6. Superman Smashes The Klan - Gene Luen Yang & Gurihiru
DC Comics/Gurihiru
As far as titles for comics go, they don't get much better than "SUPERMAN SMASHES THE KLAN". (It's not in all caps, but y'know, the added emphasis makes it even better.)
(Plus it's great to say out loud.)
The comic, written by Gene Luen Yang and with art from Gurihiru studios, is a sublime entry in DC's new wave of comics geared towards younger readers. It also packs a salient message (that big Super-men smashing white supremacists is great, actually), setting up the Man of Steel to take on the Ku Klux Klan in a reimagining of the famed 1946 serial that proved instrumental in humiliating the Klan during its post-War resurgence.
It's a salient read, and finds a new kind of relevance in 2019 by bringing Superman back to his roots - taking on real life menaces that still sadly pervade across the United States and elsewhere.
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.
