Answer: He bought 1 magazine and 3 comic books.
Step-by-step explanation: If comic books cost $1 and magazines cost $3, the equation for the problem should look like this: 2(m) + 1(c) = 5, since you know that the brother spent $5 in total. "m" represents the number of magazines purchased while "c" represents the number of comic books purchased. If you plug in 1 for "m" and 3 for "c", the equation would be true and would equal a total of $5. Also, 1 magazine and 3 comic books would mean that the little brother did, in fact, purchase 4 items.