Cheesed Wiz

 

The Wizard was MLJ/Archie Comics’ first superhero, and was also one of the more popular ones in their stable. So it was kind of strange that with all the times Archie has revived its superhero line, he was mostly ignored. They even turned him into a villain in the 1960s (the gentleman on the right side of this cover). Although mightycrusaders.net says that this Wizard is Hans Martz, a Nazi sorcerer who defeated and killed the heroic Wizard (Blaine Whitney), then impersonated him. I can’t find the comic where that specifically happened, but this cover above is my take on what happened a bit after that took place.

A Couple Of Crusaders

Archie Comics' brief revival of their superhero line during the 1980s opened my eyes to other publishers aside from DC and Marvel. As a kid, I was wowed by the fact that there were other superheroes not under the DC or Marvel banner. I even thought these guys were new heroes (well, Darkling was at the time) and didn't know 'til later that some of the Mighty Crusaders have been around since the 1940s.