It’s pretty much impossible these days to go a week without seeing Geoff Johns’ name on a comic book. I would say without a doubt that he’s one of the biggest guns in the DC arsenal at the moment, and probably one of the most important young writers of today, and I’m not the only one who believes so. The man has been voted fan favorite writer 4 years in a row, and is definitely making some of the best material out there today. In fact, if not for him, I can without a doubt say I would not be half as interested in the DCU as I am now. Just as I wrote an article on Bendis for making me read comics full-time again, I wish to now celebrate Geoff Johns for expanding my opinions on comic books beyond my intense love for all things Marvel (although, at the end of the day, I still believe Marvel is better and wish beyond wishing that Johns would write some more for Marvel). So sit back and enjoy this retrospective on the career on one of the most amazing writers of today.
Geoff Johns began his career in comic books not actually as a comic book writer. After graduating college, he moved to California and landed a job as a production assistant to a little director you may or may not have heard of: Richard Donner. For those that don’t know, Richard Donner is the man behind the original Superman films with Christopher Reeves. He worked with him for 4 years before landing a job at DC writing for a smaller title called Star Spangled Comics, which was associated with the second Star Spangled Kid and Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. He also stepped right up to the plate and wrote Day Of Judgement, in which Hal Jordan became the Spectre. This would be the first book of many in which Johns wrote to Jordan. Johns would continue to a very prolific career with DC, writing the Flash for 5 years, teaming with Ed Brubaker on a Batman arc, a lengthy Teen Titans run, as well as recently bringing back the JSA and Booster Gold after writing 52 with Grant Morrison, Mark Waid, and Greg Rucka. He also teamed up with Richard Donner to write on the Superman book Action Comics, in which they brought back the Legion (who Johns adores) and General Zod. He’s also written for the TV shows Smallville (with his episode “Legion” voted fan favorite of the season, and one of two episodes I’ve actually watched, and he’s announced that he will be returning to the show to introduce the JSA), Justice League Unlimited, the short lived Blade series, and he has also contributed to Robot Chicken.
However, JSA and Booster Gold, as well as 52, wouldn’t exist if not for Geoff Johns’ astounding event, Infinite Crisis, hailed by our writer Gil and others as the best crisis ever. This Crisis is the second most important Crisis to date, acting as a direct follow up to Crisis On Infinite Earths and changing the DC Universe back to how it used to be before the first Crisis. It took a lot of cajones to step up to the plate and say, “Hey, you know what, let’s bring back Alex Luthor, Kal-L, and Superboy Prime,” and then kill them, but Johns did it and he did it with great writing, flash, and style. The impact of Infinite Crisis is still being explored today, especially with Johns’ recent other sequel, Thy Kingdom Come, in which Johns created an expansion to Mark Waid and Alex Ross’ Kingdom Come. That’s two huge titles and staples in any DC Library that Johns came along and added to. Whenever you have someone working on a sequel to a work that’s not their own, you become frightened at the possibility that they might screw it up (Hey, X-Men films, how you doing?). However, Johns proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that not only can he treat other people’s work with a great deal of respect, he can add to it to make it better. Talk about a unique talent. In his sequels to Crisis and Kingdom Come, he expanded the mythos surrounding both books and revitalized characters who had previously been unused for a while, such as Superboy-Prime, who is now a major villain. This is Johns biggest thing – he takes characters that we’ve forgotten about or who haven’t been used in over two decades, and he makes them 100% relevant again.
This is, of course, most apparent in Johns’ flagship title: Green Lantern. Since bringing back Hal Jordan in Green Lantern: Rebirth, Johns has written the most definitive run on Green Lantern since Green Lantern was first created, and many fans will happily agree to this. He expanded the color spectrum mythos as well as revitalizing the Black Hand (now a major a villain), Hector Hammond, Star Sapphire, Sinestro, and the Anti-Monitor. That’s right – Johns brought back the friggin’ Anti-Monitor… twice! The Anti-Monitor’s world destroying machines first re-appeared in Infinite Crisis, and then the Anti-Monitor himself would appear with Sinestro in the Sinestro Corps during the Sinestro Corps War. Speaking of which, the Sinestro Corps War was probably one of the most celebrated events of DC Comics in recent history, and it wasn’t even an event that happened outside of a book. That’s how big of a following Johns is. And now Johns is writing the final part to his Green Lantern trilogy, The Blackest Night, in which he will once again revitalize a classic villain who has not appeared for quite some time. It’s actually pretty astounding to look at his work as a whole.
Johns has worked with other companies like Marvel, but when looking at his work and respecting him as a prolific modern writer, you need look no further then his involvement in the DCU. Geoff Johns is to the DCU as Bendis currently is to the Marvel. He is making some of the biggest changes and helping DC stay right at the top of the comic seller’s list, currently edging back and forth with Marvel thanks mostly to his writing. And his epic amount of work isn’t curbing any time soon. As far as we can see, Johns will still be helming Green Lantern beyond the Blackest Night, as well as writing the just started Adventure Comics (which I’ve been plugging everywhere I can) as well as writing a new Flash on-going in the wake of The Flash: Rebirth (currently on-sale and currently amazing featuring the return of Barry Alen post-Final Crisis). He’ll also be writing the definitive origin on Superman in Superman: Secret Origin, on sale in September. I mean, seriously, look at all this! Flash, Green Lantern, Superman… give him Batman and Wonder Woman and the man will essentially own the DC Universe! And to be honest, I wouldn’t mind at all. Hell, I’d love to sit in a room and just tell Johns what I think he should write for an hour. There are plenty of characters I’d love to see him work on. For example, I think him and Morrison should team up again and write a Zatanna book. That’d be totally amazing, and I’d have a nerd fit everywhere. Or, to be honest, I’d love the chance to just sit and pick his brain on how it works for a while, because the man is clearly a great story teller. Some day, when Multiversity is a big time comic site, I’ll make that happen. Count on it!
So there you have it. Geoff Johns is the DCU at the moment. He is most definitely a writer who, if you’re looking at books to pick up, you should grab a book based on his name on the cover alone. I know that that’s what I do. I don’t like Booster Gold, but I’ll read his run on Booster Gold eventually just because he wrote it. As I sit and write this, I’m actually wearing a Green Lantern shirt, and this would’ve never happened if not for him. There is a reason that this man has been voted best writer by fans in Wizard for 4 years in a row, and it’s not just his enigmatic smile! I raise my glass to you, Johns, and your amazing career in such a short time. He’s been writing for just about a decade now, and already he’s risen faster and higher than most people do in the entirety of their career outside of cult followings.
Also, if you ever get the chance, be sure to check out Earth-2 Comics in Sherman Oaks, CA, where Geoff Johns has recently partnered with to become a retailer (probably to read other people’s comics early) and occasionally works at when he’s not writing multiverse shattering epics. Be sure and follow his Twitter account at GeoffJohns0 as well, especially if you like Slushies. He seriously tells some of the funniest stories, one of my personal favorites being his quest to get the Ghostbusters Blu-Ray and ending up murdering the Kool-Aid man in his apartment.
