Pep Comics #56
Pep Comics #56 (March 1946) occupies a precise threshold moment in American comics publishing history: its cover carried the declaration 'An Archie magazine' for the very first time while simultaneously dropping the MLJ triangle that had identified the anthology since its 1940 debut, making it the last issue to visually straddle the MLJ and Archie eras before the full corporate rebrand landed in #57. It is also the final issue in the six-year run of Captain Commando and his Boy Soldiers, closing out one of the Golden Age's most earnest wartime adventure serials just one year after World War II ended — a fitting, if unceremonious, curtain call for a feature born directly out of the war's urgency. Together these two facts make #56 both an endpoint and a gateway: the last gasp of MLJ's adventure anthology identity and the cover-level announcement that Archie Andrews now owned the brand.
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
By 1946, editor Harry Shorten — who had guided Pep Comics since the early Archie era — was presiding over a title in active transformation, as postwar readership tastes pulled hard toward teen humor and away from the wartime patriotic adventure strips that had given the book much of its earlier energy. The publishing schedule had slowed to quarterly between 1944 and 1946, meaning each issue carried unusual weight as a marker of editorial direction. Issue #56 arrived at exactly the moment the publisher was completing its legal and commercial rebranding from MLJ Magazines Inc. to Archie Comics Publications Inc., a process that would be finalized on the indicia page of the very next issue.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Cover-dated March 1946; the cover bore the legend 'An Archie magazine' for the first time in the series' history, and the long-standing MLJ triangle logo was removed — the first visible sign of the company's imminent rebranding.
- The following issue, #57 (June 1946), completed the transition by formally listing 'Archie Comics Publications Inc.' in the indicia, making #56 the final issue still carrying the MLJ-era visual identity.
- Final appearance of Captain Commando (civilian identity: John Grayson) and his Boy Soldiers, who had run continuously in Pep Comics from #30 (August 1942) through this issue — a 27-issue wartime serial that was never subsequently revived by Archie or DC Comics.
- The Boy Soldiers consisted of Captain Commando's son Billy Grayson and his international companions: Flatbush (USA), Gerald Sykes (England), Erik Jansen (Norway), and Armand De Latour (France) — an intentionally multi-national wartime ensemble.
- The Shield (Joe Higgins) and his sidekick Dusty (Dustin Simmons) continued in the issue as the last surviving non-humor adventure feature in the title, having outlasted the Hangman and Black Hood; their run in Pep Comics would conclude in #65 (January 1948).
- The issue was published on a quarterly schedule — the reduced frequency that Pep Comics maintained between 1944 and 1946 as the wartime paper economy and shifting editorial focus reshaped the title.
- Harry Shorten served as editor, a role he held from the early Archie era through issue #65 (January 1948), overseeing the entire MLJ-to-Archie transition period.
- The Archie stories in this issue, including the ongoing Betty-and-Veronica love-triangle dynamics, were later collected in Archie Archives Vol. 5 (Dark Horse, 2011 series), which reprinted Pep Comics #54–56 alongside Archie Comics #15–18.
Cast · 17 characters
Full credits
Full plot ⚠ may contain spoilers
▸ Reveal full plot — may contain spoilers
The Shield and Dusty fight a man who kills department store workers and displays their corpses in the window.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).