Hmmm. That would be “interesting”, I suppose, because Archie’s as dull as dishwater. 
Fenris : Interesting observation … now I’ll have to go back and start readina lot of issue #4’s to see if it bears out… 
any excuse to read comics is a good excuse to read comics.
Sadly it didn’t used to be that way. Archie used to be one of the funniest and best books on the shelves. From the stunning, textured “L’il Archie” stories by Bob Bolling (If I was listing “Top 100 Runs of comics”, the Bob Bolling “L’il Archies” would be in the top 20 and maybe the top 10–they’d be right near the Moench/Gulacy "Master of Kung Fu"s), the fun/exciting “Life With Archie” adventure stories (“NOVEL LENGTH! COMPLETE IN ONE ISSUE!”), a little later you had the hysterical Stan G. “Jughead” stories (which you had to reread two or three times to get all the stuff that he’d draw in the backgrounds that you’d miss the first two times from laughing so hard). Sigh. I agree that Archie has sucked since about…oh, 1978 or so. But from say, 1953-197x, there was a brief, shining golden moment. 
Remember, the trend was most active/noticable in the early Silver Age. It doesn’t hold up quite as well in DC, because DC had Showcase which was the book’s trial period (but note how many characters had either 3 or 4 appearances in Showcase (or Brave and Bold) before getting their own book.
A few more key “#4” issues:
X-Men #4-Intro Brotherhood of Evil Mutants (and 1st 2 part story)
Showcase #4-Intro Silver Age Flash
Hawkman #4-Intro Zatanna
Spider-Man #4- Intro Sandman, Betty Brant/Liz Allen
Adventure #304 (their regular series started in 300–which means that 303 should be the key issue…I’m guessing force of habit)-Death of Lighting Lad
etc
Characters with 3/4 appearances in Showcase who went on to their own titles:
Flash
Challengers of the Unknown
Green Lantern
Adam Strange
Rip Hunter
Sea Devils
Aquaman
Atom
Metal Men
etc.