Posted in: Comics, san diego comic con | Tagged: Comics, dan didio, darkseid war, entertainment, geoff johns, sdcc

SDCC '15: Geoff Johns- Spotlight + Darkseid War Info

Hello friend-o-rrito supremes! It's your old pal Will Romine here at the DC Entertainment Geoff Johns spotlight panel, moderated by Dan DiDio. Who is Geoff Johns, you ask? Have you read a DC comic book in the past 5 years? Yeah, that's him. He's written nearly every character in the DC Universe. He's also the Chief Creative Officer of DC Entertainment. Much like the character of Tom Symkowski in Office Space, Johns brings the specs from the comics to TV and Movies. Why can't the studio folks take the specs from the comics directly? The 90's, that's why. This panel is part This is Your Life, part Inside the Actor's Studio and all Geoff Johns.

Geoff Johns has probably one of the most improbable career trajectories in the industry today. As a child, he started drawing comic books and only started writing to provide dialogue for his drawings. He cites John Ostrander and Grant Morrison as strong influences. He broke into the entertainment industry by cold calling Richard Donner for an internship. What's amazing is that it actually worked. He went to work for Donner and, taking advice from Stan Lee's biography, ran everywhere to create the impression that he was the guy who got things done. His first brush with the comics industry happened on the set of Conspiracy Theory when folks from DC paid a visit. Geoff recalls that for every question they asked about the movie, he would ask 30 about Zero Hour. This lead to a pitch for Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E, and the rest is history.

I enjoyed this panel not for the breaking news (see below), but for the exploration of Geoff Johns's approach to work and life. He took his passion and with a lot of hard work and a little moxie, got one of the most coveted jobs in the industry. When the Kon-El Superboy first came on the scene, there was great speculation about who the human DNA donor was. Johns wrote a letter to DC, which was published, proposing that Lex Luthor would make an interesting human half. A decade later, he turned his fan speculation into canon. His rise is every bit as interesting as any of the multitude of characters that he's written.

Now, for the breaking news.

In October/November, Francis Manapul and Johns reunite for a sub arc of the Darkseid War called Gods and Men. This series of one-shots focuses on five characters. Metron no longer sits in the Mobius chair. Now Batman sits in this most coveted of thrones and has access to absolute knowledge. Flash takes on the power of the Black Racer, Lex Luthor tries to claim the power of Darkseid, Superman bacomes "the god of strengths", and Shazam no longer channels his usual pantheon of gods, instead going for something "newer".

Well gang, I'm done with this panel. It's been fun, but there's still more San Diego to go. Follow me @notacomplainer.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!