New Crusaders 1
Reviewed by Will Morgan 20-Sep-12
New Crusaders is both an undemanding pleasure and a cunningly-crafted “entry-point” for a new generation of comics readers.
THE CHILDREN’S CRUSADE
This is the latest in a line of revivals for a pantheon of superheroes dating back to 1940. The Shield, a costumed super-patriot pre-dating Captain America, debuted in MLJ Publishing’s Pep Comics 1, and was soon joined by a cohort of modestly-successful comrades who were defeated, not by villains foreign or domestic, but by one Archie Andrews, a freckle-faced everyman who launched as a back-up in Pep 22, and proved to be such a sales juggernaut that by the late 1940s the entire company was reshaped and renamed for him.
Yet the heroes refused to go away. Following the DC revival of the Flash, Archie tried again in the late 1950s with Simon & Kirby’s the Fly, the Jaguar, and a new incarnation of the Shield, featuring the older characters, such as the Black Hood or the Comet, as occasional guests. In the mid-sixties, everybody was hauled out of storage for the “Mighty Comics” sub-imprint and teamed together as The Mighty Crusaders, in a legendarily incompetent imitation of the Marvel style, the clangourous echoes of which still reverberate in fandom’s collective consciousness decades later. The “Red Circle” revival of 1983 was aborted for being “too gritty”, and, despite high-profile creators, including Steranko, Ditko and Weiss, was over by 1985; and yet another relaunch, under the “Spectrum” banner, was terminated weeks before debuting in 1989, leaving partially-completed works by Englehart, Liefeld, Wolfman, Valentino and Kelly Jones homeless.
All this and two separate licensing deals to DC, in the early 1990s as “Impact Comics”, and the 2000s as another “Red Circle”, indicates that the heroes, despite their conspicuous lack of commercial success, have an enduring appeal.
So now the heroes have returned home to Archie Comics again; what’s the difference in their (counts on fingers) … eighth iteration?
Well, it’s already been successfully “trialled” as an Internet app for several months now, an aspect on which a technoklutz like myself is not really qualified to comment, but now they’re gathering the chapters in a dead-tree version, and my initial response – being old enough the remember the characters from their first “revival” – is one of pleasant surprise.
The twist this time is that it’s what’s become known as a “legacy” book, a concept popularised by more recent incarnations of the Justice Society of America, among others, in which successive generations of heroes “pass the torch”.
In this series, all the hundreds of previous stories – saving only the two DC “reboots” and the never-was “Spectrum” – actually “happened” in continuity. Since the 1940s, the Mighty Crusaders have fought the good fight against the forces of evil, and sometime in the latter days of the 20th Century… they won. Facing a new millennium of peace and freedom, the surviving heroes retired, started raising families, and settled down to a well-earned Happy Ever After.
Cue the present day. The offspring and protégés of our heroes, unaware of the olds’ achievements, are sitting about bored witless at yet another reunion, when things are abruptly livened up. One of the past’s deadliest villains crashes the party seeking revenge – and information – from his old enemies. The veteran champions, unarmed and unprepared, fight a valiant delaying action while the Shield gets the kids to a place of safety, then heads back to the fray, only to find that he’s too late; his comrades have vanished. Meanwhile, the youngsters gain some insight into their parents’ past – and their own probable future.
That’s where the first issue leaves it, with our young protagonists not even in possession of the full story, let alone their costumes and powers, but despite some oddities of pacing – presumably brought on by the transition from web-friendly to paper-friendly version – I’m sufficiently cliffhangered to be keen to follow along. Ian Flynn’s script has pace, vitality, a number of amusing nods to the previous continuity which reward people who did read the old series – but doesn’t punish those who didn’t! – and the promise of some intriguing characterisation when things slow down a tad. (The introspective and observant Wyatt Raymond, soon to be our new Web, shows some potential among the younger cast.)
Having praised Flynn’s story, I feel I ought to say something about Ben Bates’ artwork. It’s competent; clear; does the job of facilitating the narrative. But it feels hollow and unfinished, more resembling a movie storyboard than a completed work. Yes, I get that it’s “animated style”, but that doesn’t necessarily preclude an emotional range or vigour – look at Bruce Timm or the late Mike Parobeck, for example.
Visual reservations notwithstanding, New Crusaders is both an undemanding pleasure and a cunningly-crafted “entry-point” for a new generation of comics readers.
Yes, but Mike Parobeck was a rare treasure; I could never put down his run on Justice Society of America. Working on this before his untimely death, it was a labour of love; Mike’s clean lines and cheery artwork made me feel good – a deep yearning for when comics were fun and I played super-heroes in the school playground.
Thank you for this review and historical recap Will; it’s something you do very well. I think you speak for most fan boys who have always loved the Archie ‘Red Circle’ line (for lack of a collective term). As with all technophobic attempts to access the digital version, I just received the usual response “the computer says no – *cough*!!” Imagine my delight with the printed version then.
I want this to succeed because these heroes are just legend and do not deserve to wonder about in limbo. This legacy version is an acceptable proposition as long as the next generation is not wildly different from the first, which is why I have misgivings with characters such as the new Jaguar. I think the quirkiness of the original has been lost; mystical animal powers with a jet pack; as is typically seen with big cats foraging in the wild of course.
Nevertheless I hope the new team does not limit itself to just the six or seven. The whole plethora of heroes available should be explored at some point. Having a whole legion of heroes to call on would be very entertaining, even if it is a mixture of old heroes and new, such as is being achieved with The Shield.
On this issue I think the destruction of the town of Red Circle, as was reportedly established by the older heroes, is a big mistake. The premise was good and would have been interesting to see it unfold in a soap-like manner, as successfully portrayed in ‘Superbia’ by Boom! Studios. This could have been a unique concept as the secret base of operations, with the older generation on site giving advice and guidance to the new, thus pleasing us old fan boys too. I mean I was so ecstatic to see Pow Girl strut her stuff again in one single panel that a little pee came out.
What?
Ha! Yes, I was wondering if anyone would notice Pow-Girl’s one-panel return!
That’s what I do love about this series – Flynn has clearly done his homework, and the book’s shot through with little winks to the older reader.
I declare myself a prejudiced witness – I’ve loved the characters since the early 60’s, when I found the Jaguar’s romantic situation (‘Lois’ (Jill) knows all, and actually *helps* the hero! As do ‘Lana’ (Cat-Girl) and ‘Lori’ (Kree-Nal)) much more mature – in an admittedly absurd stretch of the word ‘mature’ – than the Supes/Lois/Lana triad over at DC, much though I enjoyed those comics.
I agree that Red Circle’s demise (the township, not the imprint) was premature, but I’m hoping that we’ll see some of the aspects you comment on in the numerous ‘flashback’ stories we’re promised.
I do yawn a bit in the direction of the new Jaguar, though – do we really need *another* feline femme, in a comics multiverse already overstocked with Catwoman, Tigress, Cheetah, Black Cat, Tigra, etc., etc., etc? Would it have been such a radical departure to have a female Shield, or Web, or Black Hood?
For those interested in further study of the subject matter, I highly recommend the following website, which lists the entire complex history of the Crusaders universe and exhaustive character biographies; a must-read and source of reference for all fans.
http://www.mightycrusaders.net/handbook.htm
…..and you must read the bio for Rang-A-Tang!
“Rang-A-Tang was so popular in his day he was able to maintain his own fan club”.