Tag Archives: Geoff Johns

Geoff Johns on the Nature of the Speed Force

Last Monday, CBR posted a new installment of Geoff Johns Prime, their occasional question-and-answer feature with the writer.

Responding to a question about the new costumes introduced in Flash: Rebirth #5, he talked about the “Emergency Stop” story by Grant Morrison and Mark Millar and how it provided “the first inkling that the Speed Force was more than just gasoline.”

I always thought of the Speed Force as if it were this layer, kind of like the fluid in your joints that allows your bones to move together, and if you think of that as the Speed Force, it’s this fluid between the now and the time stream. It allows the two to co-exist, because the way time exists, it’s not just a line, it’s a sphere. So that fluid coats that sphere and the sphere is the Speed Force. And that sphere touches all reality and it’s full of everything, it’s full of ultimate speed, moving through reality, because time is all relative and it’s full of all scientific knowledge. It’s all knowledge of all eras.

Johns answered several other questions about the Flash, confirming that the Rogues will be heavily involved in the new series (no surprise there) and that their tailor, Paul Gambi, will return.

Another item I found interesting is that the price was a major factor in the decision to scrap the backup stories they had previously announced.

There’s more there about the Flash, plus he answers questions about Blackest Night, Earth One, Smallville and more.

Speed Reading for 2010

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The Flash picked up several mentions in Newsarama’s 10 for 2010 series including the character in 10 Characters to Watch, the series in 10 Comics to Watch, and artist Francis Manapul in 10 Creators to Watch.

The Flash Family also makes Grumpy Old Fan’s list of Ten from the old, ten for the new.

The standard cover of Flash: Rebirth #1 and the Flash-themed cover for DC: The New Frontier #2 are among IO9’s 100 Amazing Comic Covers from the last ten years.

The Perhapablog posts a Craig Rousseau sketch of Impulse reacting to cancellation, along with the Thing drawn by Mike Wieringo.

Remember that Breakfast Club/Teen Titans mashup last summer? Artist Cliff Chiang has recreated more 80s album covers with characters such as Batgirl, Elektra and Vampirella.

Crimson Lightning brings us a “Hi and Lois” strip portraying the Greek gods as super-heroes.

The Rogues’ tailor, Paul Gambi, is named after Paul Gambaccini, a UK-based DJ and long-time comic fan. Bleeding Cool spotted him on a celebrity game show demonstrating his impressive knowledge of DC Comics trivia.

Update: One more item – the New York Times has named Geoff Johns in their “Nifty Fifty” list of up-and-coming talent. (via The Source)

Geoff Johns Talks Flash Update

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Geoff Johns took a few moments out of his holiday travel to update fans on the state of The Flash. Ordinarily I’d pull out a couple of key quotes and point you to the original post, but this time I think I should just quote the whole thing:

Merry Christmas Eve, everyone! I hope you all have save travels if you’re heading somewhere for the holidays.

Obviously, there have been some changes (among many) in DC’s approach to co-features and, in particular, the Flash universe that have raised questions and frustrations. Yes, THE FLASH will no longer have the Wally West co-feature. It’ll remain one of DC’s $2.99 books rather than $3.99 and Barry Allen will be the lead character. Yes, the plans for creating a book title KID FLASH have altered. (The creative team lined up never started on the book.) And, yes, it was a mistake to announce our plans before they were set in stone. Everyone was just excited about the Flash. No one wants to disappoint anyone. That’s not only bad business, it’s bad karma. So all that above? That’s the bad news.

But there is good news too. You will see the stories Scott Kolins and I have been working on. You will see Wally and Bart and everyone (Jesse will surprise a lot of people!). You will see the Flash universe grow organically. No one wants the Flash universe to achieve the same heights Green Lantern has more than me and the creative and editorial team working on it (and maybe the bean counters at DC! ). I’m also working hard on the movie. Despite what it looks like, the plans have grown for the Flash universe, although the rollout for things has changed. Imagine something more like how Green Lantern grew. The Flash universe is set for something VERY big in 2011 as well. It’ll take a bit more time to build (not too much), but in the long run I do believe the foundation will be stronger for it. I can’t get into specifics too much and I don’t want to until we literally have covers to show – which I’m sure will frustrate some people – but I don’t want to see anyone disappointed.

I am incredibly excited about the future of the Flash and I think when things are finally rolling in April, you all will be too.

I’ll try and answer any questions I can when I can over the next few days.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!!!

Geoff

Head over to Comic Bloc to read the original post and comment thread.

Edit: In reading through the thread, I’ve spotted one more answer by Johns so far, to a question about Wally West:

Think of it this way — Wally will continue to do what he’s always done, continue and build the Flash legacy, only in ways more insanely epic in scope and adventure than ever. Barry is the Flash who started the spark, Wally is the one who fans the fire.

Speed Reading: Fast Vision, Legacies, Steampunk Doom & More

Flash in 2010: Geoff Johns Speaks & Francis Manapul Draws

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DC’s week of 2010 announcements continues with new Francis Manapul art on The Source and a Geoff Johns interview at the Los Angeles Times’ blog, Hero Complex.

First up: the cover for Flash Secret Files and Origins 2010, due in March:

The Source article also features two in-progress images, and quotes Francis Manapul:

The entire creative team is looking forward to introducing new ways of portraying speed. It’s also cool that we’ll be introducing a new generation to Barry Allen as well as myself so I’ll be right in they’re shoes of getting to know this guy. It should be an exciting ride!

The Hero Complex interview doesn’t reveal anything new about the upcoming series, but Geoff Johns does talk about his history with the Flash and thoughts about his approach to the character. Some quotes that stood out to me:

We all have a “thicket of mythology.” You meet someone and they have an entire backstory. A city they were born in. A best friend they lost touch with. An event that affected their whole family. A first job. Everyone has history. And every character has history.

The most frustrating thing for Barry is related to his job as a member of Central City CSI. He investigates crimes that have already happened. Murders he can’t stop. No matter how fast he is, that’s the past.

I look at something like “The Flash” as a long term mission. “The Flash: Rebirth” was the knot to untangle in the shoelace before we could run. I wanted to clear the board, re-examine some key elements of Barry Allen and re-introduce a threat that would play throughout the next several years.

I’d offer more commentary, but I’m kind of swamped at the moment.

Update: Forgot to mention: The first hints of the new Secret Files book had Tony Harris working on the cover. Or, rather, “a” cover. He even posted a snippet of art. Maybe one of them is a variant cover, or maybe DC decided not to use his, or maybe it’ll be an interior splash page.

Thoughts on Earth One

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This morning, DC announced the first two volumes in Earth One, a new series of original graphic novels set in a new continuity. The first two books will be Superman: Earth One by J. Michael Straczynski and Shane Davis, and Batman: Earth One by Geoff Johns and Gary Frank.

It’s being discussed all over the place, so I’ll just state my initial thoughts.

The Positives

First, I love the idea of a series of OGNs. There’s a huge potential audience out there in bookstores, and while collected editions help meet that audience, there are drawbacks — particularly pacing (when read serially) and the fact that waiting for the trade means missing out on the fan conversation. It works for prose novels, it works for Scott Pilgrim, it works for manga (even if it was originally serialized in Japan, it may as well be OGNs as far as the American audience is concerned), and it’s good to see DC taking the concept seriously.

Second, an Ultimate-style reboot of the DC Universe is a good idea. 80 years of continuity, multiple “soft” reboots, heroes who have been replaced, then come back, major events based on short stories from 25 years ago…the modern DC Universe is a complicated place. A project that reaches out to a new audience is a good opportunity to streamline things without messing with the monthly continuity.

Third, I like the Batman redesign.

The Negatives

It makes sense to start with Superman and Batman, because these are two characters that everyone is familiar with, even those who don’t read comics. But they’re starting with the origin stories. Who doesn’t know Superman’s origin? Or Batman’s? With any other character, I’d say it would be worth starting with an origin, but with these two, it might be better to jump in at the deep end and fill in the backstory as they go along.

If they keep the series going, it won’t be a problem, but I can see it being a problem for the first volumes. It reminds me of the choice for the movie of The Golden Compass to rip out the ending and move it to the start of the second movie. It definitely hurt the first movie, and probably contributed to the fact that there won’t be a second movie.

It also makes me worry that, like so many rebooted series, they’ll eventually turn to retelling older stories instead of telling new ones.

The Earth One branding seems…a little obtuse. It means nothing to the new audience, and judging by comments I’ve seen, it’s already confusing the existing DC audience. [Edit: expanded a bit more in that link.]

Uncertainty

I can’t reach the AICN interview, but CBR’s article quotes Geoff Johns as saying that the plan is for two novels a year. Two total? Or two per character? If these take off, two per character would be a much better approach, especially if they expand it to Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Flash, and beyond.