Wizard talks to Geoff Johns, Brian Michael Bendis and Jim Lee about the last decade and a half of comics, and what’s next:
If you could collaborate with each other, what would be the dream project?
BENDIS: Well…I want to do Avengers with Geoff. I think that Geoff needs to do Avengers again. I would like to collaborate with him like that.
JOHNS: I’d love to do that. That would be awesome.
BENDIS: And I would like the three of us—and I’m not starting sh– again, I promise you that’s not why I’m saying this—but I’d love if the three of us could create an inter-company crossover event. The next logical step, if there were no rules or laws, would be for us to create the greatest inter-company multi-tiered 12-issue crossover that has ever existed on the planet. So that’s what I want. “Only that.”
LEE: And I’d like to draw one issue of that. [Laughter]
BENDIS: Oh great, it doesn’t exist and it’s already late.
April 22nd, 2008 at 1:50 pm
I can take or leave Bendis… But I like having Lee and Johns doing DC work and DC characters. Jim’s take on the DCU — especially Bats — is iconic.
And please, just as I want Brubaker to write Captain America forever, please keep Johns on Green Lantern!
April 22nd, 2008 at 1:56 pm
“I think that Geoff needs to do Avengers again.”
On the one hand, I agree for the sake of the DC Universe. On the other, I disagree, for the sake of the Marvel Universe.
April 22nd, 2008 at 2:46 pm
Can’t argue with the comment about Lee.
April 22nd, 2008 at 2:51 pm
Must not be reading GL, eh Meet Dan Coyle?
April 22nd, 2008 at 4:07 pm
Shaun, Johns wrote Avengers a few years ago. It was very bad. Somehow the Avengers represented the superhero community at the UN (who all but surrendered and ran away when cities disappeared), and then you had She Hulk go crazy and Jan and Hank were using their size changing to get off with one another.
April 22nd, 2008 at 4:16 pm
Shaun: Yeah, because the best thing to follow up something like Sinestro Corps is yet another take on Hal Jordan’s pre-GL life.
If Johns were ever to let go of his familial issues he’d become a much better writer.
April 22nd, 2008 at 9:26 pm
Hey, Ken B. – I wasn’t aware of Johns on Avengers… I got back into comics again, after about a decade away, a little more than two years ago. Sounds awful though!
I’ve just enjoyed the hell out of his GL, though I admit I’ve found his run Action Comics hit and miss. If “Lost Son” is ever completed, I’ll go back and reassess that storyline.
And hey, Meet Dan Coyle – With just one issue (thus far) on the Hal Jordan bio, I’ll reserve judgment until we have more. At any rate, though the new arc seems a bit pointless, even you don’t seem to be dimissing his fine work on the Sinestro Corps War!
April 22nd, 2008 at 11:27 pm
Yeah, Johns was at Marvel for a year or two after he got big with his Flash run. There were sparks of what he is now, with his Avengers lineup mixing in old heroes with the core group, but it wasn’t his best stuff. “World Trust” I believe was his first arc from #57-60. He also did a Thing mini-series that was “eh” and one other mini.
There’s no doubt to me Johns is a very good writer now, but he, frankly, stunk at Marvel. DC is where he shines.
April 23rd, 2008 at 6:25 am
There was a bit of a conflict between Johns and Brevoort during his run on Avengers. Not sure if that led to his signing exclusive to DC or not, but he did it while his run was finishing. Johns claimed that Brevoort was trying to get him to draw out his story more than he wanted (ie writing for the trade). Brevoort claimed that Johns wasn’t hitting the beats right and tried to help him. Whatever the issue was, it was obvious that he and Brevoort weren’t clicking since his Avengers run wasn’t anywhere near as good as his previous DC work on Flash and JSA. I remember being surprised at how bad it was.
I would love to see him write for Marvel again. I would love to see this crossover. It would probably be the best selling title from the “Big Two” in years. I also think DC would be crazy not to jump at something like this.
April 23rd, 2008 at 2:43 pm
I read one thread on Newsarama where Bendis mentioned in jest a plot line where Darkseid was revealed to be a Skrull and Secret Invasion was tied to Final Crisis. I remember thinking, man, that kind of crossover would be huge. He was only kidding but this is the second time that he has brought it up.
April 23rd, 2008 at 2:54 pm
Johns said it outright — editorial **insisted** that he pad out his stories for the trade, i.e. 6 issues long, even if it was 3-4 issues of story. The constant interference and editorial mandates was a key factor in him signing up quickly for a DC exclusive.
January 2nd, 2012 at 1:58 pm
“But I like having Lee and Johns doing DC work and DC characters.”
3 years later, Justice League #1.