By Rik Offenberger & Paul Castiglia

MLJ Magazines, Inc., founded by Maurice Coyne, Louis Silberkleit, and John L. Goldwater, began publishing comics in 1939. Starting with Blue Ribbon Comics, the MLJ heroes have appeared in six different universes that were connected by the “Blue Ribbon.” Last week in Scoop, we chronicled the first three universes, now our coverage continues with the fourth through sixth universes.

Fourth Universe

As comics experienced a boom the early 1990s, Archie licensed their heroes to DC Comics. The new line was called “Impact! Comics.” In general, it was a dark age for the tone and style of many comics, but the Impact line wasn’t dark at all. Instead, DC Comics wanted an all-age line to bring in younger readers who they hoped would then “graduate” from Impact to the mainline DC titles as they became older. Mike Gold was to edit the line and he had great fondness for the characters.

This idea was very appealing to Archie’s Michael Silberkleit. He saw his company as an entry point for younger readers. There was a slogan at Archie Comics that “Our Comics Are Reader Breeders” because they were proud that children learned to read with Archie. The line was launched in 1991 with four titles: The Comet and The Legend of the Shield in July, followed by The Fly #1 and Jaguar #1 in August. While all the characters were updated, the Jaguar was notable because of a gender change from male to female (Archie continued the concept of a female Jaguar in later comics once the licensing deal ended).

The line did well and in September 1991 they added The Web, which was the biggest departure from the original concept. While the Comet, Shield, and Fly were reworked updates of the original heroes, and the Jaguar featured a gender swap, the Web had nothing to do with the original character whatsoever. Now the Web was an organization with many members, emulating Marvel’s S.H.I.E.L.D.

By December 1991, The Black Hood joined the mix, followed in May 1992 with the MLJ heroes united as The Crusaders. There was a Winter Special, Annuals and even a three-volume Who’s Who cataloging all the MLJ heroes in their new Impact! roles, edited by Bob Kahan and written by Mark Waid.

In February 1993, The Crucible miniseries by Waid and Joe Quesada was created to transition the MLJ heroes from an all-ages line into something more in line with DC Comics’ older audience under editor Jim Owsley.

As things geared up for this relaunch, there was trouble in paradise. Quesada left the project and Silberkleit didn’t like the new direction that Owsley was taking the MLJ Heroes. They were drifting too far away from their Archie roots. As a result, Silberkleit asked for the line to be canceled and returned to Archie. The Crucible had to be rewritten mid-series going from a launch pad for Impact! 2.0 to a conclusion of the entire line.

Fifth Universe

While The Crucible came to an end, that didn’t completely spell the end for the MLJ heroes at DC Comics. They were licensed again and came back to DC for a 2009 line of comics with the premise of integrating them with DC’s stable of heroes… but not before one false start.

After spending six years writing Spider-Man, J. Michael Straczynski headed to DC to write Batman. Only he didn’t want to deal with DC’s continuity. So, it was decided that he would write the Brave & the Bold starring Batman teaming up with different MLJ heroes each issue. He described his place in the DC universe as “An apartment just outside DC continuity.”

Deals were signed between DC Comics and Archie Comics. There was an announcement at the San Diego Comic-Con with art featuring Batman and the MLJ Heroes. The comics went into production. However, after two issues of Brave & the Bold were completed, work on the movie The Changeling took Straczynski away from comics. Those issues were never published; alternate stories featuring DC characters replaced the MLJ relaunch plans. Those plans, though, weren’t shelved for long.

Straczynski soon returned to comics, and DC decided to go in another direction with the MLJ Heroes. They launched with a series of one-shots by Straczynski, followed by two series: The Web and The Shield by young, fresh creators. Straczynski produced a “bible” for the heroes, but his return was short-lived. Both he and Batman left the project. The smaller launch without Batman failed to impress the readers at DC and the two titles were folded into one comic as the new line became the Mighty Crusaders. It ended up with a very short life at DC this time. Elements from the Web series and the Webhost could later be seen in DC’s Batman, Inc. where Batman would license his brand the same way the Web had done in this DC incarnation.

Sixth Universe

Returning back home to Archie, the MLJ heroes transitioned from the “aughts” to the 2010s by entering “the Dark Circle.” It was a slow entry. Starting with young, second generation characters, Archie relaunched the MLJ heroes in a new Red Circle line. The New Crusaders met with tremendous critical success, mixing an animated aesthetic with some very serious consequences, including prison riots and heroes who died. However, the critical success did not turn into sales success and the second New Crusaders mini-series was canceled before it shipped. In came the Fox, who revived the Red Circle line and embraced Archie’s humor as well as the MLJ Comics history. The Fox miniseries was successful and a different take on the way serious superheroes blended with humor.

Editorial changes moved the line from Red Circle to Dark Circle. With Dark Circle, the idea was to remake the heroes in a series of mini-series. First up was Black Hood, who went from a happy-go-lucky guy who rode a mechanical horse in the Silver Age to a drug addicted cop with a disfigured face. This was a departure from the original character, but it was also a way of showing that Archie was committed to telling high-quality, hard-hitting stories that were as contemporary as any other publisher.

The Fox had a second miniseries which showed that the Dark Circle line was about putting the right creator with the right character. The Fox was comedy and The Black Hood was crime drama, both exciting to fans and different than the comics from DC and Marvel.

Next up was a different presentation for the Shield. Victoria Adams was the new Shield. A five-issue miniseries was planned but with artistic challenges, the mini-series faced delays and was reduced from five issues to four. Likewise, the new Hangman series was shortened to four issues and the Web series, although announced, never launched.

The heroes came back together for the launch of another on-going Mighty Crusaders monthly comic combining the original versions of the heroes with their New Crusaders versions as well as introducing a new update of Darkling, the female sorcerous hero last seen in the original Red Circle Mighty Crusaders. Shortly after its launch the on-going Mighty Crusaders series switched to a mini-series and was compiled into a paperback edition still in print at this time.

Following this was another miniseries in which Archie’s Super Teens (the core cast of teens from Riverdale High with their own superpowers, such as Archie as Pureheart the Powerful, Betty as Super Teen, Jughead as Capt. Hero, etc.) meet the Mighty Crusaders. It is in this mini-series that the MLJ heroes return to their classic form. 

Though at times it may be in limbo, or even on life support, one thing the MLJ Universe can never be called is a “Dead Universe.” It always has a living, breathing pulse, with a limitless cast of characters and ideas flexible enough to change with the times and mold to editorial needs and interpretations over and over again. It is the ultimate phoenix of comic universes, having been reborn over and over during its 80-year history.

There are very few universes of superheroes that have remained in publication for 80 years, and while it has not been a continuous monthly road for the MLJ heroes, it is only momentary hibernation between each incarnation. We can hardly wait to see what’s next for these eternally iconic heroes.