Archie Comics #19

Proudly boasting a print run of over 1,256,000 copies, Archie #19 from 1946 captures "America's Typical Teen-Ager" at his most charmingly self-deceiving. Al Fagaly's cover shows Archie seated at a diner table with Jughead, surrounded by no fewer than four waitresses in matching uniforms — and Archie's speech bubble makes his true motivation hilariously clear: "The only reason I eat here is because they have such good food, Jug!" At a dime a copy, this slice of postwar teen humor delivers the breezy wit that made the Archie line a staple of mid-century American comics.