Pep Comics #1
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freePep Comics #1 is the debut issue of MLJ Magazines' third anthology title and the birthplace of two historically pivotal superhero characters in the same package. The Shield — created by writer Harry Shorten and artist Irv Novick — was the first superhero to wear a costume explicitly based on the American flag, arriving roughly 15 months before Captain America would make that patriotic archetype famous at Marvel's predecessor. Alongside him, Jack Cole's Comet introduced one of the Golden Age's most audacious power sets and a genuinely dark sensibility — the character would go on to become the first superhero ever killed in the line of duty, in Pep Comics #17, a storytelling milestone whose ripple can be traced forward to decades of consequential character deaths. The issue also launched the anthology format that would eventually incubate Archie Andrews himself, making Pep Comics #1 the unlikely common ancestor of both the patriotic superhero genre and the teen-humor genre that defined American comics for generations.
In "The Coming of the Comet," John Dickering—transformed by a gas lighter than hydrogen—leaps into the skies with newfound power, his eyes now capable of disintegrating anything they lock onto. With glass as his only defense, he sets out to stop a typhoid racketeer, confronting his henchmen and even taking Dr. Archer into the sky to end the scheme. The story unfolds with a bold, early superhero premise, grounded in the raw stakes of justice and the cost of power.
In the 1940 mystery tale "null" from Pep Comics #1, Fu Chang uses his enchanted chessmen—each imbued with the power of Aladdin’s lamp—to unravel a perilous crisis. When his girlfriend Tay Ming is in danger from the Dragon, Fu Chang calls upon his divine protector, summoning the living chessmen to defend her and expose the threat.
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Pep Comics #1 was published by M.L.J. Magazines Inc. — the initials standing for founders Maurice Coyne, Louis Silberkleit, and John Goldwater — and went on sale November 16, 1939, carrying a January 1940 cover date. It was the company's third anthology title, following Blue Ribbon Comics (November 1939) and Top-Notch Comics (December 1939), and was initially edited by Abner Sundell. The lead strip, 'The Shield — G-Man Extraordinary,' was written by Harry Shorten, who also served as managing editor, and drawn by Irv Novick early in his career; the Comet story was written and drawn by Jack Cole, who would later become famous for creating Plastic Man at Quality Comics. The 64-page anthology format — packed with adventure, crime, sci-fi, war, boxing, and detective strips, all priced at ten cents — was standard for the Golden Age boom, and the issue's energetic roster reflected MLJ's ambition to compete directly with the superhero titles proliferating across the newsstands.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance and origin of The Shield (Joe Higgins), the first American patriotic superhero with a flag-based costume, created by writer Harry Shorten and artist Irv Novick — predating Captain America by approximately 15 months.
- First appearance and origin of The Comet (John Dickering), created by Jack Cole (later of Plastic Man fame): a scientist who injected himself with a super-light gas, gaining near-flight and deadly disintegration eye-beams that required a glass visor to control. The Comet would become the first superhero killed in the line of duty, shot by gangsters in Pep Comics #17 (July 1941).
- The cover — depicting a robot menace — was penciled and inked by Irv Novick, who also drew the Shield's interior story. The issue's art contributors include Jack Cole (Comet), Jack Binder and Mort Meskin (Press Guardian), and Lin Streeter (Queen of Diamonds / Fu Chang).
- First appearance of The Falcon, also billed as 'The Press Guardian' — whose secret identity as Perry Chase would not be revealed until issue #2. Notably, the Falcon wore a colorful winged costume in this issue only; beginning in #2 his visual was redesigned as a business suit, fedora, and face mask.
- First appearance of The Queen of Diamonds and The Rocket: this is the only issue in which the 'Queen of Diamonds' strip appeared under that exact title; from issue #2 onward the feature was retitled 'The Rocket and the Queen of Diamonds.'
- First appearance of Sergeant Hank Boyle, whose opening story establishes him as an American student in London whose ship is torpedoed by a German U-boat — a pre-U.S.-entry-into-WWII war strip attributed to artist George Biro.
- First appearance of Fu Chang (International Detective), Lee Samson (the Midshipman — whose name spelling fluctuated, settling on 'Sampson' from issue #3), Eddie 'Kayo' Ward (a boxing-strip protagonist), and Inspector Bentley of Scotland Yard — whose mysteries in early issues were told in a horror/puzzle format always concluding with a 'Bentley knows who…' reader-challenge panel.
- The issue has been reprinted in Gwandanaland Comics #2006, 'The Golden Age Firsts of MLJ Comics: Volume 1' (June 2018), making the stories accessible to modern readers in collected form.
Cast · 13 characters
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Reprints
Reprinted in Flashback #7 (1973), America's 1st Patriotic Comic Book Hero, The Shield #1 (2002), Supermen! The First Wave of Comic Book Heroes 1936-1941 #[nn] (2009), Take That, Adolf!: The Fighting Comic Books of the Second World War #[nn] (2017), Gwandanaland Comics #2006 (2018)
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