Broken Frontier

The world at large continues to see how the DC Universe’s villains have changed their ways. What they don’t see is what these same villains are planning behind the scenes.

The Justice League is still in a bit of shock. They have people everywhere trying to understand just what is going on. All over the Earth, former villains have seemingly changed sides and are working for the good of man. Toyman is helping out with amputees, building them new limbs. The Riddler is assisting to cultivate otherwise dead lands. This is helping to cover up what would otherwise be a major event for the team: Aquaman is missing. Only the Martian Manhunter is ready to take a look for his missing teammate and as has been the case thus far, the bad guys are one step ahead.

Alex Ross has a deep, deep love for the Silver Age of the DC Universe, and the story contained within this series (co-written and scripted by Jim Krueger) could almost be considered his love letter to it. It spans the entire universe, hitting on every major character and their subsequent arch-villain. Thus far is has spent time focusing on minor characters like Aquaman and Martian Manhunter, but that does not mean it has been lacking in action and tension. The story itself moves along at a very nice pace, alternating between sweeping action scenes and exposition. But the dialogue is the grandest achievement of all. Everything here rings totally true with the characters. Especially good is Krueger’s work with Brainiac, who reaches new levels of evil every time he opens his mouth.

Similar to the way Krueger handles the dialogue for Ross, Doug Braithwaite handles the penciling duties. But I think even Doug himself would admit that he was a secondary player to the man embellishing his work. For his job, Braithwaite handles himself nicely. His images are all easy to comprehend and his storytelling does a superb job of building the tension and matching the script. But Ross is the one that really steals the show. Already considered the best painter of superhero stories in the business, Ross shows all of his skills on this book. His painting shows a romanticized sense of realism and detail. It serves to accentuate the tension and add grandeur to the action.

To be honest, this book is really starting to feel like a much more mature version of the old Superfriends cartoons—Classic heroes and villains, a large epic scale, and no continuity tying it down. If not for the bi-monthly shipping schedule and the head-scratching decision to not make this an All-Star book, this one might be perfect.