Posted By Dan Greenfield on Feb 11, 2026 | 4 comments

Scott and Dan hit up the comics racks from 51 years ago…

This week for RETRO HOT PICKS, Scott and I are selecting comics that came out the week of Feb. 11, 1975.

Last time for RETRO HOT PICKS, it was the week of Feb. 4, 1965. 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 Feb. 8 and Feb. 14.)

So, let’s set the scene: Gerald Ford had been president for about six months but the pall of Watergate still hung over the nation.

On Feb. 7, Charles Colson, one of Richard Nixon’s most ruthless operatives, told the Today Show that Nixon had talked to him in December 1973 about resigning but feared that Ford would not be able to control manipulative egomaniac Henry Kissinger, who was both secretary of state and national security advisor. Nixon ultimately resigned in August 1974. Colson would be indicted a few weeks after his Today appearance, for conspiring to cover up the Watergate burglaries.

It was dawn for Thatcher’s England: On Feb. 11, Margaret Thatcher was elected leader of the UK’s Conservative Party, becoming the first woman to head a major British political party and to be the leader of the Opposition. In 1979, she would become prime minister.

IN OTHER NEWS

— On Feb. 14, the San Diego Conquistadors beat the New York Nets, 176-166, in an American Basketball Association showdown — the highest-scoring pro hoops game up to that time. The game took four overtimes to complete.

— On Feb. 12, I turned 8.

Dr. J!

The Towering Inferno, one of the biggest of the Irwin Allen disaster flicks of the ’70s, was the box-office leader, with competition from Mel Brooks’ riotous Young Frankenstein, and the Agatha Christie whodunnit Murder on the Orient Express. Oh, and there was The Godfather Part II.

The latest Bond movie was The Man With the Golden Gun, which is actually damn good if you ignore all the stuff with the distractingly offensive J.W. Pepper, played by Clifton James, who even detracted from the otherwise badass car-flip scene.

New in theaters this week were the subversive Shampoo and perhaps even more subversive The Stepford Wives.

The top-rated show of the week was Sanford and Son, with other hits including All in the Family, Chico and the Man, MASH, The Waltons, The Jeffersons, Rhoda, Good Times, Hawaii Five-O and Maude.

Six months after the controversial Born Innocent, Linda Blair on Feb. 11 starred in another edgy TV movie — Sarah T: Portrait of A Teenage Alcoholic, co-starring Mark Hamill and directed by no less than Richard Donner.

Linda Ronstadt’s You’re No Good was the No. 1 single, off the top-selling Heart Like a Wheel (Ronstadt’s first chart-leading LP in the US and widely considered her breakthrough album). Pick Up the Pieces by Average White Band — a song that would be featured years later in Superman II — was also getting a ton of airplay. Other hits included the Eagles’ Best of My Love; Grand Funk Railroad’s Some Kind of Wonderful; and, the Doobie Brothers’ Black Water. John Lennon’s #9 Dream was also in the mix.

Elton John’s Greatest Hits, an obviously superb compilation, was a smash album, along with the Ohio Players’ Fire and Average White Band’s AWB. Released this week was Olivia Newton-John’s Have You Never Been Mellow.

Moving up the charts, however, was Blood on the Tracks, which is not only frequently considered Bob Dylan’s best album, but one of the greatest of all time.

So I drifted down to New Orleans/Where I happened to be employed/Workin’ for a while on a fishin’ boat/Right outside of Delacroix…

—

Dan Greenfield, editor, 13th Dimension

Batman #263, DC. There’s so much I could write about this single issue. The Riddler was my favorite villain when I was a kid — thank you, Frank Gorshin — so this was a real treat. I didn’t know at the time it was his first appearance in the comics in almost seven years. Months later, Limited Collectors’ Edition #C-37 — the Special All-Villain Issue — came out and as great as it is, I remember being disappointed that the Riddler wasn’t in it. So I would carry that treasury, this issue and my Famous First Edition Batman #1 around together as if they were my little Bat-Bible.

For kicks, I pulled this out of the box Sunday and re-read it. The story — by Denny O’Neil, Ernie Chan and Dick Giordano, with its memorable Giordano cover — holds up well as a pleasant, mid-’70s Bat-adventure. There’s even a schtick where the Riddler is about to rob a guy but gives him a wad of cash instead because the would-be victim figures out the Prince of Puzzlers’ riddle. The Riddler also hands a kid a $100 bill when the boy stumps him on the street with a gag of his own. Neat idea! BONUS: This is one of the issues where the first Hostess ad popped up — the immortal “Batman and the Mummy” Twinkies strip. Good times, good times.

Scott adds: Ernie Chan’s artwork just screams 1970s to me. So good.

—

Captain America #185, Marvel. One of these days I’ll do 13 COVERS where the Red Skull appears as a giant head. There have to be at least 13, right?

—

Master of Kung Fu #28, Marvel. Everybody was still kung fu fighting.

—

Moorlock 2001 #2 and Planet of Vampires #2, Atlas/Seaboard. Martin Goodman’s revenge play was out of the gate and already stumbling. Each of these titles would only last one more issue and the company would be dissolved by the end of 1975.

—

World’s Finest Comics #230, DC. The Super-Sons! Plus, reprints of Silver Age Aquaman, Bronze Age Challengers of the Unknown, and a Bob Rozakis maze!

—

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

Justice League of America #118, DC. Great cover by Dick Giordano, with interiors by Dick Dillin, the workhorse of the JLA.

—

The Amazing Spider-Man #144, Marvel. The first appearance of Gwen Stacy’s clone!

—

DC Special #16, DC. Everybody knows, gorillas = sales.

—

MORE

— RETRO HOT PICKS! On Sale The Week of February 4 — in 1965! Click here.

— RETRO HOT PICKS! On Sale The Week of January 28 — in 1960! Click here.

—

Comics sources: Mike’s Amazing World of Comics and the Grand Comics Database.