PEP Comics #22 - Where it all began...

The date was December 22, 1941.

At that time, Glenn Miller had two of the top musical hits in the world with "A String of Pearls" and "Chattanooga Choo-Choo".  Johnny Weissmuller brought Tarzan back to life in the 1941 film "Tarzan's Secret Treasure".  The world was still coming to terms with the attack on Pearl Harbor in the midst of World War II.

And it was on this date that we were first introduced to a seventeen-year-old red-headed boy from Riverdale, U.S.A.

Interestingly enough, Archie didn't exactly debut with his own title right away.  That wouldn't come until 1942.  Instead, Archie made his debut in the title PEP Comics #22 - a title that prior to issue #22 was mostly a collection of superhero comics.  It was one of the titles that was published by MLJ Magazines Inc. - a company founded by Maurice Coyne, Louis Silberkleit, and John L. Goldwater. 

How Archie came to make his first appearance in the comics can be attributed to the success of the Andy Hardy film series.  The title role was played by Mickey Rooney, and it's speculated that the design of Archie Andrews was based off of Rooney in many ways, right down to the red hair.

Though, I think we can all agree that the 1940s portrayal of Archie Andrews was a lot more...shall we say...less polished than the 2010s version of Archie.  Of course, that's no fault of the artist who first designed Archie, Bob Montana.  The amount of detail he put into that first story was phenomenal for 1940s standards.  Just have a look at the first page of the very first Archie story!

It's interesting that Archie insisted that Betty call him "Chick" at first, especially given that Betty has a seldom seen older brother named Chic in the comic books.  Remind me to do a character profile on him one day.

Anyway, the original story features Archie trying to impress Betty by doing a whole bunch of silly stunts which include riding on a bicycle standing up and walking across a fence blindfolded.  This might be tame to some of you, but keep in mind that this took place sixty years before "Jackass" debuted, so this was impressive back in the day!

Of course, Archie loses his balance and ends up falling right through a portrait of Betty's father - with "Old Man Cooper" watching the whole thing!  Naturally, this causes Betty's dad to have a less than favourable opinion of Archie, and this marks the first time in which a parent disapproves of Archie dating their daughter.

We all know that Mr. Cooper would soften towards Archie in the comic book series, and that when Veronica was introduced Archie would become a thorn in Mr. Lodge's side for decades to come.  So, it's interesting that they would start off on this note.

Archie's best friend Jughead tells Archie to forget about Betty, saying that girls are nothing but trouble long before DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince had a hit song with that sentiment.  But Archie is smitten over the blonde-haired girl next door, and he insists on not only winning her heart, but smoothing things over with Mr. Cooper as well.

Betty comes up with the idea for Archie to help her out at the upcoming carnival.  She's making taffy and if Archie volunteers to work at her taffy booth with her, Mr. Cooper will forget all about the damaged portrait and see that he's making an effort.  Fair enough.  But as we all well know in the world of Riverdale, U.S.A. that nothing EVER goes to plan.

When the tightrope walker performing stunts at the carnival gets injured, Betty volunteers Archie to take on the job.  Wow, Betty.  Walking on a fence and slipping was how Archie got into this mess in the first place and now you want him to go up a hundred feet in the air to walk across a wire?  I wonder if this is where the "Betty is crazy" meme got started?

As predicted, Archie walks across the tightrope without much trouble at first - that is.  But when a butterfly lands on his nose, Archie slips and falls off the rope!

An effort by both Jughead and Archie's mother to save him quickly follows, but luckily Archie is spared by falling into a vat of Betty's taffy.  Unfortunately, Archie's foot causes a switch to go off sending taffy flying into the crowd, covering Betty's father in sticky pink goop.

Who would have thought that this story would have kicked off seventy-seven years of stories, jokes, and comics starring Archie Andrews and his pals and gals?  And who knew that Archie's popularity would rise to the occasion that he would fully take over the PEP Comics title by 1946?  Beginning with issue #56, Archie formally took over the title and would continue publishing new Archie stories until the title ended with issue #411 in 1987 (though a few PEP issues were included in the Archie Giant Series title in the late 1980s and early 1990s).

Now, if you're looking to own a copy of PEP Comics #22 so you can have the first ever appearance of Archie, I'd suggest you start saving up for it now.  A copy of that comic book sold in a September 2017 auction for over a quarter of a million dollars!  Not bad for a book that originally cost a dime!

Fear not though.  There is still a way for you to own a copy of this historical story, as it has since been reprinted many times in various digests and graphic novels.

I would strongly recommend picking up a copy of "Archie Americana Series: Best of the Forties" if you haven't got it already.  Not only is the PEP Comics #22 story reprinted in that book, but so are several other stories that feature the first appearances of Veronica, Reggie, Ms. Grundy, Mr. Weatherbee, Pop Tate, and Moose!

Barring all that, you can also see if you can track down a copy of Archie Digest #236.  It was released as part of Archie's 65th anniversary celebrations and not only does it contain the reprint of PEP Comics #22 and Archie #1, but also features a story in which 2000s era Archie meets 1940s Archie.  It's a weird tale, but worth seeking out.