Pep Comics#24

Cover: Irv Novick

Pep Comics #24

Feb 1942 · Archie · 0.10 USD

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★ 1st appearance — Coach Kleats

About this Issue

Pep Comics #24 is the third sequential chapter of Archie Andrews' print life — published just two months after his debut in #22 — and represents one of the earliest opportunities readers had to watch the Riverdale formula crystallize in real time. At this stage, the teen humor strip was still a back-of-the-book experiment embedded inside a superhero anthology, with The Shield and The Hangman dominating the cover; the fact that the Archie feature kept returning, issue after issue, in a title otherwise consumed by wartime adventure heroes signals the editorial confidence that would soon reshape the entire company. The issue also introduces The Walrus as a new Hangman villain, demonstrating that MLJ's superhero line was still actively world-building even as the ground beneath it was quietly shifting toward comedy. Taken together, #24 is a living snapshot of Golden Age comics in transition: a publisher simultaneously committed to its costumed-hero past and quietly incubating the teenage franchise that would eventually rename the company itself.

Contains 8 stories

The Suicide Club

13 pp · Superhero

Edward Grigas (villain, introduction)Vincent Reagan (villain, introduction)The Suicide Club [John WayneTom Hendricks (death)Jim Phillips (death)others] (introduction)Shield [Joe Higgins]MikeDusty

The Walrus

11 pp · Superhero

The Walrus (villain, introduction)Roxy Callahan (villain, introduction, death)Ace Ruffo (villain, introduction, death)Hangman [Bob Dickering]ThelmaMaharajah of Pindore

The Boogy-Woogy War

7 pp · Fantasy

The Boogys (gnomes, introductions)the Woogys (gnomes, introductions)Kupkake [Kuppie]DannySnapper (dog)

Somewhere in the Sahara

8 pp · War

The Nazis (villains)Sgt. BoyleCapt. Twerp

Retribution for a Nurse

6 pp · Aviation, War

Nurse Martin (introduction, death)The Nazis (villains)Jolly RogerPriceFrank RootMarty Martin

The Basketball Blunder

6 pp · Humor, Teen

Archie AndrewsJughead JonesCoachMiss ScottBetty CooperRiverdale High School's basketball team

When Coach announces Archie can play in the big game only if he passes his history exam, the pressure’s on — especially when Jughead accidentally swaps the basketball team’s trunks with ballet dresses. With the game in the fourth quarter and chaos unfolding, Archie takes the shot, only to have Jughead tumble into the net. The moment is pure, unpredictable Riverdale chaos, and the outcome is anything but predictable.

South American Stopover

6 pp · Sports

President of Sao Paulo (introduction)Kayo WardLew Black

The Hound of the Devonshires

6 pp · Detective-Mystery

Roger (villain, introduction, death)Bruno (a dog, introduction, death)Percy Devonshire (introduction, death)Sir Claude Devonshire (introduction)Christine Devonshire (introduction)Lady Agatha Devonshire (introduction)Sir Reginald Devonshire (introduction)Bentley

ComicBooks.com Value

Our Model is In Beta

Raw (Good) $963

CGC 7.5 · 2 in census $6,941

CGC 7.0 none in existence

CGC 6.5 none in existence

CGC 6.0 none in existence

CGC 5.5 · 2 in census $3,142

CGC 5.0 · 1 in census $2,909*

Show all 15 grades ▾

CGC 4.5 · 1 in census $2,484*

CGC 4.0 · 4 in census $2,429

CGC 3.5 · 4 in census $1,922

CGC 3.0 · 2 in census $1,875

CGC 2.5 · 4 in census $1,376

CGC 2.0 · 2 in census $1,174*

CGC 1.5 · 2 in census $1,011

CGC 1.0 · 2 in census $729

CGC 0.5 · 2 in census $592*

* estimate — limited direct-sales data at this grade

Our model’s value — refined as new sales data arrives · CGC census counts shown where available

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History

By February 1942 the editorial reins at Pep Comics had just passed from Abner Sundell to Harry Shorten, who had co-created The Shield and understood the title's superhero identity deeply — making the continued cultivation of the Archie strip under his watch all the more telling. The Archie feature in this issue was drawn and signed by Bob Montana, who had penciled, inked, and lettered the strip from its inception; the basketball story in #24 carries his full creative signature. Cover art was provided by Irv Novick, the longtime Shield artist whose flag-and-fist imagery defined Pep Comics' visual identity throughout the early 1940s.

Trivia · 8 facts

Published February 1942 by M.L.J. Magazines Inc.; cover-dated per the Catalog of Copyright Entries, Part 2, Periodicals, 1942.
Third appearance of Archie Andrews in the Pep Comics series, following his debut in #22 (December 1941) and second appearance in #23 (January 1942).
Archie story titled 'The Basketball Blunder': Archie is told he can play in the big game only if he passes his history exam; Jughead accidentally swaps the team's basketball uniforms for ballet dresses, yet Archie still wins the game in the final quarter through accidental brilliance — a pure distillation of the character's emerging slapstick formula.
The Archie story was written and drawn by Bob Montana (signed), confirming his full creative authorship of this early strip.
First appearance of The Walrus, the villain in The Hangman story titled 'The Walrus,' drawn by Harry Lucey.
The Shield story, titled 'The Suicide Club,' illustrated by Irv Novick, features first appearances of villains Edward Grigas and Vincent Reagan alongside the debut of the Suicide Club itself — a group of once-wealthy men driven to despair.
Additional features include: 'Danny in Wonderland' ('The Boogy-Woogy War,' script by Harry Shorten, art by Lin Streeter), 'Sgt. Boyle' (Axis sabotage in the Sahara, art by Carl Hubbell), 'Jolly Roger' ('Retribution for a Nurse,' art by Ed Smalle), 'Kayo Ward' ('South American Stopover,' script by Harry Shorten), and a Bentley of Scotland Yard story ('The Hound of the Devonshires,' script by Joe Blair, art by Paul Reinman — noted by MyComicShop as a swipe of Conan Doyle's 'Hound of the Baskervilles').
The Archie story from this issue was reprinted in Dark Horse Comics' Archie Archives #1, a hardcover collection of the earliest Archie appearances, confirming its place in the canonical early run.