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DC: The New Frontier, Vol. 1 (DC: The New Frontier #1)

4.17 of 5 stars 4.17 · rating details · 5,454 ratings · 90 reviews

DC: THE NEW FRONTIER takes readers on an epic journey from the end of the Golden Age to the genesis of a bold new era for the super-hero in the late 1950s! World War II is over. The Cold War has begun. And the Age of the Super-Hero is in decline. But where are the heroes of tomorrow? THE NEW FRONTIER recounts the dawning of the DC Universe's Silver Age from the perspective...more

Paperback, 208 pages

Published December 1st 2004 by DC Comics (first published 2004)

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Feb 23, 2009 Adam rated it 2 of 5 stars

The good: Darwyn Cooke does some really great stuff here with traditional DC characters, and the story builds to an unusual and genuinely thrilling climax. And Cooke’s Kirby-esque art style is, overall, just danged cool and a great match for the Silver Age storyline.

The bad: Cooke’s storytelling, especially early on, is a bit choppy and fragmented. Combine this with the fact that his moonfaced characters often look alike, and things can get confusing. (Really, it can be as difficult to tell his...more

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Jul 27, 2012 James rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: comics

I love Darwyn Cooke’s art; I think he does an excellent job capturing action and using streamlined details to evoke memorable characters. But I’m not as big a fan of his writing, and the weaknesses of his approach can be seen throughout both volumes of DC: New Frontier, which is generally regarded as a contemporary comics classic.

Part of the issue is that he’s playing with a massive cast of characters—basically anyone published by D.C. Comics during their golden era, from Superman at the top to...more I love Darwyn Cooke’s art; I think he does an excellent job capturing action and using streamlined details to evoke memorable characters. But I’m not as big a fan of his writing, and the weaknesses of his approach can be seen throughout both volumes of DC: New Frontier, which is generally regarded as a contemporary comics classic.

Part of the issue is that he’s playing with a massive cast of characters—basically anyone published by D.C. Comics during their golden era, from Superman at the top to King Faraday at the more obscure. It certainly is fun to see Cooke visually redesign this sprawling cast.

But because of the volume of characters, they generally come of more as names than people. You have to use what you know about them elsewhere to know them here. Oh, sure, Lois Lane loves Superman—that’s what happened in all the other comics. But the impressions we get in this series are fleeting. Motivations are unclear, especially when a “Red Scare” set-up is used to add flavor and then abandoned when the story dictates it.

The characterization we do see is meant to be noble but comes off as a little hokey instead, particularly Hal Jordan flying combat missions in Korea despite a refusal to use his machine guns. Rick Flagg is compelling as a patriot damaged by a career in secret ops while Martian J’onn J’onzz adds some humor, and Wonder Woman has an interesting, if undeveloped, path from believer to subversive.

The storytelling mostly seems to kill time until the next big moment. People blow themselves up for the greater good at least four times in the story, and while their choices make a certain kind of sense, they seem most motivated by Cooke’s impulse that he’s due for another spread. Things do cohere with a big threat near the end, but that’s only after another plot thread is dropped entirely.

The book’s strengths—merging early DC comics into one coherent universe—are also its weaknesses. I imagine your affinity for classic DC characters will determine your enthusiasm for the story Cooke is telling. In both instances, I come down square in the middle.
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Jul 18, 2011 Nicholas rated it 5 of 5 stars

Masterful. Darwyn Cooke is amazing. Set in the heyday of the Silver Age, Cooke begins a story that is at once nostalgically heroic and reminiscent of a simpler time, and profoundly complex, dealing with political and sociological issues ignored by writers of the period. In this story is the seed of the idea that would become Marvel's Civil War, and it's done much, much better than Millar could ever have hoped for.

New Frontier is a story of origins and of transition. The JSA is on the way out an...more Masterful. Darwyn Cooke is amazing. Set in the heyday of the Silver Age, Cooke begins a story that is at once nostalgically heroic and reminiscent of a simpler time, and profoundly complex, dealing with political and sociological issues ignored by writers of the period. In this story is the seed of the idea that would become Marvel's Civil War, and it's done much, much better than Millar could ever have hoped for.

New Frontier is a story of origins and of transition. The JSA is on the way out and in their place, the rise of the ordinary mortal. With new confidence in themselves after ridding the world of fascist tyranny, Americans begin to take back control of their lives and in the fashion typical of the McCarthy era, hunt down and force from work the masked vigilantes they had relied so heavily upon in the past. Amid the creation of nuclear and space technology old heroes question their purpose and new ones come of age and in the background, a planet-wide menace that will redefine the role of superheroes in the world.

After just finishing Johns's New Krypton, New Frontier reads like a classical work of art. Cooke's prose is crisp, unpretentious and unaffected and his artwork manages to capture the subtleties of feeling and complexity of emotions in really poignant scenes as well known heroes adjust to mankind's change for the worse around mid-century. How would Superman react to the war in Vietnam? Would his patriotism require him to support the war? What would his role be? How would Batman react to government pressure to organize and license vigilantism in America?

What separates good comic writing from poor comic writing isn't the scale of the epic, it's the seriousness of the philosophical questions posed and the depth of emotional turmoil and discovery that's drawn out. Good comic writing brings thought-provoking questions that we as ordinary people don't have to think about, but are forced to confront as we identify with and desire to be like our heroes. I'm not saying that New Frontier is incredibly profound in the same way a book like Secret Identity is or Superman for all Seasons, but it definitely has a depth that's lacking in so many continuity, soap-opera stories that plague the comic world today in its over-abundance of titles and stupid obsession with one-upmanship. New Frontier is a blast from the past and a reminder of why we first fell in love with comics. The best thing I can say to sum up how it makes you feel is to make a comparison. Have you ever gone back and watched a movie or tv show that you thought was the absolute greatest thing ever when you were a kid only to find it cheesy and sorely disappointing? That the memory of it and how it made you feel was far better than the quality of it? We all have. New Frontier is going back to that old movie that you loved so much as a kid and finding that it really was and still is the greatest thing ever. It feels like confirmation of the values, the past, the memories and the dreams you hold dear.

Highly recommend!(less)

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May 01, 2011 Trekscribbler added it

Picking up where the first volume of "DC: THE NEW FRONTIER" left off -- notably, in 1959 -- Darwyn Cooke continues to spin his epic yarn surrounding the founding of the Justice League against the nostalgic and political backdrop of the late 1950's and early 1960's -- a period in America largely noted for ... well ... an awful lot of stuff that even today still troubles and confuses most people, certainly many Americans. Issues of racial equality, political indifference to broken governments, spa...more Picking up where the first volume of "DC: THE NEW FRONTIER" left off -- notably, in 1959 -- Darwyn Cooke continues to spin his epic yarn surrounding the founding of the Justice League against the nostalgic and political backdrop of the late 1950's and early 1960's -- a period in America largely noted for ... well ... an awful lot of stuff that even today still troubles and confuses most people, certainly many Americans. Issues of racial equality, political indifference to broken governments, space exploration versus understand our own world better, etc., still find ample play time in most news outlets, though the warm-fuzzy ending to this tale might lead you to believe otherwise. (Again, as referenced in my review of Volume 1, I don't say that as a political statement; it's only a reflection of the facts as I see 'em.)

Thankfully, Volume 2 is a vast improvement in the narrative department over the quick, clipped scenes of Vol. 1. The heroes have, largely, come together, though the Justice League hasn't. They've found one another -- or, in the cases of the Green Lantern and the Martian Manhunter, two characters who get ample amount of page space in "Frontier" -- are well into their origin stories and are only facing one or two pivotal events to set them on their course to becoming two of the greatest heroes the planet has to offer. The menace -- a lurking alien presence known as 'the Centre' -- has come to light, and leave it to Big Bold Blue -- Superman himself -- to throw down the gauntlet, deliver a speech about ignoring those feelings and opinions that divide us in order to serve all of the greater good when it becomes necessary, and to set the chain of events in motion that'll, once and for all, bring these heroes together in a quest to save the planet and to save mankind from itself.

But what have we learned?

Cooke's cultural-theme "Frontier" eeks great mileage out of the racial harmony (or the lack of it, as most frequently appears here). John Henry Irons brief appearances explore the nature of racial inequity at its most pervasive, most vile, but, in the end, he's still a victim to a culture that's broke. The Martian Manhunter elevates the idea of racial inequity into an area best explored in comics -- the fact that he's the last Martian trying to find a way to fit into the xenophobic American experience; while mankind never quite reconciles its fears, John Jonzz rises to the occasion by proving himself the better man. But, in the end, it's the Green Lantern -- a character who spent the better part of Vol. 1 struggling with the conceit of racial discrimination -- who essentially commits genecide to rid Earth of the alien menace. Is that one great step for man, one giant leap for mankind? I think not ... or, at least, I don't think much of the solution. Also, and it is a minor point, but the island-sized existence of the Centre seemed lifted a bit too similar to the alien ships in the movie INDEPENDENCE DAY to seem an independent creation -- with living creatures serving as its attack craft -- and maudlin trip through the Centre's interior seemed a bit too reminescent of an H.R. Puff'n'stuff-like acid drug trip with splashes of retro colors and hues and shapes ... I guess that's why I never much cared for comics of the 1960's and early 70's.

In fact, I grew to love comics more and more with the advent of the grim 1980's. Frank Miller's take of the Batman was a welcome departure for what came before -- a dark, nihilistic, grim fairy tale where good guys don't necessarily finish last when the best you could hope for is that they finish with their life and limb -- has meant far more to me because (and this harkens to my review about the generational aspect running through both volumes of "Frontier" as well as my review of the first volume) it's part and parcel of the generation I'm part of. Cooke's a few years older than I am, and -- in the story's afterward -- he spells out briefly how the collective optimism of hope and unity and 'just being a kid at that time' influenced him to tell this story that clearly a lifetime in the making. The mid-to-late 1970's brought in far more disillusionment in the United States (the aftermath of Vietnam, the Nixon resignation, Jimmy Carter's panic-fueled gas crisis, etc.), and the stories that sprang from that consciousness just mean more to me and my generation, I guess.

That's not to say "Frontier" isn't a wild trip; it's just that -- outside of embracing the artwork, the foundation aspects for the Justice League, and the Martian Manhunter's origins -- it'll never mean much more to me than just another graphic novel. Not an epic ... just epic in its scope. (less)

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Apr 30, 2011 Mza rated it 3 of 5 stars

Recommended to Mza by: Frank Santoro

... indulges Silver Age nostalgia ... packed with visual and verbal shout-outs to comix I have not read but am aware of through cultural immersion. Darwyn Cooke's homages aren't Quentin Tarantinoesque game-playing -- The New Frontier occurs during Eisenhower's second term -- Silver Age iconography and style offer us instant psychic time travel. Kirbyesque squared-off fingers for men and tapered long-nailed ones for women bespeak a simpler and less cynical time for heroes and for American social...more

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Jun 09, 2009 Scott rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-half-of-2009, graphic-novels, older-teens, young-adult-books, younger-teens, summer-reading-2009

Ok. I'll admit it. I am not a fan of DC, especially not The Justice League and Superman and The Martian Manhunter and Green Latern and The Flash, etc., you get the idea. I do, however, love Batman and ambitious projects. So I decided to put aside my disdain of DC for 200 pages and give The New Frontier by Darwyn Cooke a shot.

It says on the back that it will "take readers on a epic journey from the end of the golden age of heroes to the beginnings of the legendary Justice League of America." Ok,...more Ok. I'll admit it. I am not a fan of DC, especially not The Justice League and Superman and The Martian Manhunter and Green Latern and The Flash, etc., you get the idea. I do, however, love Batman and ambitious projects. So I decided to put aside my disdain of DC for 200 pages and give The New Frontier by Darwyn Cooke a shot.

It says on the back that it will "take readers on a epic journey from the end of the golden age of heroes to the beginnings of the legendary Justice League of America." Ok, not being a DC fan, I don't know what half of that means, except that I know I don't like the Justice League, or anything I have read involving them. So I am skeptical.

But from the get-go, I don't care of the story is the worst story ever, which it isn't (more on that in a minute), the artwork is enough to keep me flipping the pages. It's drawn in a throwback retro-style reminiscent of Johnny Quest and/or The Venture Brothers, only so much cooler than either. As an artist Cooke has got me hooked, I'll have to see if he's done anything for Marvel.

But what I think is really, really, really outstanding about Cooke and The New Frontier, is that it is a story set in the DC world, with the Justice League, that I don't hate. I actually care about these characters and want to know more about them. I even want Superman to succeed, even though he is indestructible so I know he will. What Cooke has done is make enough suspense, away from The Man of Steel, to keep the stakes high, and then give us whole characters that we actually want to relate to. Sharp kid.

It's flawed sure, too many story lines to balance, a flaw of every Justice League story I think. Also it seems a little like a more innocent DC-version of Watchmen. What with the looming cold war, heroes helping out in Korea, the slightly darker, but not that dark tone, and the retelling of the origin stories. It's not exactly fair, because it is more a case of creative borrowing than outright copyright infringement. And this is far campier, less serious, and a little bit cooler than Watchmen. Note that I didn't say better, Watchmen is the gold standard. I don't blame Cooke for borrowing a few of the ideas and giving DC some much needed edge. Which is funny, because it seems to be striving for the opposite of edgy. Conundrum?(less)

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Apr 15, 2012 Hayden rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: comics-graphic-novels

The New Frontier works as an odd piece of historical fiction, re-telling the origins of all the Silver Age superheroes of the early 60's, from the Justice League to B-listers like Jack Kirby's Challengers Of The Unknown, and stringing them together in a very unique story, as if those heroes actually came to prominence in real life during that time.

This volume, I'm assuming, is sort of building up to the events of the second half, because not a whole lot actually happens. We see Superman and Wond...more The New Frontier works as an odd piece of historical fiction, re-telling the origins of all the Silver Age superheroes of the early 60's, from the Justice League to B-listers like Jack Kirby's Challengers Of The Unknown, and stringing them together in a very unique story, as if those heroes actually came to prominence in real life during that time.

This volume, I'm assuming, is sort of building up to the events of the second half, because not a whole lot actually happens. We see Superman and Wonder Woman keeping the peace in French Indo-China, Batman ruling over Gotham City's underworld, and Hal Jordan as a bright, young, and fearless fighter pilot, haunted by an encounter he had behind enemy lines in the aftermath of the Korean War. Darwyn seems to be an expert both on Silver Age comics and the subculture of the 50's/60's themselves, because he writes the era perfectly. His dialogue in particular is spot on, lots of "Sufferin' Suzie!"s and "Blast it!"s. I think the word "Darling" is said in character conversation about 500 times, but I love it. Darwyn paints a beautifully nostalgic portrait of that turbulent and unique era of American history, my favorite part in particular being an early encounter with Flash and his nemesis Captain Cold, in a glitzy Las Vegas restaurant, with Frank Sinatra singing 'Fly Me To The Moon' in the background.

Which brings me to his artwork. Darwyn Cooke is, hands down, my favorite comic book artist of all time. His beautiful use of lines and bright colors, atmospheric backgrounds and shading, and simplistic rendering of human faces had me in awe of every single page. He just makes it look so easy. I particularly loved his versions of Flash, Batman, and Wonder Woman, who has that classic pin-up girl look.

If you're like me, and love both dark & complicated graphic novels, as well as the overly simplistic & childish comic books of yesteryear, you'll fall in love with this story. I'm excited to pick up volume two and see where it all leads.

4/5(less)

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May 10, 2013 Laura rated it 4 of 5 stars

I have not read a lot of comic books. I don't follow the lives of superheroes. I don't know everything about the DC universe. I like Wonder Woman. She's the only superhero I was ever interested in, but I certainly didn't spend my allowance on Wonder Woman comics every week as a child. As a woman/feminist I have some issues with comic books, mostly the physical portrayal of women. This series, however, is pretty darned cool. I am a big history nerd and this New Frontier is a retelling of the live...more

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May 07, 2012 Jonathan Briggs rated it 4 of 5 stars

"I confess that my education regarding prehistoric times was lacking, but even I could see this was a place of great magic," sez John Cloud of The Losers in the first chapter of Darwyn Cooke's reimagining of DC's Silver Age. That pretty well sums up my feelings about the book. I was born at the very tail end of that period in comix development, so many of the characters are strangers to me, but I had a blast nonetheless. Cooke combines the wide-eyed, optimistic wonder of a child discovering comi...more

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Sep 29, 2007 Elijah Kinch Spector rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: dont-own, nypl

An incredible piece of work. Cooke manages to take the look and feel of a "simpler time" while exploring some serious issues in the background. So we get not only a loving portrait of the world in which our modern mythological heroes came of age, but one that successfully blends things like the Klan and war atrocities with all of the wonder and beauty of silver age heroes.

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Apr 16, 2013 Sean Kennedy rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is one seriously gorgeous comic. The visuals are astounding, and evoke a nostalgic sense of the '50s even though the story itself doesn't view the past with rose-coloured glasses - from a Superman and Wonder Woman fighting each other over the conflict of Korea, to Wonder Woman being dismissed due to sexism and her unpopular (to the Americans) views on Vietnam. This is a reinterpretation of the founding of the Justice League, coming out of the repressive McCarthy era where superheroes are se...more

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Feb 22, 2013 Nic rated it 5 of 5 stars

I was never a big fan of the Justice League but I was always a fan of DC's ability to raise up their classic characters into amazing stories. The genius of graphic novels like "Killing Joke", "Red Son" and "Arkham Asylum" I decided to take a leap of faith into Darwyn Cooke's silver age origin of the Justice League.

I was instantly drawn in by Cooke's distinctive art style, (I am forever a fan now). What got me next was how Cooke used the time period as a way to give depth to the characters that t...more

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Dec 17, 2011 Ubalstecha rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011-reads, graphic-novels-you-need-to-read

Imagine a world where superheroes have been outlawed, with the exception of those who are willing to reveal their identities and work for the government? Those that haven't are considered outlaws and need to be captured.

This is the world of New Frontier. We have the classic DC Silver Age heroes, before most of them were heroes, learning to control their powers and to act to help the ones they loved.

Heavily influenced by the Watchmen (but what isn't in modern superhero comics), the beauty of thi...more

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Aug 11, 2012 Andy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, graphic-novels, library

I really have mixed feelings on this.... Darwyn Cooke is one of my favorite artists. Everything I've seen by him is stellar and DC: The New Frontier is no exception. Yet his writing here is extremely heavy-handed and comes across almost as a political manifesto. That's not something I want to see (at least not this blatant) in a superhero story.

I suspect Cooke is at his best when he's adapting someone else's text as he is in his Parker graphic novels. Richard Stark (Donald Westlake) has already...more

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Feb 25, 2013 Sean rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: DC Comics fans!

Never before has there been a more perfect blend of story and art. Darwyn Cooke is able to take all, I mean all, the charaters of the DC Universe and put them in the '40s and '50s and make them fit extremely well. Sadly, the layout of the book and certain scenes were plodding along and slowed down the book a lot. There were too many cut aways that don't seem to fit with the overall story. I'm sure, knowing the work of Cooke they will in the last volume but as of right now they seem very seperate...more

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Jan 06, 2010 Jamie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphic-novel, fiction

Surprising close to the premise and storyline of "The Watchmen," except with DC characters we already know, like Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, Flash, and Wonder Woman. Following World War II, superheroes and vigilantes are banned from crime-fighting, unless they agree to take orders from the U.S. government. But lo and behold, there is an alien monster that threatens to wipe out all human life, and the heroes work together to defeat it (except Batman, for some reason). Very patriotic stuff, i...more

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Mar 22, 2009 Robert Jazo rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: comics, superheroes

Darwyn Cooke's amazing blending of political allegory and superhero comic history. Set in the late 1950's, superheroes are in decline after being investigated by Joseph McCarthy's House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC).

With the exception of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman the Golden Age comic heroes have given up the fight. A new generation of heroes is ready to take it up, but can they overcome the paranoia and mistrust of their own government?

Honestly, this is a great comic which mak...more

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Mar 09, 2010 Electric Funeral rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: comics, read-in-2010

I really love Darwyn Cookes way of telling a story and I fell in love with his art when reading "Parker: The Hunter". There is a certain mood to his artwork that lends itsself really beautifully to the topics he is dealing with. "The new Frontier" is no exception. Even if the story feels a little fragmented and the infusion of superhero mythology with the politics of the cold war is not overly original, this collection is a great take on well known characters. Recommended for readers with some b...more

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Dec 28, 2009 Richard rated it 4 of 5 stars

The best superhero comic I've read in years. I would likely enjoy it more if I knew more about the DC universe. There are a ton of instances where the reader is expected to know that a certain character will later become the Green Lantern or whatever. After Watchmen and Dark Knight Returns is seems that superhero comic writers thought that the key to grown up comics is lots of violence. This idea is perhaps why every superhero comic of the 1990s is total garbage. Anyway Cooke is a lot smarter ab...more

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Mar 30, 2008 Andrew rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: yes-i-m-a-geek

Great homage to Silver Age comics. Admittedly I am more familiar with Marvel's Silver Age, and just Marvel in general. I had somehow missed out on hearing about this book until the movie was coming out. Then saw some of the art and heard some great things about the book, so I decided to check it out.

In Darwyn Cooke's art style you can see a bit of Jack Kirby. Which is of course perfect for depicting the Silver Age. It probably most closely parallels Bruce Timm, however.

As for the story. Its re...more

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Aug 12, 2007 Michael rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book taught me to love superheroes again. Not just like, or want to read about, but love them, and long for a world in which they were real. And not just the angst ridden Marvel boys, but the Big bright ones - Wonderwoman teaching Superman the meaning of justice ("there's the door spaceman!"), the Flash kissing his wife at super-speed, Batman' motivations taking on an apprentice, Lois Lane's boundless resourcefulness, and the Martian Manhunter reading minds in a crowded movie theater. Darwy...more

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Oct 18, 2012 Adrien Capozzi rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: comics

It's like a Justice League: Year Zero. The Justice Society has disbanded, due to McCarthy's witch hunt (now including Masked vigilantes, not just movie people). Neat origin story for The Martian Manhunter and a LOT of backstory for Hal Jordan, who has yet to become Green Lantern. My favorite scene involves Wonder Woman freeing captured Vietnamese women during the early days of the conflict. She arms them and lets them loose on their captors, as an Amazonian Warrior no doubt would. Superman is ho...more

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Apr 28, 2012 Amy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphic-novels

I thoroughly enjoyed is graphic novel and loved how many different characters were portrayed meaningfully. The artwork hearkened back to the older style but with the benefits of newer styles at the same time. There were even a few moments when I teared up because the artwork and writing were so moving together. My only caution is that you should only read this if you are already very familiar with the DCU. Otherwise there are going to be several characters going over your head. Highly recommende...more

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Jun 30, 2012 Timothy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphic-novels

While Darwyn Cooke's "Fifties Futuristic" artwork may be a bit off-putting at first, this is one of the best graphic novels of the early Aughts. Its clear-eyed but ultimately uplifting tale of DC superheroes dealing with real-world problems of the period (McCarthyism, The Cold War, the pervasive bigotry of "The Greatest Generation") manages to both stay true to, while adding depth to, Silver Age comics.

The DTV adaptation of this rushed through a lot of the book's deeper thematic elements, so if...more

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Jul 01, 2012 Joseph rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphic-novel, fiction

I'd forgotten how good this actually is, which is partially the fault of the art. Frankly, the book looks so good, from cover to cover, that it's almost too easy to skip over the story. It's also a book that benefits heavily from a little background knowledge of the DC universe, which is funny, in a way, since it steals so heavily from that background. In addition to the many origin stories, large sections of the plot seemed ripped right out of Watchmen, albeit in a heavily sanitized form.

Aside...more

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Feb 29, 2008 Jordan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: dc_comics

I have no good excuse for waiting this long to read this, but the animated movie coming out finally gave me the motivation.

In general, I'm not much of a DC fan. Sure, I love the classic characters but apart from a few notable exceptions, they never seem to appear in the kind of stories that affect me or use their bigger-than-life statures as a benefit. Usually the stories feel small, the threats too minuscule for the god-like Justice League. Not "The New Frontier."

The way Cooke weaves American h...more

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Oct 07, 2011 Stephen rated it 2 of 5 stars

Minet Library - last due date 2/7/11

Didn't get really get on with this. Maybe I don't know enough of the
relevant background (I'm more of a Marvel Zombie, never feeling that close to
the Distinguished Competition). But... I found the writing a bit
disjointed and rather ponderous. The art has its moments, but
honestly not really enough (and it also has its low points).

Will try to pick up volume 2, just to see if it improves.

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Jun 07, 2011 Jessica rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphic-novels, 2011

Eerily reminiscent of Watchmen in the main plot (and even some of it's structure), which was the only reason I docked it a star. There are some great stories there, though, and I enjoyed reading it. I don't think I fully grasped every nuance most comic-book lovers would, but it was interesting. And the best thing about it is the art! I love, love, love the way this graphic novel looks. On to the sequel...

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Jan 23, 2013 Mark rated it 5 of 5 stars

Even if you don't read comic books, read this one. It's incredible. It's ostensibly a book about the origins of all the major DC characters, but it reads more like a statement on the mindsets of the people that lived during the times these heroes were created, a terrible fear of the future and the wars raging across the globe, but also the indomitable hope that the people had to hold onto.

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Nov 13, 2012 P Fosten rated it 2 of 5 stars

Yeah, I'm not really enjoying this. The pace is glacial and while the period detail is nice it just doesn't grab me. The odd deaths make this an out of continuity story so I'm not sure why it lacks so much compared to, say, James Robinson's superb 'Golden Age'. I'll finish up this book but unless something fantastic happens I won't be bothering with volume 2.

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About Darwyn Cooke

Darwyn Cooke (b. 1962, Toronto, Canada) is an Eisner Award winning comic book writer, artist, cartoonist and animator, best known for his work on the comic books Catwoman, DC: The New Frontier and Will Eisner's The Spirit.

In 1985, Cooke published his first comic book work as a professional artist in a short story in New Talent Showcase #19, but economic pressure made him leave the career and he wo...more

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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/107172.DC?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348010421l/107172.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/107172.DC?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]DC: The New Frontier, Vol. 1 by Darwyn Cooke[/url]

DC: The New Frontier, Vol. 1 (DC: The New Frontier #1)

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