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JUSTICE LEAGUE: THE NEW FRONTIER SPECIAL
Written by Darwyn Cooke
Art by Cooke, J. Bone and David Bullock
Cover by Cooke
Edited by Dan Didio
PLOT:
Celebrating the DVD release of the New Frontier movie comes this collection of never before seen stories including "New Frontier: The Lost Chapter," with script and art by Darwyn Cooke! This tale provides a first-hand look at Faraday's quest to outlaw masked vigilantes, culminating with the day Superman goes to Gotham to bring down Batman. Also included are two back-up stories featuring Wonder Woman, Black Canary, Sgt. Rock and others, as well as behind-the-scenes bonus material from the movie!
REVIEW:
The masterpiece, the modern classic, the best thing to come from DC Comics in years: DC: The New Frontier. I first heard about this series when I was on the internet and saw an image of Batman in a simple, DCAU-ish look. I didn't know what it was until I researched it and got the title of this series. I didn't know what to make of it, even after reviews that were all the same: very positive. But after a while, from internet guys, to even my friends, all who had loved this series, I took a gamble and bought only vol. 1 of the TPB. And man, I wish I had gotten it when I heard about it because I loved it, no surprise. And it was just excitement that I couldn't hold back until I got the second volume to finish the story. Man, did I love this thing. So it natural from all of these responses, and from DC and WB to make DTV projects, that New Frontier was chosen to become the Justice League: The New Frontier animated move (which I loved too, like everyone else just like the comic version, by the way). And it was also natural for Darwyn Cooke to come back to the comic version of the New Frontier universe to create this tie-in, which is also a project he wanted to do but was denied. Now, he got his wish to release this, and all now have more New Frontier! Let's take a look see!!!
The first story happens to be the special's "star" story: The Greater Good. It is also known as "The Lost Chapter", and "Chapter X". But all of us know it as simply "Batman vs. Superman". Because that is what this is about. This story is the prelude and the epilogue to the Batman/Superman fight that was only alluded to in the first issue of The New Frontier and all we knew was that the two fought, Superman lost, and it was staged. This chapter adds a lot more to that, and it is a good setup to how these three characters end up becoming at the end of the series (and the movie too). The fight between the two was exciting, as we saw the fight go from the junkyard right into the Batcave. While the purpose of the fight was the idea of being caught (Superman trying to catch Batman, and Batman trying not to be caught by Superman), these two fight almost to the death.
But in this story, it can clearly be seen that Superman nor Batman ain't the main characters in this story (more like ranked as #2 and #3, not #1 and #2). The main character, or main star, happens to be Wonder Woman. Don't you just love Cooke's Diana? As we can see; Superman and Batman are obviously like this way because of the dark time that make up '50s America. And it is Wonder Woman who puts these two, from at odds, to partners and hopefully future friends. This is obviously important as, like Meltzer said on his JLA run, that "there is no Justice League without the Big Three". And the Justice League is formed at the end of New Frontier, and if these three were still at odds, maybe it wouldn't be the JLA if that was still the case. So all in all, this special's star story was very good.
Also, in terms of cameos, Cooke's Catwoman and Alfred are seen, probably for the first time in the New Frontier universe. Though, Selina Kyle was seen in the Las Vegas sequence from New Frontier (both comic and movie).
From there, now we get to the second story: "Dragstrip Riot" starring Robin and guest-starring Kid Flash. To be quite honest, I wasn't so sure about this story in comparison to the other two in this special. When I first learned about it, while I was glad that we would see more of Cooke's Robin and finally get something than just a pan shot of Cooke's Kid Flash, I just wasn't sure if this was going to be good or if I was going to care for it. Now after reading it, I thought it was a nice short story. This short is set in the early '60s after the end of New Frontier, as John F. Kennedy is in this. This is the story of how Robin and Kid Flash met, as Robin tries to solve a case to impress Batman (who is AWOL), and Kid Flash happens to come in as this happens to be his case too. From Robin's point of view, his view on Kid Flash goes from "what this guy doing here on MY case?" to "hey, we made a great team". I'll probably read it again, but as of now, it was just nice and I liked it. Also, it looks like it was Kennedy to coin the name the "Teen Titans" in the New Frontier universe. Look like we need to give credit to him for the New Frontier Teen Titans.
BTW, Kid Flash's name is said as "Wally Wood". That can't be considered a goof of some sort. Since they meet for the first time, Wally giving his full real name to Robin probably wouldn't be the smart thing to do. Add to fact that it didn't look like Robin said his name was Dick (insert fake last name) as well.
Last but not least, it's the Wonder Woman/Black Canary team-up. One of the things that made Cooke's New Frontier great was his version of Wonder Woman. One of my top favorites, in both superheroes and women in general. Cooke's version was easily someone that I, and many, could see as more of a Mediterranean woman than an Amazon. Then again, Wonder Woman has been both Mediterranean and a Amazon in her years. So this team-up between her and Cooke's Black Canary, seen as Diana's friend in the main DCU, was something I wanted to really see. On the same mark, or maybe even moreso than the Superman/Batman story. I was, by the way, caught by surprise that Diana was in that Superman/Batman story. Double of her in this; nice!
Now for the short story itself: Cooke described this short as a story based on the old Mad magazines. I never read any issue of Mad from this era, only a few (I really mean it, a few) from the '90s-now. But we all know what Mad is; comedy. And that's what this has. I don't know if this was the case with the old Mad magazines, but the type of comedy here is of cute comedy. For example, Diana Prince (I guess that's the first time we see Cooke's Diana Prince) spots Bruce Wayne in the club with the women wearing their rabbit ears, and once Bruce realizes Diana caught him, he leaves embarrassed. That type of cute comedy. The story was simple: Diana hates that women have to be sexual toward men in these clubs, and goes to a club to change men's mind, with Black Canary tagging along. But when the men don't want to listen, she decides to teach them the hard way. The only thing that was disappointing was the art. J. Bone is a friend of Cooke's, and while it did reflect the Mad comics from this era, his artwork was something I really didn't care for. So that's what this short was: a cute funny story with artwork that I didn't like.
Overall, this special was a very good return to Darwyn Cooke's New Frontier. I really love this universe he has created. The Batman/Superman story was the star of this book, with the fight being exciting. The Robin/Kid Flash was short to its term, but a nice one all in all. And the Wonder Woman/Black Canary story was funny in a cute way, but it was the art I really didn't care for. As an extra, this special includes some things from the New Frontier DTV. Such as character models, storyboards, and there was even a painted background that I don't think appeared in the film/ Whatever it was, it gave me the vibe from Pixar's The Incredibles. So this was all well done. I really want to see more of New Frontier. Cooke has a bit of an idea for a sequel, so let's see what happens.
RATING: Yay
You don't get it, boy... this isn't a mudhole... it's an operating table.
(crack!)
And I'm the surgeon.
- Batman - The Dark Knight Returns
RE: Justice League: The New Frontier Special Discussion and Review Thread -
Posted on 05-03-2008 19:23
i cant say i enjoyed it as much as you but it was not the worst movie ive ever seen at first i hated it but now after viewing the film again i actually do enjoy it.
the greatest victorys are won with your mind, then your body
RE: Justice League: The New Frontier Special Discussion and Review Thread -
Posted on 05-03-2008 19:54
I finally got around to reading all of this. I picked it up the week it came out, but put it off until I had read the New Frontier trade which was luckily available at my library.
New Frontier the comic series was not as amazing and revolutionary to me as I have seen so many seem to proclaim it to be. That's subject matter for another thread though.
That being said, I did enjoy the special much more. The Batman vs Superman story was really good right up until Wonder Woman's cheesy speech about them working together. That was completely out of place and pulled me out of the story. Other than that, it was really good.
I did notice a possible editing error. When sending Superman and Wonder Woman after Batman the guy in charge (the President? can't remember right now) says that he wants things to go better than they did in French Indo-China (Vietnam before it was called Vietnam). My understanding, and I do not have a copy of the first part of New Frontier with me, was that the Batman Superman fight happened before they went to French Indo-China not after. I'd appreciate it if somone would double check that for me.
The Robin/Kid Flash story was a lot of fun. No real complaints there.
I got a pretty big kick out of the Wonder Woman/Black Canary story. I didn't know that it was a homage to the old Mad Magazine stories until reading Nate's review, but I did notice that it had a familiar vibe. There are a few things that are similar to this in the Mad About Superheroes book. Lots of fun stuff.
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