Broken Frontier

After a short-lived experiment giving them their own imprint in the early 1990s, DC's second time around with the Archie Red Circle characters saw them fully integrated into the DC Universe last year. Beginning with a series of one-shots from J.M. Straczynski that reimagined the heroes for a new audience, they quickly graduated into their own ongoing books The Shield and The Web. Despite critical acclaim the books couldn't quite find their place in a challenging marketplace and both finish this month with their tenth issues.

However, while one chapter in the Red Circle saga has closed, another is opening. Following on the heels of the recent The Mighty Crusaders Special #1 is July's The Mighty Crusaders miniseries which reintroduces and redefines a team first seen back in the '60s. Broken Frontier debriefed Red Circle mainstays Eric S. Trautmann (The Shield) and Brandon Jerwa (Inferno and The Fox co-features in The Shield) on the DCU's latest military super-team...

BROKEN FRONTIER: The heroes who comprise the Mighty Crusaders and the current Red Circle “sub-universe” have a rich, if chequered, history. This goes back some decades but is notably marked by sporadic bursts of publication followed by years in limbo, with their last major outing in DC’s !mpact line in the early ‘90s. Were either of you long-term fans of the characters? Or did becoming involved with the Red Circle line’s group of writers necessitate some solid hours of research?

ERIC S. TRAUTMANN: I was aware of some of the earlier incarnations of these characters -- The Web occasionally cropped up in the odd Archie digest or two, when I was a kid -- but it was the !mpact line that really clicked with me. (I was particularly fond of the !mpact Jaguar.) They had such a sense of fun that some of the doom-and-gloom of the regular DC line of the time was, for me anyway, missing.  

BRANDON JERWA: I learned about the characters through the Remco action figure line. I was 9 or 10 when they came out, and the kind of kid who really got into the role-playing aspect of action figures. I kept continuity notes, I kid you not! I’d never heard of the Mighty Crusaders, so as far as I was concerned, these were cool-looking superheroes that I could do anything I wanted with.

I bought all the figures I could find (I’m pretty sure the only I never had was the Shield, ironically) and they were a blast to play with. And it’s absolutely true – my favorite was the Fox, one of the characters I would end up writing for DC. As the years went on, I eventually became aware of the huge legacy of these characters, and it kind of blew me away.

BF: With the final issues of The Shield and The Web this month what could be called the first phase of the DCU Red Circle revamp is nearly completed now. The Mighty Crusaders, which brings many of the reimagined heroes together in their own super-hero group, marks stage 2. The obvious question first – what is the Crusaders’ role in the DC Universe and what marks them out as decidedly different to the other DC super-teams?

EST: I'm going to steal a line from our editor, Rachel [Gluckstern]. In the DCU, you've got the premier, big-league heroes of the JLA; the legacy/family unit of the JSA; the outlaw heroes of the Outsiders; the young turks of the Titans, and so on. The Crusaders is very much a U.S. government superhero team (which, because it's the government, is brought into being for purely political purposes--in many ways, the Crusaders are a P.R. exercise, which just happens to be staffed by people genuinely interested in and able to do some real good).

The cover art for The Mighty Crusaders Special and the first and third issues of the miniseries. Top right - cover art for The Mighty Crusaders #2.     

BF: The recent The Mighty Crusaders Special gave us an intro point for the team’s formation with a five-way team-up between the Shield, the Hangman, Inferno, the Web and the Comet. When the limited series debuts in July who will still be on the team, who will be on the sidelines and who have we yet to see join?
 
BJ: The five you mentioned will be around, of course, although Hangman’s not really much of a team player. We’ll be dealing with that situation within the story, but that’s all I’m going to say about that right now. There are definitely a couple of surprises concerning the Hangman’s exact role in the team.

The main roster will be filled out by Fly-Girl and War Eagle, two female characters that we’re really excited about. Matt Sturges is actually giving the Red Circle readers a glimpse of Fly-Girl in the final issue of The Web. He’s come up with a story that will wrap up his plotlines, and help move things forward for the launch of our book. Win-win.

Oh, and that guy in the Fox suit is going to be around as well, as will a certain classic DCU character that has already appeared in the Red Circle books.

BF: What more can you tell us about the all-new version of Fly-Girl? And are there any more hints you can drop about the War Eagle character who has a familiar name for MLJ fan veterans but would appear to be a brand new character?

EST: I wish we had the space to do a whole War Eagle book; she's an older generation product of a CADMUS project, in simplest terms. Beyond that, I'd like to save some of her origin stuff as a surprise.  

BJ: Yeah, we’re really happy with our girls, and I wish we had more time to explore them. Okay, maybe that sounds wrong. Truthfully, I’ll be shocked and a little hurt if they don’t become instant favorites for the readers.

As for Fly-Girl, her origin is also a bit of a secret, but all will be revealed in the pages of The Web. She’s a perfect foil for Web, and just a bright spark in general as far as the team goes. I could write her all day and still not do enough with her. She’s fun and sassy, but she’s no lightweight; this is a whip-smart, assertive young woman who can really go toe-to-toe with the toughest guys on the team and the baddest of the bad guys.

The final issue of The Shield and cover art for The Web #10 which introduces the Crusaders' Fly-Girl. Far right is the alternate version of The Shield #1 cover-featuring Brandon's Inferno co-feature.

BF: Advance solicitations for the first three issues are very guarded as to who the Crusaders will come into conflict with. Can you elaborate at all as to the nature of the threat they face? How directly does it tie into events in The Mighty Crusaders Special?

BJ: It’s weird, actually, because there is a huge dead-giveaway at the end of The Mighty Crusaders Special, but I literally haven’t seen or heard even one person comment on it. And to think, I argued against it because I was afraid it would spoil everything!

Ultimately, we really can’t say. I know it sucks to get the “classified-secret” answers in an interview, but our whole story is based around a massive conspiracy that ties right into the past, present and future of the DCU. There won’t be any mystery about what I mean by the end of the first issue of the mini-series, though. It’s all there.

BF: For those who have been following since the beginning there’s been an ongoing background of hints and clues to the characters’ links to each other that can be traced back to the JMS Red Circle one-shots. Will this series finally enlighten us to the full nature of those relationships, the conspiracy that appears to be at the heart of things and what possible connections it has with Project: Shield, Group Epsilon, Black Seven and the Global Concern?

BJ: Wow! You’ve actually been reading these books very carefully, haven’t you? We like to reward the readers, and we have a particular appreciation for the detail-oriented folks like you. There are very few aspects of the Red Circle mythology that could be considered casual additions.

BF: While we’re talking unresolved plotlines there are, of course, quite a few that readers are anxious to discover the answers to from the various features that ran in The Shield and The Web. For my own part, the mystery of Inferno’s changing physical appearance and his fractured memories alongside the questions surrounding the Shield’s father and the Hangman’s mission are the most intriguing. Not to forget the dangling loose end of King Faraday’s interest in Frank Verrano/Inferno… Are we likely to see many of these threads answered in the six issues of this miniseries?

EST: YES. Yes, you can expect to see those major threads being addressed by the end of the series.

     The long history of the Crusaders highlighted - their debut appearance in the 1965 Archie Comics' The Mighty Crusaders #1, the 1983 return under the Red Circle branding and DC's 1992 revamp from their Impact imprint.

BF: What have art team Julian Lopez and John Lucas brought to the feel of the book’s interiors and how much of a thrill is it seeing those dynamic and striking covers for the run from Stanley “Artgerm” Lau?

BJ: The Red Circle line has really benefited from some stellar art and design work, and this series will be no exception. We’re still at the early stages, but I can tell you that the first issue is full of big, BIG superhero action that looks like it’s going to pop off the page and punch you in the face. Heck, I can’t promise you it won’t, so consider yourself warned.

BF: The book is a six-issue miniseries. Are there plans for more Red Circle projects at this stage? And what will fans of the DC Universe be missing out on if they don’t pick up The Mighty Crusaders #1 in July?

EST: Honestly, I'm too focused on the miniseries right now to be thinking about what's next. What we're attempting here is to both pay off for the readers who've stuck around since the beginning, as well as providing a nice, clean, accessible jump-on point for new readers looking for something just a little bit different. It's a big story, with big action, funny banter, daring heroes, dastardly villains--that modernized Silver Age four-color stuff people responded well to in The Mighty Crusaders Special. That's the hope, at least.  

BJ: What he said. Obviously, we’ve invested a lot into these characters, and we’d love to see them continue. If The Mighty Crusaders can find its legs in the marketplace, maybe we can extend the shelf life of these wonderful heroes and villains. You really can’t predict that kind of thing. Like Eric said, though, we’re just concentrating on the now for…uh, now.

BF: And, finally Brandon and Eric, do you have any other upcoming projects outside the Red Circle you would like to share with the Broken Frontier readership?

EST:  I was just tapped to write four issues of Red Sonja for Dynamite Entertainment, and it has been an absolute joy so far. Folks who've enjoyed my military-themed work will find a lot to dig on here: mercenary armies clashing, with a sword-wielding heroine smack in the middle of it. 

BJ: I am also working for Dynamite at the moment (as I have many, many times before), writing the Stargate: Vala Mal Doran mini-series. The first issue is out now, so if you’re an SG-1 fan, I hope you’ll give it a shot.

Beyond that, I have an as-yet-unannounced short story starring one of my top five favorite DCU characters, so I’m pretty excited about that.

The Mighty Crusaders #1 goes on sale July 14 from DC Comics. You can follow Brandon Jerwa on Twitter here and Eric S. Trautmann here.