Justice League The New Frontier

• Title:  Justice League The New Frontier
• Director:  David Bullock
• Voice Director:  Andrea Romano
• Date:  2008
• Studio:  Warner Brothers Animation
• Genre:  Action, Animation, Drama
• Cast:  David Boreanaz, Neil Patrick Harris, Kyle MacLachlan, Lucy Lawless, Phil Morris, Kyra Sedgwick, Brooke Shields, Jeremy Sisto, Miguel Ferrer, Robin Atkin Downes
• Format:  Widescreen, Color Animation
• DVD Format:  R1, NTSC

"It was Korea -- it changed everything." -- Hal
"Wars have a tendency to do that."  -- Ace


"We've got to know what these Martians want from us.  And since we can't find them here on Earth, we're going to Mars."  -- Col. Flagg
"Outstanding."  -- Hal


"I thought I could make a life for myself here among you humans.  I thought I didn't have a choice.  But there is one now.  There's just too much hatred here, too much ignorance, too much mindless conformity, I'm leaving."  Martian Manhunter (J'onn J'onzz, John Jones)
"Have a nice trip, some of us don't have that luxury."  -- Batman

Set in 1952 - 1954, the Korean War has just ended, and McCarthyism is in full swing.  And Super Heroes are at the top of  McCarthy's "persecute" list.  Superman and Wonder Woman sign loyalty oaths, but after witnessing a brutal attack on the women of  a Korean village towards the end of  the war, Wonder Woman quits and returns to Paradise Island.

Meanwhile, Hal Jordan is on the journey to becoming an hero.  Justice League - The New Frontier briefly gives us Hal Jordan's Silver Age Origin story.  It also gives us Martian Manhunter's origin story and weakness (fire).  But, Wonder Woman leaves, and Barry Allen publicly gives up being the Flash, though he doesn't reveal his secret identity.  Batman's a fugitive, and Superman's a government tool.

Meanwhile, a new villain called the Center rears it's ugly head.  Eventually the Justice League heroes will have to work together to defeat the menace (the living creature once known as Dinosaur Island), and with this defeat -- are able to form the Justice League.  It other words, this is a origin story for the League too.

I really enjoyed this story -- the characterizations were perfect Silver Age DC Heroes:  Superman, Batman, Flash, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and Martian Manhunter.  Even Robin briefly appears.  Sufficient time was spent on each hero, telling us precisely who they were and who they care about - as well as their methodology.

That the villain is called, "The Center" (or possibly the Centre), seems weird these days with such polarization pushing the political spectrum to radical thinking, especially on the right.  But I couldn't help but think of  a line by Yeats, "the Center cannot hold".  I Googled it, and here's the first stanza of  the poem:

The Second Coming by William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)


Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;

Man, was Yeats depressed. Anyway, in New Frontier, the center is a giant bloby thing, a living island, with dinosaurs on it that it consumes for food. During it's attacks on Cape Carnival the dinosaurs become very handy weapons. But it's the heroes of the Justice League, including new hero, Green Lantern, and The Flash, working together that unite to defeat the villain.

Overall, I really liked it. Great cast (though Lucy Lawless has a really bad American accent as Wonder Woman when she fights one of her Amazon sisters on Paradise Island). Superman seems rather taken with Wonder Woman by the way, though he also is close to Lois Lane - who knows who he is.

I bought the two disc special edition, and there are some excellent documentaries on the DVD. The history of the Justice League (aka Justice League America, or simply, JLA) from the Golden Age to the ModernDay was pretty much priceless - I always love learning comics history. The villains history could have been a bit better documented and flushed out. But at least there was some nice documentaries on the discs.

Recommendation: See it! A must for DC fans.
Rating: 4 of 5
Next Film: Same Time, Next Year