Part of what made fans love DC's old animated efforts was the fact that they always strived to emulate the source material both visually and narratively - at least in the case of adaptations based on certain comic book storylines. Darwyn Cooke's New Frontier comes to mind as a brilliant page to screen transition, as his distinct and iconic pencils are brought to life in the silver age's onscreen rebirth. Other animated features such as The Dark Knight Returns, All Star Superman, and Batman: Year One all emulated their respective artists very truthfully, in turn benefiting the films stylistically and visually. These unique and varied styles were abandoned with 2012's Flashpoint Paradox, with every subsequent adaptation following suite with the rather garish look chosen to portray DC's crop of characters. Their misshapen proportions rekindle nightmares of the infamous redesigns of the 90s, and nothing feels quite as clean as older animated features did, nor quite as charming.
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.
