Rather than unmask and sign the oath, the JSA simply retires. Of the heroes, only Superman and Wonder Woman agree to sign the loyalty oath, and these two are instrumental in rounding up other costumed vigilantes. With WWII being over, and the red scare in full effect, the silver age heroes of the DCU get a heaping dose of reality when McCarthyism comes for them. This is a clever take on the 'Elseworlds' formula. Other heroes begin to emerge, and struggle in the climate of hostility. Unsurprisingly, few heroes agree, leaving Batman, the JSA and others searching for meaning. In an 'Elseworlds' universe, at the end of WWII anti-Communist politicians have turned their eyes towards the costumed heroes of the DC Universe, outlawing all superheroes who will not sign a loyalty oath. I don't remember what happens in the sequel but i am not looking forward to that reread. don't care about anything happening here. Bat-Man and the Martian are probably the best part but i soooo. The Wonder Woman stuff had potential but is too short to matter. For some reason the Martian Man-Hunter got an upgrade and looks genuinely cool but that actually seems out of place since every other character is so 1950's it feels like a parody at times.

The art is somhow still confusing in places despite being quite simplistic.

Its dark, incorporating real world politics, which are never explored enough to be interesting but are still in-your-face enough to take any joy out of the story. Most of the plot threads you can untangle from the mess focus on the most uninteresting of the DC pantheon.Īt times it reads like a cheap immitation of Watchmen. This is just frustrating.Įssentially its a reboot of the entire DC universe and really doesn't have time for an actual storyline.

And here i thought it would work better on a reread.

Dc the new frontier darwyn cooke