- American Crusader
Superherobox|
caption="Thrilling Comics" #22
comic_color=background:#c0c0c0
character_name=American Crusader
real_name=Archibald "Archie" Masters
publisher=Nedor Comics AC Comics America's Best Comics
debut="Thrilling Comics " #19
creators=
alliance_color=background:#ffc0c0
alliances=AC Comics:Sentinels of Justice
ABC: SMASH
aliases=
powers=superstrength, flight, superspeed, invulnerability to bullets, and electromagnetic pulse generation|The American Crusader is a
fictional character and asuperhero who originally appeared in "Thrilling Comics " #19 (Better Publications, 1941). The character was revived in the modern age inFemforce 59 byAC Comics and inTom Strong #11 byAlan Moore andChris Sprouse .Character history
His
secret identity is Professor Archibald (Archie) Masters, an astronomy professor at an unnamed university in theEastern United States .The character debuted in 1941, his mousy alter-ego being similar to that of
Superman 'sClark Kent identity. He created a device called an atom smasher, and, inevitably, the experiment went awry. Instead of killing him, the accident blasted him with radiation, which endowed him with various superhuman abilities. He used these powers to fight crime as the American Crusader.Prof. Masters had a secretary named Jane Peters. The Crusader had a teen sidekick named Mickey Martin.
The Crusader appeared in the following titles in the Golden Age:
*"America's Best Comics" 6
*"Thrilling Comics" 19-35, 37-39, 41Revivals
AC Comics
The American Crusader, along with other heroes from
Nedor Comics , were revived byAC Comics through theVault of Heroes , a suspended animation program for superheroes. He was revived and joined theSentinels of Justice .America's Best Comics
The American Crusader, along with other heroes from
Nedor Comics , were revived byAlan Moore in his series "Tom Strong ". This revival set the characters on a parallel world calledTerra Obscura , which was also the title of the resulting mini-series.The Crusader apparently (from a
Terra Obscura continuity standpoint) operated as a superhero until 1969, when, on a mission to stop an alien from converting Earth into a spaceship, he was imprisoned in an alien restraining device whichTom Strong imagined to be a heavily localized time-loop. This bubble kept him in suspended animation until he was freed in 2000 by Strong, and his fellow SMASH member,Tom Strange .Described by Strong as "probably the first nuclear science-hero", he is "possibly even more powerful than Tom Strange".
Within the Terra Obscura continuity, he is an alcoholic, currently seeking help for his addiction. He operates with the modern incarnation of SMASH.
Project Superpowers
American Crusader appears in the mini-series
Project Superpowers byAlex Ross andJim Krueger in the form of a group of super powered beings called the Crusaders.Powers and abilities
The American Crusader is capable of flight, superhuman strength, invulnerability to bullets, and
electromagnetic pulse generation. The full extent of his powers at this time is unknown.ee also
*
Tom Strong
*Terra Obscura
*Nedor Comics
*SMASH
*Project Superpowers External links
* [http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/a/amcrusad.htm American Crusader] at the International Catalogue of Superheroes
* [http://ratmmjess.tripod.com/ga/golda.html Golden Age Superheroes]
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