Post originally by Ross Winn at 2005-04-13 09:52:07
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Once I got to the end (I read the issues as they came out) I was completely impressed. The absolutely amazing convergence of the different stories was simply the best DC title I had read since the Planetary/Batman: Night On Earth title of the previous year.
Post originally by cjh at 2005-04-13 10:26:03
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Like any comic book, the story isn't about politics. It is about good versus evil. Yes there are people who work for the government, but they don't have any political agenda or even overt affiliations.
Post originally by Bhikku at 2005-04-14 02:22:49
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The book certainly paints racist lynch mobs in a bad light, and seems to suggest that, had there been real-live superheroes striving to serve justice under secret identities, then the conformist and McCarthyist atmosphere of the era would have lashed out against them, and that this is a Bad Thing.
To me this suggests the cultural backlash against comics in the 50s. You can read more into it if you like, but the story didn't seem very political to me.
Post originally by Jack Fortune at 2005-04-14 14:47:33
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I agree. The storyline was just great, and, while I'm not a huge fan of that art style, I've got to say I thought that it went well with everything. I've been impressed with most of what DC has been putting out, lately.
I heard a long while back, right after The Golden Age came out, that there would be a sequel called The Silver Age. Nothing ever came about so I'm wondering if that project was just a bad rumor or was there any work done on it.
Post originally by cga at 2005-04-17 10:11:50
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With regard to your confusion over the inclusion of the "black superhero fighting racism," not only does his plot thread address the issue of rampant racism in the South during the 1950s, but his death provides part of the motivation for J'onn J'onzz deciding to leave Earth, thus leading into the events that follow.
Also, if you look at the last chapter in the series, toward the end, on the same page as the panel showing Batman and Robin fighting the Joker (no page numbers in the trade paperback...aarghh), right underneath is a panel showing a young boy reading a comic book next to the grave of that same vigilante John Henry, with the name "Irons" on the back of his shirt. Presumably, this boy is John Henry Irons, who in the DCU goes on to become the armored, hammer-wielding hero known as Steel.
I, too, enjoyed the story immensely. Great review!
Post originally by cjh at 2005-04-18 07:29:36
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New Frontier was a great book. I saw it, thematically, as being very much a sequel to James Robinson's Golden Age mini-series. I could easily see one leading to the other (if you pretend that Superman and Wonder Woman were offscreen somehow in Golden Age).
Jack Fortune wrote:
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I heard a long while back, right after The Golden Age came out, that there would be a sequel called The Silver Age. Nothing ever came about so I'm wondering if that project was just a bad rumor or was there any work done on it.
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