The animated adaptation of Darwyn Cooke's epic story of DC Comics in the Silver Age, finally came out on DVD, and it was worth the wait.
DC: The New Frontier, takes place within the realm of the Elseworlds, stories about DC Characters but not within the current continuity, and in my opinion, some of the better stories. Darwyn Cooke manages to capture the essence and fun of DC's Silver Age, while maintaining relevance to today's era. The movie also succeeds in that respect.
The movie, for the most part, is a faithful adaptation of the book, but like in all adaptations, certain liberties and omissions were made to fit the allotted time constraints.
CLICK TO SHOW SPOILER For instance, Batman's role in the movie is more involved then in the book, and the story of "John Henry" is only mentioned in a news report of his death.The character style is a mixture of the DC animated style and Darwyn Cooke's own style, it works for the most part, however the coloring is more bright and more cartoony then the book. In certain cases images are taken directly from the book and are animated via panning.
The voice actors were cast perfectly with a few exceptions. Angel's David Boreanaz is a perfect fit of hot dogging Hal Jordan, Lucy Lawless was born to play Wonder Woman, and Kyle MacLachlan perfectly fits a Golden Age Superman now thrust into the Silver Age. Jeremy Sisto plays Batman, but his gravely voice on Law & Order seemed more appropriate for this movie then the one he ended up using.
All in all I found this movie highly rewarding and a good successor for the critically acclaimed Justice League Unlimited cartoon formerly on Cartoon Network. This movie makes up for the the highly disappointing Superman: Doomsday DVD previously released and includes footage of the upcoming Anime Anthology (ala Ani-Matrix) Batman: Gotham Knight.
Included on the DVD extras are two fascinating documentaries featuring commentary from the likes of Paul Levits, Marv Wolfman, Jim Krueger, and Stan Lee (Stan Lee on a DC DVD?!?).
Be sure to check this out, Netflix it, or if you can't stand the wait it's well worth owning.
