Longtime Sonic the Hedgehog Writer Ian Flynn Rebooting The Mighty Crusaders

08/08/2017 08:10 pm EDT

Archie Comics will reboot The Mighty Crusaders, bringing the Red Circle heroes super-team over to their Dark Circle superhero imprint in a new series from writer Ian Flynn and artist Kelsey Shannon.

Flynn has a long history with Archie, having written many of the company's licensed video game comics like Mega Man and Sonic the Hedgehog under the Archie Action imprint. Since Archie lost the publication rights to the Sega properties (Sonic is headed to IDW Publishing, per a Comic Con announcement), Flynn has continued to work with Archie, notaby as Mark Waid's co-writer on Jughead.

Two generations of heroes including The Shield, The Comet, The Web, Jaguar, Darkling, Firefly, and Steel Sterling must learn how to work together as they join forces to battle deadly new threats.

If that sounds anything like DC's JSA title from about 15 years ago, it's probably no concidence:

"The Mighty Crusaders is one of those dream projects that you always hope for but never dare expect will actually happen. The best of the golden age through the lens of the present," said artist Kelsey Shannon.

The Dark Circle books have been fairly dark of late, with Duane Swierczynski's The Black Hood being the only consistently-published title in the stable. Flynn brings a steady hand and a fan-favorite style to the series -- but what might be more interesting is if he brings the universe back down to a PG tone from its current PG-13/R.

"I'm really excited to return to the Dark Circle heroes and pit them against the greatest challenges they've ever faced," said Flynn. "I think fans of the classic and newer Crusaders will enjoy our new, high-paced approach to their world!"

The last take on The Mighty Crusaders was a digital-first series Archie published in 2015. Flynn was one of numerous writers attached to that iteration of the project, which happened around the same time Archie traded in its Red Circle for Dark.

The Mighty Crusaders is one of three new Archie titles set to launch in the next several months which were announced today, including a reboot of Cosmo the Merry Martian for Archie Action, also written by Flynn, and B&V Vixens, a biker gang-themed Betty & Veronica taking place outside of the typical Archie Universe.

"Archie can do anything," said Archie Comics CEO/Publisher Jon Goldwater. "It's not just one kind of comic, show or concept. You can do a horror Archie story, you can do a superhero Archie story, you can do a drama or comedy. Archie Comics has a wide, diverse and multi-faceted library of characters and we're trying new things with our IP in order to keep fans engaged."

You can see the cover to The Mighty Crusaders #1, seemingly an homage to Jim Lee's 2011 cover to Justice League #1, in the attached image gallery.

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