Justice League: The New Frontier Commemorative Edition

Justice League: The New Frontier Commemorative Edition

Warner plans to re-release the Justice League: The New Frontier animated movie, based on the graphic novel by Darwyn Cooke, as Justice League: The New Frontier Commemorative Edition.

They previously created a Wonder Woman Commemorative Edition for that animated film to tie into the live-action movie. That argues for a November release date for this package, since that’s when the live-action Justice League movie comes out, but no date has yet been announced for this re-release.

Justice League: The New Frontier Commemorative Edition

In this case, there’s a double meaning to “commemorative”, since the movie follows the style of Cooke, a beloved creator who passed away in 2016. This package — available on Blu-ray combo pack, DVD, and digital — will include a mini-documentary about his career, and the new box art features his work.

Update: Warner has just sent out a press release that says the movie will be available on October 3. They also attached the box art, shown here, and a list of extras.

Justice League: The New Frontier Commemorative Edition box art

The full list of special features, in addition to both commentaries brought over from the previous release, one with Darwyn and one with filmmakers Bruce Timm, Michael Goguen, David Bullock, Stan Berkowitz, Andrea Romano, and Gregory Noveck:

New Featurette — “Retro Action Cool: The Story of Darwyn Cooke” — A revealing look into the life and times of one of comics’ most brilliant figures, the late Darwyn Cooke.

Featurette (from previous release) — “Super Heroes United! The Complete Justice League History” — A comprehensive look at nearly a half-century of Justice League chronology from the inception in the comics to vivid animated renditions in the late 2000s. The story is told with a myriad of interviews tracing the early days of DC Super Hero team ups during the Golden Age to the Silver Age rendition where the established heroes emerged and beyond. Interviews include such notables as Dan DiDio, Michael Uslan, Paul Levitz, Mark Waid, Denny O’Neil, Stan Lee, and Marv Wolfman.

Featurette (from previous release) — “The Legion of Doom: The Pathology of the DC Super Villain” — This 10-minute piece examines the early mythological archetypes of nemesis characters from a historical perspective and reveals how the tenants of this rich history were adapted and woven into the Justice League stories.

Featurette (from previous release) — “Comic Book Commentary: Homage to the New Frontier” — This mini-documentary is a nod to the fans of the New Frontier comics, further expanding the themes contained in the source material and how these elements were truncated or evolved for inclusion in the film. It features vivid imagery culled from the pages of DC: The New Frontier, mixed with the commentary of Darwyn Cooke.

New Sneak Peak: Gotham by Gaslight (also will be included on Batman and Harley Quinn) – A behind-the-scenes look at the next DC Universe original movie, inspired by the 1989 Elseworlds tale of Batman at the turn of the 20th century as first created as a graphic novel by Brian Augustyn and Mike Mignola, with inks by P. Craig Russell.

There’s a new trailer here, big on fighting.

I found the emphasis on the battle interesting. I personally prefer this previous trailer, which emphasizes discovery, heroism, and the influence of a previous, more optimistic time period while still showing us action.

While we wait for more information on the Commemorative Release, you can watch the entire movie for free at CW Seed, the network’s streaming service, along with several other of the Justice League DCU original animated films.



2 comments

  • Daniel

    I love, love, love the New Frontier book. Probably one of my top five favorite graphic novels.* But I just couldn’t get into the movie. I’m sort of an anti-purist when it comes to expecting films to remain faithful to the source material (I actually prefer it when filmmakers have the courage to reshape and mould the material for the film medium even if it changes key aspects of the original book). But in this case, I think they eliminated so much core material from the original book (in order to meet the budget-mandated 75-minute run time) that the resulting film didn’t really hold up as a coherent or interesting story. Instead of being its own thing it felt instead like a hollow shell of the source material.

  • Daniel

    *My top five graphic novels would probably be:

    It’s a Good Life If You Don’t Weaken

    Cages

    DC: The New Frontier

    Criminal

    The Silent Invasion

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