I’ve written about Darwyn Cooke before, in a review of the collection of his take on Will Eisner’s Spirit. I’ve kept an eye out for more of his work since, and recently picked up his two volume exploration of the DC superhero universe’s roots, The New Frontier.

As ever with Darwyn, his work looks out of time. He’s fascinated by commercial art from the 1940s onwards, and that shows in his take on Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and the other characters in this globe-spanning adventure. His style is deceptively simple, and relies on a minimalist approach. It means he’s got less to hide behind: every line has to count for something, whether it’s a just-so facial expression, perfectly formed experimental jet, or fierce dinosaur. Take any element away and the whole would fall apart - it’s pretty much the antithesis of detail-heavy art that the likes of Ethan Van Sciver specialise in, and gives it a lightness of touch that I find refreshing.

The same elegant approach applies to Cooke’s scripting. He writes well plotted tales with lean characterisation: the look of his heroes tells you as much about them as what comes out of their mouths, a synergy that’s best realised when the person writing is also doing the art.

The retro approach here isn’t a mindless indulgence in all things fifties. Cooke carefully incorporates social issues into the world he portrays in ways that were never addressed in the comics contemporary to the period the story is set in. No surprise, since comics were firmly seen as kids stuff then, but it’s interesting to see how an awareness of race, for instance, plays out in a story that is a homage to the roots of today’s comics.

Cooke’s mastery of page design marks him out as one of the medium’s sharpest creators. Most of the time he sticks to one illustrative style, but dips into other approaches - childrens’ book illustration for instance - where that serves the story best. And it always is what serves the story best: unlike some of Dave McKean’s experiments, the focus here is always on making the narrative as clear as possible.

What’s next for Darwyn Cooke? I just picked up a copy of western adventure Jonah Hex that he illustrated, which was great to look at but felt overwritten compared to the stories he writes himself. And it’s just been announced that he’ll be adapting the Richard Stark Parker crime novels in comic form for IDW: considering they include one that was brilliantly adapted for screen as Point Blank, I’m gagging to see what Cooke comes up with. He’s already shown his affinity for crime and period tales, so the combination should be sublime.

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Anyway, that’s all for a few days. I’m off on holiday for a little while. Expect me back around Monday August 4. Enjoy…