Pep #179

A delightful snapshot of Beatlemania filtered through the Archie universe, this 1965 issue of Pep captures three girls — one brunette in a plaid shirt, one blonde bent over a transistor radio, and one dark-haired girl in orange — huddled on the grass in breathless excitement over what the cover reveals to be the first Beatles program beamed via Telstar satellite. The lower panel drives the joke home with a gleeful image of Earth from space, the Telstar satellite streaking past with ribbon-banners carrying Beatles song titles. Harry Lucey's pencils and Mario Acquaviva's inks bring a wonderfully breezy energy to the whole scene, perfectly channeling the giddy pop-culture moment of the era.