Cover Story
Gregory Noveck DC Comics’ VP of Creative Affairs on The New Frontier ... and Beyond CCI: Superman Doomsday was an epic story, told by many people in its original comics presentation. New Frontier is also an epic story, but it’s the vision of one creator, Darwyn Cooke, paying tribute to the comics he loved as a kid. How true to his story is the final film? Gregory: Let me answer that in two parts. The original Superman Doomsday wasn’t actually Superman Doomsday. It was “The Death of Superman,” “A World Without Superman,” and then “Return of Superman,” from which we then adapted and then drew storyline and a set of characters, and obviously lost a lot of characters and material. But that ultimately became Superman Doomsday. know it’s hard, it’s period but there are things I think New Frontier is New Frontier. As opposed to I can do to adjust it,” and I said I wanted to keep it being an inspiration of, or a near adaptation of, we period. So at that point I think he probably really did really tried as best as possible to reflect the look, believe me. the tone, the setting, the characters, and obviously From that point on we kept saying that this is that storyline that Darwyn had in the book. really happening and he got very involved. He was Obviously, to get 400 pages of material that we’re very involved in a lot of the character designs. He trying to condense down to 72 or 74 minutes not did a fairly strong polish on Stan Berkowitz’s script, everything that is in the book is in the movie. which even though Stan did a phenomenal job of Having said that, I will say that virtually everything adapting the material, Darwyn had an eye for certain in the movie is in the book. things that he wanted to emphasize which I think were CCI: Since Darwyn Cooke got his start in right on. animation, how involved was he with the production He has been consulting all along the way, so he’s of New Frontier? been very involved. He is as involved as he wants to be and we certainly want him to be as involved as he Gregory: He was very involved. Initially, this can. started when I read New Frontier and just fell in love with it. It was really some of the best CCI: Your secret weapon in this new series of directcomic book storytelling I had seen in 10 years, in to-DVD movies seems to be Bruce Timm, who has particular in dealing with the Justice League and an been involved in virtually every DC to TV animated “origin of Justice League” type story and setting. project since the early 90s. How important is he to So, I really fell in love with it and when we started this new endeavor? talking about doing the DC Universe Gregory: Very, very important. Bruce is two things: animated line of movies, this was the first he’s a fan and he’s a perfectionist. As a fan he really thing that I said we had to do (as) a wants these things to be good, he loves these things. Justice League story. As a perfectionist he hates everything, (laughs) Luckily people agreed, so when I nothing is good enough, not his own stuff, not called Darwyn to let him know anybody else’s stuff. Citizen Kane, maybe, is decent. and said, “Hey, you know we’re So he’s crucially important. He and I have gotten going to do this line of animated into some very heated, but very good discussions, movies,” and he said, “Uh-huh,” creative discussions about where to emphasis certain and I said, “We’re going to do things, where to push certain things. I think only when New Frontier,” and he said, “Uh, you’re really passionate about something creatively okay.” I don’t think he believed me. can you get into that kind of a deep, strong discussion So I told him that we were seriously on various points. So he’s crucially important, not to going to do this, and he replied mention extremely talented. something like “Oh, okay, great, look I
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