"Heroes for Today" features storytelling by Ian Flynn, artwork by Kelsey Shannon, lettering by Jack Morelli, and coloring by Matt Herms.
So who are the Mighty Crusaders? There's Joe Higgins (AKA Broken Shield, FKA the original Shield), the team's founder and administrator. There's Victoria Adams (AKA the current Shield), fresh off her recent mini-series, "Daughter of the Revolution." There is Jack Sterling (AKA the original Steel Sterling, who looks remarkably healthy for a WWII hero who was killed off way back in NEW CRUSADERS #1). And then there are the surviving New Crusaders: Greg Reeves (AKA Comet), Kelly Brand (AKA Firefly), Wyatt Raymond (AKA the Web), and Ivette Velez (AKA Jaguar). And then there's the newest member of the bunch: Darkling (AKA ???). She seems to be the dark horse of the bunch -- in more ways than one!
The story starts out in the middle of a battle against a new villain named Dino Rex that does a great job of highlighting the team dynamics, as well as their various powers. We then learn that Joe Higgins is the leader of M.L.J. and the administrative head of the Mighty Crusaders. Higgins and the current Shield then help us understand a little better how the New Crusaders morphed into the current batch of Mighty Crusaders. Victoria then does her bit to welcome the Web onto the team -- and hopefully starts the process of gelling a bit better with the former members of the New Cru!
But don't feel like you need to know a lot about the Mighty Crusaders or their long and convoluted history. It's pretty easy to pick up this comic book and move comfortably forward with this new team.