Viewed: DVD acquisition
Release Date: February 26, 2008
writer: Darwyn Cooke, Stan Berkowitz
director: Dave Bullock
This is the second of DC Comics' new direct-to-video features with Warner Animation (the first being Superman: Doomsday), here adapting Darwyn Cooke's esteemed 12-part story DC: The New Frontier. While I know that I've read The New Frontier (the trade collections sitting on my shelf behind the New Frontier Action Figures is a constant reminder), to be honest I can't remember much about it, except that it was set in the 1950's, had a strong focus on Hal Jordan, and embraced the vibrant aesthetic of the 1950's new America. The story itself was completely not retained. Watching the film adaptation, you would figure that at some point there'd be some moment that would seem familiar -- an action sequence or a phrase that was recognizable -- alas, the entire movie unveiled itself before me and I had to wonder, afterwards, how true it was to the source because I just couldn't recall. Pushing New Frontier Batman and New Frontier Green Arrow aside to get at the trades, I flipped through the books and was surprised to find that the story moved virtually in sequence with the film. The rapid pace at which I was revisiting things obviously didn't allow me to take in the finer details, but the comics version appeared like storyboards for the film. Of course a lot of the dialogue and character development was passed over, as were some ancillary text material that helped enrich the comic book world, and the comic, my memory of the story now coming back to me, was much more character focussed than story focussed.
For one of DC's premiere graphic novels, I'm a little surprised at how... forgettable the New Frontier story has proven itself to be. True, I do read a lot of comics, but the ones I really enjoy tend to stay with me. Without re-reading the books, I can't do an honest contrast and compare with the film, so I'll discuss it as it stands on its own.
Release Date: February 26, 2008
writer: Darwyn Cooke, Stan Berkowitz
director: Dave Bullock
This is the second of DC Comics' new direct-to-video features with Warner Animation (the first being Superman: Doomsday), here adapting Darwyn Cooke's esteemed 12-part story DC: The New Frontier. While I know that I've read The New Frontier (the trade collections sitting on my shelf behind the New Frontier Action Figures is a constant reminder), to be honest I can't remember much about it, except that it was set in the 1950's, had a strong focus on Hal Jordan, and embraced the vibrant aesthetic of the 1950's new America. The story itself was completely not retained. Watching the film adaptation, you would figure that at some point there'd be some moment that would seem familiar -- an action sequence or a phrase that was recognizable -- alas, the entire movie unveiled itself before me and I had to wonder, afterwards, how true it was to the source because I just couldn't recall. Pushing New Frontier Batman and New Frontier Green Arrow aside to get at the trades, I flipped through the books and was surprised to find that the story moved virtually in sequence with the film. The rapid pace at which I was revisiting things obviously didn't allow me to take in the finer details, but the comics version appeared like storyboards for the film. Of course a lot of the dialogue and character development was passed over, as were some ancillary text material that helped enrich the comic book world, and the comic, my memory of the story now coming back to me, was much more character focussed than story focussed.
For one of DC's premiere graphic novels, I'm a little surprised at how... forgettable the New Frontier story has proven itself to be. True, I do read a lot of comics, but the ones I really enjoy tend to stay with me. Without re-reading the books, I can't do an honest contrast and compare with the film, so I'll discuss it as it stands on its own.
The first thing that I think most need to realize is this Justice League story is stand-alone, and is in no way connected with the previous Justice League cartoon or with normal DC Comics continuity. It's setting allows it to hit some immediately recognizable and quickly relatable back story elements, the Korean War, McCarthyism, the Space Race, the Cold War... they're all a part of the backdrop that the heroes in this story live in. Hal Jordan is the spotlight character of the film, a test pilot whose strongest desire is to fly to the stars. After a traumatic incident at the tail end of the Korean war, he was bumped from the official program, but his good buddy and flying partner, Ace, set him up with Ferris Aircraft, who are independently seeking the stars. What he doesn't find out until later is he's headed to Mars after a secret U.S. intelligence organization, led by King Faraday, discovers a Martian has found his way to earth and is living among men. Is this Martian benevolent or an advance scout in an invasion? Faraday doesn't want to wait to find out.
While all this is going on, a great evil known as the Centre is infecting the minds of the weak, and causing a wave of darkness across humanity. John Jones, the Martian Faraday seeks has taken human form as a police detective, and become aware of this being. Working with the Batman, they begin to discover more about it. The Flash as well has encountered it, but when it emerges, huge as an island and spewing prehistoric and demonic creatures it's up to Superman to rally the troops to stop it.
The two storylines bridge, each of the major characters (Martian Manhunter, Superman, Flash, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Batman) having their own smaller character arcs which intersect with one another, all culminating in the final climactic battle with the Centre. At 75 minutes, New Frontier is the standard length for an animated feature, but it suffers for its brevity, as aside from Hal Jordan, the central superhero figures are minimally utilized. We get insightful glimpses into each of their personalities and their relationships with friends, lovers and one another, however there's no time spent developing any sort of connection between them and the audience, as if we're already supposed to know them. That said, for what time they do have, Bullock and co. make those moments count.
The voice cast is pretty stunning, with David Boreanaz as Hal Jordan, Brooke Shields as Carol Ferris, Kyle MacLachlan as Superman, Lucy Lawless as Wonder Woman, John Heard as Ace; Miguel Ferrer as Martian Manhunter, Kyra Sedgwick as Lois Lane, Neil Patrick Harris as the Flash, Jeremy Sisto as Batman and more, everyone is perfectly matched for their roles. Sisto makes a decidedly different, younger sounding Batman than Kevin Conroy, or Adam West or Christian Bale, but very dark and intimidating.
Traditionally animated, the whole project looks pretty great, a notch or three above the standard DC animated series. The Korean animators have emulated Darwyn Cooke's style perfectly in bringing the characters to life, and although Cooke's style falls heavily in line with Bruce Timm's Batman, Superman and Justice League animated series, it's punched up and stylized more than enough to differentiate itself. The visual technique with the Flash is, for me, the highlight, really emphasizing what moving at that speed would feel like. Cooke provides an audio commentary discussing the process of bringing his mini-series to animated form, what had to be pared back and what was bolstered in moving form. He's very genuine in his commentary, stating what he thinks works well and what doesn't, and giving a tremendous amount of credit to the various background artists and storyboarders.
With a PG-13 rating in the U.S. (a PG rating in Canada) this Justice League story features some more graphic sequences than fans of the television cartoon would be familiar with, suffice it to say, this one's not for the young kids. Violence aside, the story remains a little ambiguous and may not prove as viscerally entertaining for the kids anyway. Compared to some of the sprawling storylines of the Justice League Unlimited, I found The New Frontier to be a little lacking in gravitas. I appreciate how difficult it was to distill the comics down into 75 minutes, but it really needed more time to flesh itself out. It moves along rapidly, feeling condensed and leading to a somewhat unsatisfying experience. Don't get me wrong, it's still pretty good, and aside from additional, costly animation time put in, there's not much else that requires fixing.
Rating: 3.5/5