page_title: Geoff Johns
section_title: Early career
hierarchical_section_title: Geoff Johns / Career / Early career
caption_attribution_description: English: Comic book writer Geoff Johns at a May 11, 2012 signing at Midtown Comics Downtown in Lower Manhattan for Justice League Vol. 1: Origin, the hardcover collection of the first six-issue story arc of Justice League volume 2, the monthly series whose debut in September 2011 initiated The New 52, the company-wide relaunch of all of DC Comics' superhero titles. In the photo, Johns, who was also the writer at the time of the relaunched Aquaman series, is signing an Aquaman POP! vinyl toy that he and artist Jim Lee, who was also at the signing, have just autographed. This photo was created by Luigi Novi. It is not in the public domain, and use of this file outside of the licensing terms is a copyright violation. If you would like to use this image outside of the Wikimedia projects, you may do so, only if I am properly credited, either by linking the photograph to this page, or with an easily visible credit placed near the photo in each instance in which it is used. Please credit authorship as follows: &#160;© Luigi Novi / Wikimedia Commons. Please maintain the original file name in all uses. You can see a gallery of some of my other photos here. If you have any questions, you can contact me by sending me an email or leaving a note at the bottom of my talk page.
context_page_description: Geoffrey Johns is an American comic book writer, screenwriter and film and television producer. He served as the President and Chief Creative Officer of DC Entertainment from 2016 to 2018 after his initial appointment as CCO in 2010. Some of his most notable work has used the DC Comics characters Green Lantern, Aquaman, Flash, and Superman.
  In 2018, he stepped down from his executive role at DC Entertainment to open a production company, Mad Ghost Productions, to focus on writing and producing film, television and comic book titles based on DC properties. He co-developed the TV series The Flash and Titans, and created the television series Stargirl. His other work in television includes writing and producing various episodes of Blade, Smallville, and Arrow. In film, he was a producer on Green Lantern and Justice League, and co-wrote the story for Aquaman and the screenplay for Wonder Woman 1984.
context_section_description: In Los Angeles, Johns cold-called the office of director Richard Donner looking for an internship, and while Johns was being transferred to various people, Donner picked up the phone by accident, leading to a conversation and the internship. Johns started off copying scripts, and after about two months, was hired as a production assistant for Donner, whom Johns regards as his mentor.
  While working on production of Donner's 1997 film Conspiracy Theory, Johns visited New York City, where he met DC Comics personnel such as Eddie Berganza, reigniting his childhood interest in comics.
  Berganza invited Johns to tour the DC Comics offices, and offered Johns the opportunity to suggest ideas, which led to Johns pitching Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E., a series based on the second Star-Spangled Kid and her stepfather, to editor Chuck Kim a year later. Johns expected to write comics "on the side", until he met David Goyer and James Robinson, who were working on JSA. After looking at Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E., Robinson offered Johns co-writing duties on JSA in 2000, and Johns credits both him and Mike Carlin with shepherding him into the comics industry. That same year, Johns became the regular writer on The Flash ongoing series with issue 164. John's work on The Flash represents one example of his modeling of various elements in his stories after aspects of his birth town, explaining, "When I wrote The Flash, I turned Keystone City into Detroit, made it a car town. I make a lot of my characters from Detroit. I think self-made, blue-collar heroes represent Detroit. Wally West's Flash was like that. I took the inspiration of the city and the people there and used it in the books." John's Flash run concluded with #225.
  He co-wrote a Beast Boy limited series with Ben Raab in 2000 and crafted the "Return to Krypton" story arc in the Superman titles with Pasqual Ferry in 2002. After writing The Avengers vol. 3 #57–76 (Oct. 2002-Feb. 2004) and Avengers Icons: The Vision #1–4 (Oct. 2002-Jan. 2003) for Marvel Comics, Johns oversaw the re-launch of Hawkman and Teen Titans.
  Johns was responsible for the return of Hal Jordan in 2005 as the writer of the Green Lantern: Rebirth mini-series and subsequent Green Lantern ongoing title. Johns was the writer of the Infinite Crisis crossover limited series (Dec. 2005– June 2006), a sequel to 1985's Crisis on Infinite Earths. Following this, Johns was one of four writers, with Mark Waid, Grant Morrison, and Greg Rucka, on the 2006–2007 weekly series 52.
  In 2006, Johns and Kurt Busiek co-wrote the "Up, Up and Away!" story arc in Superman and Action Comics. He then reunited with Richard Donner on the "Last Son" storyline in Action Comics with Donner co-plotting the series with his former assistant. The Justice Society of America series by Johns and artist Dale Eaglesham began in February 2007 and six months later, he and Jeff Katz launched the new Booster Gold series. That same year, Johns helmed the critically acclaimed "Sinestro Corps War" storyline in the Green Lantern titles. He wrote the "Final Crisis" one-shot Rage of the Red Lanterns with artist Shane Davis and collaborated with Gary Frank on Action Comics. Johns and Frank produced the "Brainiac" storyline in which Superman's adopted father Jonathan Kent was killed and retold Superman's origin story in 2009's Superman: Secret Origin.
  Also in 2009, Johns teamed with artist Ethan Van Sciver on The Flash: Rebirth miniseries, which centered on the return of Barry Allen as the Flash and wrote the Blackest Night limited series. Commenting on Johns' creation of such concepts as the Blue Lantern Corps, the Red Lantern Corps, and the Indigo Tribe, DC Comics writer and executive Paul Levitz noted in 2010 that "One of Johns' sharpest additions to DC mythology is the notion that the Green Lanterns are but one color within a rainbow spectrum, and that the other hues have their own champions. Folding in old concepts and inventing new ones, Johns has established limitless story possibilities."
caption: Johns holding up a Funko vinyl figure of Aquaman, one of the titles he wrote as part of The New 52
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