Posted By Dan Greenfield on Sep 24, 2025 | 6 comments

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

This week for RETRO HOT PICKS, Scott and I are selecting comics that came out the week of Sept. 24, 1973.

Last time for RETRO HOT PICKS, it was the week of Sept. 17, 1953. Click here to check it out.

(Keep in mind that comics came out on multiple days, so these are the comics that went on sale between Sept. 21 and Sept. 27.)

So, let’s set the scene: One of the president’s men was in the hot seat: Republican Vice President Spiro Agnew, who was under federal investigation for bribery, on Sept. 25 asked Democratic House Speaker Carl Albert to set up an impeachment inquiry. Albert declined to take the probe away from the Justice Department and Agnew would resign weeks later. Meanwhile, Henry Kissinger, Richard Nixon’s national security advisor, was sworn in as secretary of state — the first foreign-born person to hold the position.

The music world was in mourning: On Sept. 20, singer-songwriter Jim Croce was killed in a plane crash with five others. Croce, 30, had just performed at Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana. The small plane, headed to Croce’s next gig, in Sherman, Texas, lost power, hit a tree and flipped over. A day earlier, Gram Parsons, who’d been with the Byrds but in my mind is better known for the Flying Burrito Brothers, died at the Joshua Tree Inn in California from a combination of morphine and alcohol. He was 26.

I’m a fan of Croce’s but Parsons’ mounrful music gets under my skin. I can think of only one song he sang with the Flying Burrito Brothers that doesn’t make me want to cry. Plus, he had a significant influence on Keith Richards as the latter was recording Exile on Main Street.

Tensions in the Middle East were rising. (Then again, when aren’t they?) On Sept. 22, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat privately met with Syrian President Hafez al-Assad and they ordered their military commanders to prepare for a surprise attack on Israel timed to Yom Kippur on Oct. 6. This as Jordan’s King Hussein and Israeli Prime Minister met secretly with their intelligence directors to discuss peace. Days earlier, Hussein issued a general amnesty for Palestinian terrorists imprisoned in his kingdom, including the leader of Black September, the fanatical organization that had carried out the massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics in Munich.

King and two of her beefcake litter carriers

It was the height of the Women’s Movement and the story of the moment was “The Battle of the Sexes.” On Sept. 20, in the most widely watched tennis match to that date, Billie Jean King routed smug sexist Bobby Riggs in straight sets, 6–4, 6–4, 6–3, at the Houston Astrodome. Though Riggs was 55 and King, 29, he was a 5-2 favorite, having defeated Margaret Court in May. The event was televised internationally and watched by an estimated 90 million people. A record 30,492 people saw the match in person.

IN OTHER NEWS

— On Sept. 26, the Concorde made its first nonstop crossing of the Atlantic, from Washington to Paris in a mere 3 hours and 33 minutes.

— On Sept. 25, the New York Mets beat the Montreal Expos, 2-1, on Willie Mays Night at Shea Stadium. Mays, one of the greatest baseball players who ever lived, had announced his retirement five days earlier. His final at-bat would come in October, in Game 3 of the World Series against the Oakland A’s.

It was the height of Kung Fu Mania, with martial arts flicks raking in the box office dough. Bruce Lee’s Enter the Dragon; Lady Kung Fu, starring Angela Mao, and featuring Carter Wong, Sammo Hung and Jackie Chan; Deadly China Doll, also with Mao and Wong; and, The Shanghai Killers were all hits. Paper Moon, released in May, was still a potent draw, and Westworld was freaking out film-goers.

NBC’s Police Story was the only notable addition to the fall network prime-time line-up, but on Sept. 27, the syndicated (and much parodied) TV show Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert debuted, featuring the Rolling Stones; the Doobie Brothers; Earth, Wind and Fire; and a little-known group called Cross Country. The Stones played (on video) Silver Train, Dancing With Mr. D, and two versions of the treacly, overwrought Angie, which, by the way, was at No. 13 on the singles chart. (All three songs were from Goats Head Soup, which had been released at the end of August.)

Besides the Battle of the Sexes, the week’s big ratings draws were All in the Family and a TV showing of Bonnie and Clyde, which had to have been severely edited, right?

Grand Funk Railroad held the top spot on the Billboard 100 with We’re an American Band, followed by Marvin Gaye’s Let’s Get It On, at No. 2. Cher’s Half-Breed was at No. 3; Paul Simon’s Loves Me Like a Rock was at No. 4; Helen Reddy’s version of Delta Dawn was at No. 5; Steve Wonder’s masterpiece Higher Ground was at No. 6; and, Tony Orlando and Dawn’s Say, Has Anybody Seen My Sweet Gypsy Rose was at No. 7.

On, Sept. 27, Barbra Streisand released her single The Way We Were, the theme song to the movie — co-starring the late, all-time great Robert Redford — which was coming in October. Both the song and the film would become massive successes.

Misty watercolor memories, of the way we were…

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Dan Greenfield, editor, 13th Dimension

Detective Comics #438, DC. A very strong period for the title. Archie Goodwin had taken over as editor the previous issue and wrote the excellent lead story, with Jim Aparo on art. Aparo was supposed to be the main artist on Detective but Goodwin’s run instead became a merry-go-round of top artistic talent, including Alex Toth, Walt Simonson, Howard Chaykin and Sal Amendola. Either way, the readers won, but imagine what it might have been like to have a lengthy Aparo run on solo Batman during the illustrator’s ’70s heyday. Also: The dawn of the 100-pagers! (That’s a Mike Kaluta main image, btw.) Oh, plus: a Goodwin-Simonson Manhunter story!

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Limited Collectors’ Edition #C-23, DC. This treasury — featuring Neal Adams, Bernie Wrightson, Gil Kane, Alex Toth, Sergio Aragones, Robert Kanigher, Mike Friedrich, Steve Skeates and others, with a Nick Cardy cover — is coming out again next month as a Facsimile Edition. Oh, hooray!

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Supergirl #9, DC. Still the Maid of Might’s best outfit.

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Wacky Adventures of Cracky #5, Gold Key. Scott usually lists Wacky Adventures of Cracky but he didn’t this time, so I’m picking up the slack.

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Archie’s Pals ‘n’ Gals #82, Archie. See, OK. They’re teenagers. I get it. At the same time, I feel like this the beginning of a really dirty movie.

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

Ka-Zar #1, Marvel. Ka-Zar finally gets his own book, courtesy of Mike Friedrich and Paul Reinman.

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Where Monsters Dwell #26, Marvel. No relation to DC’s Metallo, who first appeared some 14 years earlier.

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Twilight Zone #53, Gold Key. Ain’t nothin’ scarier than a skeleton with a clarinet.

Dan adds: This fantastic cover — Doot! Doot! — made the BRONZE AGE BONANZA ranking of the TOP 13 COVERS OF 1973. Click here!

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The Incredible Hulk #171, Marvel. Looks like the Abomination’s got himself some new shorts.

Dan adds: Later adapted for Power Records!

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MORE

— RETRO HOT PICKS! On Sale The Week of September 17 — in 1953! Click here.

— RETRO HOT PICKS! On Sale The Week of September 10 — in 1976! Click here.