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.


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.

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.