DC: The New Frontier, Vol. 2

Late-fifties-era DC superheroes in the classic heroic mode except with acknowledgement of racism and McCarthyite fear of dissidents/others (sexism, not so much, but are you surprised?). Wonder Woman, though she got one fantastically disturbing/awesome scene, had even less to do than in the first volume—and she was pretty much the best thing about it—and everybody comes together in the end because of a bigger threat; I guess we’re all in this together. I think this might have been a lot of fun for teenaged me, and I suspect if you’re a fan of classic Hal Jordan, who gets a lot of screen time, or of J’onn, you might like it better than I did.

Nooo... there are moments, brief, Brief moments when this almost works.. but overall NO.

Like volume one most of the focus is on Hal Jordan, the Challengers of the Unknown (so these guys are basically the Fantastic Four but without any superpowers? who knew there could be an even duller version of the FF :P ) and other dull characters.
It also tries for Watchemen-esque politics but at the same time keeps the heroes in their cheezyist golden-age incarnations, the effect if jarring.

Far too many characters, unless you love ALL of the DC pantheon this just becomes a mess and in fact some of the most important heroes for the final battle arn't even introduced before that.
Side-note, green-arrow is a fighter pilot is that canon?

Overall, while show more this is a little better than vol 1 in that it does have some over-arching plot, like vol 1 it still feels more like a pitch meeting for an entire range of comis (like Marvels Ultimate Comics line) than it does a comic in its own right.

Edit: I also don't think it helped that the enemy was so similar to the one from Giant Sized X-Men #1. show less

The powerful conclusion to this saga of the early DC universe lives up to its earlier promise. While the plot and characters are sometimes hard to follow without a scorecard, the various subplots eventually come together as an immense alien menace to the Earth reveals itself. More than anything else, the feeling evoked as Earth's heroes and defenders, previously hunted and maligned by an untrusting public and government, put their differences aside to join in a common fight for survival, reminds me of the concluding battle in "Independence Day". I enjoyed the retro feel to this book, in both the marvelous artwork by Darwyn Cooke, and the more innocent and naive outlook of the heroes themselves. The comic books of the Silver Age had a show more vigor and youth that is very convincingly replicated here. show less

Here we have the second part of the New Frontier. We learn more about the mysterious force known as The Centre and it's connections to the Land That Time Forgot, the Viking Prince, and numerous other classic DC characters. We finally see many of the Silver Age heroes come into their own and step up to the mantle they would claim as members of the Justice League of America. We also see several of the other groups from the Silver Age come to help. The whole story ends with a classic speech from John F. Kennedy in regards to the new American frontier (hence the title of this tale) teamed with images of the Silver Age heroes and their villains in the times immediately following the New Frontier story. There are so many references to major show more characters that will become integral parts of the DC Universe. Such a great read. show less

QUADRINHOS: http://www.planocritico.com/category/quadrinhos/