Corporal Collins

Debuting in Pep Comics #2 back in 1940, Corporal Collins is a genuine Golden Age gem — one of the earliest characters to emerge from what would become Archie's storied publishing legacy, brought to life by the creative team of Abner Sundell and Mort Meskin. Sharing the pages of Pep Comics and Blue Ribbon Comics with patriotic heavyweights like The Shield and Joe Higgins, Collins kept remarkable company during comics' heroic wartime era. With two key-issue appearances among their catalog entries and a publishing footprint that stretches — across reprints and collections — all the way to 2018, this is a character whose modest appearance count belies real historical staying power. For collectors hunting the roots of Archie's Golden Age universe, Corporal Collins is exactly the kind of discovery that makes digging through back issues so rewarding.