The Second Double Life Of Lancelot Strong!

The beautiful cover for Blue Ribbon Comics #5 showcases the great artwork of Jack "King" Kirby, the Shield's co-creator and Rich Buckler, the maestro of Red Circle Comics, the 1980's revival of the MLJ/Archie heroes.

Here's a look at the great poster shot in glorious black and white. Blue Ribbon Comics #5 reprinted in full the debut adventures of Lancelot Strong by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby.

When the MLJ heroes were revived in the 60's, the Lancelot Strong Shield character was not among them, rather the Golden Age Shield (Joe Higgins) took the helm of the assembled lunatics who passed themselves off as heroes in that wild and wooly run.

But in 1983 when the Direct Sales market boom made it possible for Archie to think about bringing their heroes back, they brought back The Mighty Crusaders and this time both Shields were front and center, despite the inherent confusion of that. There is no connection between the two heroes aside from their names and the patriotic gear they wear, but nonetheless they both got the nod from Rich Buckler.

Again they both show up on the second issue's wraparound action fest cover.

The next month Lancelot Strong, Shield got his own book, so he seemed to be the ascendant Shield for the moment. I really like how they call back to the classic look of the original covers from so many decades before.

Both Shields are on the cover of Mighty Crusaders #3 as well, though neither is looking particularly healthy.

But things start to get rocky as the second issue of Lancelot Strong, Shield is also the final issue, sort of. At least he looks vigorous.

That doesn't impact Mighty Crusaders, at least not yet. The knockout punch Lancelot is getting might be symbolic.

But in the newly dubbed Shield-Steel Sterling comic Lancelot Strong faces his Waterloo and passes from this mortal coil, sacrificing himself in proper heroic fashion. Apparently having two Shields was too confusing after all. Despite a few more adventures in the back pages of the Steel Sterling comic Lancelot's number was mostly up. The Joe Higgins version would get quite the push from Red Circle/Archie after the demise of Lancelot.

But for my money, Lancelot Strong has always been the strongest of all the Shields there have been.

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Archie SuperTeens Versus Crusaders!

I have always been a Mighty Crusader fan, especially after the 80's Red Circle days when Rich Buckler tried to revive them. That didn't last that long like all of their revivals, but it stoked my interest in heroes who could and have provoked yawns in fandom. Since then, I've kept my eye open to their periodic resurrections here and there, even popped for a few if the price was right. The latest outburst which caught my eye was this crossover with the Archie SuperTeens.

I really like the latter, supremely goofy but for me thoroughly entertaining. This crossover which occupies two issues (one of the main reasons I popped for it was that it was quickly over) is a charmer. The two covers for the book form a single image, always a nifty selling point for moi. Alas the art is pretty good throughout and the story is fine but there's just not enough hi-jinks for two issues. The Crusaders mostly get represented with some only getting a panel or two at the most. Black Hood and Steel Sterling get the most time.  The others who appear are the Comet, the Shield, Mr. Justice, Inferno, Captain Commando, Bob Phantom, Black Jack, Fox, The Webb, Captain Flag, and Firefly. There are so many Crusaders, and most are really cameos, but this comic yarn reads more like a trailer for the movie which is yet to come. I think I read both issues in under ten minutes which is damn fast even more me. Good but would be better with some more density in the story.

Here are some of the Mighty Crusader number one issues from across the decades. The first one from 1965 actually makes an appearance in the two-part tale above.

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Chilling Adventures In Sorcery!

Behind this typically moody Francesco Francavilla cover are some truly tasty classics from the weird history of Archie Comics. I picked up this volume of Chilling Adventures in Sorcery because it advertised the art of two favorites -- Gray Morrow and Alex Toth. These two along with Vincente Alcazar and Carlos Pino draw most of the stories here with another by Bruce Jones and a page by Frank Thorne. What really surprised me in this black and white volume were the two original issues of the series which featured Sabrina and were done in the classic Archie style by artists Stan Goldberg and Dan DeCarlo. To be honest the B&W format does not maximize these tales, but they are still good to have. On the contrary the B&W approach is ideal for the rest of the more realistic yarns by Morrow and his team. Gray Morrow draws most of these with Alcazar a close second. Both of the contributions by Toth and Thorne appear to be from later issues in the run. Speaking of that I assume and hope that we will get a second volume of this which will give us the remaining issues of the Sorcery run under the Red Circle banner and perhaps the three issues of Mad House which were also done by Morrow and his compatriots.

Here are the covers of the issues which are contained in this tome. We have all stories as far as I can tell along with some text horror tales to boot.

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Buckler Down!

I was much saddened to read of the passing of Rich Buckler. Buckler and I started in comics at about the same time, he as a professional and me as a fan. It was clear from the very beginning that Buckler had consummate skills as an artist and that he had absorbed the lessons of many many comics by the great artists.

In this early days at Marvel, Buckler was called upon to use his skills at mimicry to offer up a style similar to John Buscema on The Avengers and to Jack Kirby on Fantastic Four. He also had a knack for making his artwork resemble that of Neal Adams and it was a somewhat fresh take on that style which cleaved most closely to what I assume was his own distinctive look which he broke out on his creation Deathlok the Demolisher.

Later in his career he became a go-to talent at DC Comics, doing many covers and interiors for the company on titles such as Justice League of America and All-Star Squadron and more. Buckler was the kind of talent you build a company around and that was just the idea he had when he was one of the mainstays in the Red Circle revival of the MLJ heroes in the early days of the Independent market during the 80's. Later he joined Roy Thomas again at Marvel on wonderful limited series which looked at the Human Torch and the Sub-Mariner.

One of my favorite characters from Buckler is "Demon Hunter", a character who first showed up at the short-lived Atlas-Seaboard and then in an independent form called "Bloodwing" and later still at Marvel but going by the name of "Devil-Slayer". Three names but a distinctive look and mission that clearly identified this peripatetic character as the same guy, a man who stood between this world and dark menacing supernatural one.

I got to meet Buckler once at a local convention. And while I have spent more time talking to someone in the checkout line at a grocery, I still remember my interaction with him. He seemed polite but somewhat weary, like a lot of the pros I met that day. Solid talents in their day who had seen the industry leave them behind a bit. As a guy who is closing in on retirement myself, I very much identify with that emotion. Rich Buckler struck me as a talent who was equal parts artist and craftsman, who hit his marks and produced quality work on a regular schedule, the ideal talent for the comics industry.

Here is a gallery of some of my favorite Buckler covers.

Rest in peace Mr. Buckler.

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