10 Reasons Why 'The New Frontier' Will Always Be DC's Greatest Graphic Novel

7. It Unashamedly Embraces DC's History

DC The New Frontier The Losers
DC Comics

The New Frontier exudes history through every panel, and not just that of the United States either. Honestly, the amount of classic DC characters, locations, and vehicles featured within is nigh-gargantuan. Indeed, the level of respect and adoration Cooke showed for this universe is beyond amazing, at times becoming completely infectious to the reader. You genuinely can't help but get absorbed into the world The New Frontier occupies, and it's believable every step of the way - comprised of a memorable cast of characters that would make even the most jam-packed of Justice League tales green with envy.

It's near impossible to count just how many of DC's denizens make an appearance in Cooke's masterpiece, but you can guarantee that if they were at all prominent during the company's early days, they're bound to be in there somewhere. There's an epic prologue featuring The Losers (a hodgepodge of DC wartime favourites who somewhat resembled the famed Dirty Dozen), The Blackhawks partake in the book's explosive finale against an impending existential threat, and Adam Strange even makes an appearance at different times throughout. There's an absolute bonanza of characters involved in the main story, and that isn't even counting the multiple cameos made during the novel's closing moments.

Even a decade on from its initial release, The New Frontier remains a breath of fresh air in an industry climate that is so often reluctant to embrace the more joyous aspects of comic book creativity, remaining in a recurring deadlock of pseudo-reboots, mandatory yearly 'events', and restrictive character rosters. Cooke bucked all these trends with his throwback to the medium's glory days (and was even critiqued for doing so upon the tale's original release), but time has shown that it was the right thing to do. After all, you don't win multiple Eisner, Shuster, and Harvey awards for nothing.

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WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.