What's your opinion of Geoff Johns?

[BlueFlight]

Once upon a time I thought Geoff Johns was a great writer. Now I mostly see his limitations. His plots lack depth and storytelling lacks grand imagination. I think his writing is more reminiscent of good fan fic.

I also have issues with his editorial decisions. New 52 is mostly a mess that has harmed more characters than it has helped. And why does Johns insist on shoving his preferences down our throats? Hal Jordan and Barry Allen, namely. I like Barry well enough, but what has been done to Wally West is a disservice to a once great character. And his Hal Jordan is terribly unlikable. I've never been much of a Jordan fan, but in Johns' hands, Jordan is an arrogant jackass who isn't all that compelling. And I don't know if this is Johns' doing, but the over-saturation of Batman has become beyond annoying.

I would like to further comment, but I've stopped reading much of Johns' work. I can say that I stopped reading Justice League because of how hollow it was, and because I couldn't stomach his portrayal of Superman. I don't know how the title is faring these days. I will, however, be picking up his Superman run with Romita, only because I love Superman, like Romita, and hope it will be more like the Superman from Pak's Action Comics, which is the best thing to happen to Clark since the New 52 began.

[Godlike13]

IMO Geoff Johns is consistent, he'll usually give u at least a decent story. When he hits his stride though he can be great. Something ive yet to see with his JL, but i think adding Lex to the roster is really gonna help him.

[Pharozonk]

I liked his Wally West Flash run, but everything else he's written leaves me cold, except for GL:Rebirth which was everything I could want as a Hal Jordan fan.

[Billy Batson]

He's an okay superhero writer.

[jade_nova]

I liked his Green Lantern up to the Sinestro Corps War storyline after that everything became the same.

[JackDaw]

He's an okay superhero writer.

That's exactly how I feel. I've read and enjoyed hundreds of his comics, but don't expect to ever read any more. Nowadays I only read a few comics, and ration myself to about a score of favourite writers, and GJ isn't one of them.

I'll be interested in how he's regarded by those really interested in overall DC universe...my own gut feeling is that he focuses too much on the past, rather than innovating.

[Drz]

Highly enjoyable writer who makes fun stories, good action and good bromances.

[Energist]

He's a good idea man and a decent writer, but his complete disregard and often outright retconning of other writers' work is borderline satirical at this point. He's like the kid in the sandbox who won't let anyone play with the communal toys unless they play with them the "right way."

[Lee Stone]

Once upon a time I thought Geoff Johns was a great writer. Now I mostly see his limitations. His plots lack depth and storytelling lacks grand imagination. I think his writing is more reminiscent of good fan fic.

I also have issues with his editorial decisions. New 52 is mostly a mess that has harmed more characters than it has helped. And why does Johns insist on shoving his preferences down our throats? Hal Jordan and Barry Allen, namely. I like Barry well enough, but what has been done to Wally West is a disservice to a once great character. And his Hal Jordan is terribly unlikable. I've never been much of a Jordan fan, but in Johns' hands, Jordan is an arrogant jackass who isn't all that compelling. And I don't know if this is Johns' doing, but the over-saturation of Batman has become beyond annoying.

I would like to further comment, but I've stopped reading much of Johns' work. I can say that I stopped reading Justice League because of how hollow it was, and because I couldn't stomach his portrayal of Superman. I don't know how the title is faring these days. I will, however, be picking up his Superman run with Romita, only because I love Superman, like Romita, and hope it will be more like the Superman from Pak's Action Comics, which is the best thing to happen to Clark since the New 52 began.

I liked his Teen Titans.

[Vanguard-01]

I used to think he could do no wrong.

Then I took a long, hard look at his Justice League run to date, and it dawned on me that he has been deliberately writing them as a bunch of incompetent idiots who have brought most of their current woes on themselves. They all act like squabbling children and have made NO effort to reduce the growing fear people have been experiencing about them.

Wonder Woman has a temper tantrum and attacks Green Lantern and the two of them have a big "god duel" in the middle of a residential area. Hundreds, if not thousands of people would have died if not for Flash. And what did the League do about this incident? Nothing. No public apology. No offer to make restitution for property damage. No effort to rebuild the damage. No effort whatsoever to assure the people of the world that it wouldn't happen again. NOTHING. They just flew off and assumed that the world would just forget the day that two godlike beings almost killed thousands of people for nothing that even vaguely resembles a good reason.

Superman and Wonder Woman invade Kahndaq, sparking an international incident. Do they call a press conference and defend their actions as "Hey, none of YOU were going to save those people, so WE stepped in." Do they apologize? Do they in any way acknowledge the fear they just caused? Nope. They just went right on assuming that the world would just let it slide.

It's like Johns wrote the first three years of Justice League exclusively as a setup for his new "Lex Luthor Uber Alles" agenda. And he did it by writing the League as being so stupid and incompetent (not to mention out of character) that they practically HANDED the world over to Luthor on a silver platter.

His characterizations have been terrible as well. Superman is a moron. Batman isn't half as competent as he is in his own book. Seriously, Geoff? Batman sees Dick stop breathing for two seconds and assumes he's gone forever? Really? Batman's never heard of this thing called CPR? And the less said about his abysmal portrayal of Wonder Woman, the better. Johns is the only writer out there who has consistently portrayed Diana as a borderline psychopath who just wants to solve all of her problems by stabbing them to death.

Even his Green Lantern work began to fall off shortly after Blackest Night. Blackest Night was BRILLIANT. One of my favorite events ever. After that? Things started to go downhill.

Just about the only book he wrote that was consistently great in recent memory was Aquaman, and an argument could be made that that was only because he wasn't on Aquaman long enough to start screwing up. As it is, he still added the fact that Aquaman committed First Degree Murder against Black Manta's dad in order to justify Manta's hatred for him.

I used to love the guy. Now? I don't know anymore.

[jimijokk]

I have to admit to being a big fan of Geoff Johns, from his early JSA run through to 'Forever Evil', he has been(as has been said here before)very consistent. An important element of his style is that he is clearly a true fan of DC's characters, which always shines through in the work. n fact, I find that even his less well regarded work, such as 'The Flash: Rebirth' while not being exactly great, has something to offer on rereads simply for that fact. You can see the love for the characters and DC as a whole shine through even the dullest of his stories. Also, his work on Green Lantern will undoubtedly go down as one of the great comic runs of all time.

[Starchild]

Johns is a fantastic writer. Always consistent, he's never written anything bad. My opinion. Deal with it.

[NeonSaxon]

First post and it's to stir a pot.

The new 52 I don't think was his idea, his flashpoint story I thought was planned to only be a grand flash story, and it was the higher ups that decided to reboot. Gotta give credit where it's due, and I don't think the new 52 mess was his doing. Flashpoint was a good Flash story in itself, but not epic in scale to create a great reality-shift story.

I tend not to like his stories, they have some good ideas put in, but overall I usually don't like them, so he's one writer I tend to avoid unless the concept is good enough [Vibe started out amazing, and continued to be amazing after his intro-issues; though I couldn't get into his Aquadude at all]

[Kuwagaton]

Well, for one thing, I don't feel like he cares about stepping out of superheroes. Sometimes his writing is really cheesy or schmaltzy, which aren't bad things, but he's so serious about superheroes that it also seems goofy which is kinda bad. He has a tendency to write big and basic stories for trade, and sometimes the beats or lines I read make me visualize him chuckling to himself as he typed.

He's also a little stubborn. He'll grind a point into the ground in an unsubtle manner, and it's always going to be his thoughts directly played out in the plot or brought to the fore by a character.

But I'm actually not trying to rag on him, because sometimes you're just in the mood for schmaltz. It's escapism. Not everybody wants subtle, and few want it all the time. I really dug his Legion story with Gary Frank because of all the Johns-iness. He's an average writer with passion, and that tends to take him further than many of the better writers who do stories just to do them.

[Dispenser Of Truth]

His writing used to be good (though still not as much in retrospect), until he got overextended and his work congealed into formula and Michael Bay-ey big dumb action quips. His upcoming Superman is the first thing of his I've planned on giving a chance in awhile, and I have low expectations.