Southern Knights

Southern Knights was a comic book created by the husband-and-wife team of Henry and Audrey Vogel. It chronicled the adventures of a superhero team based in Atlanta, Georgia. Initially known as "The Crusaders", they were renamed The Southern Knights with their second issue due to Archie Comics' Red Circle Imprint having their own group called The Mighty Crusaders, though an in-context explanation is proffered in issue #2. Jackson Guice and Chuck Wojtkiewicz both made their comics debut on the series before going on to greater fame with other titles.
Cast.
Team members.
The team's groundskeeper, Bryan Daniels, would sometimes don a high-tech suit of armor, designed by David Shenk, to help them out.
Publication history.
The superteam debuted in "The Crusaders" #1 (December 1982). The original creative team included three writers: co-creators Henry and Audrey Vogel and co-plotter/letterer David H. Willis. The team was filled out by Jackson Guice on both pencils and inks, though Guice would be penciling only on "Southern Knights" #2 and gone entirely after that. The series was published quarterly at first by the Guild, a company founded by Willis and Henry Vogel for the sole purpose of publishing the series. Artists came and went in quick succession, but with issue #5 penciler Chuck Wojtkiewicz and inker Steve Kent came on as the steady art team, and sales became exceptionally high for a self-published series. After issue #7, "Southern Knights" was taken on by Comics Interview (a company which had previously only put out magazines), and following a half-year's hiatus, went bi-monthly. Comics Interview president David Anthony Kraft quickly came up with the idea of using the tagline "The #1 Super Team of the South".
However, the success of the Knights was mixed with creative turnover. Issue #8 was the first to be published by Comics Interview, and the last to feature Audrey Vogel as writer (though several later issues of the series credit her as "story consultant"). According to Henry Vogel, she gradually fell out of writing the series due to exhaustion from working a full-time job. Willis left two issues after, leaving Henry Vogel to write the series by himself. "Southern Knights" gradually became less oriented on long-term plot threads and character development, and increasingly consisted of short story arcs and single-issue stories. Wojtkiewicz left after issue #11, and with issue #13 Mark Propst began both penciling and inking the Knights. The look he brought to the series broadened the series' readership, and Comics Interview began publishing numerous Southern Knights spin-offs, mostly using reprints. For instance, a "Dread Halloween Special" was actually just a reprint of "Southern Knights" #14, and a three-issue Aramis limited series was simply a reprinting of select Aramis appearances from issues #5-26, with brief textual segues. The Southern Knights also guest-starred in "Aristocratic Xtraterrestrial Time-Traveling Thieves" (vol.2) #1.
Propst left the series after issue #19, and from that point on "Southern Knights" would be drawn only by short-term or fill-in artists. Ultimately the series's popularity faded, and it was canceled with issue #33 (June 1989), though a Christmas issue would be published at the end of the year.
From 1986 to 1989 Comics Interview released a series of collections of the title. Rather than being comic-sized reprints like the soon to be standard trade paperback, these collections were 8 1/2" by 11" and collected fewer issues than a typical trade paperback.
"Southern Knights Graphic Novel" (1986): Reprints Crusaders #1 & Southern Knights #2
"Early Days of the Southern Knights #2" (1986): Reprints issues #3-5
"Early Days of the Southern Knights #3" (1986): Reprints issues #6-7
"Early Days of the Southern Knights #4" (1987): (titled "Origins of the Southern Knights" on the cover) Reprints issues #8 and the "Southern Knights: Special Report" one-shot
"Early Days of the Southern Knights" #5 (1987): Reprints issues #9-11
"Early Days of the Southern Knights #6" (1988): Reprints issues #12-14
"Early Days of the Southern Knights #7" (1988): Reprints issues #15-16
"Early Days of the Southern Knights #8" (1989): Reprints issues #17-19
In 1992 the series was revived for a crossover with Heroic Publishing's "League of Champions" (issues #5-8) and "Flare" (issues #8 and 9), titled "The Morrigan Wars". Parts two and five were published as "Southern Knights" #35 and 36, and both the Knights themselves and their supporting cast figured prominently throughout the crossover. Though all the installments are credited as being co-written by Vogel, in fact his role was limited to the crossover's basic plot; the scripting and issue-by-issue plotting were done solely by Flare/League of Champions writer/editor Dennis Mallonee. Mallonee gave the series a more character-driven approach, and also introduced a romance between Kristin and Aramis. Propst, having since become regular artist on "Flare", inked most of the crossover. Mallonee expressed hope that Heroic would be able to continue the series beyond the crossover, but interest proved insufficient, and "Southern Knights" #36 is the final issue to date.
In 2010, Heroic reprinted "The Morrigan Wars", with color added, in "Champions" #47-50 and "Flare Adventures" #27-28. This was the first time any of the Southern Knights' adventures were published in color.