Pep Comics #21
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freePep Comics #21 (November 1941) marks a quiet but consequential hinge point in comic-book history: it contains the final appearance of Madam Satan, MLJ's short-lived horror-seductress, whose six-issue run was cancelled specifically to clear a story slot for an incoming humor feature in issue #22 — that feature being the debut of Archie Andrews. The issue therefore stands as the last chapter of MLJ's pre-teen-humor identity, a Golden Age anthology still dominated by costumed crime-fighters, patriotic wartime covers, and horror-tinged villains, with no hint of the genre-shifting teen comedy that would follow one month later and ultimately rename the entire company. It also introduces Jim 'Jolly' Roger and the Sky Pirates, a WWII aviation feature that reflects how thoroughly anti-Axis themes had saturated MLJ's line by late 1941.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
Pep Comics was an anthology launched in January 1940 by MLJ Magazines Inc. — the predecessor to Archie Comics — under editor Abner Sundell, who remained at the helm through issue #23. By issue #21, the book had evolved from its debut roster of The Shield, The Comet, and assorted adventure strips into a wartime anthology headlined by The Shield (written by Harry Shorten, drawn by Irv Novick) and The Hangman, who had replaced The Comet after that character's landmark death in issue #17. Madam Satan, created by Sundell and artist Harry Lucey starting in issue #16, was a horror feature depicting a green-faced villainess with the kiss of death — an outlier in MLJ's superhero-heavy line — and her cancellation with issue #21 was a direct editorial decision to open space for publisher John L. Goldwater's planned teen-humor experiment.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Pep Comics #21 is cover-dated November 1941 and was published by MLJ Magazines Inc. (the company that would later rename itself Archie Comics Publications).
- The issue contains the final (last) appearance of Madam Satan, a horror-villainess character created by editor Abner Sundell and artist Harry Lucey, who had debuted in issue #16 (June 1941) and ran continuously through issue #21.
- Madam Satan's feature was cancelled specifically to make room for the Archie Andrews humor strip that debuted in issue #22 (December 1941), written by Vic Bloom and drawn by Bob Montana.
- Issue #21 introduces Jim 'Jolly' Roger and the Sky Pirates — a WWII aviation ensemble including characters Marty Martin, C.Y. Price, and Frank Root — in their first appearance, battling Nazi forces.
- The cover was painted by Irv Novick and features prominent World War II imagery including a swastika, consistent with the overtly anti-Axis cover approach Novick used across the Hangman-era issues (#17–42).
- Ongoing anthology features in the issue include The Shield (script: Harry Shorten, art: Irv Novick), The Hangman (script: Joe Blair), Danny in Wonderland, Sergeant Boyle, Fireball, Kayo Ward, and Bentley of Scotland Yard.
- The 68-page issue retailed at the standard Golden Age cover price of ten cents and was edited by Abner Sundell.
- Pep Comics #21 is the penultimate issue before one of the most consequential character debuts in American comics history, placing it at the direct editorial threshold between MLJ's superhero era and the Archie era that would define the publisher for the next eight decades.
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