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Absolute DC: The New Frontier

(DC: The New Frontier #1-2)

Darwyn Cooke (Writer, Artist),

Dave Stewart (Colourist),

Jared K. Fletcher (Letterer),

Paul Levitz (Introduction)

4.41 · Rating details · 5,205 ratings · 271 reviews

Writer/illustrator Darwyn Cooke's critically acclaimed masterpiece DC: The New Frontier is celebrated in this oversized Absolute edition featuring new story pages, detailed annotations, alternate sequences and an extensive gallery of sketches, pinups, action figure art and much more!
In the 1950s, Cold War paranoia outlawed the Mystery Men of the Golden Age. Stalwarts s ...more

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Hardcover, 464 pages

Published October 4th 2006 by DC Comics

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May 25, 2018 Sean Gibson rated it it was amazing

Look, I’m a nigh-40-year-old man who reads superhero comics. (How nigh, you ask? T-minus 7 months and counting, so please get your grim reaper cakes and hilarious “over the hill” cards (with a picture of a hill) ready now.) I also have a shirt that says “Dungeon Master” that I proudly wear (even if my wife refuses to be seen in public with me when I do). So, I get that I’m particularly awesome, and that my opinion on a book like this has to be taken with a fanboy grain of salt.

But, I’ve been rea Look, I’m a nigh-40-year-old man who reads superhero comics. (How nigh, you ask? T-minus 7 months and counting, so please get your grim reaper cakes and hilarious “over the hill” cards (with a picture of a hill) ready now.) I also have a shirt that says “Dungeon Master” that I proudly wear (even if my wife refuses to be seen in public with me when I do). So, I get that I’m particularly awesome, and that my opinion on a book like this has to be taken with a fanboy grain of salt.

But, I’ve been reading superhero comics for 30 years now, and one of the main reasons I keep reading them, despite the absurdity of massive crossover events that constantly reboot continuity and set fire to every single writer’s attempt to do anything in the way of characterization (looking at you, Marvel, even though I love you, for inflicting this, this, and this upon us), is to have that same feeling I had when I read my very first superhero comic (that would be the first issue of the Dark Phoenix Saga, incidentally): that there exists in the world a group of goodly people who will bravely battle the forces of evil no matter the odds, and they’ll do it not because they’re fearless, but because they are dedicated to defending those unable to defend themselves and will do so at any cost. And, ideally, they’ll do it with some clever banter and with visual panache.

It’s been a long time since I’ve read a comic that hit that sweet spot like The New Frontier. Cinematic in scope (not surprising, given Cooke’s background as an animator), pitch perfect in tone, and clever in its reinterpretation of classic DC mythos, this masterclass in sequential storytelling is everything you want in a superhero comic: deep characterization, plot twists and turns, kinetic action, and heroes that are simultaneously down to earth and larger than life. I used to hold up JLA: Year One as the gold standard for DC origin stories; I think The New Frontier is the new gold standard.

The world can seem very dark these days, and we need all the points of light we can get. This is one of those points of light. If you’re a comic fan, or even if you’re not, do yourself a favor and add this to your reading list. You’ll thank me. Or maybe ask to borrow my Dungeon Master t-shirt. Or give you lessons in how to be awesome. Or maybe teach you how to shimmy, because nothing says “for a good time” like these A-minus cups slinging from side to side. I’m happy to do all of the above. ...more

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May 16, 2016 Dan Schwent rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2016, 2016-comics

An alien menace threatens the earth in the late 1950's and it'll take every hero humanity has to stop it.

Confession time: While I'd heard of The New Frontier, I didn't pick it up until after Darwyn Cooke's death. Now that I've read it, I wish I'd picked it up sooner.

The New Frontier is the story of the transition of the DC universe from the Justice Society era through the 1950s to the formation of the Justice League. Pretty much every DC character from pre-1960 is in it. Unlike how things origin An alien menace threatens the earth in the late 1950's and it'll take every hero humanity has to stop it.

Confession time: While I'd heard of The New Frontier, I didn't pick it up until after Darwyn Cooke's death. Now that I've read it, I wish I'd picked it up sooner.

The New Frontier is the story of the transition of the DC universe from the Justice Society era through the 1950s to the formation of the Justice League. Pretty much every DC character from pre-1960 is in it. Unlike how things originally went down, The New Frontier links characters from DC's war comics, their supernatural comics, and their super hero comics.

I knew this was going to be something different when the first few pages had The Losers fighting dinosaurs. The story is pretty much a love letter to the DC comics of the late 1950s. In addition to old favorites like the Justice League, some without their powers for most of the book, Darwyn Cooke dug up King Faraday, Slam Bradley, the Challengers of the Unknown, Adam Strange, and many others.

Rick Flag and Task Force X, aka The Suicide Squad, played a prominent part in safeguarding America once the Justice League went into retirement. I loved seeing a pre-Green Lantern Hal Jordan paling around with Rick Flagg and Ace Morgan. The early days of J'Onn J'Onnz, aka the Martian Manhunter, were really cool as well.

I thought it was great that Darwyn Cooke didn't focus on the icons like Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, instead giving a lot of time to Hal Jordan and the Challengers of the Unknown. The Flash and Green Arrow could have had more to do but Cooke only had so much room to tell his tale.

While the story was great, I loved the art. Cooke's retro style did a good job of evoking the 1950s period it was depicting. It was Silver Age with a modern touch and quite something to behold. I'll definitely be tracking down more of his work.

I could gush about this book all day. Instead of talking about Kingdom Come with reverence, this is the DC book people should be holding on a pedestal. 4.5 out of 5 stars. ...more

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Sep 22, 2016 Matthew Quann rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: graphic-novels-comics-with-reviews

DC: The New Frontier was a comic that has long been on my to-read list, but for some reason always slipped out of my stack when I came around to the counter at the comic shop. The lads at the counter were surprised I hadn't read it, and with good reason. The late Darwin Cooke's miniseries is lauded as a modern retelling of the Gold to Silver Age transition that is filled to the brim with nostalgic punch. For a comic junkie like myself, it finally seemed like it was time to take the series down w ...more

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Oct 24, 2017 Jim Ef rated it liked it

I expected something a bit different. Maybe it’s just me, but I didn’t care much about what I was reading. At least 60% of this is about Hal Jordan and some other characters ( like Colonel Flag ) that I don’t know and after this I don’t care to know. The biggest problem was that after I got to the middle, I forced myself to go through the entire thing. I simply got tired and didn’t care whatsoever about what is going to happen.

Not everything is bad though, there are some nice moments and the art ...more

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Jan 06, 2016 Tristan rated it really liked it · review of another edition

“If we’re talking about mainstream comics, I think there have been a lot of real tactical errors made in this century. I can’t really read superhero comics anymore because they’re not about superheroes. They’ve become so dark and violent and sexualized. I think it’s a real wrong turn. I don’t know how a company like Warner Bros. or Disney is able to rationalize characters raping and murdering and taking drugs and swearing and carrying on the way they do, and those same characters are on sheet se ...more

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Oct 18, 2015 Anthony rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I read this a few years ago, but it was digitally on my iPad. I was happy to see a new printing of the series in the deluxe format. It reads so much better in print. When I read it on my iPad, parts of it seemed to drag a little, but in print it flows much better. I think it's cause at times it can be a little dense with everything that's going on. But it is a good book that has a great take on the 50s/60s era. There's also some cool back matter, but this might have appeared in earlier editions ...more

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May 10, 2018 Ma'Belle rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: comics-graphic-novels, superheroes, dc

For some reason, I have *never* heard anyone talk about this epic graphic novel-style DC story by Darwyn Cooke (who died two years ago this week). Not on any lists, referenced as inspiration, nothing. I randomly found the adapted feature length animated version of it in my library's catalog while searching for DC Lego DVDs. I checked it out on a whim and was blown away by the quality. I would put it up there with Batman: Under the Hood in my Top DCAU movies list. Finding the book itself proved t For some reason, I have *never* heard anyone talk about this epic graphic novel-style DC story by Darwyn Cooke (who died two years ago this week). Not on any lists, referenced as inspiration, nothing. I randomly found the adapted feature length animated version of it in my library's catalog while searching for DC Lego DVDs. I checked it out on a whim and was blown away by the quality. I would put it up there with Batman: Under the Hood in my Top DCAU movies list. Finding the book itself proved to be more challenging, likely because of the luxurious printing and binding style, which means libraries have to pay more for it. After waiting for it to be shipped from some random library in rural Oklahoma that happens to own the largest Deluxe HC edition, the first thing I noticed was the extremely high quality paper and inks used. It feels good to turn the physical pages, and the way the light hits the colors from various angles strikes me as being much better than that used in most comic book trades and graphic novels.

The story itself is essentially a JLA origin story, which has been done countless times. The New Frontier is strikingly different, and ended up being one of the most riveting, best-told comic books I've read, especially within the DC universe.

Most striking is that the core JLA members serve more as supporting characters rather than being in the spotlight the whole time. In the annotations and afterword, Cooke explains that as a kid, he was never into superhero comics, but loved the war, Western, and mystery comic books. This explains why the majority of the story focuses on various obscure DC military figures who fought in the Korean War (which itself is often referred to as The Forgotten War, and is technically still going to this day, but agreements were finally made last month to work towards a resolution to the conflict).

The first 30 pages act as a prologue featuring The Losers, which Cooke explains was DC's lowest-selling, least-memorable wartime comic. There's a mist-covered, mysteriously hidden island in the center of the ocean that some G.I.s crash landed on while delivering a high-ranking former Nazi scientist to the Allies. Now a rescue team has been sent in, but they quickly get picked off by motherfucking DINOSAURS! In the afterword, Darwyn Cooke points out that it was intentional to make the first real hero in The New Frontier a Native American. I wondered about that, but find myself wishing there were much more inclusion of Native characters in superhero stories - *especially* every time we see Superman make a grand speech about fighting for Truth, Justice, and the American Way, and the "freedom for every man and woman to pursue their destiny." Like, come on, Supes, you don't know about the history of colonialism and genocide in America?!

I predicted that the Nazi scientist himself would be key in the plot, but that's not the case. The historical fiction elements are crucial in establishing the mood and progressing the story through various conflicts. A line from Yeats's most famous poem (The Second Coming), a children's author based on Dr. Seuss, and the mass paranoia and Red-jacketing during the McCarthy era are significant pieces in the story. Fear of communist influence in the U.S. has prompted a no-masks-allowed law akin to Marvel's Superhero Registration Act (aka The Sakovia Accords). The JSA (Justice Society of America, which predates the Justice League of America) has avoided having their identities revealed by disbanding. The only superheroes that are registered and sent out on government-sanctioned missions are Superman and Wonder Woman.

The two JLA characters that get the most page time and personal insight are Hal Jordan (obvi because he's an Air Force Top Gun type) and John Jones, which was the first human-passing alias taken on by Martian Manhunter, and is humorously inspired by detective shows on television. I've never been a big Green Lantern fan, but the character arc for Jordan becoming the first human to wield a power ring is fantastic. J'onn J'onzz has for many years been an underplayed character and, in my opinion, is fascinating, powerful, and thoughtful enough to warrant a much higher level of attention in both comics and adaptations into other media, so I was greatly pleased with his role in the book.

I'm not going to describe the plot anymore, but I highly recommend getting this book. It's an epic one, coming in at around 400 pages, with an additional hundred pages of bonus content worth going through. But as superhero stories written in chapters like this, New Frontier is much more readable than, say, Watchmen.

Speaking of Watchmen, the controversial Before Watchmen comics a few years back was one of the last major projects Darwyn Cooke was involved in before passing away. I have little interest in reading those, but now I'm eager to seek out more of the DCAU films and shows he wrote. ...more

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Oct 03, 2020 Lukas Sumper rated it liked it

Only 3 stars u might ask? I love it for the beautiful artstyle and the intention which bordered on being nationalistic, but impressed me with huge ambition and effort.

Where it falls apart is the writing style. It got it right with the pacing / layout but it just grinded to a near halt with all the exposition in description boxes or unnecessary recaps that not only took away my enjoyment from the art and also had me scratching my head multiple times. It all came down to one rule that was ignored ...more

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Jul 10, 2015 Earnest rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: dc-comics

The New Frontier presents a refreshing and modern take on the superhero origin story. Darwyn Cooke foregoes the obvious route of updating the old stories by having them take place in the contemporary. The superheroes live in the World War Two and Cold War era, around the same time of the Golden Age of comics and when superheroes started appearing in comics. When thinking of modern interpretations, it has the connotations of somehow becoming darker, grittier (the lasting influence of Alan Moore). ...more

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May 16, 2016 Eric rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: adventure, fantasy, my-books, politics, comics, superheroes, science-fiction, historical-fiction, drama, favorite-comics

4 3/4 stars

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Feb 18, 2015 Shane Perry rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I had originally read this a few years ago as well as watching the animated film, but this new hardcover collection was too good to pass up. Darwyn Cooke does an excellent job of pulling everything from the various nooks and crannies of DC's Silver Age into an origin story that perfectly captures both the period and the superheroes involved. But the real star of this collection is Cooke's art. This just may be my favorite art for any comic I have ever read. The supplemental material in this delu ...more

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Sep 15, 2012 Rocco Versaci rated it it was amazing

Cooke is one of my favorite comic book artists; he's got a gorgeous retro style that perfectly captures the time period depicted in this book--the 1940s & 1950s. The story covers the "changing of the guard" as heroes of the JSA made way for those of the JLA. In this sweeping adventure, however, we see them all pull together to stop a force that threatens to destroy the world (well, what else would they join forces for?). Cooke's writing is every bit as sharp as his line. ...more

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Oct 04, 2016 Jon Nakapalau rated it it was amazing

Shelves: cultural-studies, graphic-novels, favorites

By grounding the DC heroes in a particular time and place (1945-1960) we are able to look at the problems such heroes would have to deal with had they influenced America during this critical 15 year period.

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Jul 23, 2015 Jared Gillins rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: comics, sci-fi, fantasy

The next time DC tries to decide what new direction to head in, they should remember how awesome New Frontier was and ask Darwyn Cooke for some advice.

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Feb 13, 2020 Lashaan Balasingam (Bookidote) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: comic-books, dc-comics, justice-league, read-in-2020

You can find my review on my blog by clicking here.

Some stories need to be told despite being outside the canonical events set forth within a fictional universe. These stories have the liberty to explore ideas and themes outside those restricted by the ongoing story arcs. At DC Comics, it is a beloved, if not sometimes dreaded, practice to have writers and artists work on what-if stories for fans to quietly indulge away from any judgemental glare from comic book purists. While there’s no denying that more often than not, these stories have the unfortunate tendency to deliver appalling material that have you running back to canon content, there are some unique and creative stories that succeed in delivering the most unexpected and eye-opening stories in the comic book industry. Most of these stories tend to focus on a certain character and present a self-contained and compelling adventure, but one Eisner Award-winning writer-artist looked at things differently and looked to deliver an epic that reinvented a whole universe.

What is DC: The New Frontier about? Set in the 1960s America, in the midst of the Cold War and the rise of civil rights movements, the story presents an era in real-life history where masked mystery men who fought in the Second World War are to be outlawed. While iconic heroes such as Superman and Wonder Woman work undercover to assure the safety of the world, other heroes find themselves in hiding, abandoning their costumes, or lurking in the shadows looking to lend a hand to all those who serve justice. With a dangerous threat looming on the horizon, these heroes are, however, needed once again if humanity is ever to see another day again. Collecting the six-issues dual-volume comic book limited series, the legendary Canadian comic book writer and artist Darwyn Cooke presents a genre-defining tale where history meets superheroes.

Similar to writer Alan Moore’s Watchmen, without its nihilistic and vigilante-questioning tone, this story is constructed with a grounded approach where it seeks to integrate the DC Universe within an almost historically-accurate era of humankind. Inexplicably perfect, creator Darwyn Cooke reimagines a whole universe set in the 1950s and offers fans a beautiful story that bridges the gap between the Golden and Silver age of superhero comic books. Alternating between various points of view, he does an incrementally beautiful job in humanizing them and allowing them to grow into the heroes they were always meant to be. With characters and squads such as the Challengers of the Unknown, the Suicide Squad, Martian Manhunter, and Hal Jordan, amongst others, carrying this story from cover to cover, it is with sheer brilliance that Darwyn Cooke manages to set the world ablaze and present one of the greatest origin stories for the Justice League. Although it is hectic storywise, with no particular linearity in the chronology of events, and it does a clunky job in properly distributing attention on certain characters—you can tell that he has a certain affinity towards the Green Lantern—the story still grows on you with its characters, history, and themes.

To both write and illustrate this masterpiece is a challenge in itself that only Darwyn Cooke could’ve accomplished with such splendour. A good chunk of the story doesn’t necessarily put superheroes in the spotlight as war heroes obtain just as much respect throughout the graphic novel. How Darwyn Cooke cleverly embraces both the realistic and fantastical elements is what essentially makes this story outstanding. While there is a hefty dose of realism attributable to the narrative, he also incorporates plenty of quirky, zany, and crazy ingredients to make this a truly spectacular event. Amongst all the chaos that is teased into the story, dinosaurs remain the most entertaining. And so, through a cartoonish art style, Darwyn Cooke brings to life the impossible and does so in an incredibly cinematic fashion, through exceptional panel configurations (e.g. the three-panel widescreen pages) as well as epic sequences that merit its own wall in an art museum. The artistic touch that simply perfects this oeuvre also lies in Dave Stewart’s vibrant colouring and thick black contouring that turns this story into a bombastic, flashy, and sizzling adventure.

DC: The New Frontier is a visionary story blending superheroes into real-life history as it presents the unifying powers of humankind amidst a strange alien threat.

Yours truly,

Lashaan | Blogger and Book Reviewer
Official blog: https://bookidote.com/ ...more

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Jun 09, 2016 Bruno Carriço rated it liked it · review of another edition

Perhaps i don't know enough about Golden and Silver Age characters to really care about this... most of the time i felt lost trying to understand who was who. Really like Cooke's drawings but some characters (to me) looked almost the same.
Non related but related, was this the book that inspired Batman Vs Superman? Seems that some of the plot lines are similar, and it looks like Justice League new movie will also borrow from this. ...more

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Feb 24, 2015 Nicolas Bateman rated it it was amazing

Cooke's masterpiece is, simply put, one of the best comics I have ever read... A transcendent study of 1950's America and the relevance of its heroes. ...more

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Sep 20, 2016 Matt Smith rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, comics, read-in-2016, superheroes, dc

The first time I read DC: The New Frontier, Vol. 1 and DC: The New Frontier, Vol. 2 I was in college and it was because everyone I was listening to at the time said that it was world-changing, one of the best comics ever written, certainly the best contemporary DC story. And I read it. I thought it was really pretty, but it didn't do what I wanted or expected it to do. I thought it was overhyped. I shelved it for basically ever, never recommended it to anyone (I would always point them to Identi ...more

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Mar 07, 2015 Diz rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: graphic-novels

This is an amazing book! It is a nice chunky hardcover filled with some of the best comic art I've ever seen. The basic idea of the story is that World War II has ended, and with the exception of Superman and Wonder Woman, who work with the government, and Batman, who works undercover, the golden age heroes are forced to retire. Unfortunately, new forces of evil are gathering which will require a new age of heroes to begin. This is the story of the rise of the silver age. This book does a good j ...more

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Mar 18, 2015 Blindzider rated it liked it

Shelves: comics

3.5 stars

This was a reread and I actually read the two TPBs together.

This was better the second time for me, the first read being a few years after this originally came out. I can see now the ambition of it: merging multiple characters that have never crossed before, fitting all of them into the early sixties fraught with the red scare. The story marks the time when superheroes existed but there was a backlash until a threat bigger than everyone appears, leading everyone to work together to comb ...more

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May 15, 2020 Doctor Alpha rated it did not like it

Shelves: abandoned

You've read Watchmen, you've read this. Never I suspected that Golden and Silver Age had anything to do with Watchmen at all, but Whatever. I'm tired to death of Wanna-be Watchmen copies written all over again and again and again and again and again from people who clearly have no original ideas other than boringly retelling the same, exact book (one which, if you see my review of it, I LOATHE with passion as much as his master-of-hacks writer) with just a bit of cosmetic differences to get the ...more

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Jun 27, 2019 Wes Benchoff rated it really liked it

A bit slow at first, picks up steam in the second half, some truly beautiful illustrations

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Aug 12, 2015 Wing Kee rated it it was amazing

A tour de force is world building.

I'm too young to remember the Golden Age and Silver Age of comics. When I started reading DC it was already in the Modern Age and I was already bogged down by the weight of 60+ years of canon. I know the history, I know how DC wanted to reinvent their Golden Age heroes for another generation, a reboot as it were, a freeing of their heroes from the constraints of canon. Well here is the accepted retcon of how the Silver Age came to be!

World: Darwyn Cooke's art is A tour de force is world building.

I'm too young to remember the Golden Age and Silver Age of comics. When I started reading DC it was already in the Modern Age and I was already bogged down by the weight of 60+ years of canon. I know the history, I know how DC wanted to reinvent their Golden Age heroes for another generation, a reboot as it were, a freeing of their heroes from the constraints of canon. Well here is the accepted retcon of how the Silver Age came to be!

World: Darwyn Cooke's art is in a class all it's own. The line work, the framing, the designs all are stunningly beautiful. With New Frontier Darwyn had the entire DC canvas to play with and man is the art incredible. But it's not just the art that is amazing, the fact that he needed to world build essentially all of the DCU anew was an amazing feat. To create an origin story for not only the JLA, JSA, Suicide Squad, Blackhawks...the list goes on and on, this is a master class of world building and those who love to read origin stories will be treated to awesomeness.

Story: Huge in scope, flawless in pacing and simply in execution. As I said above, Cooke had the entire pantheon of DC to play with, it may seem like a good thing, but balancing so many characters, creating an origin, and also telling an interesting tale is a tall order, and he does it so effortlessly. It's dense, every panel has details and every story line pays off in the end. This is a magnum opus of comic book storytelling. Generally I find event books to be tiresome, bloated, self-important and at the end of the day dull. Here you will find none of that, Cooke has taken an impossible take of rebooting an entire universe and did it splendidly in 350+ pages. I won't go into details of the story as it needs to be experienced, but man is it ever good.

Characters: Where do I start? Who do I start with? There are so many characters here that it boggles the mind, we got to meet so many and actually got a large chunk of character development to boot. Personalities, voices and dialog as all distinct and each character is memorable. This is simply stunningly good and quite remarkable. I can't stress enough how much I cared for these characters, and seeing their origin was a delight.

This book is simply too good for words. It literally is a New Frontier, and the dawn of a new age in comic books. The final shot is iconic and how Cooke managed to build a world so effortlessly is nothing short of heroic.

Onward to the next book! ...more

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May 18, 2015 Vera rated it it was amazing

Comic book stories of this size that run for as long as this one did (I believe it was a full year) have a tendency to either be juggling too many balls to be completely coherent or they just loose steam about halfway through. Neither is the case here, and the careful weaving of many disparate elements into one glorious final product is simply astounding.

Set primarily in the 1960s, this tells the story of golden age heroes like Superman and Wonder Woman dealing with the turmoil and paranoia of t ...more

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Apr 07, 2016 Brian rated it it was amazing

I could have read this book faster. I read the last 100 pages in a sitting. But I chose not to. I would read 10-20 pages at a time, let it sit a few days, before returning again. The art was so stunning that I wanted to linger on every panel, get lost in every cover.

I love the scope of this book, covering years and years, popping in on various characters for a few pages, we see the Martian Manhunter as a cop in Gotham City, we see Green Lantern returning from Korea with his pacifism barely in ta ...more

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May 20, 2016 Erik rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: comics-superhero-dc

Probably the definitive story of the DC universe. It’s a simple enough story, centered around a threat that brings all the heroes together (with a heavier focus on the origins of Green Lantern and the Martian Manhunter). Cooke masterfully balances a giant cast around that central premise. Despite pulling in nearly every major player of DC’s 40s, 50s, and 60s, nothing ever feels forced. The brilliance really lies in how fresh and original he makes it all feel.

Cooke’s clean lines and retro style a ...more

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Jul 26, 2016 Richard Guion rated it it was amazing

I re-read the original issues which I bought when they were first published. This mini-series was an awesome tribute to the late 50s era of Dc Comics heroes. Cooke's artwork & storytelling is fantastic, but what takes this to another level is tying together the dawn of the Silver Age heroes with the US emerging from the shadows of McCarthyism. He also kept the timeline of the heroes intact - Batman, Superman, & Wonder Woman were around since WW2 - while the Flash / Green Lantern were redesigned ...more

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Oct 08, 2007 Rick rated it it was amazing

Shelves: comics

DC created the Absolute line, slipcased, oversized hardback editions chock full of extras for their more recent "classics". Of the comics published over the last couple of years, perhaps no work is more worthy of this treatment than Darwyn Cooke's DC: The New Frontier. Not only does the collection reprint the entire fabulous mini-series in full color, it includes annotations from the author, original designs, storyboards, and much more. DC originally collected the series in two separate trade pa ...more

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Jun 24, 2011 David J. rated it it was amazing

Forget that Ryan Reynolds nonsense, this is Hal Jordan! Writer/artist Darwyn Cooke has made an epic retro tale that consists of many classic DC comics characters (Superman, Batman, Flash, Wonder Woman) as well as some great lesser-knowns, putting Jordan right at the heart! Well-paced and beautifully rendered, this Absolute edition is THE only way to experience this story.

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May 22, 2015 Candace Perry rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, favorites, comics, comic-book-class

Absolutely cannot say enough good about it. Even more wonderful than the animated movie. It was an interesting and wonderful take on the characters while still maintaining their integrity of character.

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Darwyn Cooke

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Darwyn Cooke was 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 worked in Canada as a magazi Darwyn Cooke was 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 worked in Canada as a magazine art director, graphic and product designer for the next 15 years.

In the early 1990s Cooke decided to return to comics, but found little interest for his work at the major publishers. Eventually he was hired by Warner Bros. Animation after replying to an ad placed by animator Bruce Timm.

He went on to work as a storyboard artist for Batman: The Animated Series and Superman: The Animated Series, and in 1999 he animated the main title design for Batman Beyond. He then worked as a director for Sony Animation's Men in Black: The Series for a year.

DC Comics then approached Cooke about a project which he had submitted to the publisher years earlier which eventually became Batman: Ego, a graphic novel published in 2000.

The critical success of that project led to Cooke taking on more freelance work, such as X-Force, Wolverine/Doop and Spider-Man's Tangled Web for Marvel Comics and Just Imagine... Stan Lee for DC.

In 2001, Cooke and writer Ed Brubaker teamed up to revamp the Catwoman character. They started with a 4 issue serial "Trail of the Catwoman" in Detective Comics #759-762 in which private detective Slam Bradley attempts to investigate the death of Selina Kyle (AKA Catwoman).

The story led into a new Catwoman title in late 2001 by Brubaker and Cooke, in which the character's costume, supporting cast and modus operandi were all redesigned and redeveloped. Cooke would stay on the series, which was met with critical and fan acclaim, up until issue #4. In 2002 he would write and draw a prequel, the Selina's Big Score graphic novel which detailed what had happened to the character directly before her new series.
Cover to DC: The New Frontier #6.
Cover to DC: The New Frontier #6.

Cooke's next project was the ambitious DC: The New Frontier (2004), a six issue miniseries which sought to tell an epic storyline bridging the gap between the end of the golden and the start of the silver age of comic books in the DC Universe. The story, which was set in the 1950s, featured dozens of super-hero characters and drew inspiration from the comic books and movies of the period as well as from Tom Wolfe's non-fiction account of the start of the US Space Program The Right Stuff. The major DC characters are introduced in "The New Frontier" in the same order that DC originally published them, even down to the correct month and year in the story's timeline. In 2005, Cooke won an Eisner Award for "Best Limited Series", and a Joe Shuster Award for "Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Cartoonist" for his work on the series.

Most recently, Cooke contributed to DC's artist-centric anthology project Solo. His issue (#5, June, 2005) featured several different stories in different styles with a framing sequence featuring the Slam Bradley character. In 2006, Solo #5 won an Eisner Award for "Best Single Issue."

In July 2005, it was announced that in 2006 Cooke and writer Jeph Loeb would produce a Batman/Spirit crossover, to be followed shortly afterwards by an ongoing Spirit series written and drawn by Cooke. Batman/The Spirit was ultimately published in November 2006, followed in December by the first issue of Cooke's The Spirit. In June 2007, Cooke and J. Bone won a Joe Shuster Award for "Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Artists" for their work on "Batman/The Spirit", and Cooke won "Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Cartoonist" for his work on "The Spirit".

In July 2006, it was announced that Warner Bros. Animation and DC Comics would release a series of direct-to-DVD animated movies based on important DC com ...more

Other books in the series

DC: The New Frontier (2 books)

Books by Darwyn Cooke

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