Continuity
The continuity that New Frontier is set in could be best described as a "best of both worlds" where the two eras of the Golden and Silver Ages, both different as one was created from the pulp magazines and the other mainly from the genre of science fiction, are now in coexistence. Also, there are some traditional elements from the DCU applied in the series that aren't Golden or Silver Age-related such as the cameo appearances of Harvey Bullock and Darkseid, who didn't appear until the 1970s.
Another factor is that many of the characters appeared when they were created, and not retconned to fit the era and story around them. As explained by Darwyn Cooke himself, from a fan podcast called Fanboy Radio, "all retcons are irrelevant; the only continuity that matters is the 'prime continuity' established in the first year by the guys who created the strips. I'm following the exact continuity of the original books in the original time they occurred." For example, the Martian Manhunter lands on Earth in 1953, the same year in which the Golden Age Manhunter from Mars, Roh Kar, was created, who served as the character's prototype until J'onn J'onzz's actual first appearance in Detective Comics #255 as Detective John Jones in 1955. Barry Allen becomes The Flash in 1956, the same year as his first appearance in the comics, and Hal Jordan acquires the power ring and becomes Green Lantern in 1959, again just like the story.
Although Cooke considers New Frontier to take place in pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths continuity, he nevertheless did not employ the period-accurate Earth-One and Earth-Two Multiverse concepts. Thus, he effectively uses a variation of the post-Crisis continuity whereby the Golden and Silver Age heroes both exist in a unified timeline rather than separate realities.
Subsequently, the New Frontier universe, or a very similar version of it, has been identified as one of the 52 Earths in the current DC multiverse, designated as Earth-21.
Read more about this topic: DC: The New Frontier
Famous quotes containing the word continuity:
“Every generation rewrites the past. In easy times history is more or less of an ornamental art, but in times of danger we are driven to the written record by a pressing need to find answers to the riddles of today.... In times of change and danger when there is a quicksand of fear under men’s reasoning, a sense of continuity with generations gone before can stretch like a lifeline across the scary present and get us past that idiot delusion of the exceptional Now that blocks good thinking.”
—John Dos Passos (1896–1970)
“Every society consists of men in the process of developing from children into parents. To assure continuity of tradition, society must early prepare for parenthood in its children; and it must take care of the unavoidable remnants of infantility in its adults. This is a large order, especially since a society needs many beings who can follow, a few who can lead, and some who can do both, alternately or in different areas of life.”
—Erik H. Erikson (1904–1994)
“If you associate enough with older people who do enjoy their lives, who are not stored away in any golden ghettos, you will gain a sense of continuity and of the possibility for a full life.”
—Margaret Mead (1901–1978)