The New Frontier

Are we up to the task .. are we equal to the challenge? Or must we sacrifice our future in order to enjoy the present?

That is the question of the New Frontier. That is the choice our nation must make .. between the public interest and private comfort .. between national greatness and national decline .. between the fresh air of progress and the stale, dank atmosphere of "normalcy" .. between determined dedication and creeping mediocrity.

All mankind waits upon our decision. A whole world looks to see what we will do. We cannot fail their trust, we cannot fail to try.

On the 15th of July, 1960, a young man accepted the nomination from his party to stand for election against Richard Nixon, in a competition to become the president of the United States of America.

His acceptance speech, which you'll easily find on the web, is often referred to as the "Kennedy New Frontier" speech and is amazingly relevant today.

Beyond that frontier are uncharted areas of science and space, unsolved problems of peace and war, unconquered problems of ignorance and prejudice, unanswered questions of poverty and surplus. It would be easier to shrink from that new frontier, to look to the safe mediocrity of the past, to be lulled by good intentions and high rhetoric...

The full text of the speech and the MP3 version are available at the American Rhetoric page here.

I've just finished reading Darwyn Cooke's amazing, marvellous, awesome series, "The New Frontier" collected into a hardcover book that I borrowed from the Singapore National Library (Call Number 741.5973). It's the story of the transition from the superheroes of the golden age to the new world of the superheroes of the silver age. In the backdrop lurk McCarthyism, atomic weapons, racism, the conflicts spawned by the cold war, experimental aircraft that pushed the limits, ethical treatment of women ..... There are soldiers, dinosaurs, aliens from outerspace, monsters, magicians .... what fun! The link with the start of this post is that Cooke's graphic novel's concluding panels paraphrase parts of the Kennedy New Frontier speech to excellent effect.

This is a piece of work you don't want to miss. Cooke's drawing style is perfectly suited to a story that takes place between the end of WW2 till the 60s. His character design for Diana of the Amazons is particularly appealing. The section in which she defends the actions of a group of vietnamese women who have massacred their former captors and torturers (using weapons Diana put within their reach) to a stupified Clark Kent (in his alien persona) is priceless.

Diana: These women have reclaimed their home. And their dignity. I have chosen to train them to survive the coming war. Surely you see the virtue in that.
Clark: You're supposed to set an example! But to allow cold-blooded murder... and then to celebrate.
Diana: What, hand them a smile and a box of flags? Their families, their mates ... their children were murdered before their eyes. This is civil war. I've given them their freedom and a chance for justice .... the American way.

There's a bit more to the exchange, and you can read it yourself. But I love the last panel of this sequence. Diana says with a stern look on her face, "There's the door, spaceman."

Highly recommended. This is a must read.