Posted By Dan Greenfield on Oct 16, 2024 | 8 comments

Scott and Dan hit up the comics racks from 52 years ago…

This week for RETRO HOT PICKS, Scott Tipton and I are selecting comics that came out the week of Oct. 16, 1972.

Last time for RETRO HOT PICKS, it was the week of Oct. 9, 1975. 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 Oct. 13 and Oct. 19.)

So, let’s set the scene: It was just weeks until Election Day and nothing, it appeared, could stop the Nixon juggernaut from re-election — not even the bold headline in The Washington Post the previous week that “FBI Finds Nixon Aides Sabotaged Democrats.” Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward reported that “FBI agents have established that the Watergate bugging incident stemmed from a massive campaign of political spying and sabotage conducted on behalf of President Nixon’s re-election and directed by officials of the White House and the Committee for the Re-election of the President.”

The report further stated, “The activities, according to information in FBI and Department of Justice files, were aimed at all the major Democratic presidential contenders and — since 1971 — represented a basic strategy of the Nixon re-election effort.”

But Americans just didn’t seem to care about the ongoing coverage. (Yet.) Democrat George McGovern’s anemic campaign was one of the least effective in American history and Nixon was headed toward an extraordinary landslide victory.

1975 paperback edition of the 1974 bestseller

On Oct. 13, Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 crashed into a mountain while flying from Montevideo to Santiago, Chile. There were 45 people on board, including the “Old Christians” rugby team. In one of the most dramatic and astounding sagas of human survival on record, 16 people survived in subzero temperatures for the next 72 days, resorting to cannibalism to stay alive. The catastrophe, equal parts horrifying and inspiring, would be chronicled in books, film, television, theater and podcasts across the next five decades.

Perk

IN OTHER NEWS:

— On Oct. 16, Cleveland Mayor Ralph Perk’s hair caught fire while he used a welder’s torch for a ceremony opening the American Society for Metals convention. Perk suffered minor burns but it was probably the most excitement the convention has ever seen.

— On Oct. 13, a Soviet Aeroflot jet crashed on approach to Moscow’s Sheremetyevo International Airport, killing all 174 people on board. It was the deadliest air disaster up to that point, but at the time, such crashes were practically routine, it seems. The death toll would be surpassed months later in a crash in Nigeria.

— On Oct. 19, the last two members of a group of Japanese soldiers that had continued to fight since the end of World War II, set fire to a rice harvest in the Philippines, then got into a gun battle with local police. One of the two was killed, and the last one, Hiroo Onoda, finally surrendered in 1974.

The top movie at the box office was The New Centurians, starring George C. Scott and Stacy Keach, and based on Joseph Wambaugh’s novel. Never saw the movie, never read the book. (I did read both The Choirboys, which is laugh-out-loud hilarious, and The Onion Field, which is terrifying.) Also in theaters were the newly released Lady Sings the Blues, starring Diana Ross and Billy Dee Williams; the Blaxploitation classic Super Fly; the horrific Deliverance; and yes, The Godfather, one of the greatest films of all time. Debuting at the New York Film Festival on Oct. 14 was the notorious Last Tango in Paris, starring Marlon Brando and Maria Schneider.

The highest-rated TV program of the week was Game 3 of the 1972 World Series. Cincinnati beat Oakland, 1-0, but the A’s would go on to win the Series in 7 games — their first of three consecutive world championships. All in the Family, as usual, was the most popular scripted TV show. Other hits included the controversial Bridget Loves Bernie, which would be yanked off the air by CBS after one season; Hawaii Five-O; and, Marcus Welby, M.D.

Premiering on Oct. 14, however, was cult-fave series Kung Fu. (The pilot ran the previous February.) Other new shows that fall included MASH, The Bob Newhart Show, Maude, The Streets of San Francisco, The Waltons (the pilot ran in 1971), and The Paul Lynde Show.

The Billboard singles chart leader was Chuck Berry’s cover of the double-entendre novelty song My Ding-a-Ling. But you want to have your mind blown? It was Berry’s only single to top the Billboard 100. Ever. Think about that for a long second.

Other hits included Bill Withers’ excellent Use Me, at No. 2; Elvis’ bombastic Burning love, at No. 3; and the catchy Everybody Plays the Fool, by the Main Ingredient, at No. 4. Always worth a mention is Popcorn, by Hot Butter, which was at No. 9. Curtis Mayfield’s Super Fly soundtrack was the best-selling album.

Oh, and Creedence Clearwater Revival called it quits Oct. 16.

Everybody plays the fool sometime, there’s no exception to the rule…

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Dan Greenfield, editor, 13th Dimension

The Flash #219, DC. Sure, you get the Flash and a couple of rogues, courtesy of Cary Bates, Irv Novick and Joe Giella (behind a Nick Cardy cover). But what makes this issue notable is that the back-up is the last O’Neil-Adams Green Lantern/Green Arrow story, a 9 1/2-pager. It’s still strange to think that a comics run that has meant so much to so many ended so quietly.

OK, maybe not so quietly, but you know what I mean.

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Batman #246, DC. I asked Neal Adams once why he tortured Robin so much on his covers. He blamed Denny O’Neil, who he said hated the Boy/Teen Wonder. In any event, this ish was written by Frank Robbins (with interiors by Irv Novick, Dick Dillin and Dick Giordano). I have a hunch, though, that this might have been a Carmine Infantino or Julie Schwartz cover idea. Either way, I’m still amazed the Comics Code went along with it.

Scott adds: Good lord, this is grim.

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Spoof #3, Marvel. Laugh it up, America! You didn’t realize yet just how badly you were getting hosed by Nixon and Agnew! Actually, the cover was more on the nose than perhaps artist Marie Severin realized. As we’ve noted twice before, John Lennon — swearing in David Cassidy here — was secretly targeted by the Nixon White House for fear that he would help swing the youth vote in 1972. The feds had served him with deportation papers back in March, but he ultimately won his case in 1975.

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Marvel Team-Up #6, Marvel. Spidey and the Thing are a great team.

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Conan the Barbarian #22, Marvel. Interesting issue this: That wonderful Barry Windsor-Smith cover had nothing to do with the rest of the issue, which is a reprint of Conan #1. The issue’s first line: “Apologia: Due to circumstances beyond our (or even Crom’s) control, we are unable to bring you the Conan story originally scheduled for this issue and proclaimed on our cover!” Instead, the story ran in the next issue — and introduced Red Sonja.

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Boris Karloff Tales of Mystery #44, Gold Key. Oh, hell, buddy there was no way Bashava was going to take that lying down. (Man, I can’t wait for Anthony Taylor’s The Art of George Wilson, now due in 2025.)

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

Marvel Feature #7, Marvel. Admittedly not my favorite Hank Pym period, with him trapped at miniature size and using a nail for a sword. Nice Gil Kane cover, though.

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Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane #128, DC. I swear, Lois Lane must buy wedding gowns in bulk. I’m just sayin’, she gets married a lot.

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World’s Finest Comics #215, DC. The Super-Sons! An idea ahead of its time, it turned out.

Dan adds: I was one of those readers who was completely baffled by the Super-Sons, perhaps Bob Haney’s greatest “I don’t give a shit about continuity” idea ever. One of these days, I’ll go back and read the stories in the vein in which they were intended. 

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MORE

— RETRO HOT PICKS! On Sale The Week of  Oct. 9 — in 1975! Click here.

— RETRO HOT PICKS! On Sale The Week of Oct. 2 — in 1968! Click here.

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