Powerhouse Pepper

Powerhouse Pepper
Powerhouse Pepper #4 (Sept. 1948) Cover art by Basil Wolverton
Publication information
Publisher	Timely Comics
First appearance	Joker Comics #1 (April 1942).
Created by	Basil Wolverton
In-story information
Abilities	Super strength

Powerhouse Pepper is an American humor comics series by Basil Wolverton, published in the 1940s by Timely Comics, a predecessor of Marvel Comics. He first appeared in the humor anthology Joker Comics #1 (April 1942). His final appearance occurred in Spring 1948.

Pepper was dim-witted but big-hearted boxer with superhuman strength who appeared in slapstick adventures.

Powerhouse Pepper debut in Timely Comics' Joker Comics #1 (April 1942), and went on to appear in six- to eight-page stories in Joker Comics #2-27, 29-31 (April 1942 - May 1947, Fall 1947 - Spring 1948); Gay Comics #1, 18-22, 28-29 (March 1944, Fall 1944 - Winter 1945, Aug.-Nov. 1947); Tessie the Typist #2, 4, 7-13 (Winter 1944, Fall 1945, Fall 1946 - Dec. 1947); Rusty #14 (Aug. 1947); and Millie the Model #9 (Dec. 1947), as well as in his own series.

A single issue of that solo title appeared as Powerhouse Pepper Comics #1 (Jan. 1943), featuring a slightly different character design than elsewhere. The series then went dormant for five years while the character's adventures were published in the aforementioned titles. It was revived, slightly shortened to Powerhouse Pepper (as on its trademarked cover logo, though still copyrighted as Powerhouse Pepper Comics per its postal indicia), for four additional issues (#2-5, Spring - Nov. 1948). Backup features there included the humor characters Goofy Giggles, L'il Louie, Squeeky, and (in issue #2) Wolverton's detective Disk-Eyes the Dick.

A bullet-headed boxer in a striped turtleneck, he is, per comics historian Don Markstein,

...an amazingly tough guy, and yet his ability to win any fight never goes to his head. He's kind, generous, and uninterested in worldly goods to the point where he once dug up an entire beach looking for a clam, and completely ignored the millions in buried treasure unearthed in the process. ... A major departure from the Popeye mold was Wolverton's constant wordplay. Powerhouse Pepper sailed through life in a sea of rhymes, rhythms and alliterations, often — usually, in fact — carried to ridiculous extremes.