The New Frontier: the film versus the comic by Darwyn Cooke

After a series of adaptations which left drawing behind, here is the exception which explains all the others. Decryption source by source, without disclosing the outcomes.

As in each article in this series, only verified information (creators, distribution, dates, publishers) is stated; the comparative analysis is ours, without reproducing dialogue or protected images.

DC: The New Frontier (2004): filling a fifteen-year gap

DC: The New Frontier was published by DC in 2004, written and drawn by Darwyn Cooke — a rare case of a complete author on a project of this magnitude. Six issues of high pagination, abundantly rewarded.

The project responds to a question of editorial history. Major DC characters appeared in the late 1930s and during the war; then the genre collapsed in the early 1950s, most titles disappearing in favor of westerns, romance and horror; then, at the end of the decade, a new generation of heroes emerges and revives the genre for good. Between the two, a gap of around fifteen years that official continuity had never really told.

Cooke tells it. Its story runs from the post-war period to the early 1960s and follows several figures - an aviator who becomes Green Lantern, a scientist who becomes Flash, a Wonder Woman who disagrees with the politics of her host country, a Superman who becomes an official tool, a Batman who we seek to stop. The climate is one of distrust: the costumed are ordered to unmask themselves or to stop, and the America of the story is shot through by its fears.

The final gesture is to reverse this darkness. After showing a decade of mistrust and compromise, Cooke leads his story into a frank and assumed optimism - the idea that these figures are better than the era that rejected them. This is what distinguishes the work from the production of its time, largely focused on disenchantment.

The exception: when style crosses

Throughout this batch, we have established a recurring observation: animated adaptations transmit the story and leave the drawing behind. Mazzucchelli's line onYear One, Miller's grid, Quitely's composition onAll-Star Superman, the iconography of Dave Johnson, the expressionism of Tim Sale — and even the boards of Jim Lee onHush, where the loss concerned the essential.

The New Frontier is the exception, and it is twofold.

First, Darwyn Cooke was associated with the production of the film, whose artistic direction follows his work instead of neutralizing it. This would be enough to explain the result, but it is not the most interesting reason.

The second is due to the nature of his style. Cooke practiced an openly retro-inspired drawing style: simplified shapes, flat areas of color, silhouettes readable from a distance, a vocabulary borrowed from American commercial illustration and cartoons of the 1950s. Now this is not a coincidence - Cooke came from animation, where he had worked before making a career in comics, notably on television series devoted to DC characters.

In other words, his style of comics was already a style of animation. Bringing it to the screen didn't require translating it: it was coming home. This is exactly the mechanism observed onInvincible, but taken to its purest form — not only does animation not have to convert a drawing into real bodies, but here the drawing had been designed in the grammar of animation.

The lesson retrospectively illuminates this entire corpus. What resists adaptation is not "the drawing" in general: it is what a drawing does that is specifically printed - the texture of an inked line, the material of a traditional color, the architecture of a plate that the eye embraces at once. A graphic style that does not rely on any of these three levers passes through without damage.

What is lost despite everything: density

The film is not, however, a complete transcription. Six issues of high pagination represent a considerable volume, and seventy-five minutes require cuts.

They focus, as always, on what does not advance the plot: several secondary characters disappear, historical digressions are tightened, certain personal arcs are abbreviated. The political aspect of the story – the institutional distrust, the compromises, the social tensions of the time – is significantly lightened, which makes the film more consensual than its source.

It's the same mechanics as onAll-Star Superman: compression first sacrifices digression. But the result here is less damaging, because Cooke's story has a strong backbone — the gradual convergence of isolated characters into a team — which the film retains in its entirety.

The characters, from paper to screen

• Hal Jordan— The aviator, whose journey opens the story.
• Barry Allen— The scientist who became Flash, very present in both versions.
• Wonder Woman— Disagrees with the politics of his host country.
• Superman— Became an official instrument, ambiguous position.
• J'onn J'onzz— The Martian, whose integration arc is one of the peaks of the comic.

Darwyn Cooke, a complete author

A word about the author, whose trajectory explains the rest. Darwyn Cooke, a Canadian cartoonist, began his career in animation before establishing himself in comics at the turn of the 2000s. He occupies a unique position there: a complete author, capable of writing and drawing, and an assumed defender of a classic aesthetic going against the tide of the escalation of detail then dominant.

In addition to The New Frontier, he has written notable adaptations of noir novels, in which his taste for solid color and graphic composition is fully expressed. His death in 2016, at the age of fifty-three, was felt as a major loss by the community, and the recognition his work has received has continued to grow since.

For the collector, this outlines a precise situation: a tight, very identifiable work, supported by a constantly growing reputation and a solid artist rating - a configuration which resembles that of David Mazzucchelli onYear One, with limited production which concentrates demand on few titles.

Collection side: what numbers to aim for after the film

DC: The New Frontier #1(2004) is the key to the title: first issue of a multi-award winning work, entirely signed by Darwyn Cooke. Its particularity is that its value is based on the critical reputation and the rating of the artist rather than on a first appearance - a configuration comparable to that ofRed Son, and which produces a stable market, little subject to speculative outbursts.

All six issues come together without major difficulty, making the entire series accessible. The 2004 prints come from a market that is already very small compared to previous decades, which limits the supply of high grades. Bound editions, regularly reprinted and often in large format, remain the economical way to read - and particularly serve Cooke's solid colors. As always, condition and gradation determine value; relying on real recent sales is strongly recommended.

Where to start reading

DC: The New Frontier #1(2004) is the entry point, and the story stands on its own—no knowledge of DC continuity is required, although familiar readers will find additional enjoyment. The reader coming from the film will find the aesthetic almost identical, a unique case in this corpus: what he will discover is the historical and political density that the seventy-five minutes must have tightened.

Timeline to know

• 1950s— The superhero genre is collapsing; the titles disappear.
• Late 1950s— A new generation of heroes is relaunching the genre.
• 2004— DC: The New Frontier fills this fifteen-year gap.
• 2008— The animated film, with Cooke associated with production.

Its place in the saga and for the collector

The New Frontier will remain as the exception that explains the rule. The only film in this corpus to transmit the style of its designer, it owes it to two factors: the participation of Darwyn Cooke, and the fact that his style came from animation. What resists adaptation is therefore not “the drawing” but what a drawing does that is specifically printed – the texture of the ink, the material of the color, the architecture of the plate. For the collector, the first issue of 2004 illustrates a healthy segment: that of titles whose value is due to reputation and the artist rather than speculation.

The verdict: the style transmitted, the density tightened

• Loyalty: the graphic style of Darwyn Cooke - a unique case in this corpus -, the historical setting, the convergence of loners towards a team, the climate of distrust and the final optimism come from the comic.
• Freedoms: six dense issues reduced to seventy-five minutes, secondary characters sidelined, historical digressions tightened, the political aspect lightened and certain personal arcs abbreviated.
• Collectible numbers: DC: The New Frontier #1 (2004, DC), then all six issues.

The New Frontier is the only film in this body of work that can be said to resemble its comic. The reason is instructive: Darwyn Cooke came from animation, and his cartoon style simply fit right at home there. For both the reader and the collector, it is an invitation to open the six issues of 2004.

Frequently asked questions