Pep Comics is an American comic book anthology series published by the Archie Comics predecessor MLJ Magazines Inc. (commonly known as MLJ Comics) during the 1930s and 1940s period known as the Golden Age of Comic Books. The title continued under the Archie Comics imprint for a total of 411 issues until March 1987.
Pep Comics introduced the superhero character The Shield, the first of the super-patriotic heroes with a costume based on a national flag (predating Captain America by over a year), as well as The Comet. The comic also introduced Archie Andrews, who eventually became the main focus of the company's extensive range of publications.
Publication history
Pep Comics (MLJ) (1940–1945) Pep Comics was the third anthology comic published by MLJ Magazines Inc., the precursor to what would become the publisher Archie Comics. The series was edited by Abner Sundell until issues #22–23, after which Harry Shorten took the reins until issue #65 (Jan. 1948).Shorten was publisher of Tower Comics in the 1960s and also a comics writer, credited with creating MLJ/Archie characters The Hood and The Shield The first issue was launched in January 1940, following Blue Ribbon Comics (Nov. 1939) and Top-Notch Comics (Dec. 1939).
The format of Pep Comics was very similar to the previous titles; 64 pages of short strips, initially featuring a mixture of science-fiction stories such as "The Queen of Diamonds" (#1–12) by Lin Streeter (renamed "The Rocket and the Queen of Diamonds" in #2 (Feb. 1940)), about a John Carter of Mars-like hero trapped on another planet; the crime fighting story "The Press Guardian" (#1–11) by Jack Binder and Mort Meskin and later Abner Sundell and Meskin (retitled "Perry Chase, The Press Guardian" from #7);Perry Chase dressed up in a bird costume as 'The Falcon' in issue #1, but in further tales wears a red mask and hat with his normal suit; 'The Falcon' does not appear again and three adventure tales, "Sergeant Boyle" by George Biro, about a soldier fighting with the British in Europe, as the United States was not yet involved in World War II,echoing the theme of characters in other MLJ titles: "Loop Logan, Air Ace" in Blue Ribbon Comics and "Wings Johnson of Air Patrol" in Top-Notch Comics "The Midshipman", (#1–16) "Lee Sampson, Midshipman" from #6 (July 1940), following Lee Sampson through Navy College to his Graduation,a similar tale to "Keith Cornell, West Pointer" in MLJs Top-Notch Comics (#7–27) which followed Keith Cornell through United States Military Academy before heading into various theaters of war and an adventure based on boxing, "Kayo Ward" (#1–28) by Phil Sturm. The last was similar to "The St Louis Kid" in Top-Notch Comics, both characters progressing through the boxing championships hierarchy throughout their series. Two short humor strips also featured in the first issue, "Jocko" and "Animal Antics", both by Dick Ryan, while "Buttonhead" by Quincy appeared in #2–5.
Pep Comics also starred superheroes and costumed characters, led by cover star and lead feature "The Shield – G-Man Extraordinary" by Harry Shorten and Irv Novick, a character who would remain in the title throughout the MLJ imprint and beyond. The Shield was mainly notable for being the first of the patriotic superheroes, who wore costumes based on the U.S. flag, 15 months before Captain America was introduced in Captain America #1 (March 1941).Actually issued in December 1940Their origins were extremely similar: both involved 'super formulae' for strength and prowess, and Nazis. "The Comet" by Jack Cole ran for the first 17 issues alongside The Shield. The Shield and later The Hangman and Black Hood also featured in single page text stories during the MLJ years of the title; all comic books did this through the early 1960s to satisfy United States Postal Service requirements for magazine rates. The Shield also headed the Pep Comics readers club from #15 (May 1941), when the 'Shield G-Man Club' was introduced to the inside front cover of every issue, until The Shield finished in #65 (Jan. 1948). Although later to advertise other MLJ titles, during the war years each "bulletin" was largely filled with patriotic messages, details of local fan-clubs and new members information, all written as if a personal message from The Shield and his sidekick Dusty.In October 1941 the Shield G-Man Club claimed to have 20,000 members, many of them girls: nearly 50% of readers quoted were female.
One unusual character who featured in early issues was "Fu Chang, International Detective", whose weird detective adventure stories were published in issues #1–11. Written by Joe Blair, with art by Jim Streeter, Fu Chang is a "Chinese scholar and detective, heir to the magic secrets of Aladdin who uses them only to bring peace and good-will to the people of his Chinatown.""Fu Chang, Chinese Detective" splash page in Pep Comics #1 (Jan. 1940) in stories liberally sprinkled with cod-Oriental talk, evil dragon criminals, and an aura of mysticism.
Another featured character was "Bentley of Scotland Yard", a mystery detective story originally by artist Sam Cooper and later Paul Reinman. Each story was in a horror/fantasy vein, with Bentley up against creatures such as a werewolf in #1, a monster in a lake in #2, and hunchbacks, devils and vampires through the first 41 issues of Pep Comics. These would always turn out to be hoaxes, usually perpetrated to cover up a murder, or for money or other gain. Each story ended with the same theme: a 'Bentley knows who ...' panel at the end of the penultimate page which listed the suspects and invited the reader to guess who committed the crime, followed by the revealing of the killer and the modus operandi on the final page.
With issue #11 (Jan. 1941), "Fu Chang, International Detective", "Perry Chase, The Press Guardian" and "The Rocket and the Queen of Diamonds" ended. To replace them, issue #12 (Feb. 1941) introduced two new characters. "Danny in Wonderland", a surreal fairy-tale adventure by Harry Shorten and Lin Streeter with stories loosely based on fairy tales such as "Cinderella", "Pinocchio", and The "Little Mermaid" (#12–39), while Ted Tyler, "The Fireball" (#12–20), 'sworn enemy of all who use fire for evil purposes' Pep Comics #13 (March 1941) was a fireman who gained flame powers from a mixture of chemicals while fighting an arson attack. "Lucky Larson", a test pilot, filled the third place (#13–15). Further major changes came with the next two issues. "Lee Sampson, Midshipman" ended in #16 (June 1941);thanking the readers in the final panel for following his adventures through Graduation and inviting them to write if they wanted to see his war adventures; they were never written and Madam Satan was introduced in the same issue. Madam Satan, a dead villainess with a green face and the kiss of death, "the scourge of man, ready to go forth and leave a trail of misery and suffering in her wake" actually first appeared on the cover of the previous issue #15 (May 1941). She was written by Abner Sundell and initially drawn by Harry Lucey, although Joe Blair wrote her later adventures.
Next a superhero died for the first time in comics history, issue #17 (July 1941). "The Comet" series ended with him being shot by gangsters while rescuing his brother in the first tale of "The Hangman" by Cliff Campbell. Hangman took The Comet's place in Pep Comics from that issue, and also featured on every cover from #17 to #42.Battling Axis enemies with The Shield and Dusty on every cover except #28, which he appeared on by himself, fighting Captain Nazi over the United States. He was finally ousted from the cover by Archie in issue #43 (October 1943). Issue #17 also saw "Kayo Ward" become a hobo after being terribly disfigured by a fire in the church where his wedding ceremony was taking place.
Madam Satan ended in issue #21 (Nov. 1941), her place taken in #22 (Dec. 1941) by the first appearance of one of the biggest-sellingSales figures are not available for early years of Pep Comics, but they were quoted in the statements of circulation at between 269,504 and 292,572 in the 1960s, their highest point in available figures. Earlier sales would have been at least at those levels – The Comics Chronicles and Thompson, Maggie, Brent Frankenhoff and Peter Bickford, eds. Comic Buyer's Guide Standard Catalog of Comic Books (Krause Publications, 2008) comics characters of the 20th century, Archie Andrews, and what would become the core of his group of friends: Jughead and Betty Cooper. Betty's family was depicted as having just moved into the neighborhood. This first story was written by Vic Bloom and drawn by Bob Montana. When introduced, Archie was featured in a six-page strip which was not even mentioned on the cover. Over the next few years, humor strips would slowly ease the costumed heroes and adventure tales out of Pep Comics, and Archie himself would become Pep Comics'''s and the Archie Comics imprint's most popular character;Nadel, Dan "Art Out of Time: Unknown Comics Visionaries 1900–1969 (Harry N. Abrams, Inc. 2006)
Issue #26 (April 1942) had a 'Remember Pearl Harbor' cover, with The Shield, Dusty and The Hangman ringing the Liberty Bell while a Japanese and a German soldier were tied up in the bell-rope. The patriotism of The Shield G-Man Club was added to by the introduction of The Young Soldiers of America Club in #30 (Aug. 1942),erroneously referred to as 'The Boy Soldiers of America' at the end of the first "Captain Commando and the Boy Soldiers" story, in that issue to which membership was gained by buying war savings stamps and sending in a pledge form printed in Pep Comics. Each month, Pep Comics printed lists of readers who had done so. Continuing the war emphasis, "Captain Commando and the Boy Soldiers" also began in #30, following a teaser advertisement in #29 (July 1942).' Guarding the front-line – Americas's Doughboys, and guarding the home-front 'America's Boy Soldiers' . The last part of the advert states Pep defies any other magazine to imitate them, ironic since Joe Simon and Jack Kirby's similar Newsboy Legion had debuted in Star Spangled Comics #7 (April 1942)—four months earlier—and Simon and Kirby had created Captain America, with a similar origin to that of the earlier debuting The Shield character On a lighter note, issue #31 (Sept. 1942) had "Sergeant Boyle" visiting the MLJ offices after he had failed to send them details of his latest exploits for them to publish, while #34 (Nov. 1942) contained a one-page text piece, 'Meet the Editor', about Harry Shorten. Artist Gil Kane's first work was on the "Bentley of Scotland Yard" story 'The Case of the Laughing Corpse' in Pep Comics #38 (April 1943)"Interview with Gil Kane part I" in "The Comics Journal" #186 (April 1996)