Pep #272

Archie kneels before Veronica with lovestruck devotion, pleading "Ronnie, my dearest! How can I ever leave you?" — while an exasperated older gentleman hiding behind the curtain has a very different answer: "On the next bus!!" The cover's split composition, rendered by Dan DeCarlo and Jon D'Agostino, frames the whole gang across the top, with Betty, Jughead, Reggie, and the rest looking on as this comedy of romance plays out below. Pep #272 is a fine slice of Riverdale charm from 1972, offering the kind of warm, witty humor that made Archie comics a staple of the era.