And a controversial CBS midseason pickup that clocked in at No. 34 was ready for its first full slate: All in the Family.

The top movie at the box office was The Omega Man, perhaps the strangest film in Charlton Heston’s late-’60s/early-’70s dystopian cycle. Other hits included The Andromeda Strain, The Anderson Tapes, Klute, McCabe & Mrs. Miller and Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song. Other films that made headlines that summer included Love Story, Summer of ’42 and Willard.

Paul McCartney’s charming Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey topped the Billboard 100, followed by the Bee Gees’ How Can You Mend a Broken Heart, at No. 2. Bill Withers’ yearning Ain’t No Sunshine was at No. 6. One of the era’s sweetest tunes was John Denver’s elegiac Take Me Home, Country Roads, at No. 7.

The Billboard 200 was jammed full of albums that defined the era, led by Carole King’s epochal Tapestry. Other highlights included McCartney’s Ram at No.3; Every Picture Tells a Story — Rod Stewart’s greatest album — at No. 4; and Marvin Gaye’s eternal classic What’s Going On, at No. 10.

Meanwhile, one of the greatest rock albums ever — the Rolling Stones’ Sticky Fingers — was at No. 12. Released in the spring, it was a former No. 1. To this day, there are those who believe that this is the Stones’ high-water mark. (I go with Exile on Main Street myself, but I see the argument.)

If you don’t believe what I’m singing, at three o’clock in the morning, babe, well, I’m singing my song for you…

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

Star Trek #12, Gold Key. Two words: “space pirates.”

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Daredevil #82, Marvel. Gil Kane draws a vicious-looking Scorpion.

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The Amazing Spider-Man #103, Marvel. If I were in charge at Marvel Studios and could do anything I wanted for a Spider-Man movie, it would be that time Spidey and Gwen Stacy went to the Savage Land.

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DC Special #15, DC. This was probably the best of DC’s many attempts in the ’60s and ’70s to get Plastic Man going again following their acquisition of Quality Comics’ characters, as the issue consisted of all reprint stories by Plas’ creator Jack Cole.

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Dan Greenfield, editor, 13th Dimension

The Avengers #94, Marvel. The thick of the Kree-Skrull War, with outstanding Neal Adams art (as if there’s any other kind). Plus, when the greats assist the greats: John Romita touched up the Avengers’ faces on this Adams/Tom Palmer cover.

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Reggie and Me #52, Archie. Man, I hate Reggie.

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Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #143, DC. Jimmy Olsen, Kirby style. Oh, and Negative Cover Alert!

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MORE

— RETRO HOT PICKS! On Sale The Week of  August 14 — in 1969! Click here.

— RETRO HOT PICKS! On Sale The Week of August 7 — in 1969! Click here.

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