Pep Comics #30 for Sale - First Appearance of Captain Commando - Where to Buy

Identification plate

Series: Pep Comics (Archie, 1940 series)
Issue: #30
Publication date: August 1942
Key date: 1942-08-00
On-sale date: 1942-06-10
Indicia publisher: M. L. J. Magazines Inc.
Price: $0.10
Pages: 68

Match the book in your hand against this plate before paying an edition-specific price.

Why this issue matters

First appearance of Captain Commando - the earliest non-flashback appearance on record for this character.

First appearance of John Grayson - the earliest non-flashback appearance on record for this character.

First appearance of Billy Grayson - the earliest non-flashback appearance on record for this character.

First appearance of Armand De Latour - the earliest non-flashback appearance on record for this character.

First appearance of Erik Jansen - the earliest non-flashback appearance on record for this character.

First appearance of Gerald Sykes - the earliest non-flashback appearance on record for this character.

The evidence

Claims here come from the story records for this issue, listed under Sources at the bottom of the file. Character hubs with full evidence tables are coming to this site.

Seq	Story	Type	Pages	Credits	Characters
0	-	cover	1	pencils: Bob Montana; inks: Bob Montana	Bob Dickering, The Hangman, Joe Higgins, The Shield
1	Bulletin No. 10	promo (ad from the publisher)	1	script: ? [as Joe Higgins (The Shield)]; letters: typeset	Joe Higgins, The Shield
2	The Strangler	comic story	12	script: Harry Shorten; pencils: Irv Novick; inks: Irv Novick	Dusty, Joe Higgins, Adolf Hitler, The Shield, Dustin Simmons
3	Rhymed Invitations to Death!	comic story	13	script: Bill Woolfolk; pencils: Harry Lucey; inks: Harry Lucey	Bob Dickering, Thelma Gordon, The Hangman
4	The Coming of Captain Commando	comic story	9	script: S. M. Iger; pencils: Alex Blum; inks: Alex Blum	Captain Commando First, Armand De Latour First, Billy Grayson First, John Grayson First, Erik Jansen First, Gerald Sykes First
5	Station D-E-A-T-H Broadcasting	text story	1	letters: typeset	Bob Dickering, Thelma Gordon, The Hangman
6	Nightmares, Inc.	comic story	7	script: Harry Shorten; pencils: Bob Montana; inks: Bob Montana	Danny, Kupkake, Snapper
7	Murder of a Rajah	comic story	8	script: Virginia Hubbell; pencils: Carl Hubbell; inks: Carl Hubbell	Sergeant Boyle, Captain Twerp
8	Young Soldiers of America	promo (ad from the publisher)	1		Dusty, Joe Higgins, The Shield, Dustin Simmons
9	The Escort Agency	comic story	6	script: Bob Montana; pencils: Bob Montana; inks: Bob Montana	Archie Andrews, Fred Andrews, Betty Cooper, Miss Grundy, Jughead Jones
10	Case of the Corpse on Ice	comic story	6	script: Joe Blair; pencils: Paul Reinman; inks: Paul Reinman	Inspector Bentley
11	God's Wrist Watch	text story	1	letters: typeset	Sergeant Boyle, Captain Twerp

Plus 2 pages of advertisements and other matter across 2 sequences, as published.

Where to read it

Collection	Year
Laugh Comics / Laugh #28	1948	On eBay ›
Archie Archives #1 ISBN 978-1-59582-716-6	2011	On eBay ›
World of Archie (Jumbo Comics) Double Digest #38	2014	On eBay ›
The Golden Age Firsts of MLJ Comics: Volume 1 ISBN 978-1721232918	2018	On eBay ›
Archie 1000 Page Comics Bonanza #[nn]	2014	On eBay ›
The Rocket's Blast-Comicollector #115	1974	On eBay ›

Reading the story costs a fraction of owning the issue. Both routes are on every file.

Before you buy

Golden-age paper is brittle. Ask about page suppleness and check edges for chips in the photos.
Check for trimmed edges, married covers, and clipped coupons - all common on books this old.
Confirm the indicia matches this plate; many golden-age titles changed names mid-run.

Series context

‹ #2930 of 136#31 ›

Sources

Grand Comics Database, issue record (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Found an error in this file? corrections@comicrecord.com