Posted in: Comics, Heritage Sponsored, Vintage Paper | Tagged: golden age, MLJ, Pep Comics, the shield

U.S.'s 1st Patriotic Comic Hero, The Shield in Pep Comics 1 at Auction

The historic Pep Comics #1 introducing the Shield, America's first patriotic hero and launches a legendary comic book series.

As the world teetered on the edge of World War II in 1939/1940, the rising popularity of comic books soon reflected the shifting sentiments of the moment with the introduction of the first American patriotic hero: the Shield. The Pep Comics series is remembered by history mostly for introducing Archie Andrews in issue #22, but first, Pep Comics #1 debuted this iconic figure who would be the first among the likes of Captain America and countless others to follow. Among other introductions in this issue is the Comet, who later in this series would become the first superhero to die, with his brother the Hangman rising up in vengeance.  The debut of a long-running historically important series with a cover by Irv Novick, and artwork from legends such as Jack Binder, Charles Biro, Manly Wade Wellman, Lin Streeter, and Jack Cole, there's a CGC GD/VG 3.0 copy of Pep Comics #1 (MLJ, 1940) up for auction in the 2024 September 26 – 27 Heroes of the Golden Age Comics Showcase Auction #40265 at Heritage Auctions.

Captain America's shield, so integral to his iconography, was initially similar to the Shield's uniform symbolism.  Called a "heater shield" in that form, it is commonly believed that Marvel/Timely changed the shape after a complaint from MLJ's John Goldwater.  Captain America Comics #2 debuted Cap's now-familiar round shield shape.

There were even more substantial similarities between the two characters.  In the beginning, both were essentially government agents acting under the auspices of the FBI. The program which develops the serum that turns young Steve Rogers into Captain America appears to be happening under the authority of "J. Arthur Grover", head of the FBI (an obvious stand-in for real FBI Chief J. Edgar Hoover).  The inventor of the super-soldier serum process, Professor Reinstein, ultimately declares Steve Rogers "the first of a corps of Super-Agents, whose mental and physical ability will make them a terror to spies and saboteurs."  Previously, the Shield's origin had explicitly noted "Joe Higgins, G-Man extraordinary, is the Shield. Only one living man knows the Shield's true identity and that man is the chief of the FBI — because Joe's father was killed in the famous Black Tom Explosion set off by foreign spies during the World War, he, from that time forward swore to devote his life to shielding the U.S. Government and its people from any harm…"

This mention of the Black Tom Explosion gives us a direct hook into the concerns of that day which helped inspire the creation of such comic book "Super-Agents" during the Golden Age.  On July 30, 1916, two million tons of war materials bound for Britain and France had been blown up by German saboteurs in the Black Tom railroad yard on what is now part of Liberty State Park.  The explosion rocked lower Manhattan and Jersey City, killing three men and a baby, and its shock waves were felt as far away as Philadelphia.  Flying debris pelted the Statue of Liberty, damaging the raised arm that holds the torch of freedom.  The arm and torch of the Statue of Liberty have been closed to tourists since that moment.  Due to this and other provocations, Congress passed the Espionage Act the next year. Ironically, the Espionage Act was used for the first time against cartoonists, when the U.S. Post office banned the magazine The Masses from mailing an issue due to what it called anti-war cartoons. Cartoonists and staff of the magazine were later put on trial — an under-discussed moment of U.S. publishing history that had likely not been forgotten in New York City publishing circles as WWII approached.

The Shield was created by Irv Novick and Harry Shorten.  The introduction of the character as the first patriotically-themed hero would inspire Captain America and countless others to follow.  A debut issue of an iconic series that introduced a number of historically important characters, there's a CGC GD/VG 3.0 copy of Pep Comics #1 (MLJ, 1940) up for auction in the 2024 September 26 – 27 Heroes of the Golden Age Comics Showcase Auction #40265 at Heritage Auctions.

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