Posted By Dan Greenfield on Mar 12, 2025 | 8 comments

Scott and Dan hit up the comics racks from 42 years ago…

This week for RETRO HOT PICKS, Scott Tipton and I are selecting comics that came out the week of March 12, 1983.

Last time for RETRO HOT PICKS, it was the week of March 5, 1966. 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 March 9 and March 15.)

So, let’s set the scene: At the height of the Cold War and for decades after, nobody was more hawkish toward the Russians than the Republican Party. Nevertheless, this week the nation was caught off guard when President Reagan, the embodiment of the GOP’s ideals, unleashed a speech calling the Soviet Union the “Evil Empire.”

Reagan on March 8 spoke in Florida to the National Association of Evangelicals, a welcoming audience eager to hear what the president had to say.

“Yes, let us pray for the salvation of all of those who live in that totalitarian darkness — pray they will discover the joy of knowing God,” Reagan said. “But until they do, let us be aware that while they preach the supremacy of the State, declare its omnipotence over individual man, and predict its eventual domination of all peoples on the Earth, they are the focus of evil in the modern world. …

“So, in your discussions of the nuclear freeze proposals, I urge you to beware the temptation of pride — the temptation of blithely declaring yourselves above it all and label both sides equally at fault, to ignore the facts of history and the aggressive impulses of an evil empire, to simply call the arms race a giant misunderstanding and thereby remove yourself from the struggle between right and wrong and good and evil.”

It was an extraordinary statement, even for Reagan, and his supporters in the Republican Party (and elsewhere) looked upon it as a rallying cry to never surrender American ideals to Russian despots. Critics, on the other hand, believed the president’s rhetoric was inflammatory and unnecessarily aggressive. The USSR’s state-run news agency TASS called it “lunatic anti-communism.”

Regardless, it was a landmark moment in U.S.-Russian relations and a signpost on the road to the collapse of the Soviet Union.

If you don’t follow Helmet Addict on Facebook, you should.

Meanwhile, there was… spring football!

The United States Football League had just opened its first season, with 12 teams in cities across the nation, three of which were not represented in the NFL at the time. On March 13, the league featured its first overtime game, with the Birmingham Stallions beating the Oakland Invaders, 20-14.

Tootsie, starring Dustin Hoffman, wrapped up a run of 13 straight weeks atop the box office, going back to December. (It would return to No. 1 for a week in April.) Other films in theaters included Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro’s The King of Comedy; Tender Mercies, with Robert Duvall in one of his signature roles; and the wonderful Local Hero, starring Peter Riegert and Burt Lancaster. It’s a marvelous movie about finding your soul when you least expect it, in a place you’d never predict. Highest recommendation.

Nielsen leaders included Dallas (No. 1); 60 Minutes (No. 2); Dynasty (No. 3); Falcon Crest (No. 4); Magnum, P.I. (No. 5); and, The Jeffersons (No. 6).

None of that could hold a candle to our best friends to the north, however. In the sovereign nation of Canada, SCTV on March 18 ran one of its greatest bits ever — Mel’s Rock Pile, featuring The Queen Haters, a spectacularly side-splitting tour de force by Martin Short, Eugene Levy, Joe Flaherty, Andrea Martin and John Candy:

Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean, off the epochal No. 1 album Thriller, led the singles chart. Other his included the MTV-friendly Stray Cat Strut by Stray Cats (No. 3); Culture Club’s Do You Really Want to Hurt Me (No. 4); and Duran Duran’s Hungry Like the Wolf (No. 5).

Frontiers by Journey was the No. 2 LP, with H2O by Daryl Hall and John Oates at No. 3, and Business As Usual by Men at Work at No. 4. Duran Duran’s Rio was at No. 6.

I hate the bloody queen, she made me go to school…

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Dan Greenfield, editor, 13th Dimension

Batman #360, DC. The beginning of the end of the Bronze Age Caped Crusader. Writer Doug Moench took over Batman and Detective Comics from Gerry Conway with this issue, inheriting Robin-in-waiting Jason Todd.

Moench would oversee Jason’s transition to the new Boy Wonder over the next seven months or so, an exciting time for Bat-fans, and be the chief-Batchronicler through Crisis on Infinite Earths. It was an uneven run, but notable for being the period where Jason was a plain ol’ good kid.

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The New Teen Titans #32, DC. Good one-off by Wolfman and Perez, introducing Thunder and Lightning.

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Alien Worlds #2, Pacific. Dave Stevens makes a non-Rocketeer stop, with Aurora, co-written with Bruce Jones.

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Master of Kung Fu #125, Marvel. Shang-Chi would live on, of course, but this was the final issue of his storied solo title.

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Black Hood #1 and Lancelot Strong, The Shield #1, Red Circle/Archie. Archie was just starting another reboot of the MLJ heroes. Sadly, it didn’t last. That cover on the left is by Alex Toth (with the inset by Gray Morrow), and designed by Rich Buckler.

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The Flash #322, DC. Barry Allen on the road to his murder trial… and (temporary) oblivion.

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Coyote #1, Epic/Marvel. The cult-fave Coyote moves from Eclipse magazine to Marvel’s Epic Comics line. Coyote was co-created by Steve Englehart and Marshall Rogers, but Rogers was out of the picture by this point, replaced (for the first two issues, anyway) by Steve Leialoha.

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

Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #79, Marvel. Writer Bill Mantlo did more in this run than any previous writer to make Doctor Octopus feel like a top-level threat.

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Iron Man #171, Marvel. This was the issue where I fully accepted Rhodey as Iron Man.

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Omega Men #3, DC. First appearance of Lobo! Who knew?

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What If? #39, Marvel. I’m always a sucker for when Conan crosses over into the modern Marvel Universe.

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MORE

— RETRO HOT PICKS! On Sale The Week of March 5 — in 1966! Click here.

— RETRO HOT PICKS! On Sale The Week of Feb. 26 — in 1972! Click here.

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