Well, it’s about 3 weeks until Good Friday, the day when
Jesus Christ died for our sins. Also, some little indie movie involving
Batman, Superman, and justice is coming out. Since "Batman v. Superman: Green
Eggs and Ham" is coming out soon, I wanted to look at a couple of stories that
featured the duo doing their thing.
The one I’m looking at today is a little different and kind
of matches the upcoming movie. When Justice League: New Frontier was being
released, DC got with Darwyn Cooke (writer/artist of DC: New Frontier) and
released a special one-off issue. It featured three stories from that universe
Cooke set up in DC: New Frontier. For those who don’t know, DC: New Frontier
was a miniseries that bridged the gap between DC’s Golden and Silver Ages.
Cooke wrote all of the stories for the issue. He also did the art for the first
story. Dave Bullock and Michael Cho handles the art for the second story.
Finally, Jason Bone (J. Bone) handles the artwork for the last story.
Justice League: New Frontier Special #1
Writer: Darwyn Cooke
Pencils: Darwyn Cooke, Dave Bullock, and J. Bone
Inks: Darwyn Cooke, Michael Cho, and J. Bone
Colors: Dave Stewart
Letters: Jared K. Fletcher
Editor: Ian Slatter
The issue starts off with an introduction from time traveler
Rip Hunter setting everything up.
Batman and Superman in “Fight To The Finish”
The story is basically the backstory behind that image of
Superman and Batman fighting at the beginning of the mini-series. It takes
place in 1955 where King Faraday is trying to suppress vigilante acts in America.
He wants Superman and Wonder Woman to take down Batman who is operating in
Gotham City. Wonder Woman refuses and leaves while Superman thinks taking down
Batman is for the greater good. We find out that this meeting is taking place
on one of Bruce Wayne’s yachts.
Later, Superman meets with Pres. Eisenhower about the
mission. He does have reservations on taking down Batman, but the President
presses the issue and essentially makes it an executive order. Meanwhile,
Catwoman gives Batman a small gift: a piece of Kryptonite stolen from Lex
Luthor’s company. Eventually, Superman carries out his mission and heads to
Gotham’s car yard. He’s shocked to learn that Batman’s ready for him. Batman
throws all he has at Superman and the fight leads to the Batcave.
Meanwhile, Alfred is laying down some sweet beats.
After Batman crashes his sweet ride, he uses Kryptonite on
Superman and that weakens him. He almost gets Superman into a containment unit
but Superman stops that pretty easily. The two are about to go at it again when
Wonder Woman shows up and tells them both to lay off since they are the only
active superheroes around right now. They need to stand united. Superman is
still distrustful of Batman, so Batman reveals his identity to them both. In
the end, Diana comes up with a plan of the two heroes having a public fake
fight and Superman feigning defeat to keep the feds off Batman’s backs.
Wonder Woman: the true hero of the story.
Since Batman is away for a few days, this leaves Dick
Grayson to do his own work. He’s investigating the theft of some explosives and
he believes a new gang of car drivers is responsible. He goes undercover to a
place where some drag racing is going on. He ends up going against some cocky
red-head named “Wally Wood”. What they don’t know is that Wally’s car is rigged
to crash. When it does, Dick runs into the wreck and notices that Wally is
gone. The cops end up showing and crashing the party, so Dick suits up and gets
out of there.
Wonder Woman and Black Canary in “Wonder Woman and Black
Canary”
After a tussle with some bad guys, Wonder Woman monologues
to Black Canary about women’s roles in America. She finds a Playboy magazine
and still monologues about how men treat women in America. In order to fight
for women everywhere, the two head to a gentleman’s club to do some
“preaching.” After a funny run-in with Bruce Wayne, the two decide to jump on
stage and Wonder Woman tales about women being treated better. The men don’t
take it well, so the two heroes beat them up. After a funny moment involving
Diana’s breastplate, the two head off.
Now this was funny.
…………………………………………………..
I thought this was a nice one-off issue. It was nice to get
some more stories from this version of the DC universe. All of them were good
from one degree to another. The first story was my favorite of the three. It
featured two of my favorite heroes having a little tussle and getting berated
by someone cool. I thought it tied into the original series pretty well. The
second story was fine but short. The last story was okay but it did have some
really funny moments. I especially thought that Bruce Wayne scene was
hilarious.
The artwork for the stories was really good. Cooke’s artwork
in the first story felt like it came from DC: New Frontier. It had the overall
feel of the mini-series. The artwork in the other stories was good but not on
Cooke’s level in my opinion. They did feel like they fit the feel of their
stories. The last story was a laugh riot and the artwork helped cement that
feel. I don’t have anything really negative to say about the special. The last
story was my least favorite but it was also the funniest. I think one last
complaint is that there were only three stories. I’d would like to see Cooke do
more with the heroes in this version of the DCU.
Overall, this was good. If you’re a fan of DC: New Frontier,
then you should definitely check this out. If you’ve just seen the movie, read DC:
New Frontier and then read this. The movie was good but the actual mini-series
was pretty cool. Well, that’s enough gushing over Darwyn Cooke. Next time, I’ll
be looking at another story where the two kind of butted heads. Until then,
Peace, God Bless, and watch out for Commies! Yes, I made a funny about
communism Since DC: New Frontier is set in the 50’s.
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