Dan Jurgens and Patrick Zircher's Action Comics has been a definite highpoint of the year, with the creative team producing a formidable take on the character that's also gone great lengths to ask big questions of him.
Between issues 975 and 976, that's just what Jurgens and Zircher do. Facing the always irritating Mr. Mxyztplk (Mits-el-plick), we get to see Zircher draw back to the Man of Steel's most iconic incarnations, paying homage to Bruce Timm's animated design from the nineties all the way up to the Lego sets of the last few years.
The series was able to boast a breadth of dramatic moments throughout the year, but there's just something nice about seeing other interpretations of the DC mythos in the actual main continuity itself. Considering the animated shows in particular served as an entry point for many fans in the first place (this author among them), getting that little bit of acknowledgement goes a long way.
Now, if only we could get a revival of The Batman Adventures, with Paul Dini, Ty Templeton et al...
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
