10 Comics That CHANGED History
10. DC: The New Frontier
If there’s one thing we can all agree about history, is that it is very, VERY long. And the thing is: it’s only getting longer! Call me crazy, but it really seems like the more time passes, the more history is created. At this point, we probably have more past behind us than we have future ahead of us. Luckily, we have fantastic comics like DC: The New Frontier to distract us from this existential nightmare, and what a lovely distraction it is!
Because history is so long, historians usually divide large periods of time up into ‘Ages’, and this is no different in comics. The so-called ‘Golden Age’ of comics lasted from Superman’s first appearance in 1938, up until the introduction of the Comics Code Authority in the fifties. This changed the way comics were written and drawn due to the CCA’s heavy censorship, and thus the dawn of the ‘Silver Age’ was upon us.
DC: The New Frontier examines the transition from the Golden Age to the Silver Age, by mixing classic versions of their flagship characters with more modern heroes. It also throws in some real world settings and events to give historical context, providing us with an alternate and somewhat more triumphant vision of the past.
If you think Cold War-era America is interesting already, just imagine how much more interesting it could be if it featured the Flash foiling Captain Cold’s schemes at a Muhammed Ali fight!