The Crusaders

I mentioned at least a couple of those (as well as Crusader Rabbit) in my article on the Jack Chick team, which I posted last month.

I think that word, as a name for a superhero team, is probably obsolete now. Unless the villains are part of a team called The Jihadists.

Quack, Don

Jack Chick still reprints their Crusaders with the usual changes in material (such as audio cassette tapes replaced with MP3s)!

J.A.P.

I'm glad to hear Jack Chick Enterprises is still around and still updating the material. The world needs such outfits, if only to prove freedom of speech and religion still exist.

Quack, Don

For some reason, DC-according to an announcement quoted in the DC database "wiki" from DC Nation no.126, has reacquired rights to the "Archie Comics Superheroes" aka the /MLJ/Red Circle/Radio comics etc line.
Only this time they will be a part of the DC mainstream. How they will do this wasn't explained, nor why, at a time that Birds of Prey, Nightwing, and, Robin are being canceled, they are bothering to acquire rights to characters that never were great successes-financially, or, creatively.
But then, I'm not a part of DC management, nor do I pretend to be, so I guess I don't have understand their reasoning.

I can't figure it either. But then, DC has always been acquisitive of superhero character sets, from All-American to Wildstorm. Didn't they buy out Comico a few years ago? I'm surprised they didn't buy Marvel when it was bankrupt. Geez, like there aren't enough no-account superheroes who haven't been seen in years kicking around their backdrop.

I wonder if they'll revive The Mighty Crusaders under that name. And if they'll have a bunch of villains called The Jihadists. (It'd be hard to tell them apart -- Bush once called what he did a "crusade", but he sent Americans over there to stir up jihadists.)

Quack, Don

The logic behind the decision is murky, DC has access to hundreds of characters and most of the ones they have that aren't from their original staple they have mangled beyond recognition ie the Marvel Family, the Charlton Action heroes and the majority of the Quality characters. So, I wonder what they hope to gain from these characters that they haven't already squandered with the ones they have? And, on top of that, they are bringing back the Milestone characters as part of their mainstream continuity universe as well.

However, I'd disagree with saying they were never creative nor successful. Their runs in the golden-age were successful. The Shield was the first hero to be designed along patriotic themes. The Black Hood had his own radio show and pulp magazine (though neither lasted very long, most characters never made it past the comics much less into two different venues). Irv Novick's Simon-Kirby inspired artwork and Fujitani's Hangman tales, most of their GA superhero comics hold up very well, a lot better than the majority of the comics of the time.

The terms "crusade" and "crusaders" does mean more than the Crusades. The words are part of standard every-day english used generically for anyone with a strong sense of mission and purpose, usually to address a societal wrong such as MADD being crusaders against drinking and driving. Just as the word "mission" doesn't automatically imply Christian overtones though it has two specific meanings in their lexicons.