Posted By Dan Greenfield on Aug 26, 2026 | 6 comments

Scott and Dan hit up the comics racks from 45 years ago…

This week for RETRO HOT PICKS, Scott and I are selecting comics that came out the week of Aug. 26, 1981.

Last time for RETRO HOT PICKS, it was the week of Aug. 19, 1972. Click here to check it out.

(Keep in mind that comics came out on multiple days, so these are the issues that went on sale between Aug. 23 and Aug. 29.)

So, let’s set the scene: Closing a chapter on one of the most devastating murders of the 20th century — but hardly blunting its impact — John Lennon’s killer, Mark David Chapman, in a packed Manhattan courtroom was sentenced on Aug. 24 to 20 years to life in prison, having pleaded guilty in June to the former Beatle’s slaying the previous December.

Given a chance to address the court before the sentence was handed down, Chapman, ever self-absorbed, chose instead to read a passage from J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye — a copy of which the shooter was carrying when he gunned down Lennon in front of his wife, Yoko Ono, outside the Upper West Side’s Dakota apartment building.

Chapman

In addition to the sentence, the judge recommended that Chapman receive psychiatric treatment while confined, as if that weren’t already obvious. Chapman actually could have gotten 25 to life but the judge ruled that 20 was more appropriate given the killer’s plea.

The courtroom seated only 120, but every space was filled, split between reportrers and spectators, many of whom wore Lennon memorabilia.

Yoko declined to attend. Chapman was imprisoned in Attica. He has asked for parole 14 times and has always been denied.

Hinckley

In a bizarre coincidence of timing, a federal grand jury in Washington indicted John Hinckley Jr. for attempting to assassinate President Reagan in March, plus wounding police officer Thomas Delahanty, Secret Service agent Tim McCarthy, and, most famously, White House Press Secretary James Brady.

Hinckley had been inspired by Robert DeNiro’s Travis Bickle in the 1976 film Taxi Driver and was obsessed with actress Jodie Foster, who played a child prostitute in the Martin Scorsese film. Bickle, in turn, was partly inspired by would-be assassin Arthur Bremer, who tried to kill presidential candidate George Wallace in 1972.

On Aug. 28, Hinckley pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to the 13-count indictment, three months after he’d tried to kill himself while incarcerated. (While his plea was hotly debated and enraged millions, Hinckley would later be acquitted on the grounds of insanity and be committed to psychiatric care. He was freed for good in 2022.)

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IN OTHER NEWS

Taken from 13 million miles

— But there was wonder to offset the horror. On August 25, the Voyager 2 satellite made its closest approach to Saturn — 41,000 kilometers from the planet.

— On Aug. 27, divers recovered a safe from the SS Andrea Doria, the cruise ship that had sunk in the Atlantic in 1956. The contents of the safe were a mystery, but gave rise to theories that it was filled with untold riches.

— Tensions between the United States and Libya were deepening substantially. The previous week, fighter jets engaged in a dogfight over the Gulf of Sidra, the first such American air battle since 1973. Word of the assault came in while President Reagan was asleep. Aides chose not to wake him, and he wasn’t informed for six hours.

— Americans were able to purchase something called a personal computer, which was introduced mid-month by IBM, with Microsoft MS-DOS software. It wasn’t the first desktop computer, but was the first designed with the average person in mind. Base price? $1,565 (worth roughly $5,750 in 2026). About 35,000 were sold in the first four months.

The No. 1 movie in America was Raiders of the Lost Ark, which captured the fancy of kids, their parents, and their grandparents.

Though it was a sensational blockbuster, it did have competition that summer from the even better Superman II; a reissue of The Empire Strikes Back, and, for a week, the critically excoriated Tarzan, the Ape Man, a vehicle for Bo Derek and her breasts, directed by her husband John Derek, which creeped everyone out.

Other hits included the hilarious Stripes; For Your Eyes Only, a favorite among a segment of James Bond fans; Escape From New York; Arthur; The Cannonball Run; Time Bandits; cult favorites Condorman and Heavy Metal; and the controversial Endless Love.

New in theaters was Body Heat, which made Kathleen Turner a star; and the ever-charming An American Werewolf in London.

The new network TV season was still weeks away, so it was reruns, reruns, reruns. The most popular shows included Dallas; The Dukes of Hazzard; 60 Minutes; MASH; and The Love Boat.

Baseball games were back on TV. Playing had resumed Aug. 9, after a nearly two-month players’ strike. The Yankees, A’s, Phillies, and Dodgers had already secured playoff spots because the majors decided to split the season into two — pre-strike and post-strike. The four teams were leading their divisions when the players walked out.

On cable, though, the world was shifting on its axis: Earlier in the month — Aug. 1, to be precise — MTV debuted. I don’t remember exactly when we got it in our house, but once we did, I was addicted just like everyone else my age. (I was 14 that August.)

They didn’t even have enough videos to fill 24 hours, frequently relying on interstitials that featured shredding guitar solos against footage of lava flows and, if memory serves me right, time-lapse footage of plants growing and whatnot.

The singles chart leader was Endless Love, by Diana Ross and Lionel Richie, which was far, far, far more successful than the movie it came from. The Pointer Sisters’ Slow Hand was the follow-up, with Joey Scarbury’s Theme From ‘The Greatest American Hero’ (aka Believe It or Not) in third.

But rapidly flying up the charts was the Rolling Stones’ latest smash: Start Me Up, which would quickly become one of the band’s signature songs and a concert staple for decades, frequently used to kick off shows. The single, with the ballad No Use in Crying on the flip side, was off their new album, Tattoo You — released this very week (Aug. 24, to be precise).

Tattoo You looms large in the Stones’ canon. A future No. 1, it is their last truly great album, and the last to reach the top. Filled with reworked older material, some of it dating all the way back to the 1972 Goats Head Soup sessions, the LP has a split personality, with Side 1 filled with rockers and Side 2 stocked with ballads and mournful tunes.

Mick and Keith weren’t getting along but the band needed an album to promote for its next tour, which would launch in September, so they cobbled it together, with the result greater than the sum of its parts. It’s remarkable how the album — which also features stellar tracks like Neighbours, Little T&A, Worried About You, and Waiting on a Friend — hangs together with a consistent sound and production values. Marvelous.

As if it matters in comparison, other top-selling albums included Hi Infidelity, by REO Speedwagon; Mistaken Identity by Kim Carnes; Precious Time by Pat Benatar; Escape by Journey; Long Distance Voyager by the Moody Blues; Bella Donna by Stevie Nicks, and, unfortunately, 4, by Foreigner. Pretenders II was also making its presence known.

The pool’s in, but the patio ain’t dry…

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

Star Trek #17, Marvel. Marvel’s short-lived Trek series following up The Motion Picture wasn’t quite as unhinged as the Gold Key comics of the 1970s, but it had its odder moments.

Dan adds: Marvel was really hyping Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, starting Sept. 12.

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Dazzler #10, Marvel. Yes, Dazzler fought Galactus.

Dan adds: She was even his herald!

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Marvel Two-in-One #82, Marvel. I still miss Bill Foster.

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Spider-Woman #41, Marvel. Nobody drew Spider-Woman like Steve Leialoha.

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Dan Greenfield, editor, 13th Dimension

Daredevil #177, Marvel. This was somewhere around the time I started hearing the older teens at the flea market where I got my comics go on and on about this Frank Miller guy, and Daredevil, and blah, blah, blah, etc. Not this specific issue, mind you. Just that these guys were into it. That dragon thing is a metaphor, by the way.

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Archie’s Girls Betty and Veronica #311, Archie. Betty, totally forget Archie for this guy. He knows how treat a girl.

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Ghostly Tales #152, Charlton. The guy trying to do a Ditko cover was Wes Crum. He went on to draw pornographic comics. As far as I can tell, this was his only mainstream credit. Anyway, Charlton was running on fumes; except for the cover, this is all reprints.

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