Pep Comics #3
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freePep Comics #3 (March 1940) is the third consecutive issue in one of Golden Age comics' most consequential anthology runs, maintaining the full roster of MLJ's early superhero and adventure features just weeks into the line's existence. The Comet's story in this issue is a pivotal character moment: by his third outing, writer-artist Jack Cole had already complicated John Dickering's vigilante status — local police know his identity but want him working with them, not against them — a surprisingly nuanced approach to superhero-law relations for 1940. The issue also continues the cross-title serialization of the Shield and the Wizard in a shared 'Mosconian Menace' storyline that linked Pep Comics to Top-Notch Comics, an early experiment in shared-universe storytelling that predated the concept becoming industry standard by decades. Running alongside flagship superheroes were recurring features in adventure, crime, boxing, and science fiction — a breadth of genres in a single 64-page package that reflects how MLJ was testing the full appetite of the early comics market.
In "The Mines of Count Zongarr," the Comet—fresh from aiding the police—wakes to find himself drugged and kidnapped, whisked across the country to California and into the clutches of Satan and the sinister Count Zadar. Under a hypnotic spell, the hero is twisted into a killer, forced to serve Zadar’s criminal schemes until a shocking betrayal sets him on a path of reckoning. Written and illustrated by Jack Cole, this gripping tale from Pep Comics #3 (1940) features a haunting cover by Irv Novick, marking a pivotal moment in the character’s early arc.
In "The Pawn of 'Satan'," the Comet—once a hero working with the police—awakens to find himself kidnapped and drugged, whisked across the country to California and enslaved by the dark forces of Satan and his enforcer, Zadar. Under a powerful hypnotic spell, the Comet is twisted into a killer, forced to rob and murder on command, until a betrayal between Zadar and Satan ignites a final, deadly command. Written by an unknown hand and illustrated by an unknown artist, this 1940 tale of mind control and moral unraveling follows the Comet’s harrowing descent and the moment his lens remains raised—shattering the spell and leaving him free, but forever marked.
ComicBooks.com Value
Show all 21 grades ▾
Find on ebay
Sell my copy
Have this issue — or a whole collection? Get a fair offer from us, skip the marketplace fees and the hassle.
We Buy Collections ▸History
Pep Comics launched in January 1940 from MLJ Magazines Inc., the publisher that would eventually become Archie Comics, with the series edited by Abner Sundell through the early issues. The Shield — created by writer and managing editor Harry Shorten and artist Irv Novick — headlined every issue as cover star and lead feature, while Jack Cole handled the Comet strip through the title's first 17 issues. The anthology's non-superhero strips were contributed by a variety of talent: George Biro wrote and drew 'Sergeant Boyle,' Lin Streeter handled the science-fiction strip featuring Sir Rocket and the Queen of Diamonds, Jack Binder and Mort Meskin produced 'The Press Guardian,' and Phil Sturm wrote the boxing serial 'Kayo Ward.' Issue #3's March 1940 cover date places it squarely in the title's earliest months, when MLJ was still establishing its full stable of features.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Pep Comics #3 carries a March 1940 cover date, published by MLJ Magazines Inc. (the Archie Comics predecessor), and was edited by Abner Sundell.
- The Comet story in this issue — written and drawn by Jack Cole — is the character's third appearance; by this point local police know that John Dickering is the Comet but choose to recruit rather than arrest him, and the story sees him fall under the hypnotic control of the villain Doc Zadar, causing collateral destruction before breaking free.
- The Shield (Joe Higgins), created by Harry Shorten and Irv Novick, continues his lead feature in this issue; the Shield would remain Pep Comics' cover star through issue #50 (September 1944).
- The issue is part of a multi-part crossover storyline ('The Mosconian Menace') that ran across both Pep Comics and Top-Notch Comics, linking the Shield and the Wizard (Blane Whitney) in a shared adventure — an unusually early example of inter-title serialization in American comics.
- The science-fiction strip 'The Queen of Diamonds' featuring Sir Rocket (also billed as 'The Rocket') by Lin Streeter continues in this issue; the strip ran from Pep #1 through #12 and follows a John Carter of Mars-style hero stranded on another world.
- 'The Press Guardian' — the crime-fighting newspaper strip by Jack Binder and Mort Meskin — appears in this issue; it ran from Pep #1 through #11, later retitled 'Perry Chase, The Press Guardian' from issue #7 onward.
- 'Sergeant Boyle' by George Biro, following an American in London fighting alongside the British before U.S. involvement in World War II, and the boxing serial 'Kayo Ward' by Phil Sturm also appear as recurring features in this issue.
- The Comet ran through all 17 of Jack Cole's issues before the character was shot and killed by gangsters in Pep Comics #17 (July 1941), making him comics history's first superhero to die in his own strip — a distinction whose groundwork was being actively laid in these earliest issues.
Cast · 16 characters
Full credits
Reprints
Reprinted in America's 1st Patriotic Comic Book Hero, The Shield #1 (2002), Supermen! The First Wave of Comic Book Heroes 1936-1941 #[nn] (2009)
Key issues in Pep Comics
Reviews
Reader reviews
No reader reviews yet.