The Mighty Crusaders is a fictional superhero team published by

Archie Comics Archie Comic Publications, Inc., is an American comic book publisher headquartered in Pelham, New York.Jerry Siegel Jerome Siegel ( ; October 17, 1914 – January 28, 1996) Roger Stern. ''Superman: Sunday Classics: 1939–1943'' DC Comics/Kitchen Sink Press, Inc./Sterling Publishing; 2006 was an American comic book writer. He is the co-creator of Superman, ...

, the series lasted seven issues before being cancelled. The team was revived under Archie's Red Circle Comics line in 1983. In 1992

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with their f ...

licensed the characters and relaunched the team as ''The Crusaders'', aiming the comic at younger readers as part of its !mpact line. This series lasted eight issues,

cover-date The cover date of a periodical publication is the date displayed on the cover, which is not necessarily the true date of publication (the on-sale date or release date); later cover dates are common in magazine and comic book publishing. More unu ...

d May to December 1992.

Publication history

The popularity of DC's and Marvel's Silver Age superhero titles led

Archie Comics Archie Comic Publications, Inc., is an American comic book publisher headquartered in Pelham, New York. The Archie Adventure line began with titles centered on The Fly, The Jaguar, and a superheroic/spy version of the 1930s pulp character

the Shadow The Shadow is a fictional character created by magazine publishers Street & Smith and writer Walter B. Gibson. Originally created to be a mysterious radio show narrator, and developed into a distinct literary character in 1931 by writer Walter ...

. After suggestions and fan-art began suggesting a team made up of the characters published by Archie Comics precursor MLJ in the 1940s, Archie's superhero imprint, soon retitled Mighty Comics, re-introduced many of these characters, and brought them together in several issues of ''Fly Man''. This team, which followed the success of

the Avengers Avenger, Avengers, The Avenger, or The Avengers may refer to: Arts and entertainment In the Marvel Comics universe * Avengers (comics), a team of superheroes ** Avengers (Marvel Cinematic Universe), a central team of protagonist superheroes o ...

and the

Justice League of America The Justice League (also known as The Justice League of America) are a team of superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The team first appeared in '' The Brave and the Bold'' #28 (March 1960). The team was conceive ...

, was made up of the Shield, the Fly (re-dubbed Fly-Man),

the Black Hood The Black Hood is a fictional character created by MLJ Comics (later known as Archie Comics) during the period known as the "Golden Age of Comic Books". The Black Hood first appeared in ''Top-Notch Comics #9'', October 1940 and became one of ML ...

, and the Comet. Calling themselves the Mighty Crusaders, they initially came together as part of a plan by the Fly's nemesis the Spider to trap the hero. After appearing as a team for two more issues of ''Fly Man'', and gaining Flygirl as a member in the process, they spun off into their own series, ''The Mighty Crusaders'', which ran bimonthly for 7 issues. The Archie series mixed typical superhero fare with high camp. Don Markstein writes that they touched on "all the genre's cliches of the time", with Siegel's writing on the book being a "hokey rendition of

Stan Lee Stan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber ; December 28, 1922 – November 12, 2018) was an American comic book writer, editor, publisher, and producer. He rose through the ranks of a family-run business called Timely Publications which w ...

". In 1983 the team and the series were relaunched, with Rich Buckler as writer and penciller on the first issue. A contractual dispute between Buckler and DC Comics saw the publication of the first issue delayed. Buckler recruited Cary Burkett to write several issues of the ''Mighty Crusaders'' title. The series ran until the middle of 1985, being cancelled with issue 13, cover dated September 1985. In 1992 DC Comics acquired a license to publish the characters, and launched a team book as part of the line. This series, titled only ''The Crusaders'', launched in early 1992. The first issue saw scriptwriting by

Mark Waid Mark Waid (; born March 21, 1962) is an American comic book writer best known for his work on DC Comics titles '' The Flash'', ''Kingdom Come'' and '' Superman: Birthright'' as well as his work on ''Captain America'', '' Fantastic Four'' and ''Da ...

and

Brian Augustyn Brian Augustyn (November 2, 1954 – February 1, 2022) was an American comic book editor and writer. He often worked as editor or co-writer with writer Mark Waid, such as on ''The Flash'' in the 1990s. He wrote ''Gotham by Gaslight –'' which i ...

. The series and the line itself, Impact Comics, were aimed at younger readers. DC Comics attempted to sell Impact Comics titles through news-stands in an attempt to expand the potential market. However, due to internal conflicts, this distribution never happened and the imprint eventually collapsed due to poor sales. The last issue of the DC series was issue 8, cover dated December 1992. The team also served as a partial inspiration for Alan Moore's ''

Watchmen ''Watchmen'' is an American comic book maxiseries by the British creative team of writer Alan Moore, artist Dave Gibbons and colorist John Higgins. It was published monthly by DC Comics in 1986 and 1987 before being collected in a single-vo ...

'' series. Moore had initially imagined the story as being based around second string heroes; "I wanted more average super-heroes, like the Mighty Crusaders line ... heoriginal idea had started off with the dead body of the Shield being pulled out of a river somewhere." Moore used this idea when asked to submit a pitch for a treatment of DC Comics' then-newly acquired Charlton Comics properties. Although the treatment was rejected for those characters, DC Comics commissioned Moore to base the story on all new heroes, and the project became ''Watchmen''. Moore later used the Crusaders as inspiration for the Minutemen, the Golden Age predecessors of the ''Watchmen'' main characters.

Team membership

First series

The first Mighty Crusaders group was created by Archie under their Mighty Comics line in the 1960s. At that time, members of the team consisted of: * Black Hood – first appeared in ''

Top-Notch Comics ''Top-Notch Comics'' is an American comic book anthology series that was published by MLJ Magazines Inc., more commonly known as MLJ Comics, during the 1930s and 1940s period known as the Golden Age of Comic Books. From issue #28 it was re-titled ...

'' No. 9, October 1940; revived in ''Adventures of the Fly'' #7 (July 1960). * The Comet – first appeared in '' Pep Comics'' No. 1 in January 1940; revived in ''Adventures of the Fly'' #30 (October, 1964). * The Fly – created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, first appeared in ''The Double Life of Private Strong'' No. 1. * Flygirl – first appeared in issue No. 13 of ''The Adventures of the Fly''. *

Shield A shield is a piece of personal armour held in the hand, which may or may not be strapped to the wrist or forearm. Shields are used to intercept specific attacks, whether from close-ranged weaponry or projectiles such as arrows, by means of ...

– first appeared in ''Fly-Man'' No. 31. The Shield first appeared in Pep Comics No 1, January 1940, and was a cover featured character until Archie took over Pep a few years later. The character was relaunched in 1959 as The Private Life of Lancelot Strong (bh Simon & Kirby), and appeared in Fly-Man 31 with trunks instead of the singlet style American flag suit as used in the original incarnation.

Second series

The second Mighty Crusaders group was created by Archie Comics under their Red Circle Comics line of the 1980s. At this time, members of the team consisted of: * Black Hood II (nephew of the original Black Hood) * The Comet *

Darkling "Darkling" is the 60th episode of '' Star Trek: Voyager'', the 18th episode of the third season. This episode focuses mostly on the events which result when the holographic Doctor (a self-aware computer program) aboard the starship USS ''Voyager ...

(later killed off) * The Fly * Flygirl * The Jaguar * Lancelot Strong: Shield II (soon killed off) * Shield I (the original Shield) * The Web II (son of the original Web) This title kicked off the Red Circle comics and lasted thirteen issues.

Impact Comics series

When

licensed the Archie superheroes for their Impact line in the 1990s, the team was simply called the ''Crusaders''. The DC series ''The Crusaders'' lasted eight issues, from May to December 1992.

DC Comics series

A new Mighty Crusaders series was released by DC Comics, which assimilated the Red Circle heroes into its continuity following '' Final Crisis''. A series of one-shots lead into two ongoing Shield and Web titles, each of which was canceled after the publication of ten issues. Mighty Crusaders lasted seven issues. In addition to the established Red Circle characters, an original heroine by the name of War Eagle was introduced as well. The new team consists of: * The Comet * Inferno * Flygirl * The Shield * The Web * Hangman * The Fox *

Jaguar The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large cat species and the only living member of the genus ''Panthera'' native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the largest cat species in the Americas and the thi ...

The Black Hood The Black Hood is a fictional character created by MLJ Comics (later known as Archie Comics) during the period known as the "Golden Age of Comic Books". The Black Hood first appeared in ''Top-Notch Comics #9'', October 1940 and became one of ML ...

*War Eagle

New Crusaders

In 2012, Archie comics returned to The Mighty Crusaders characters. The new series, titled '' New Crusaders'' would pick up on the characters from the original series many years after the last of their arch-villains had been defeated. ''New Crusaders'' follows the progeny of the Mighty Crusaders as they struggle to become heroes after the return of the Brain Emperor. The series debuted digitally on May 16, 2012, through Archie Comics’ Red Circle app, with print publication scheduled to begin monthly on September 5, 2012. For digital release, issues were divided into fourths and released once a week. A spinoff, ''Lost Crusade'', was announced which would run every fifth week and fill in the gaps between the 1980s Red Circle comics & ''New Crusaders''. Ian Flynn expressed a desire to explore the gap between the 1980s series and ''New Crusaders'': "There were so many open endings when the '80s era series wrapped up that it's hard to choose. What happened to Darkling? Who was the traitor? Did Black Hood figure it out, or just make things worse? Did anyone mourn Doc Reeves? There's tons of stories and characters to explore, and it's honestly hard to choose." However, despite announcements for ''New Crusaders: Dark Tomorrow'' and ''Lost Crusade'' creative teams,. the incoming Red Circle editor Alex Segura mentioned " have a great fondness for New Crusaders and the stuff that book aimed to do" in a March 2014 interview but that Red Circle (later rebranded Dark Circle) would be taking a new path: "These won’t be all-ages superhero books that we hope will appeal to older readers. As much as I love New Crusaders, it won’t be a direct follow-up to that. If you want an idea of what we’re shooting for, Afterlife with Archie is your best example. We see the Red Circle expansion as a continuation of the success of Afterlife."

Dark Circle's Crusaders

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