Archie's Joke Book Magazine #44

A two-panel cover gag sets the playful tone perfectly for this January 1960 issue: a smooth-talking fellow in a blue turtleneck holds up two sticks and lectures a skeptical young scout about starting a fire — then delivers the punchline that one of them had better be "a match," nodding toward the pair of girls strolling past with little hearts floating in the air. Harry Lucey's clean, expressive pencils give the joke wonderful comic timing, with the scout's exasperated reaction landing just right. At a dime a copy, Archie's Joke Book Magazine #44 promises a full serving of that breezy, good-natured Riverdale humor that made the Archie Series a staple of 1960 newsstands.