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| DC: The New Frontier | |
|---|---|
 Front cover ofAbsolute DC: The New Frontier, with art by Darwyn Cooke. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| Schedule | monthly |
| Format | Limited series |
| Publication date | 2004 |
| No. of issues | 6 |
| Main character(s) | Green Lantern Martian Manhunter Superman Wonder Woman Flash Batman |
| Creative team | |
| Created by | Darwyn Cooke |
DC: The New Frontier is anEisner,Harvey, andShuster Award-winning six-issuecomic booklimited series written and drawn byDarwyn Cooke, and published byDC Comics in 2004. The series was collected into two trade paperback volumes in 2004 and 2005, anAbsolute Edition in 2006 and a deluxe edition in 2015. The story was adapted into ananimated film,Justice League: The New Frontier, which was released on February 26, 2008.
The series was influenced by both DC Comics' long history and series likeKingdom Come,The Golden Age,Watchmen andThe Dark Knight Returns.[1] Much likeThe Golden Age,New Frontier is set primarily in the 1950s and depictsGolden Age superheroesSuperman,Batman andWonder Woman meetingSilver Age charactersThe Flash,Green Lantern andMartian Manhunter. The story bridges the gap between the end of the Golden Age and the beginning of the Silver Age in theDC Universe.
The New Frontier is set between 1945 and 1960, tracing the decline of the so-calledGolden Age and the beginning of theSilver Age of comic books. Golden Age characters such asSuperman,Wonder Woman andBatman meet Silver Age characters, such asMartian Manhunter,Green Lantern andThe Flash. Cameo appearances byPresidentDwight D. Eisenhower andVice PresidentRichard Nixon and references to theKorean War,atomic testing, thecivil rights movement and theSoviet Union provide historical context. The storyline is inspired by comic books andfilms of the period, including the novel and film versions ofTom Wolfe'sThe Right Stuff. The series attempts to re-imagine and pay homage to the era of culture and political turmoil which ushered in the presidency ofJohn F. Kennedy. The title of the comic evokes the Kennedy's iconic "New Frontier" speech.
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In 1945, theLosers rescueRick Flag from an island populated by dinosaurs at the cost of their own lives. Before he dies fighting aTyrannosaurus rex, Johnny Cloud etches a final message in a cave wall, warning those who would find it that the island is "a living thing".
After the end ofWorld War II,McCarthyism forces variousGolden Age superheroes including theJustice Society of America into retirement, exile or branded as criminals. Heroes likeSuperman andWonder Woman continue to operate as government agents whileBatman manages to evade capture and further attention by staging a fight with Superman where he wins.
Hours after the end of theKorean War, fighter pilotsHal Jordan and Kyle "Ace" Morgan clash with North Korean forces unaware of the war's end. Hal is forced to kill a Korean soldier in self-defense, and his traumatized reaction to the ordeal gets him marked as a coward by his peers. Meanwhile, in theFirst Indochina War, Superman and Wonder Woman clash ideologies after Wonder Woman freed a prisoner camp full of captive women.
In 1955, MartianJ'onn J'onzz is accidentally transported to Earth by scientist Dr. Erdel, who suffers a fatal heart attack upon seeing the alien. Using his telepathic and shapeshifting abilities, J'onzz takes the identity of Gotham City Detective John Jones, living as an honest cop while studying humanity's present knowledge of Martians. In 1956,Barry Allen is struck by lightning and splashed with chemicals which grant him super speed, turning him into the superhero known asThe Flash. In 1957, Jones andSlam Bradley stop a cult from sacrificing a young boy with help from Batman. Intrigued by the book the cult had been using, Jones confiscates it as evidence.
Shortly after The Flash stops aLas Vegas robbery byCaptain Cold, Ace tells Hal about a job offer from Ferris Aircraft, which Hal accepts. During his job interview withCarol Ferris, the two begin a relationship. Later, Ace, Matthew Ryan, Leslie "Rocky" Davis and Walter Mark "Prof" Haley survive a devastating plane crash, and are inspired by their survival to form theChallengers of the Unknown. In Knoxville, a black man named John Wilson survives a lynching by theKu Klux Klan, and takes on the vigilante identity of "John Henry" to avenge his murdered family and launch a reign of terror against the Klan.
Hal goes through various grueling tests before being accepted byKing Faraday to join a NASA expedition toMars, a response to detection of Jones's arrival to Earth. Meanwhile, Jones is confronted by Batman, who gives him a medallion that the cult leader was wearing. Using the medallion to unlock the cult's book, Jones discovers to his horror the presence of an alien entity known as "The Centre", which is pulling humanity's psyche into its thrall. Jones later discovers from a rogue NASA scientist that a rocket to Mars is being constructed, and is tempted to return home after witnessing humanity's fear and hate towards different races. While testing in a flight simulator, Hal is forced into mission control after his reckless behavior angers Flagg.
Later, John Henry is captured, tortured, and murdered by the Klan. Soon after, the Flash, having survived an attempted capture by Faraday, publicly announces his retirement out of disillusionment. These events convinces Jones to accept that he will never have a place among humans and decides to return home using the rocket. Quitting the Gotham Police, Jones hands over all of his notes and investigation into the Centre to Batman.
As the rocket prepares launch, Jones is caught by Faraday when he attempts to board. Faraday is knocked unconscious in the struggle and Jones is forced to abandon his chance to return to Mars to save Faraday from the fire. On board the rocket, a crew member falls under the sway of the Centre and causes the rocket to malfunction. As Jones is captured by Faraday, Superman and the Challengers attempt to rescue Flagg and Karin Grace, but fail when the nuclear payload on board meant to attack any Martian enemies explode, killing Flagg and Grace.
Haunted by Flagg's death, Hal mingles around the simulator, only to be abducted by agreen ring. He's taken toAbin Sur, who had been injured by the explosion that had killed Flagg. Abin declares Hal his replacement asGreen Lantern, and dies from his injuries. Meanwhile, Batman meets up with Superman and informs him of Jones's notes about the Centre, and opts out on further involvement upon realizing the magnitude of the threat was beyond him.
Themyscira is soon attacked by the Centre, now revealed to be the island that Johnny Cloud had claimed to be sentient, in its path towards the American east coast. A heavily injured Wonder Woman flies in her invisible jet to warn of the attack just as Superman had finished dispatching a scout from the Centre.Lois Lane unveils the Centre to the world in a broadcast, prompting many to gather in an attempt to help defeat the creature, includingGreen Arrow,Adam Strange,Ray Palmer, theBlackhawks, theSea Devils and Barry Allen who comes out of retirement. Powering an experimental saucer with his ring, Hal also joins the fight.
After stopping the heroes from in-fighting, Superman is presumed killed when he attempts to scout the Centre. Initially disheartened, the group formulate a plan to destroy the center using a nuclear payload and Ray Palmer's white dwarf lens. Hal, Ace, andCaptain Nathaniel Adam launch the first stage of the attack. Adam is seemingly killed in the explosion while Hal uses the ring to save himself and Ace in the nick of time. Jones is overwhelmed by the psychic attack from the Centre and briefly falls under its control, but Faraday sacrifices himself by absorbing the mental strain and is killed. The Flash succeeds in using the white dwarf lens to shrink the Centre's mass, having run at the speed of light across its surface. As the Centre's structure destabilizes, it attempts to continue its rampage. Hal uses his Green Lantern ring to wrap the Centre into a bubble and throws it into orbit, where it is destroyed. As Hal flies off to enjoy outer space,Aquaman arrives with Superman, who has survived the Centre's attack.
The book ends with a montage of a new age of heroes narrated with the eponymous "New Frontier" speech byJohn F. Kennedy, as well as the formation of theJustice League of America as it battlesStarro the Conqueror.
New Frontier includes elements of the Golden and Silver Ages which did not appear until the 1970s. Many characters appeared as they did when they were created, and were notretconned to fit the era and story.Barry Allen becomesthe Flash in 1956 (the year of his first appearance in the comics) andHal Jordan acquires the power ring and becomesGreen Lantern in 1959, the same year that story was published.
Although Cooke said thatNew Frontier took place in the pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths continuity, he did not use the period-accurateEarth-One andEarth-TwoMultiverse concepts; he used a post-Crisis continuity variant, where Golden and Silver Age heroes exist in a unified timeline rather than separate realities.[original research?] TheNew Frontier universe was one of the 52 Earths in theDC multiverse (Earth-21).[2]
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The New Frontier's style has several influences:Jack Kirby's squared fingers, muscles and jaws; the clean lines of Golden Age-era comics; theFleischerSuperman cartoons;Batman: The Animated Series, and other shows in theDC Animated Universe; Cooke was an artist on many of the latter. His style resembles that ofBruce Timm.
The series receivedEisner Awards for Best Limited Series, Best Coloring and Best Publication Design,Harvey Awards for Best Artist, Best Colorist and Best Continuing or Limited Series and received theShuster Award for Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Cartoonist (Writer-Artist). In 2007, when the series was released as an Absolute Edition, it received an Eisner Award for Best Graphic Album (Reprint) and a Harvey Award for Best Graphic Album of Previously Published Work.
The story was adapted as adirect-to-videoanimated film calledJustice League: The New Frontier, written by Stan Berkowitz and produced byBruce Timm withDarwyn Cooke as story and visual consultant. RatedPG-13, it was released in the United States on February 26, 2008 onDVD,HD DVD,Blu-ray and pay-per-view.
As of January 2026, the series has been collected in two softcover collections, an Absolute Edition, a deluxe edition, aDC Black Label Edition, and aDC Compact Comics Edition:
DC Direct first released a line of action figures based on the series in July 2006:
A box set of Batman, Superman, Green Lantern and Wonder Woman (with a new head), including a reprint ofJustice League: The New Frontier Special, was released in April 2009.