American Crusader

American Crusader
American Crusader, from Thrilling Comics #22.
Publication information
Publisher	Nedor Comics AC Comics America's Best Comics
First appearance	Thrilling Comics #19
In-story information
Alter ego	Archibald "Archie" Masters
Team affiliations	(AC Comics) Sentinels of Justice (ABC) SMASH
Abilities	Super strength and speed Flight Invulnerability to bullets Electromagnetic pulse generation

The American Crusader is a fictional character, a superhero who originally appeared in Thrilling Comics #19 (Better Publications, 1941). The character was revived in the Modern Age in Femforce #59, by AC Comics, and in Tom Strong #11, by Alan Moore and Chris Sprouse.

His secret identity is Professor Archibald (Archie) Masters, an astronomy professor at an unnamed university in the Eastern United States.

The character debuted in 1941, his mousy alter-ego being similar to that of Superman's Clark Kent identity. He accidentally got caught in a room with 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:

The American Crusader, along with other heroes from Nedor Comics, was revived by AC Comics through the Vault of Heroes, a suspended animation program for superheroes. He later joined the Sentinels of Justice.

The American Crusader, along with other heroes from Nedor Comics, was revived by Alan Moore in his series Tom Strong. This revival set the characters on a parallel world called Terra Obscura, which was also the title of the resulting mini-series.