Writer
The 2008 movie “Justice League New Frontier” holds a special place in the collective memories of my childhood. Having grown up in the era of shows like Batman the Animated Series, the DC Animated Universe has the nostalgia flowing back to not only myself but other Geeks of my generation. Seeing this film and reading the graphic novel when I was thirteen ignited a love of comics and a burning passion for creating them. A goal that I pursue to this day.
The story begins in 1954; at the time in our world, the growing fear of “The Specter of Communism” reached levels of mass hysteria and paranoia that had never been seen. However, what differentiates from our world to the world our story takes place in is that superhumans are thrown into the equation. Instead of the public directing all this fear that quickly boils over into anger and rage at communists and anarchists as in our history, the American public turns on the superhumans. These superhumans, who only a few years prior were playing a major part in the destruction of the Axis forces, were being hunted by the government. Things finally come to a head with the death of Hourman at the hands of the police. The government passes laws that either ban or heavily restrict superhumans and their rights. Wonder Woman is a government agent, while Batman has gone aground as a fugitive from justice. The only one who remains is Superman, yet he is kept on a short leash.
Meanwhile, as the superhumans quarrel amongst themselves about what their next move should be, an intergalactic threat steadily creeps up on humanity. It calls itself the Centre, and it is bent on the total destruction of humanity. The Centre sees humankind as a major intergalactic threat due to man harnessing the power of nuclear energy into weapons. With their back against the wall, the CIA has no choice but to cast their prejudice and hatred of superhumans aside and fight alongside the very superhumans they tried to have killed, alongside new Heroes such as Green Lantern, the Flash, and Martian Manhunter. In a final all-out battle that will determine our survival as a species, humans end up defeating the Centre, and superhumans and humanity reconcile their differences to strive for a better world: the New Frontier.
Much in the same way the superhumans and humanity learned to work together to overcome near-impossible obstacles, we as Christians must learn to set aside differences in theology and learn to show love and unity towards one another. The Bible tells us in Ephesians chapter four verses one through five that all believers are to be of the same mind, united in love and humility, for we are of one lord and savior, and that we are all children of the same God. To put this point into a modern context:
There is no Baptist, Pentecostal, or Orthodox, for you all are one in Christ. If we are to let our light shine before all of mankind, shouldn’t the love of Christ be at least projected towards our brethren?