Mighty Crusaders

The Mighty Crusaders is a fictional superhero team published by Archie Comics. The team originally appeared in Fly-Man No. 31, #32 and No. 33 before being launched in its own title, Mighty Crusaders. Written by Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel, 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 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-dated May to December 1992.

Publication history
The popularity of DC's and Marvel's Silver Age superhero titles led Archie Comics to launch their own superhero comics. The Archie Adventure line (soon retitled Mighty Comics) included titles centered on The Fly, The Jaguar, and The Shield, a revamped Golden Age character, as well as a team book based upon the success of The Avengers and the Justice League of America. The Mighty Crusaders, where The Comet and Flygirl joined the first three characters, was first published in 1965 and the series continued bimonthly. 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".

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 and Brian Augustyn. 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 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 ... [the] original 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.

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 No. 9, October 1940.
 * The Comet – first appeared in Pep Comics No. 1 in January 1940.
 * 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 – first appeared in Fly-Man No. 31.

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 (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 DC Comics licensed the Archie superheroes for their !mpact 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
 * 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 are divided into fourths and released once a week.

Collected editions
Recently, Archie Comics has reprinted some of the Mighty Crusaders adventures in a trade paperback collection under the "Red Circle Productions" name. This TPB is no longer available, however, since Joe Simon successfully contested ownership of the character of The Fly/Fly-Man in 2011, meaning that Archie Comics is no longer allowed to use the character.


 * Mighty Crusaders: Origin of a Super Team (reprints Fly-Man #31, #32 and #33 and Mighty Crusaders #1, 96 pages, November 2003, ISBN 1-879794-14-4)

Toys
Carded Action Figures were produced in 1984 for some of the Mighty Crusaders by the Remco Toy Company. Each figure came with a Secret Sonic Signaling shield. There were 4 heroes and 4 villains in the line. Included were:


 * The Comet
 * The Fox
 * The Shield
 * The Web
 * The Brain Emperor
 * The Buzzard
 * The Eraser
 * The Sting