Episode 1765 Talkback - BOMC: DC: The New Frontier

i_am_scifi

The late 1950s in the U.S. of A.: prosperity and paranoia were both on the rise, humanity was striving toward the stars, and the characters in comic books were acquiring the unmistakable lustre of SILVER. This BOMC episode pays homage to writer/artist Darwyn Cooke's homage to those heady times, DC: The New Frontier. We comment on Cooke's engagement with his period setting, scrutinize his signature art style, and marvel at his distillation of such classic DC characters as Hal Jordan, Barry Allen, J'onn J'onzz, the Losers, and the Challengers of the Unknown to their purest sterling essence. It's one small step for us Geeks, one giant leap for this podcast! (1:54:49)

Listen here.

nweathington

The New Frontier is the only story I’ve ever bought in the Absolute format. Like @ShaneKelly, I don’t normally like the unwieldiness of the DC Absolutes/Marvel Omnibuses, but in this case I make an exception just because of how magnificent the artwork is, and because of the back matter, particularly Darwyn’s annotations.

nweathington

The opening segment with the Losers on Dinosaur Island is perfect comic book storytelling. You can put it up against anything Kirby, Eisner, or Kurtzman drew, and it’s every bit as good. The pacing, the layouts (a clear homage to Kirby’s own "Losers" storytelling of the '70s), the coloring — it all adds up to pure brilliance. I often pull that big Absolute off my shelf just to reread those 32 pages. The rest of the series is quite good as well.