What's your opinion of Geoff Johns?

[Action Ace]

Well, yeah, they basically turned the whole DCU upside down for the sake of Hal Jordan and made it revolve around him oftentimes in an attempt to force him to be popular through importance and over saturation. What needs to be done to make a character popular, more than anything, are strong performances. Not throwing them in people's face in jarring ways... like this. Get a load of this Mary Sue-ish power fantasy wish fulfillment. I don't know who wrote this, but I get an impression someone is living vicariously through Hal Jordan and wishing they can get it on with DC women (and girls), who all just magically want him. This is weird and unnatural, and very... fan-ish.

Mark Waid wrote it and he's my favorite superhero writer of all time.

[Tony Stark]

What "truth"? JJ Abrams "put Trek back on the map"...by making it an oversexed, dumbed down caricature of itself.

Geoff's "resurrection" of GL is vastly overrated and wasn't needed. Hal's day was (and is) OVER.

What truth?! He had Gl selling up there with Batman. Whether you like his run or what he did with GL is an opinion. That fact that his impact had brought the books to a level as far as awareness and sales. Saying something is overrated is an opinion.

[Pharozonk]

Mark Waid wrote it and he's my favorite superhero writer of all time.

As far as DC writers go, Mark Waid is probably my favorite, up there with Len Wein, Paul Levitz, Bill Messner-Loebs, and Chuck Dixon. His knowledge and respect for the history of the DCU is astounding.

[Tony Stark]

Also, I don't think you get what the term Mary Sue means...

I find that most people just use this term to talk about a character they don't like. It's not really about being a Mary Sue.

[BlueFlight]

Well, yeah, they basically turned the whole DCU upside down for the sake of Hal Jordan and made it revolve around him oftentimes in an attempt to force him to be popular through importance and over saturation. What needs to be done to make a character popular, more than anything, are strong performances. Not throwing them in people's face in jarring ways... like this. Get a load of this Mary Sue-ish power fantasy wish fulfillment. I don't know who wrote this, but I get an impression someone is living vicariously through Hal Jordan and wishing they can get it on with DC women (and girls), who all just magically want him. This is weird and unnatural, and very... fan-ish.

That read extremely silly. Downright ridiculous. Supergirl was written as a horny bimbo just to make Jordan look like a stud. I've read A LOT of Superman in my time and I don't recall any female hero so desperately throwing herself at him. Well, maybe except Maxima, but she liked Superman because she thought him a worthy mate. Supergirl acted as if Hal was the sexiest thing she ever laid eyes on. Give me a break.

And that thought balloon where Hal says, "No bad thoughts. She's seventeen." It should have went, "No bad thoughts. She's seventeen... and Clark would beat the snot out of me."

I love Waid's work, but that right there was just kind of unfortunate. I want to assume that he got a memo that influenced that scene.

[Tony Stark]

And all of that remains completely irrelevant to the fact that Johns made the GL franchise more popular than its ever been.

Again quoted for truth. When he was writing it it was HUGE. It was selling incredibly well. He also had Aquaman selling incredibly well too. Some months Aquaman was in the top 10. That's awesome as I love Aquaman. Whether people think he's run is good or bad is opinion.

[Sacred Knight]

And none of that is meant to belittle the personal opinion that it wasn't good. Nothing is going to be everyone's cup of tea. Me, I'm pretty tired of the multi-colored spectrum as well. But it still doesn't change that its just sour grapes to seriously try and say he didn't leave much of a mark or legacy on the franchise. That's just patently false in every way.

[Buried Alien]

As far as DC writers go, Mark Waid is probably my favorite, up there with Len Wein, Paul Levitz, Bill Messner-Loebs, and Chuck Dixon. His knowledge and respect for the history of the DCU is astounding.

I often view Mark Waid and Geoff Johns as two sides of the same coin: they cover much of the same territory, and even have somewhat similar approaches. The key difference is that Waid uses less (much less) gratuitous violence in his writing, so he's a little more "old school" than Johns in that sense.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[Pharozonk]

I often view Mark Waid and Geoff Johns as two sides of the same coin: they cover much of the same territory, and even have somewhat similar approaches. The key difference is that Waid uses less (much less) gratuitous violence in his writing, so he's a little more "old school" than Johns in that sense.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

That's a good analogy. I've always believed that Johns could vastly improve as a writer if he could eschew his tendencies towards shock deaths, gore, and decompression in his stories.

[Tony Stark]

And none of that is meant to belittle the personal opinion that it wasn't good. Nothing is going to be everyone's cup of tea. Me, I'm pretty tired of the multi-colored spectrum as well. But it still doesn't change that its just sour grapes to seriously try and say he didn't leave much of a mark or legacy on the franchise. That's just patently false in every way.

That's what I'm saying. We all have opinions. I loved it. Some didn't. Those are opinions, but to say he didn't leave a mark on the franchise and put it up there with huge sales numbers is a fallacy.

[Dispenser Of Truth]

I often view Mark Waid and Geoff Johns as two sides of the same coin: they cover much of the same territory, and even have somewhat similar approaches. The key difference is that Waid uses less (much less) gratuitous violence in his writing, so he's a little more "old school" than Johns in that sense.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

Ehhh, there's more than that. They may be coming from similar influences, but Waid's on an entirely different playing field when it comes to technical prowess.

[JediMindTrick]

As a writer his work on Flash and Green Lantern is up there with the greats of all time.

As an editor in charge of a universe at large he is very hit and miss. New 52 overall is great idea but certain aspects of it could have been done much better.

[dogwelder]

Man, I read through these threads and just shake my head. Where exactly is the bar set for some of you? I mean, what are these amazing works of superhero comics that you are comparing him to? I just don't think there can be any doubt that Johns is a very good (and sometimes great) mainstream superhero comics writer. Let's just look at what Johns has done:

(1) He made JSA, an afterthought before, into a must read comic and one of DCs most popular franchises. There are so many good ideas in his run on JSA its hard to know where to start. People are still crying for a return to that JSA.

(2) Green Lantern: Rebirth - The best Hal Jordan story ever? He took a moribund franchise and made it one of DCs biggest properties that now has more books than Superman. Classic stories like Sinestro Corps War and Blackest Night are some of the defining works of the 2000s.

(3) Flash - Arguably one of the Top 3 Flash runs of all time

(4) Teen Titans - Arguably the best run on the book since Wolfman and Perez

(5) Aquaman - Took a laughingstock of a character and has made him one of DCs better properties. He added more mythos and depth to the character than all of the writers before him combined. He's definitely the definitive Aquaman writer.

(6) Flashpoint - A severely underrated story arc because it receives criticism for shoehorning the New 52 in (which was reportedly not Johns plan). If you just read it as a Flash tale it is one of the best ever told

(7) New 52 - Throne of Atlantis might be the best story of the entire New 52. The first 25 issues of Aquaman might be the best first 25 issues of the New 52. He left Green Lantern with more going on than at any time in the character's history.

(8) Forever Evil - Look how many great ideas that set up years of stories were just in the 40 pages of FE #7. The Bizarro origin and death, Luthor stealing the kryptonite ring from Batman, Luthor figuring out Batman is Bruce Wayne, the fight between Alexander Luthor and Lex which had a very clever ending, the stomping of Atomica, the pregnancy of Superwoman, the double cross of the CSA by Superwoman, the great interplay between Sinestro and Black Adam, Owlman's obsession with Dick Grayson and ... the Anti-Monitor. That is more ideas than most writers have in 20 issues.

Johns is in the conversation for, and probably is, the best mainstream superhero writer of the last 10 years. He has had the defining runs on over half of DCs main properties. If he isn't good then he must perform some kind of voodoo magic to make all of his stories really popular

This is the best description on this subject!!

[The Kid]

I like him for the most part. His stories are entertaining and accessible to anyone and his ideas can be great. He's no Alan Moore but he's a good writer imo

[RKitch]

First of all, there's one thing I know I'm getting when I see Geoff Johns' name on anything and that it's consistently enjoyable. Plus, he works with the some of the best artists in the business. But he can be hit or miss. I wasn't as big of a fan of the buildup to Trinity War than I was of Throne of Atlantis, which was awesome.

I can't not like Geoff Johns. I've enjoyed almost everything I've ever read from him, but nothing will ever be as good as his JSA run. Two of my favorite characters in recent memory came from it to some extent and I'm incredibly grateful for it. Stargirl is slowly becoming one of my all time favorite characters, and I severely miss Maxine Hunkel. And while I will admit he's no longer my favorite writer (I NEED more Morrison in my life), he's still one I will come back to time and time again.