Deadpool Creator Rob Liefeld Doing New Mighty Crusaders Series With Archie Comics

Rob Liefeld has drawn Captain America and the Fighting American during his long career in comics — and now he’s poised to draw The Shield, another red, white, and blue golden age hero. This time, the gig isn’t with Marvel but with Archie Comics. Liefeld will write and draw Mighty Crusaders, a four-issue series in stores next year from the publisher and centering on the titular superhero team. Archie, best known for teen drama, comedy, and horror like Archie, Jughead, and The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, announced the project today, and shared some of Liefeld’s early art for the book.

According the publisher, the four-issue series, slated to launch next year, will reimagine Archie’s vast and iconic library of superheroes, including characters like the Shield, the Comet, the Jaguar, Fly-Girl, and more. Liefeld, best known for creating Deadpool, recently took on an IDW series featuring G.I. Joe‘s Snake Eyes, which has been a huge commercial hit.

Archie also hopes that Mighty Crusaders — a team that has seen a number of creative shifts and reboots in the last ten years or so — will finally reach a modern audience with a superstar name like Liefeld on board. While the publisher has never been known primarily for its superhero stories, the feeling is that comic fans have seen through Afterlife With Archie and its ilk, and TV fans have seen through Riverdale and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, that Archie is more than meets the eye.

“When I learned that Rob — a creator of the highest caliber with a long, sterling track record — was a fan of our characters, I knew we had to act fast,” said Archie Comics CEO/Publisher Jon Goldwater in a statement. “Along with Marvel and DC, Archie Comics is one of the few media companies with an entire catalogue of superheroes dating back to the earliest days of comics, that are beloved and bursting with potential. I knew right away that Rob Liefeld was the person to make them shine again. This series will remind people why these characters matter, and put them in the A-list, where they have always belonged.”

The preview art, which you can see some of here, seems to lean heavily on the side of The Shield. That matches Liefeld’s first comments on the project.

“I’ve been chomping at the bit to work with the folks at Archie and do something with these legendary characters,” said Liefeld, who has been open about the role of something being cool to him as a kid has played in helping him pick recent projects. “The Shield is the first patriotic comic book icon, pre-dating Captain America. These are the original comic book superheroes, with a glorious history behind them. I’m so psyched to tell this story and turn my fans on to these characters!”

Watch for more information on Mighty Crusaders in early 2021.