"DC: The New Frontier" by Darwyn Cooke

I stumbled across this recently, though it first saw publication in 2004.  I'm surprised I hadn't heard of it.  I suppose that in 2004 I was just busy with graduate school, and this one got by me.

"The New Frontier" was an attempt to re-imagine DC's Silver Age characters, starting from the era in which they first appeared.  This means that the story places Superman, Flash, etc. into the 50s, rather than placing them in a modern context.  Alan Moore did the same thing in "Watchmen," though with an attention to detail that far surpasses anything you'll find in "The New Frontier."

The series begins with the dissolution of the Golden Age Justice Society, and ends with a speech by John F. Kennedy (hence "the new frontier").  The McCarthyism of the 50s is targeting "masked vigilantes," and a new generation of heroes must band together to face a new threat.  The author treats the original origins (?) of the characters as canon, and also manages to fit in some of the lesser-known characters from that era.  Again, this isn't anything that Alan Moore didn't do in "Watchmen," but Darwyn Cooke manages to pull it off without seeming too derivative.

The artwork in "The New Frontier" bears a strong resemblance to Jack Kirby's classic work for Marvel and DC, and I'd have to say that his less muscular characters are a welcome departure from the norm.  One gets tired of comic after comic resembling something that Jim Lee cranked out the month before.

I think "The New Frontier" is pretty good, but it's not earth-shattering.  The art is interesting, and many of the characters are more comprehensible in a 50s context.  The Green Lantern seen in "The New Frontier," for example, is far more engaging than any other incarnation of that character.

I have a problem, however, with making Kennedy the "hero" of the series.  Given that Kennedy is the man that got us into both the Vietnam War and the Bay of Pigs, I'm not sure if his "New Frontier" is something that Superman would have supported.  

Superheroes, I think, should be above those kind of politics.  If they aren't, well... they'd be Watchmen.