Mighty Crusaders

{{Short description|Superhero team by Archie Comics}} {{redirect|The Mighty Crusaders|the adventure-fantasy film|The Mighty Crusaders (film)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2013}} {{Infobox comic book title  | title = The Mighty Crusaders | image = Cover_of_The_Mighty_Crusaders_no._1.jpg | caption = Cover of ''The Mighty Crusaders'' No. 1 (Nov. 1965), art by [[Paul Reinman]]. | schedule = Monthly | ongoing = y | Superhero = y | publisher = [[Archie Comics]] | date = November 1965 – November 1966 | issues = 7 | main_char_team = | writers = [[Jerry Siegel]] | artists = | pencillers = [[Paul Reinman]]<br>[[Mike Sekowsky]] | inkers = [[Joe Giella]]<br>[[Paul Reinman]] | letterers = [[Sam Rosen (comics)|Sam Rosen]] | colorists = [[Victor Gorelick]] | creative_team_month = | creative_team_year = | creators = | TPB = Origin of a Super Team | ISBN = 1-879794-14-4 | subcat = Archie Comics | sort = 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, '''''The Mighty Crusaders'''''.<ref>{{cite comic|title=Mighty Crusaders: Origin of a Super Team|date=November 2003|publisher=Archie Comic Publications|id={{ISBNT|1-879794-14-4}} }}</ref> Written by Superman co-creator [[Jerry Siegel]], the series lasted seven issues before being cancelled.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Eury |first1=Michael |title=The Krypton Companion |date=2006 |publisher=TwoMorrows Publishing |isbn=9781893905610 |page=48}}</ref> 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 [[Impact Comics|!mpact]] line. This series lasted eight issues, [[cover-date]]d May to December 1992.

==Publication history== The popularity of DC's and Marvel's Silver Age superhero titles led [[Archie Comics]] to revive their own line of superhero comics.<ref name="Weiland"/> The Archie Adventure line began with titles centered on the [[Fly (Red Circle Comics)|Fly]], the [[Jaguar (Archie Comics)|Jaguar]], and a superheroic/spy version of the 1930s pulp character [[The Shadow#Comic strip|The Shadow]]. After suggestions and fan-art<ref>"The Jaguar's Lair [lettercolumn]," ''The Jaguar'' #8 (September 1963). Fan Paul Seydor suggests a team called "The Anti-Crime League," and includes a drawing. See http://www.mightycrusaders.net/anticrimesquad.htm</ref> 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''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mougin |first1=Lou |title=Secondary Superheroes of Golden Age Comics |date=2020 |publisher=McFarland & Co |isbn=9781476638607|pages=140–142}}</ref>

This team, which followed the success of [[Avengers (comics)|the Avengers]] and the [[Justice League of America]], was made up of the [[Shield (Archie Comics)|Shield]], the Fly (re-dubbed Fly-Man), the [[Black Hood]], and the [[Comet (Archie Comics)|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.<ref>{{cite comic|title=Fly-Man|issue=31|writer=[[Jerry Siegel|Siegel, Jerry]]|penciller= Paul Reinman|inker=Paul Reinman|editor=Richard Goldwater|date=May 1965|publisher=Archie}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Wells |first1=John |title=American Comic Book Chronicles: 1965-1969 |date=2014 |publisher=TwoMorrows Publishing |isbn=978-1605490557 |page=63}}</ref> After appearing as a team for two more issues of ''Fly-Man'', and gaining [[Flygirl (Archie Comics)|Flygirl]] as a member in the process, they spun off into their own series, ''The Mighty Crusaders'', which ran bimonthly for seven issues.<ref name="Weiland"/><ref>{{cite comic|title=Mighty Crusaders|issue=1|writer=[[Jerry Siegel|Siegel, Jerry]]|penciller= Paul Reinman|inker=Joe Giella|editor=Richard Goldwater|date=November 1965|publisher=Archie}}</ref> The Archie series mixed typical superhero fare with high [[Camp (style)|camp]].<ref name="Weiland">{{cite web |url=http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=2390 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111216033010/http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=2390 |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 16, 2011 |title='The Mighty Crusaders: Origin of a Super-Team' ships November |last=Weiland |first=Jonah |date=July 15, 2003 |publisher=[[Comic Book Resources]] |access-date=2009-02-02}}</ref> [[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]]".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.toonopedia.com/mightycr.htm |title=The Mighty Crusaders |publisher=[[Don Markstein's Toonopedia]] |last=Markstein |first=Don |access-date=March 9, 2009 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120913130158/http://www.toonopedia.com/mightycr.htm |archive-date=September 13, 2012 |url-status=live }}</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite journal | last =Thompson | first =Kim | title =Red Circle Debut Delayed | journal = The Comics Journal | issue =77 | page=23 | date=November 1982 | issn=0194-7869 |authorlink=Kim Thompson|author2=Steve Ringgenberg }}</ref> Buckler recruited [[Cary Burkett]] to write several issues of the ''Mighty Crusaders'' title.<ref name="Cobb">{{cite web|last=Cobb |first=Bradley S. |title=Cary Burkett Interview |publisher=The Mighty Crusaders Network |year=2001 |url=http://www.mightycrusaders.net/interviews/burkett.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131215170409/http://www.mightycrusaders.net/interviews/burkett.html |archive-date=December 15, 2013 |access-date=June 23, 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The series ran until the middle of 1985, being cancelled with issue #13 (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 newsstands 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 (December 1992).

The team also served as a partial inspiration for Alan Moore's series ''[[Watchmen]]''. 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''. Moore later used the Crusaders as inspiration for the Minutemen, the Golden Age predecessors of the ''Watchmen'' main characters.<ref>{{cite book|last=Khoury|first=George|title=The Extraordinary Works of Alan Moore|edition=Indispensable| date=December 2008|publisher=TwoMorrows|page=109}}</ref>

==Team membership==

===First series=== The first Mighty Crusaders group was created by Archie under their [[Mighty Comics]] line in the 1960s. At that time, the members of the team consisted of:

* The [[Black Hood]] – first appeared in ''[[Top-Notch Comics]]'' #9 (October 1940); revived in ''Adventures of the Fly'' #7 (July 1960).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.comics.org/issue/15704/#125517|title = GCD :: Issue :: Adventures of the Fly #7}}</ref> * The [[Comet (Archie Comics)|Comet]] – first appeared in ''[[Pep Comics]]'' #1 (January 1940); revived in ''Adventures of the Fly'' #30 (October, 1964).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.comics.org/issue/18644/#140702|title = GCD :: Issue :: Adventures of the Fly #30}}</ref> * The [[The Fly (Archie Comics)|Fly]] – created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, first appeared in ''The Double Life of Private Strong'' #1. * [[Flygirl (Archie Comics)|Flygirl]] – first appeared ''The Adventures of the Fly'' #13. * The [[Shield (Archie Comics)|Shield]] – first appeared in ''Fly-Man'' #31. The Shield first appeared in ''Pep Comics'' #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'' (by Simon and 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:

* The [[Black Hood|Black Hood II]] (nephew of the original Black Hood) * The [[Comet (Archie Comics)|Comet]] * [[Darkling (Archie Comics)|Darkling]] (later killed off) * The [[Fly (Archie Comics)|Fly]] * [[Flygirl (Archie Comics)|Flygirl]] * The [[Jaguar (Archie Comics)|Jaguar]] * [[Shield (Archie Comics)#Lancelot Strong|Lancelot Strong, the Shield II]] (soon killed off) * The [[Shield (Archie Comics)|Shield I]] (the original Shield) * The [[Web (character)|Web II]] (the son of the original Web)

This title kicked off the Red Circle comics and lasted 13 issues.

===Impact Comics series=== When [[DC Comics]] licensed the Archie superheroes for their [[Impact Comics|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 led into two ongoing Shield and Web titles, each of which was canceled after 10 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newsarama.com/comics/dc-july-2010-solicitations-100419.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100419170044/http://www.newsarama.com/comics/dc-july-2010-solicitations-100419.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 19, 2010 |title=DC Comics' Full July 2010 Solicitations |work=Newsarama |access-date=2010-12-27}}</ref> The new team consists of:

===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,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://redcirclecomics.com/2012/05/16/the-new-crusaders-take-off-today/ |title=New Crusaders Take Off Today |date=May 16, 2012 |publisher=redcirclecomics.com |access-date=2012-08-09}}</ref> with print publication scheduled to begin monthly on September 5, 2012. For digital release, issues were divided into fourths and released once a week.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://redcirclecomics.com/release-schedule/ |title=Release Schedule |date=February 13, 2012 |publisher=redcirclecomics.com |access-date=2012-08-09}}</ref>

A spinoff, ''Lost Crusade'', was announced which would run every fifth week and fill in the gaps between the 1980s Red Circle comics and ''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."<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120712000823/http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=39658 Comic Book Resources: "CCI EXCLUSIVE: Chuck Dixon Joins Red Circle's "Lost Crusade""]</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120830175331/http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=40729 Comic Book Resources: Ian Flynn Launches Red Circle's "Lost Crusade"], August 29th 2012</ref> However, despite announcements for ''New Crusaders: Dark Tomorrow'' and ''Lost Crusade'' creative teams,<ref>[https://www.cbr.com/archie-goes-same-day-print-and-digital-with-red-circle-comics/ Robot 6: "Archie goes same-day print and digital with Red Circle comics"]</ref><ref>[https://www.cbr.com/jon-goldwater-discusses-2012-and-what-lies-ahead-for-archie-comics/ Robot 6: "Jon Goldwater discusses 2012 and what lies ahead for Archie Comics"]</ref> the incoming Red Circle editor [[Alex Segura]] mentioned "[I] 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=== Dark Circle comics started a new run in December 2017 featuring the new [[Shield (Archie Comics)|Shield (Victoria Adams)]], Steel Sterling, [[Firefly (Archie Comics)|Firefly]], Darkling, [[Comet (Archie Comics)|The Comet]] and [[Jaguar (Archie Comics)|Jaguar]].

==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 [[Fly (Archie Comics)|The Fly/Fly-Man]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=The fly / By Joe Simon & Archie Comics Publications, Inc. B826394 (1959)... |url=https://cocatalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?v1=1&ti=1,1&Search_Arg=JOE%20SIMON%20Transfer%20of%20copyright.&Search_Code=FT*&CNT=25&PID=e2WOLaGdLGaWlLUmhzKyMglUak2al&SEQ=20231223140414&SID=14 |access-date=2023-12-23 |website=cocatalog.loc.gov}}</ref> 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}})

==Other media==

===Toys=== ''The Mighty Comics Superheroes Game'' board game was released by Transogram in 1966, and featured the Mighty Crusaders characters. Many of the characters featured on the box are given names they do not use in the comics ([[Fox (comics)|The Fox]] is "Mr. Fox", for instance).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/23429/mighty-comics-superheroes-game|title = Mighty Comics Superheroes Game}}</ref>

Carded [[Action Figures]] were produced in 1984 for some of the Mighty Crusaders by the [[Remco]] Toy Company, featuring packaging art by [[Steve Ditko]]. Each figure came with a Secret Sonic Signaling shield. There were four heroes and four villains in the line. Included were:

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

==See also== *[[Crusaders (DC Comics)]]

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== *[http://www.toonopedia.com/mightycr.htm The Mighty Crusaders] at [[Don Markstein's Toonopedia]]. [https://archive.today/20120913130158/http://www.toonopedia.com/mightycr.htm Archived] from the original on May 2, 2012. *[http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/a/archiecom.htm Archie Superheroes] at the International Catalogue of Superheroes *{{gcdb|type=characters|search=Mighty+Crusaders|title=Mighty Crusaders}} *{{gcdb series|id=1680|title=''Mighty Crusaders'' (1965)}} *{{gcdb series|id=2735|title=''Mighty Crusaders'' (1983)}} *{{comicbookdb|type=team|id=274|title=Mighty Crusaders}} *{{comicbookdb|type=team|id=273|title=Crusaders (Impact)}} *[http://www.mightycrusaders.net/ The Mighty Crusaders site] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20090202064002/http://archiecomics.com/acpaco_offices/askthearchivist/ask_superheros.htm Ask the Archivist – Information on the Archie superheroes]

[[Category:1965 comics debuts]] [[Category:Archie Comics superheroes]] [[Category:DC Comics superhero teams]] [[Category:Superhero comics]] [[Category:Superhero teams]]