New Frontier!

No spoilers following: JLA New Frontier, based on the comic series New Frontier by writer / artist Darwyn Cooke, was released today and having just watched it, I can say with no reservations that it is GEEKTASTIC! All the bells and whistles (use of super powers and fight scenes) are present, but with JLA: New Frontier, there's also a story with substance and a lot of heart. This newest animated feature from Warner Brothers and DC will click with people unfamiliar with the comic upon which it's based and for those who have read the comic, they'll be cheering because even though there's differences from the original story, all the right notes are hit. The animation is top notch, the voices are great, and basically all around a viewer can tell that this was done with great respect for Darwyn Cooke's story. There are a lot of special features including two audio commentary tracks (one by Darwyn Cooke, which I'm especially eager to listen to) and a preview for Warner Brothers / DC's next animated feature that comes out this summer, Batman Gotham Nights, which is a collection of short Batman stories in different animated styles like the Animatrix from a few years ago (I haven't watched any of the special features yet).

New Frontier originally came out as a six issue, 64 page comic series, which has since been released as two graphic novels or as one huge, over-sized, expensive Absolute edition (and I think it's the best of all the Absolute editions that DC has done). JLA: New Frontier is rated PG-13 (nothing real overt, but it does earn its rating) and I was pleasantly surprised that within its 75 minute running time, that they were able to encompass so much of what Cooke did in the original comic.