Geoff Johns hails fromDetroit, Michigan, and is a graduate of Michigan State University where he studied writing for film and television. Afterwards, he moved to Los Angeles and became an assistant toRichard Donner, well known as the director of Superman: The Movie. Johns would eventually make his mark writing comics starting with a brief stint on Marvel's Avengers before moving on toDC to create the titleStars and S.T.R.I.P.E. In that title Geoff created the character ofCourtney Whitmore, who is currently called Stargirl. This character is based on his own sister, Courtney, who was among the casualties of TWA flight 800 which was lost in 1996.
Geoff Johns was later hired to co-write the titleJSA withDavid S. Goyer. When Goyer left the title, Geoff took over and brought the book to some acclaim. When DC decided to use the critically acclaimed "Identity Crisis" as a springboard for a universe spanningInfinite Crisis event, Geoff was given a major role in helping to define what the story would be. Even to this day, the effects of Geoff's work on that title (along with the efforts of the other creators in coming up with Infinite Crisis) are still being felt in the DC Universe.
Geoff's five-year stint on The Flash, from 2000 to 2005, is considered by some to be one of the finest on the title. During this run Johns helped to redefine Flash'sRogues Gallery for modern readers, among other achievements. Johns, along with artistEthan Van Sciver, also returned the character ofHal Jordan to prominence in the mini-seriesGreen Lantern: Rebirth. This story led to the events in the highly successfulSinestro Corps War story in the Green Lantern series. Sometime later Johns and Van Sciver would team up again to bringBarry Allen back to the fore in the pages ofThe Flash: Rebirth. Geoff would also reunite with his former boss,Richard Donner, to co-write a Superman story in the pages ofAction Comics.
After that, Johns wrote yet another main event,Blackest Night. With artistIvan Reis, Johns brings back all the major heroes, and supporting cast of the D.C. Universe who have died. Geoff Johns also brought life back to Green Lantern, and is still writing. He also wrote the first issues ofAdventure Comics with artistFrancis Manapul before moving the creative team to the new Flash ongoing series, which he wrote until its 12th and final issue.
In April of 2011, Johns finished writing the DC Comics year long Maxi-Series,Brightest Day, along with Co-writerPeter J. Tomasi.
In addition to his comics work, Geoff Johns has contributed to both film and television. He has written episodes for the shows Smallville, Justice League Unlimited, and Blade: The Series. He has also written a treatment for a potential Flash and Shazam movie for DC Entertainment.
Geoff Johns has received several awards in recent years for his comic book work at DC, including Wizard Magazine's "Man of the Year" award, their Fan Award for Best Writer in the years of 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008. And he recently won the 2009 Best Comic Book Writer award at the Spike TV Scream Awards.
In 2010, DC Comics promoted Geoff to Chief Creative Officer. However, he has stated that this promotion will not effect his writing duties on his multiple ongoing series.
Johns is also part owner of the comic book store Earth 2 on Reseda Blvd. in Northridge, Ca. where colleagues such as JT Krul,Mark Waid andJeph Loeb have come and signed autographs for fans.
Johns wrote the episode titled 'Booster' for the tenth and final season of Smallville which featured the live action introduction ofBooster Gold,Blue Beetle andTed Kord.
Johns wrote the episode 'Dead to Rights' for the the first season of Arrow. He has wrote the teleplay for three episodes which are 'Three Ghosts', 'The Scientist' and 'Muse of Fire'. He also provided the story for the episode 'The Man Under The Hood'.
Johns wrote the pilot episode for The Flash.
DC's New Relaunch
Geoff Johns is now currently writingJustice League andAquaman for The New 52. He has concluded his nine year run of writingGreen Lantern with issue 20 of the relaunch. He previously wroteJustice League of America,Justice League of America's Vibe #1 and the mini-seriesForever Evil which was part of a crossover event in The New 52.
Other Projects
Geoff Johns has announced that he will again be collaborating withGary Frank to produce Batman: Earth One Vol 2 after the success of their previous installment ofBatman: Earth One, it will be released sometime in 2015.
Some Characters created by Geoff Johns