THE NEW FRONTIER - A Love Letter to DC Comics

In this video, Owen explains the history of Darwyn Cooke's 2004 comic book, The New Frontier, and how it serves as an ultimate love letter to the Silver Age of DC Comics and the entire DC universe.

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▶ Timestamps:
0:00 - Introduction
1:53 - Before the Frontier
6:19 - Darkness Before Dawn
8:10 - A New Age of Heroes
14:30 - Conclusion
18:24 - Outro

▶ Music Used:

#TheNewFrontier #DC #ComicBooks

[OwenLikesComics]

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[joaomotta]

Watchmen deconstructs heroes. The new frontier builds them back up. Both are great comics and they definitely complement each other.

[ninjamanu]

"By the way, I don't know who you are or what your intentions are but know this, I have a $50, 000 sliver of radioactive rock to stop the one in metropolis. But for you...all I need is a book of matches."

[mr.sand]

This is my favorite comic of all time. This is also what I consider as the origin of the Justice League. This comes off as the opposite of Watchmen. Where Watchmen is pessimistic the New Frontier is optimistic.

[rolandbaldwin]

This is my favourite story out of all of the stories. It doesn't apologise for what it is. I think the more grim and gritty stories can be rooted in being ashamed of these properties. The New Frontier embraces some of the goofier and funner elements of the DCU and it holds it all in such great reverence. I was really devastated when Darwyn Cooke passed away. He was truly iconic. Nobody had a style like him or a creative eye.

[OomaGooma]

I really like Darwyn Cooke’s storytelling abilities, both writing and drawing. Yet i haven’t read the New Frontier. I gotta get caught up.

[kmac]

The movie based off this comic was my first exposure to the team, and always holds a special place in my heart, and honestly is what I see as a classic super-hero community.

[StudioInkblot]

The end of the John Henry subplot with the little girl is so chilling and will haunt me forever

[theflashfan]

The best version of Barry Allen ever. My favourite Flash. I love the fact that he's not just a depressed "boohoo mom die" character. He has real thoughts and feelings and his concerns, worries and fears are all warranted. But in true Flash fashion, he pushes through and saves the world. Loved him and of course, his relationship with Iris.

Crazy that Darwyn Cooke did with him in a miniseries shared with DC's entire early Silver Age, that so many writers have failed to on his main series with multiple arcs and issues, and have inadvertently caused another great character in Wally West to be sidelined.

Best Western comic ever, in my personal opinion.

[outpostalpha]

The New Frontier is a treasure. Darwyn Cooke was an amazing storyteller.

[pistaalkohol]

I always felt like that it is an antithesis to Watchmen and books influenced by Watchmen, but I never knew it was intentional. Rest in Peace Darwyn Cooke, your artwork will always remain the first thing that comes to my mind, when I think of the silver age.

[slothbaby]

One of my favorite things about the comic is Batman using the blue costume and getting Robin
and when Superman asks about Robin Batman says
"I guess we're just two lost souls who found each other"

[johnathonhaney]

Three points:

1) To me, this was always more of a Hal Jordan story than a Green Lantern story. You forgot to mention young Jordan's encounter with Chuck Yeager, one of many historical cameos.

2) Cooke is the ONLY writer who ever perfectly balanced the warrior ethos and compassionate outlook of Wonder Woman in my view. And he made her taller than Supes too! This gets a hell of a spotlight in the New Frontier epilogue "The Greater Good".

3) One other body of Cooke's work that doesn't get enough love, his adaptations of Donald Westlake's Parker novels. He was working on at least one more of those when he died.

[vaggelisbaousis]

My favorite superhero comic along with All Star Superman. Timeless and easily recommended to anyone wanting to know a distilled version of these characters. 3 of my best friends got into DC comics thanks to my rugged, overread New Frontier trade.

[aristosachaion_]

I first learned about Darwyn Cooke through Batman: Ego, which I absolutely love and strongly recommend to anyone who wants to get into Batman comics, and when this book popped up in one of only 2 dedicated comic book stores in my state, I had to grab it.

[amazingbrancrunch]

What makes this series great is because Darwyn Cooke actually lived through this time period in comics. So it's no surprise why he made New Frontier with much love!

[austindevine]

Darwyn Cooke was a one of a kind talent

[JamesGraham]

The parallels between New Frontier and the relatively forgotten JSA The Golden Age by James Robinson and Paul Smith have always interested me. At some point I need to go back and read them side by side. Might be a title worth looking at for your series.

[gnarrcan]

RIP Mr Cooke one of my favorite artists of all time. I wish he would’ve did more DC stuff he was perfect for those characters. His Catwoman run and the Parker graphic novels are great.

[JoaqMan]

I fell in love with Cooke’s art with Catwoman and his work on The New Frontier cemented him as one of my favorites of all time. It was incredibly sad that one day after his wife announced he had cancer he died.