DC Comics has 87 years of history under its belt. The various eras of the publisher have helped shape the superhero into what it is today. While you can’t have any of it without the Golden Age legends of the DC Universe, anyone who tells you the Silver Age isn’t the most important era of DC doesn’t really understand the publisher (I’ll allow for the fact that you could probably make an argument for the Bronze Age as well). DC created the Silver Age in 1956’s Showcase #4, with Barry Allen running onto the scene and changing comics forever. The Silver Age took its cue from the real world, with sci-fi becoming a much more overtly important part of the superhero, bringing crucial change to the publisher.
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This was the era of DC’s greatest success. They created an all-new universe of superstars, introduced the multiverse concept to superhero comics, modernized the superteam, and gave superheroes the push they needed to become popular again. It was wildly creative and it’s left its mark on every successive era of the publisher. Over the years, various creators have tried to take readers back to the Silver Age, taking a new look at the bright, shiny era. 22 years ago, we got one of the best examples of why Silver Age DC was so great from a creator who was basically born to tell the story: New Frontier by writer/artist Darwyn Cooke. It’s one of ’00s DC’s finest moments and has reached a new level of popularity in the 2020s.
Darwyn Cooke Went Back to the Past In the Best Way Possible
The ’00s were an amazing decade to be a DC fan. Post-Crisis DC had mostly been a success, taking the building blocks laid down in the Silver Age and Bronze Age and modernizing them. However, all of this would start to change in the ’00s. DC decided to go in a more old school direction in general, reminding readers of the glory of the publisher’s past. The New Frontier was a perfect example of this. DC had gotten amazing at using Elseworlds’ stories to talk about their history and the impact of their characters in classics like Kingdom Come, so readers were excited to see what Cooke would do. In a lot of ways, The New Frontier is the Kingdom Come of the ’00s.
Much like that earlier story, it came from a creator who wore his love of the Silver Age on his sleeve. Cooke had gotten everyone’s attention with Batman: Ego. His art style was sort of like Jack Kirby combined with Bruce Timm; he was able to capture the square-jawed art deco look of Batman: The Animated Series, Superman: The Animated Series, and Justice League/Justice League Unlimited and combine it with the power and visual marvel of Kirby. He was an artist who could give anything an old school look, but most importantly, he was able to capture the flavor of the squeaky clean past and combine with the complexities of modern day comics.
The New Frontier focused on Silver Age legends like Hal Jordan, Martian Manhunter, and Barry Allen. It uses the history of the original Task Force X – a team of World War II soldiers who ended up stranded on a dinosaur island – to inform its story. Instead of giving us an idealized 1950s, Cooke takes a warts and all look at the era with John Henry, a black man attacked by the KKK who became a hero for his people, and with Superman and Wonder Woman’s covert military operations in Southeast Asia, pushing the region towards the bloody Vietnam conflict. King Faraday plays the part of the all-knowing CIA operative, pulling the strings of the American machine for their own purposes. Cooke expertly captures the real world realities of the era in a way no one else has and that plays a huge role in the book’s success.
This more realistic world is where we watch the dawning of a new age of heroes, as the next generation of heroes step up to the plate to join Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and the Justice Society. The wonder of the era is still there even in this more realistic world; in fact, Barry Allen and Hal Jordan shine even brighter in this world of contrast. Cooke could have played the Silver Age grandeur straight and it would have been fantastic. However, he figured out a way to take the lessons of modern superhero comics and apply them to the Silver Age. Silver Age DC can be rather simple, but The New Frontier shows that it can still be just as powerful as anything today in a more realistic setting.
New Frontier Belongs Alongside the Greats of the Medium
I was 24 when this book came out, loving the DC comics that were taking over my pull list. I’m going to be honest – I usually forgot to re-read issues after a new one came out and delays did plague the book, so I would usually be lost when I read the new issues and didn’t really get into it until about halfway through. The book had multiple moving parts and it wasn’t until I sat down and read the whole thing in one sitting that I saw the true artistry behind it all. It’s one of those books that was made to be read in one sitting, allowing you to see how each event leads to the next. While the book was certainly popular when it was coming out, it has continually gotten more popular in the years since it was collected for the first time.
I think that was the key to allowing readers to see how amazing the story was, giving readers something different than they ever expected. DC’s Silver Age can be easy to make fun of, but there’s always been a certain magic to it. Cooke was able to find this magic and put it on display perfectly, all while adding the kind of realism and complexity that modern comics are known for. Word of mouth served the book phenomenally, allowing it to stay vital years after it was published. The animated adaptation helped, leading even more readers to this classic. This is the perfect example of the power of Silver Age DC, a story that will live on in fan esteem forever.
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