Broken Frontier

If you\\ve read the first collection of Warren Ellis' newuniversal, you don't need much information on this one. The words “Voight” and “Fireworks” should be all the summary you need. If you haven't started reading the newuniversal main storyline yet, well, you have no excuse for that. Get to it right now!

Anyway, 1959. Let's get the art out of the way first: it's solid throughout the book. Both Scott and Chamberlain give us a rather realistic style, nothing truly spectacular, but professional and well-executed with dedication to the craft. All in all, it suits the story and general theme just fine and it’s definitely above average. But, as you might’ve already guessed, the real important part of this one-shot is the story.

If you like newuniversal—and there is no reason not to—you'll dig this. The main series explores some of the most interesting aspects of the superhuman concept, and they're all here in 1959 as well: the alienation, the fear of the unknown, the resolve to protect.

One of the best aspects of newunversal is the way the Spitfire project does not treat superhumans as humans. To a reader used to Marvel worlds where superheroes are everyday business, this may seem odd at first, but newuniversal brings it in a logical and convincing manner.

There is a dichotomy between the view of superhumans as humans in an exceptional situation, and the view of superhumans as unknown creatures superior to humans, with a logical Darwinian imperative to out-evolve us normal folk. The beauty of it all is that both are presented as convincing. The Darwinian view is the one held by the Spitfire project—the U.S. Government's way of dealing with superhumans—and in this comic we see the birth of that with Phil Voight and his part in the elimination of the first superhumans. The story is ethically challenging, realistic and it has content to spare. A must read.

1959 has no problem reaching the bar set by Ellis’ main newuniversal series, meaning it falls in with some of the best superhuman storytelling of the past few years. In terms of art it may not quite live up to expectations, but it's still a very competent package and there’s definitely no reason not to buy it.