Simone's trouble with DC editorial was emblematic of wider conflicts that took place across the publisher throughout the New 52, with arguably the most significant coming when Haden Blackman and JH Williams ended their seminal run on Batwoman early because DC wouldn't let Kate Kane marry longtime love interest Maggie Sawyer.
Dan DiDio attempted to explain the reasoning behind the decision at SDCC 2013, and in doing so accidentally typified what made the New 52 such a miserable endeavour for so many readers: "Heroes shouldn’t have happy personal lives... That is our mandate, that is our edict and that is our stand."
DC's refusal to allow Kane and Sawyer to marry just summed up how thoroughly not DC the New 52 was. The whole reboot was an exercise in trying to be something different, whether that be aesthetically, tonally or narratively, but as the publisher would come to understand, it came at the cost of DC's identity, and ultimately, had to be changed yet again.
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.
