Twiggy

Dubbed "The Face of 1966" by London's DAILY MIRROR, it was hard not to see her big-eyed, waifish look everywhere that year. TV, newspapers, print ads, commercials. 

Batstuff # 23

The Mamas and the Papas Debut

 Another group introduced for the first time in '66 was The Mamas and the Papas. Made up of members from various folk music groups (as famously chronicled in their autobiographical song, CREEQUE ALLEY), the public immediately took to John, Denny, Michelle and perhaps especially Cass, a woman whose singing voice was one of the best of the sixties. They would go on to be a major force behind the Monterey Pop Festival. Here's that debut album, controversial in that it depicted a toilet so that was covered up. Still not happy, the black-bordered version below was issued later by the record company!

Gemini 9

The Space program was big in '66. Here's ABD Science Editor Jules Bergman and the launch of Gemini 9.

Freak Out! The Mothers of Invention

 

 '66 was the year most folks met, discovered, saw and/or ran from Frank Zappa!

MLK and LBJ-1966

Blue Beetle

Seen above is the Feb/March '66 issue of Charlton's BLUE BEETLE, a title and character that had bounced around from one publisher to another for more than 25 years. Drawn by the much-maligned art team of Bill Fraccio and Tony Tallarico, it is often cited as one of the worst comic books of its day if not of all time.

That issue turned out to be the final issue...until Steve Ditko, recently estranged from Marvel, returned to Charlton and before the end of 1966 had completely redesigned the character in his own inimitable style, as seen here for his debut as a back-up strip in CAPTAIN ATOM. Soon enough, he would get his own title again and it would be Ditko's version on which Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons based WATCHMEN'S Night Owl.