Return to a time when the spirit of justice was renewed just as the world was facing its darkest hour. At pivotal moments of real-life social unrest, familiar DC Super Heroes, both human and super-powered, join forces to combat a threat capable of destroying all mankind in the Darwyn Cooke classic, DC: The New Frontier. On this Veterans Day weekend, I invite you to join me in revisiting—or if you’re really lucky, experiencing for the first time—this six-issue epic which celebrates human bravery against seemingly insurmountable odds and cemented Cooke’s reputation as an icon of superhero comics.
 

THE PREMISE:

The New Frontier is a story told over many years—a collection of momentous events chronicling the passing of the Golden Age of heroes in the 1940s into the bright and futuristic generation of the Silver Age. Beginning at the end of the Korean War, we witness historic events such as the fallout from the disbanding of the Justice Society of America, which results from the outlawing of any costumed crimefighter who’s unregistered with the government.

We see the original formation of first-generation science heroes, such as the Challengers of the Unknown (whom if you’re not a fan of going into The New Frontier, you will be when you’ve finished). We also see the emergence of a new wave of superheroes reflective of the era from which they came, including a burnout flyboy named Hal Jordan who dreams of seeing the stars, a slick new Flash named Barry Allen and J’onn J’onzz, the Martian Manhunter. We’ll need each and every one of them because before long, an extraterrestrial enemy born out from under the Earth’s crust threatens to annihilate all mankind. If humanity has any hope of surviving this threat and seeing the next decade, it will need to cast aside its differences and come together to form a new brand of hero for the second half of the 20th century.
 

LET’S TALK TALENT:

DC: The New Frontier is the magnum opus of Darwyn Cooke, a modern master in comic book storytelling. An artist who originated from storyboarding iconic DC shows like Superman: The Animated Series, The New Batman Adventures and Batman Beyond, Cooke would soon become better known for writing and illustrating classic comic book stories like Batman: Ego and Catwoman: Selina’s Big Score. His signature art style, which takes clear influence from Jack Kirby, John Buscema, Bruce Timm and Will Eisner, quickly made his name a fan favorite. But when The New Frontier first dropped in 2004, Cooke proved he could present virtually the entire DC Universe under his pen with perfect style and inimitable swagger. The classic old-school approach to the characters, invoking their designs from the 1940s-1960s, underscores the excitement each new character brought forth when they originally made their debut.
 

A FEW REASONS TO READ:

  • If you’re new to the larger DC Universe, you may have never even heard of certain characters Cooke chooses to focus on, such as the courageous squadron of soldiers known as the Losers or the life-embracing Challengers of the Unknown. This book is an excellent introduction to those legends, giving them more respect and dignity that they’ve been afforded in the many decades since they were first created.
     
  • Cooke’s eye for historical accuracy lends itself not just to the fashion and locations, but also the dialogue. Military and aeronautical code are thrown in with old-school savvy, and there are clever conceits like J’onn J’onzz gaining knowledge of America through television and speaking to his fellow cops like a TV detective.
  • Some of the most indelible images of the story have stood the test of time, over twenty years later. Scenes like Wonder Woman standing tall over Superman, or later appearing in her invisible plane covered in blood stick in your memory just as much as Johhny Cloud’s final stand on Dinosaur Island. If you’ve seen those scenes ahead of reading this story, here's where those classic images come from.
     
  • While The New Frontier presents a largely idealized take on the era, Cooke doesn’t turn a blind eye to its shortcomings, which he also filters through the lens of DC’s characters. How would these superheroes—most of them white—react to the Civil Rights Movement? How are women treated during this time, even those as powerful as Wonder Woman? With vigilantes outlawed, how might Batman’s actions affect the deeds of other heroes such as the Flash? There are no easy answers to these questions and Cooke doesn’t attempt to provide them. Instead, he encourages you to consider that even at times when humankind is at its best, it still has quite a ways to go.
     

WHY IT’S WORTH YOUR TIME:

Although this is functionally an Elseworlds tale, DC: The New Frontier is nevertheless some of the most soulfully true work DC Comics has produced in the last 25 years. As a story, it invokes the early days of Barry Allen and Hal Jordan, but those characters embody a spirit that is forever young, representing the youthful energy of the past with the imagination and creativity of the near-present. It was less than five years after the book was published that it received an animated adaptation in the form of Justice League: The New Frontier. That film is definitely worth checking out, but the original series packs so much wonderful artwork, sequences and characters into its six issues that it ranks among the very best of DC’s “must-reads.” Fans of history, period storytelling and superheroes alike should all read The New Frontier, and if you’re a DC fan who already owns this story, it’s time to read it again.


DC: The New Frontier by Darwyn Cooke with Dave Stewart is available in bookstores, comic shops, libraries and digital retailers as a softcover graphic novel. It can also be read in full on DC UNIVERSE INFINITE.