by Various (Author)
Publisher : Archie Comics; First Printing edition
(December 1, 2003)
Softcover, 96 pages
"It was the 1960s. Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and
Steve Ditko became overnight 'number one with a bullpen' success stories as the
Marvel superhero style took the comic book world by storm. By January 1966, the
ultra-camp Pop-Art exaggeration of Batman on TV exploded across America's
culturally 'vast wasteland', imbuing art, design, and clothing styles with new
Pop sensibilities - along with assorted 'Pows', 'Zaps' and 'Whams'. These were
wild times! Super-heroes were in and everyone was jumping on the bandwagon.
Charleton, Dell/Gold Key, Tower, ACG, Harvey and others leaped into the
super-hero business, hoping to emulate not only DC's prosperity, but especially
Marvel's torrid success in the changing marketplace. And then, it was Archie
Comic Group's turn…" from the introduction
They're not superheroes, they're ultra-heroes. That's
the difference Archie comics put on their superheroes. Written by Jerry Siegel
of Superman fame, this series reincarnated several old school heroes - many
created by the legendary team of Kirby and Simon - The Shield, the first
patriotic themed superhero; The Black Hood, and The Comet, while teaming them
up with Fly-Man and Fly-Girl. Fly-Man being another Kirby and Simon creation
called The Fly, but his name was changed to be more like that of Spiderman.
This book doesn't actually contain any reprints of The Mighty Crusaders comic
except for the first issue, but mainly consists of issues 31 - 33 of Fly-Man.
This is after all the origin of the team.
Don't expect too much from these issues. They were
written in the 1960s aimed at the thirteen year old market and at a time when
the 60s Batman show was at full hypes, meaning comics were all about camp then.
This the writing is deliberately over-blown and purple, with much of the
dialogue describing what was happening in the panel. Granted this wasn't much
different than any other super comic, but it's laid on extra thick here. The
comics are very much self-aware of their campiness. While the parallels to the
Avengers are obvious, the real test of any super comic is the villains. And
they are the campiest bunch you might ever see. We have The Spider, a very
similar creation to a character that Siegal wrote in England Alias the Spider;
Eterno the Tyrant, the former king of sunken Atlantis, disturbed from a five
million year sleep; The Destructor, a weird science villain with a sonic
weapon; The Hangman and The Wizard, two golden-age heroes turned villain; and
The Brain Emperor a weak character from another planet with psychic powers And
who I forgot about the second I turned the final page.
The Mighty Crusaders didn't last long, only about
seven issues. Fly-Man didn't last much longer. A victim of market
oversaturation and its own camp tone. While the Batman series was a success, it
seems most comic collectors wanted their heroes to take themselves and their
situations seriously. Camp is only fun short term.
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