I think the intro text is a bit wonky.

Great moment though!

Not Veteran Day and not a Punisher moment
Nice extract from New Frontier by the way

Dude… the “wonky” intro text is JFK’s 1960 acceptance speech.

I suppose, Nick, that starting the excerpt in the midst of the speech could be considered “wonky.”

Heh, Mr. Cronin, you’re too nice. I suppose it’s possible.

That JFK. Wonky to the core.

Note that apparently the Metal Men run on punch cards.

Gotta love that final splash page!

It’s very pretty, and I do like New Frontier, but I think it kind of suffers for how much Cooke fetishizes the period. I know that’s the point, but the unexamined optimism of these panels makes me uneasy. I realize that JFK’s speech was dualistic, but superheroes thrived along with Archie and Donald Duck because they supported the status quo. Moreover, putting a smiling face on the space race and the cold war seems kind of like revisionist history to me (yeah, I know its alternate history fiction to begin with, but I think its still a fair aesthetic point). Overall as an examination of superhero and political history I much prefer Watchmen and as a call to optimism I prefer All Star Superman.

Still, his illustrations are beautiful. Though his layouts aren’t always well thought out, his splash pages are undeniably stellar. There are few people I would rather see draw these characters. And Starro has never looked better.

to me the moment is the end one the little omage to brave and bold 28 the formation of the orginal justice leque battling staro. proving Darywn love for the dc universe

It is an insanely well done homage.

I agree with Julian. Talk about pink-colored glasses. New Frontier is good, but it takes nostalgia to almost religious heights.

Off topic: If I keep begging is there any chance we could see a Kuper comic get a cool moment before the end of the year?

I think Cooke does a good job of contrasting the idealism with the darker elements of the era. We see the heroes representing JFK’s New Frontier, but we also get the story of John Henry.

I think Andy might have been referring to your intro, Brian, not the comic’s. Specifically the “Okay, so the good guys are over” part.

@Dan, but I think part of the idea of this ending scene is to show that we’ve moved beyond that and that “it’s going to be okay”. Moreover even with John Henry, its still simplistic and ignores how white washed comics were and how much blaxploitation was the norm when blacks were shown at all. It was pointed out earlier that there’s no acknowledgement of the irony inherent in Wild Cat beat Ali. It has shades of Braddock vs. Luis but does a complete role reversal which was weird Green Arrow calls Ali a bum with a smile on his face and everybody laughs (yeah, its a sports match, still with the rest of the scene having weird historical associations an otherwise benign line ends up standing out for me), but racism is wrong… when they wear a hood. It reminds me of the old Hatemonger stories.

The more I think of it, the more harmless that bum line is, but still something just bothers me about it. And Green Arrow of all people being the one to deliver it.

Nope, I just meant that originally, the bit before the actual comic was presented refered to the Punisher moment from yesterday.

And then Cap’n Commupence attacks, because when trying to head off confusion, I apparently caused more.

Again, with much of this series, the art looks great, but as for the writing…it might be hard to criticize since it’s JFK (speaking of white-washing the past), but the final homage image is good.

I like the one with Starro getting GLed in the eye.
I haven’t been able to view part 3 of issue #6. For the past few weeks it just keeps saying PAGE NOT FOUND. Darwyn Cooke’s story is too hot for my PC.