Appearing months before Captain America, the Shield has the distinction of being the first superhero with a costume based upon United States patriotic iconography.

DC Comics' Impact line, which licensed the Archie properties, also used the name for several characters.

It featured two Shields, Joe Higgins, who led the series for the first thirteen issues, and Lt. Michael Barnes, his replacement.

[6][7] In 2015, Archie Comics began the Shield's return in a new series penned by Adam Christopher and Chuck Wendig.

Joe finally figures out the solution, which requires applying the chemicals to certain parts of his anatomy (Sacrum, Heart, Innervation, Eyes, Lungs, Derma), and exposing himself to x-rays.

He becomes an FBI agent (whose secret identity is known only to FBI Chief J. Edgar Hoover) after clearing his father's name, and fights foreign agents and other threats to the U.S.[10] At the start of the strip, Higgins' partners are fellow G-Man Ju Ju Watson, and girlfriend Betty Warren.

Both heroes wear their patriotic costumes beneath their street clothes and change for action whenever the need would arise.

[13] The storyline had them team up with the Wizard (the headlining character from Top-Notch Comics) to stop the invasion plot orchestrated by Mosconia (a fictional country made up of elements from Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union).

During the Dilation crisis a version of the Shield character was seen helping Green Arrow and Black Canary, performing crowd control.

To save his life, he agrees to be subjected to secret government experiments, after which an advanced, nanotech battle suit is merged to his burned epidermis.

The suit appears on his body at will and grants him the same array of powers of the earlier incarnation, including superhuman strength, limited flight and advanced sensory abilities.

Due to his severe injuries, the only major drawback is that if ever he tries to remove the war suit permanently, his bodily functions could shut down.

[18] Joe Simon put together a team of artists including Jack Kirby to work for him on The Double Life of Private Strong.

[19] Lancelot's scientist father developed a method to create a superhuman by expanding the mind, which he used on his infant son.

He soon joined the Army, acting like a Gomer Pyle-style country bumpkin, while leading a double life as the Shield (hence the title of his comic).

In the Red Circle Mighty Crusaders #1 the story established that Bill joined the Army and left his life as a superhero.

Barnes would continue as the lead character until the series' 1992 cancellation and also appeared as the Shield in the six-issue miniseries The Crucible.