8 Biggest WTF Comic Book Moments Of 2020

7. Time Warner Lays Off Staff AND Kills DC Collectibles Right Before FaNdOmE

DC Layoffs
DC Comics

So 2020 was in itself a wild time for the comics industry, but more so for DC than any other company.

DC's parent company, Time Warner, was purchased by AT&T in 2018 and there were a lot of signs that they didn't really care much for the comics publisher - at least as anything more than an IP farm to mine for movies and video games. The years since have seen job losses and restructuring at DC, with AT&T choosing 2020 - cruelly - to deliver their most worrying changes yet.

The first and most noticeable move was the sacking of longtime publisher Dan DiDio in February. DiDio was the subject of frequent criticism by readers, but the secrecy surrounding his unceremonious departure raised alarm bells for the year ahead.

In the build up to DC FanDome - a virtual comic con-style event designed to show off first looks at upcoming DC Comics films, TV shows, video games, and maybe some comics - DC announced a record number of layoffs at the editorial level. The move also saw DC Collectibles - the publisher's own premium merchandising outlet - shut down, as well a number of layoffs at DC Universe, as Warner Media shifted attention to HBO Max.

These sorts of moves would've been crap anytime of the year, but right before your fan-oriented 'celebration' of DC? Just an incredible way of informing everyone how much Time Warner really values comics as a medium when it's not churning out content to adapt to the big screen.

Content Producer/Presenter

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.