SDCC 2017: 8 Reasons Why DC Just Beat Marvel

3. Rebirth Has Struck The Perfect Balance Between Change And Continuity

DC Rebirth
DC Comics

When it comes to the New 52, it looks as though DC are their own harshest critics. Echoing many of the criticisms that had been thrown their way since 2011, Dan DiDio lamented (as recorded by Comicsbeat) that the reboot lost some of the company's defining features in translation, and that it specifically lacked the history that many readers needed in order to stay invested in the publisher's stories.

Rebirth, however, makes no such error. It actually strikes the perfect balance between providing new readers with a safe entry point into the medium, with the history and lineage that ensures older fans don't become alienated. Oliver Queen is back to being his usual self; Wally West is no longer missing in action, and stories feel genuinely fresh and exciting.

In this we can see a huge degree of creative freedom being afforded to the publisher's writers (something found wanting in years gone by), and stories are benefitting as a result. We are now in the amazing position of having the same writer on both Batman and Mister Miracle. Creators finally have room to manoeuvre the way they want to.

Compare that with Marvel, whose latest event - Marvel Legacy - feels more like an excuse to sell pretty covers than to engage in a genuine conversation about the medium. Seeing Mark Waid and Chris Samnee on Captain America is a welcome relief given the character's treatment over the last year, but it does feel like Marvel are backing away from their other legacy characters.

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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.