RETRO HOT PICKS! On Sale This Week — in 1964!

Posted By Dan Greenfield on Apr 16, 2025 |

Scott and Dan hit up the comics racks from 61 years ago…

This week for RETRO HOT PICKS, Scott Tipton and I are selecting comics that came out the week of April 16, 1964.

Last time for RETRO HOT PICKS, it was the week of April 9, 1967. 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 April 13 and April 19.)

So, let’s set the scene: BEATLEMANIA! John, Paul, George and Ringo’s appearance on Ed Sullivan in February was the beachhead. Over the next two months, the four lads from Liverpool conquered America in extraordinary fashion.

This week alone, the Beatles had 13 — 13! — hits on the Billboard singles chart, including Can’t Buy Me Love at No. 1 and Twist and Shout at No. 2. The rest? Do You Want to Know a Secret, No. 5; She Loves You, No. 8; Please Please Me, No. 16; I Want to Hold Your Hand, No. 19; I Saw Her Standing There, No. 45; All My Loving, No. 48; Thank You Girl, No. 49; You Can’t Do That, No. 55; Love Me Do, No. 73; and Why, with Tony Sheridan, No. 88. (There was also the novelty song, We Love You Beatles, by the Carefrees, at No. 43.)

The Fab Four also had the two LPs on the albums chart, with the first Capitol release Meet the Beatles at No. 1, and the oft-forgotten Vee-Jay release Introducing… the Beatles at No. 2. There were also The Beatles With Tony Sheridan and Their Guests, at No. 68, and Jolly What! England’s Greatest Recording Stars: The Beatles & Frank Ifield on Stage, at No. 104. (Without going down a rabbit hole, there were also sorts of contractual issues with the band early on, so the latter three are basically footnotes, though Introducing… was actually released 10 days before Capitol — the American subsidiary of the band’s British label, EMI — could get off the dime in January.)

Now, get this: The band had 14 hits on the singles chart the week before, and held the top five slots on the list the week before that. But it’s not like things were slowing down. Hardly.

Capitol had already put out another LP in America, The Beatles’ Second Album, on April 10, and the band was in the UK filming their first movie and putting together a tie-in album — their first with all-original material. On April 16, they recorded the title track to both. Two days later, the group would begin rehearsals for a one-hour British TV special, which would be filmed in late April and televised in May.

The times, they were a-changin’. No, really, they were. Bob Dylan, the voice of a generation, was never the commercial success the Beatles were, but his third studio album — The Times They Are a-Changin‘ — hit its No. 20 peak this week.

Oh, and a club band from London on April 16 released their debut album in the United Kingdom. They — and it — were called The Rolling Stones.

On April 13, Malcolm X departed on the Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca. He would travel the Middle East and Africa before returning to New York in November. Malcolm had just given one of the most important addresses of the 20th century — “The Ballot or the Bullet.” It was a presidential election year — President Lyndon Johnson would be challenged by Republican Arizona Sen. Barry Goldwater — and Malcolm, who’d recently split from the Nation of Islam, urged Blacks to be judicious with their votes while also suggesting that if full equality could not be attained, it might be necessary to take up arms.

“Don’t be throwing out any ballots,” he said in the Cleveland version of his speech, earlier in April. “A ballot is like a bullet. You don’t throw your ballots until you see a target, and if that target is not within your reach, keep your ballot in your pocket. …

“In areas where the government has proven itself either unwilling or unable to defend the lives and the property of Negroes, it’s time for Negroes to defend themselves. This doesn’t mean you’re going to get a rifle and form battalions and go looking for white folks, although you’d be within your rights. … If the white man doesn’t want the Black man buying rifles and shotguns, then let the government do its job. That’s all. … In 1964, it’s the ballot or the bullet.”

In Detroit, on April 12, Malcolm said: “We intend to expand (the struggle for freedom) from the level of civil rights to the level of human rights.”

Medgar Evers

It was an uphill battle. On April 17, Klansman Byron De La Beckwith Jr. was freed on $10,000 bond after his second trial for the 1963 murder of Medgar Evers ended with another hung jury — all male, all white — in Jackson, Mississippi. (Thirty years later, based on new evidence, he was tried again, convicted and sentenced to life in prison, where he ultimately died.)

IN OTHER NEWS

— On April 17, the Ford Mustang first went on sale, with an MSRP of $2,368 (worth $24,428.52 in 2025). The seminal muscle car had purchases (and purchase requests) of more than 22,000 vehicles on the first day alone. (Three days earlier, a dealership in Newfoundland, Canada, sold the first one, thanks to an overzealous salesman who jumped the gun.)

— On April 13, astronauts Virgil “Gus” Grissom and John Young were announced as the crew for the first manned Gemini flight, which would put two America men in space for the first time.

— The nation had been mourning five-star Gen. Douglas MacArthur, who’d died April 4 at the age of 84.

— On April 13, Michelangelo’s Pieta, arrived in the U.S. from the Vatican, to be displayed at the World’s Fair in Queens, New York, which would open the following week.

The ballpark was dedicated April 16.

— On April 17, Shea Stadium opened in Flushing, just across the way from the Fair. The New York Mets lost 4-3 to the Pittsburgh Pirates before 48,736 fans. At the same time, the Polo Grounds, the Mets’ home for their first two seasons and once the prime sports stadium in New York, was being demolished in Upper Manhattan.

The TV season was coming to a close, and The Beverly Hillbillies, as was often the case, was the most popular show of the latest two-week survey. Other hits of the season included Bonanza, My Favorite Martian, The Ed Sullivan Show, Candid Camera, The Lucy Show, The Andy Griffith Show, The Danny Thomas Show, The Dick Van Dyke Show, Petticoat Junction, and Gunsmoke.

On April 13 was the 36th Academy Awards. Sidney Poitier became the first Black man to win Best Actor, for Lilies of the Field. Patricia Neal won Best Actress for Hud, and Tom Jones won Best Picture.

Tom Jones, in fact, was the No. 1 film at the box office, while other hits included It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and The Incredible Mr. Limpet. Elvis Presley’s Kissin’ Cousins — co-starring Yvonne Craig — was in theaters. It’s not regarded as one of the King’s better efforts.

Annnnnd… Bond was back! Sean Connery’s second outing as 007, From Russia With Love, opened in the U.S. on April 8 — six months after its smash debut in England. The movie introduced many Bond firsts, such as the pre-credits sequence, the shadowy presence of Blofeld and the beloved gadgets.

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Dan Greenfield, editor, 13th Dimension

Batman #164, DC. One of the most important issues in Batman history, which is to say, comics history. The Caped Crusader’s “New Look” had premiered in March’s Detective Comics #237, but this issue — the next to be published — was written first, by Ed Herron, so it takes the time to delineate all the changes made to modernize the character, who’d become stodgy, dated and rather silly.

Rather than the lengthy staircase, an elevator was now used by the Dynamic Duo to take them from Wayne Manor to the Batcave; the Batmobile was redesigned as a sleek roadster; the Batcave entrance was changed from a barn to a hidden hillside door; and the not-yet-red hotline between Batman and Commissioner Gordon was established.

Dominating all that, though, was the Carmine Infantino-redesigned Batman and Robin and their world. The issue was illustrated by Sheldon Moldoff and Joe Giella, and their cover played up the “New Look” much more than the one for Detective #327 did. An essential issue, all the way around. (Check out Peter Bosch’s terrific 60th anniversary piece on it.)

Scott adds: Guest-starring the Hootenanny Hotshots! (Dick Grayson was shown to be into folk music.)

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Fantastic Four #28, Marvel. This is one of those weeks where no Marvels were released, so we’re picking a couple that had just come out, like this one, from April 9, which cannot be ignored — the Fantastic Four’s first meeting with the X-Men! (Scott’s got a much bigger first below.)

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Konga #18, Charlton. Konga battles flying saucers! Cover inked by Dick Giordano (who may also have pencilled it).

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The Adventures of Bob Hope #87, DC. His comic lasted 109 issues. What a time!

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Bonanza #8, Gold Key. The Golden Age of TV adaptations.

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Young Romance #130, DC. I dunno. I get the sense that Bonnie’s sweeter on her blonde friend there. And vice versa.

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

The Doom Patrol #88, DC Comics. I hope he’s gonna poke some holes in the lid of that mayonnaise jar.

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The Flash #145, DC Comics. Loving Weather Wizard’s Seinfeldian puffy shirt, courtesy of penciller Carmine Infantino.

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The Amazing Spider-Man #14, Marvel. First appearance of the Green Goblin! For my money the best of Steve Ditko’s Spidey foes.

Dan adds: I don’t even think it’s close, Scott! I agree wholeheartedly. And consider how many villains were introduced in the first 13 issues before they even got to Gobby: the Vulture, the Tinkerer, Dr. Octopus, the Sandman, the Lizard, Electro, the Enforcers and Mysterio. That’s… amazing! (Another from April 9.)

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MORE

— RETRO HOT PICKS! On Sale The Week of April 9 — in 1967! Click here.

— RETRO HOT PICKS! On Sale The Week of April 2 — in 1988! Click here.

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