New Crusaders: Legacy TPPublisher: Archie Comics/Red Circle
Release Date: July 2013
Price: $16.99
Creator(s): Various
Format: 192 pgs., Full-Color, Trade Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-9369-7522-8
Age Rating: Not listed by publisher
ICv2 Rating: 3 Stars out of 5
The Shield pre-dated Captain America, with his first stories in 1940, and was bulletproof and strong. The Web was a costumed detective. The Comet, another Golden Ager, had a main weapon which is a disintegration beam. [There IS no stun setting on it.] Other Crusaders [The Fly, Fly Girl, The Jaguar etc.] were created over the decades, and were written by a wide range of folks, including Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel. The stories here tie in to both the modern revival of the series and the 1980s versions, which had outstanding art but rarely the writing to match.
The modern premise is that the children, real or adopted, of the 1980s characters have had to take up their parents' roles after most of the older heroes fell in battle. Unfortunately, the stories chosen to illustrate the lives and times of the 1980s characters were disjointed, failing to even identify some of the characters. In addition, the stories offered some odd moral lessons for the readers. For instance, in order to clear The Shield, who was framed for killing a thug while breaking up a robbery, The Comet kills a bunch of different thugs. Maybe I missed something in ethics class, but…
Still, the artwork by Gray Morrow, Alex Toth, Carmine Infantino and others is a real treat, and the stories provide background for readers unfamiliar with the parents of the new generation. The hints about the new series were tantalizing, and might also lead fans of the old series to try the new one. This volume fleshes out the history of a superhero universe, imperfectly but readably.
--Nick Smith: Librarian Technician, Community Services, for the Pasadena Public Library in California.
