By Zack Quaintance — The new era of DC Comics arrives this week with Infinite Frontier #0, an 80-page jam session comic that sets up the year to come. In this book — which retails for $5.99 — we get a series of hints of what is poised to be the future of DC’s monthly comics shared universe. It is all played out via a story with a framing device written by Josh Williamson (along with James Tynion IV and Scott Snyder) and illustrated by John Timms with Alex Sinclair colors; plus a series of vignettes from some of the DC creators moving forward.

Readers get first peaks at things like Justice League by Brian Michael Bendis and David Marquez; as well as new looks at runs that started during Future State and are now transitioning back to the present, runs like Wonder Woman by Becky Cloonan & Michael W. Conrad and Alitha Martinez; or Superman from Phillip Kennedy Johnson (illustrated here by Jamal Igle). This book is first and foremost essentially a state of DC Comics, one that has its eyes firmly looking to the publisher’s future.

And it’s a format that we’ve seen in the past from DC, recently too, with 2016’s DC Universe Rebirth #1, which sought to do largely the same thing. These are such similar books published so close together, that you almost have to compare them to each other. They’re both about the future of the DC Universe and they both feel determined to promise readers that forthcoming comics will feature many elements that they have been missing, chief among them optimism and hope.

There are, however, two key substantive differences between today’s release and Rebirth. The first is that Rebirth was scripted by one writer who collaborated with several artists. For better or worse, that story was written entirely by Geoff Johns. This new comic is a collaborative effort, wherein writers and artists take ownership of different threads and characters, many of which they will continue working on moving forward — whereas Johns wrote that one-shot and then basically peaced out of writing for monthly comics all together in exchange for Hollywood, only returning sporadically for giant showcase books like Doomsday Clock and oft-delayed issues of Shazam!

Involving the folks who have been working with the characters and will do so in the future makes for a better and more effective tablesetting comic anthology here, one that reflects more of what we seem likely to get from the fully-realized line throughout 2021. This also seems like a healthier way to do something like this, inherently so, especially given that in recent years one of Geoff Johns’ signature moves has become setting up dangling plot points/ideas that he himself will never followup, at least not in the way he intended, leading to stories that feel disjointed (see Three Jokers, see the Wonder Woman’s secret brother story arc, etc.).

That brings me to what I see as the second main difference between Infinite Frontier #0 and DC Universe Rebirth #1 — this comic feels thoughtful and deliberate. DC Rebirth #1 felt like a last-ditch effort, a hail mary at a time when DC’s offerings were at one of their lowest points in my lifetime, with few series of note (excluding the excellent work on Batman being done by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo). Infinite Frontier #0 is far from a hail mary. In fact, it grows from a DC line that is actually coming from a place of strength.

Corporate shenanigans have interfered in the comics quite a bit of late, leading to a paired down line under a new and more diverse leadership team. Both of those things are good. There has been some chaos, but within that, the publisher has rolled out a soft-reset event story with Dark Nights: Death Metal, a massive commercial hit. It then followed up with Future State, which kremlinology suggests was in large part a retooling of departed editor-in-chief Dan DiDio’s scuttled 5G plans. But the stories never really felt like that. Holistically, they felt like an experimental dabbling in an alternate future, one that more often than not lent itself to strong stories.

This all leads to Infinite Frontier #0 feeling assured in a way that previewfest comics like this one rarely do. DC knows where it’s been in the recent past, and it has a manageable set of titles to carry it into its new future (a sleek five shared-universe books this week, for example). Some of the bigger names that have been involved with its offerings of late have stepped away, leaving it in a place where it feels both less predictable and free of the territorial fiefdoms that have carved up its coherency for nearly a decade. To put it simply, the tone of this book feels coherent and good, it feels exciting.

And the stories within the tablesetting all shine for the most part. There are a couple (Stargirl and Green Lanterns) that lag a bit or feel superfluous, but the coming runs on both Superman and Justice League feel exciting, the Bat-Family books continue to explore new and interesting status quos, and Flash and Wonder Woman are evolving toward wider casts of characters, albeit more slowly than one might like. The Flash story in here also suggests that that series will bend in two new directions: one a (fun!) trip through the multiverse and the other an embracing of the Flash legacy and family.

It’s all good things. There’s even some erasure of major tonal missteps of the past, with the controversial event Heroes in Crisis having some of its most dour consequences taken off the board in a way I appreciated. In the end, I really enjoyed this comic, from powerful vignettes like Green Lantern: Alan Scott to linewide future teases in stories like The Flash and Justice League.

But I said the same thing about Rebirth at that time, maybe even with similar words, and as such, heaping praise on this comic makes me feel like a bit of sucker. Still, there’s new leadership, new creators, and a new smaller publishing organization at DC, and I wouldn’t be reading these silly stories about superpowered folks if I didn’t have the capacity for change to make me feel hopeful. The wheels of change for giant companies and long-standing publishing traditions are inherently slow, but it’s encouraging to see them finally turning more rapidly at DC.

Overall: A rich and deliberate table-setter for a new pared down DC Universe with more creative freedom and an evident awareness of the importance of its own legacy, Infinite Frontier #0 is a rewarding read that seems to portend better days ahead for DC Comics. 9.5/10

Infinite Frontier #0

Infinite Frontier #0
Writers: Joshua Williamson, Brian Michael Bendis, James Tynion IV, Becky Cloonan & Michael W. Conrad, Joelle Jones, Tim Sheridan, Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Geoff Johns, and Geoffrey Thorne
Artists: John Timms, David Marquez, Jorge Jimenez, Alitha Martinez, Mark Morales, Joelle Jones, Stephen Byrne, Rafa Sandoval, Jordi Tarragona, Jamal Igle, Alex Maleev, Todd Nauck, Dexter Soy, Howard Porter, John Romita Jr., and Klaus Janson
Colorists: Alex Sinclair, Tamra Bonvillain, Tomeu Morey, Emilo Lopez, Jordie Bellaire, Alejandro Sanchez, Hi-Fi, and Brad Anderson
Letterer: Troy Peteri
Publisher: DC Comics
The next phase of the DC Universe begins here! Dark Knights: Death Metal presented the darkest threats of the Multiverse. DC Future State revealed what may lie ahead. Now it’s time to look into the Infinite Frontier of the current-day DC Universe.
In Gotham City, The Joker jolts citizens awake with an attack even the Dark Knight never expected. In Brazil, a young woman discovers her destiny and her connection to the Amazons. In Belle Reve, Amanda Waller plots an invasion of Arkham Asylum. In the far reaches of space, Mongul dreams of galactic domination, while the Green Lantern Corps hosts a summit of its greatest enemies. At the Hall of Justice, the League joins forces with Black Adam. Beyond the mortal world, Wonder Woman settles into a new role in the godsphere. And somewhere in the DC Universe-it’s the return of Stargirl, in an all-new tale written by Geoff Johns!
This oversized, all-star issue kicks off the next great era of storytelling and excitement as top writers and artists reveal what’s next for the World’s Greatest Heroes and opens the door to some of the greatest stories of 2021.
Price: $5.99
Read It Digitally: Infinite Frontier via comiXology
Order a Physical Copy: Infinite Frontier via Amazon

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Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by night/weekend. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as Comics Bookcase.