Justice League New Frontier | DVD Review

Set in the 1950’s as the Cold War begins, we follow the origin stories of Hal Jordan/Green Lantern and J’onn J’onzz/Martian Manhunter as they fight to defeat an alien menace threatening the earth alongside the likes of The Flash, Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, and eventually form the Justice League while ushering in the Kennedy administration.

The opening sequence seemed promising, staying true to Darwyn Cooke’s original comic book art, but it’s obvious the fine folks at Warner Bros. still can’t get their act together by offering the viewers a decently animated feature. They can animate explosions and smoke and sonic booms and fire like it’s nobody’s business, but the characters still look clunky and awkward, they still can’t animate human expressions and body movements to save their lives. I also didn’t care for any of the voice acting, they all sounded exactly like they were recorded in a studio. Why can’t they fake the sound of talking in a car?

Finally though, eagle-eye reporter Iris West identifies her boyfriend Barry Allen as none other than The Scarlet Speedster himself, The Flash. Mark your calendars my friends, this is probably the first and last time this will ever happen (and Lois Lane should lose her job for not being able to figure out the most obvious disguise in history). And yet again, Aquaman gets the short end of the stick when he becomes the equivalent of a David Letterman guest whose time was cut short from the show running on too long, but comes out to say ‘Hi’ to the audience and never asked to return again.


The Standard DVD cover boasts a group shot of The Justice League, complete with an out-of-place modern S-shield on Superman’s chest, as opposed to the Max Fleischer-era symbol he’s sporting in the actual movie. I guess Warner Bros. thought that version would scare customers away. The DVD menus are boring; they obviously tried to go for the classic comic book panel look with the sections meant to resemble captions, but the words are so crammed into those little boxes they look claustrophobic, I had to select while breathing through a paper bag.

Super Heroes United!: The Complete Justice League History
This little documentary takes us through the complete history of the mainstay super-groups of the DC Universe, starting with the very first incarnation of the Justice Society of America during the Golden Age of comic books, continuing on through the re-vamped heroes of the Silver Age, and finally coming full circle with the Darwyn Cooke series Justice League: The New Frontier, which re-imagines the original coming together of all your favorite do-gooders. It’s amazing to witness the wide-eyed wonderment of these seasoned professionals who tell their stories of how excited they were growing up to read stories that featured all their favorite heroes in one book, fighting side-by-side, especially when they finally made their Saturday Morning animated debut as The Super Friends. Stan Lee even chimes in on how the JLA had a hand in the creation of the Fantastic Four! Brash new editor Julie Schwartz updates a few of the Golden Age heroes to launch them in the Silver Age, including The Flash (re-designed by Carmine Infantino), Green Lantern, Hawkman and The Atom.

They also gloss over the hilarious 1987 Justice League incarnation written by Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis with art by Kevin Maguire (with Batman leading a slew of D-list characters). Eventually that group lost some of its steam and DC was forced to re-introduce the DC Holy Trinity of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman to the team. There’s also an interesting little aside on how The Flash’s speed compares – or doesn’t compare – to that of Superman’s.

I had high hopes for this version of Darwyn Cooke’s DC mini series; the suspense and intrigue were there, but with no good animation or voice talent/mixing/sound to support it, this movie just falls flat of what could’ve been a faithful adaptation. Especially for those who read the original comic book, this movie does not stand alone; the editing is terrible and the storylines don’t flow well together. By streamlining the comic book story all they managed to accomplish was a lukewarm interpretation of the source material in 75 minutes time. Slow and disjointed, this feels like something you fall asleep while watching at 3 AM.

Movie rating – 2

Disc Rating – 3