All the noise about DC at the time was pointing towards the idea that the publisher's comics were simply too difficult to approach as a new reader, or even that their characters were out of date. Years of contradictory retcons and Crises had seemingly erected barriers around the DC universe as it then existed, which meant that, if DC ever wished to catch up to Marvel, a change in direction was deemed necessary.
This new direction was, according to DiDio in a 2011 interview with The Washington Post, spearheaded by Johns and Lee. Both had been key figures at the publisher for years by that point, the former famous for his work reshaping books like Green Lantern and The Flash, and the latter more so for their time spent with Marvel and Image in the 1990s.
Johns' DNA was especially woven into the fabric of the New 52 as the publisher's Chief Creative Officer, with the writer continuing his work on Green Lantern, but also joining Lee on Justice League and then Ivan Reis on Aquaman. (It's also important to note that Johns would later become heavily involved in DC Film, where he would serve as a key architect of the DC Extended Universe alongside filmmaker Zack Snyder, which was developed concurrently alongside the New 52.)
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.
