When Does "DC: The New Frontier" #4 (2004) Take Place?
"DC: The New Frontier" #4 "Mystery in Space" is a superhero comic-book written by Darwyn Cooke and released May 26th, 2004.
It takes place on an alternate timeline of the fictional DC Comics Universe in the year:
We know this because the very first page of this issue opens with some time and place setting free-floating text that reads, "CENTRAL CITY- 1958".
1958 AD
We know this because the very first page of this issue opens with some time and place setting free-floating text that reads, "CENTRAL CITY- 1958".
Reinforcing this, the book’s second scene includes a huge sign indicating the characters are attending the "1959 MOTORAMA", an annual traveling automobile trade show promoting General Motors cars. (There is free floating text reading: "COAST CITY- 1959" over this artwork. That would indicate part of the comic is in 1959 AD. HOWEVER, this is most likely an understandable mistake: the Motorama marketed for 1959 was held in late 1958 AD.)
Furthermore, about halfway through the issue, the Flash says, "Yesterday, there was an attempt on my life made by a clandestine government agency." This is probably his misunderstanding of the events in the first scene that includes the "CENTRAL CITY- 1958" free-floating text. If only a day has passed from page 1 to this point and these words precipitate J'onn J'onzz, the Martian Manhunter, making a big decision (and events with John 'Henry' Wilson at about one-third through the issue are specifically referred to as "Three nights ago" also push this decision), it is almost certainly 1958 AD all the way to the end of the comic-book.
Even later in this comic, there is a time and place setting free-floating text bullet reading, "NELLIS AIRFORCE BASE: THIRTY HOURS LATER" and the large majority of the rest of the book depicts events that are quick and immediately follow.
This comic-book was retroactively collected into a "DC: The New Frontier" volume 2 paperback as well as a complete hardcover.
It is a chronologically midway comic in the DC Comics Universe multiverse timeline. It can be read after the previous issue, "DC: The New Frontier" #3 (2004) or after the "Justice League: The New Frontier Special" (2008) one-shot.
It was adapted to animation as part of "Justice League: The New Frontier" (2008).
