MLJ Magazines MLJ's first comic book published in November 1939 was
Blue Ribbon Comics, with the first half of the magazine in full color and the second half in red and white tints. In January 1940,
Pep Comics debuted with the
Shield, created by writer and managing editor
Harry Shorten and artist
Irv Novick. The Shield was one of the first superheroes with a costume based upon United States patriotic iconography, first appearing 14 months earlier than
Joe Simon and
Jack Kirby's
Captain America. MLJ's Golden Age heroes also included the
Black Hood, who also appeared in pulp magazines and a radio show; and The Wizard, who shared a title with the Shield.
Top-Notch Comics (featuring, among others, The Wizard, Black Hood, and
The Firefly) was launched in December 1941. The Archie character soon dominated MLJ publications, pushing out the superheroes. For instance, at first, the cover feature of
Pep Comics was The Shield; he and The Hangman shared the cover with Archie in
Pep Comics #36 (February, 1943). Archie increasingly was given the cover until issue #51 (August, 1944), when he took over the cover permanently. The company was later (in 1946) renamed after the character. •
Hangman Comics (Spring 1942-Fall 1943) - 8 issues; numbering continues from
Special Comics, and numbering continues with
Black Hood Comics •
Jackpot Comics (Spring 1941-Spring 1943) - 9 issues •
Pep Comics (Jan. 1940-Oct. 1947) - 64 issues; becomes all-humor after issue #65 •
Sam Hill Private Eye (1950-1952) - 7 issues •
Shield-Wizard Comics (Summer 1940-Spring 1944) - 13 issues •
Top Notch Comics (December 1939-May 1942) - 27 issues; numbering continues with
Top Notch Laugh Comics and
Laugh Comix •
Zip Comics (February 1940-Summer 1944) - 47 issues; became mostly humor after issue #35
One-Shot Comics Titles •
Adventures of the Dover Boys (1940) - 1 issues •
Black Swan Comics (1945) - 1 issues; Reprint for other MLJ Comics
Archie Adventure Series Archie's
Silver Age relaunch of its superheroes under the Archie Adventure Series line featured two new characters,
The Jaguar and
The Fly, as well as a
new version of the Shield, inspired by DC's revivals of their 1940s characters. The Archie Adventure Series line debuted with the June 1959 release of
The Double Life of Private Strong #1, by creators
Joe Simon and
Jack Kirby, which also introduced The Fly, also by Simon and Kirby.
DC Comics' lawyers, citing similarity to
Superman, forced Archie Comics to stop publishing
Private Strong after two issues.
The Adventures of the Jaguar began in September 1961 and ran for 15 issues until November 1963. took over the Adventure titles in the mid-1960s as general imitation of
Marvel Comics and the
Batman TV show camp;
Superman creator
Jerry Siegel was brought in to be the imprint's main writer, along with Marvel Comics artist
Paul Reinman. The first issue of
Fly Man, #31, brought the company its first super hero team (similar to
Marvel's
Avengers), The
Mighty Crusaders, made up of Fly Man, a newly revived version of
The Shield,
The Black Hood (who had appeared occasionally in
Adventures of The Fly), and a newly revived version of
The Comet (who had appeared a few months before in the final issue of
Adventures of The Fly). Several stories from this period were published in the mass-market paperback
High Camp Super-Heroes by
Belmont Books in 1966 (Belmont was owned by the same company that owned Archie), which featured an introduction by Siegel, as well as in a 1966 deluxe special,
Super Heroes Versus Super Villains. The name "Red Circle" was based on the
previous business that Michael Silberkleit's father had with
Martin Goodman, with
Gray Morrow as editor. With issue number 6
Chilling Adventures was renamed
Red Circle Sorcery and lasted until issue number 11 (Feb. 1975). In 1978 and 1979, Archie published two
digests collecting their superhero materials from the 1960s. The first was titled ''Archie's Super Hero Special
. The second issue was titled Archie's Super Hero Comic Digest Magazine
, and is notable for publishing the previously unpublished revamp of the Black Hood done by Gray Morrow and Neal Adams. In March 1983, the Red Circle brand was resurrected with first issue of a new volume of Mighty Crusaders. That title lasted 13 issues and led to many new titles under the Red Circle Comics banner, including The Fly
(nine issues, May 1983-October, 1984), Black Hood
(three issues, June–October, 1983), Lancelot Strong, The Shield
(two issues, June–August, 1983, before becoming Shield – Steel Sterling
for issue #3 [Dec. 1983] and finally Steel Sterling
for issues #4–7 [Jan.-July, 1984]), The Original Shield
(four issues, April–Oct., 1984), Blue Ribbon
(14 issues, including new material and reprints of older material; Nov. 1983-Dec. 1984) and The Comet'' (two issues of a three-issue
miniseries, October–December, 1983). Though this 1980s incarnation featured
Rich Buckler's work prominently, it also featured contributions from others, including artists
Jim Steranko,
Alex Toth,
Steve Ditko,
Rudy Nebres,
Alan Weiss,
Carmine Infantino,
Dick Ayers,
John Severin and
Pat Boyette.
Archie Adventure Series revival With the February 1984 issues, the Red Circle line was renamed the
Archie Adventure Series,
DC Comics licensing Impact Comics DC Comics licensed the Red Circle characters and revamped them for publishing under the
Impact Comics imprint from 1991 to 1992. This attempt also included a super team, called simply "The Crusaders".
Red Circle line ,
Alitha Martinez and
Ryan Jampole at a September 8, 2012 signing for
New Crusaders No. 1 at
Midtown Comics in Manhattan. DC was granted the license to the Red Circle characters in 2008. DC planned to inject the characters into the
DC Universe and tapped writer
J. Michael Straczynski.
The line folded in late 2010. In July 2011, it was revealed that DC no longer had the rights to them.
Red Circle digital imprint Archie Comics announced at the New York Comic Con in October 2011 that its superhero line will return as an all-digital line under a subscription model with back issues archive access. This was announced as the Red Circle line starting with the New Crusader comic in 2012. The Red Circle Comics app provides readers access to a new chapter of the
New Crusaders comic, as well as the Red Circle library of comics from the previous 70 years for a 99 cent weekly subscription price. In 2012, New Crusaders was followed up with
Lost Crusade: Prelude, a free one-shot focusing on the lives of the original Mighty Crusaders which debuted on August 29 through the Red Circle Comics app at RedCircleComics.com. Ian Flynn had pitched the idea as "I was really excited by all the prospective stories to be told between the end of the '80s series and our relaunch... 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?" The first arc of New Crusaders was also printed.
Chuck Dixon was announced as writing the second story arc of
Lost Crusade and
New Crusaders: Dark Tomorrow was announced for May 2013, but neither was released. A five-issue
The Fox miniseries by
Mark Waid and
Dean Haspiel began in October 2013, with
The Shield back-up strips by J.M. DeMatteis
Black Hood debuted in February 2015, followed by
The Fox, continuing from the digital Red Circle line in April 2015, with
The Shield debuting in September 2015 after being delayed. A digital exclusive,
Sam Hill: In The Crosshairs, was released in October 2015 featuring former NYPD detective Sam Hill. However, that May, Liefeld announced his departure from the project, after objecting to a variant cover being publicized by its artist that allegedly spoiled the end of
The Shield one-shot.
David Gallaher was then brought in to script a new story for the one-shot based on Liefeld's completed artwork. Despite the creative change,
The Mighty Crusaders: The Shield #1 officially sold out at Diamond Comic Distributors. After revamping The Fox for Red Circle Comics, and later Dark Circle Comics,
Dean Haspiel returned to script a new one-shot titled
The Fox: Family Values, published in May 2022. That November, Archie Comics released the one-shot
Bob Phantom, which re-imagined the superhero's alter ego, Walt Whitney, as a struggling journalist who daydreams of a secret adventurous life. In November 2023, Archie Comics rebooted the Red Circle superhero,
Darkling (Darla Lang), with a one-shot by
Sarah Kuhn and Carola Borelli. In February 2024, writer Keryl Brown Ahmed and artist Tango re-introduced readers to The Jaguar (Ivette Velez), who previously appeared in the 2012 mini-series,
New Crusaders, in the one-shot
The Jaguar. The first Jaguar, Ralph Hardy, also made a special appearance in the one-shot comic. ==Characters==