Dead Men Walking

 

The Comet has the distinction of being the first superhero to ever die. Maybe it was karma, since he had no problem unaliving people left and right. He’s been brought back, though, much like his guest star here, Mister Justice, who is literally the ghost of a dead prince who just decided to become a superhero after hundreds of years being trapped in a castle.

Men in Black

 I think most people like the yellow and black outfit for the Black Hood, but for me personally I like this design better. And I just realized while drawing this that his mask must have taken inspiration from Diabolik. On the other hand, I prefer the Fox with his yellow emblem on his chest. The all-black outfit that Red Circle used in the 1980s looked too plain.

The Lost Crusade

These guys were largely ignored in the 1980s Red Circle revival of Archie Comics’ superheroes, except for She-Fox who was introduced during that era. Three of them were in the second issue as villains, but those turned out to be artificial doubles and none were the real deal.

But in recent years Archie Comics has used them in short stories in their comics digests, usually interacting with Archie and the gang. So at least they’re not gone and forgotten.

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.

Dusty in the Wind

 

In the tradition of kid sidekicks growing up, here’s my version of how Dusty (The Boy Detective) would have looked if he followed the Original Shield into the 1980s Red Circle revival of Archie Comics’ superheroes.

Pretty Fly (For a White Gal)

This cover is a meta-comentary of sorts, because from what I know, Fly-Girl remains the property of Archie Comics, but her male counterpart, The Fly, is owned by Joe Simon's estate. Hopefully in the future Archie Comics can use the character again alongside the other Mighty Crusaders. Although because of recent disappointing (sales-wise) attempts at bringing back their superhero universe, they might not be too willing to pay license fees for a character that may not be a financial success.

One Punched Man

This was a confusing title from Red Circle. It started out as Lancelot Strong: The Shield , then became Shield/Steel Sterling then settled on just Steel Sterling for the remainder of its short run. Before Steel Sterling took over as the main character, the Shield was seen fighting Deathstar (it's a wonder Lucasfilm didn't sue) as they plunged into a volcano, never to be seen again. Did they both die? I can't remember if he kept appearing in Mighty Crusaders after that, but it seemed like an unresolved plotline. This is my take on Deathstar re-emerging and Steel having to take him on in the Shield's memory.

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.