Geoff Johns dishes on the machinations of DC and his future with Ghost Machine

This is something of an understatement, but prolific comic book creator, screenwriter, and producer Geoff Johns is a very busy man. In addition to overseeing the New Golden Age line of comics at DC, including the relaunched Justice Society of America series he helms with artist Mikel Janin, Johns has launched his own multimedia company Ghost Machine, with a whole host of superstar comics creators. With comic titles published through Image Comics, Ghost Machine spins out of Johns’ recent work with Gary Frank on their inaugural creator-owned titles Geiger and Junkyard Joe as part of a shared universe of comics across a variety of genres.

Ghost Machine launches in earnest in January 2024, starting with the Ghost Machine #1 oversized one-shot showcasing the new characters, stories, and titles readers can expect to roll out throughout the year. Meanwhile, at DC, Johns continues to celebrate the DC Universe’s extensive history while finding new directions and characters to add to its ongoing tapestry, including the Golden Age characters he has written for decades. This Golden Age resurgence comes after Johns oversaw 2016’s DC Rebirth publishing initiative, which restored much of the DCU’s classic history while elevating the iconic characters in new ways.

In an interview with Popverse, Geoff Johns reflects on the origins and legacy of DC Rebirth, shares his plans for the New Golden Age as the line moves into its second year with an expanding number of titles, and teases what fans can expect from him and the rest of the Ghost Machine team as the eagerly anticipated company starts off 2024 with a bang.

Popverse: Geoff, do you remember the origins of 'DC Rebirth' and how the end of the 'New 52' came about?

Geoff Johns: There were a lot of wonderful things about the New 52, like Snyder and Capullo’s Batman, which was amazing. You had the work on Animal Man and a lot of other characters, but there was also some that was missing from the prior version of the DC Universe. Dan [Didio] had come to me and asked me about using the theme of Rebirth and trying not to do a reset, but a new starting point for readers because the sales had gotten soft and, I think on some level, the creatives were confused of what counted and what didn’t, which always happens with these half reboots.

We talked about it and Dan had used the word “Rebirth” and I said, “Dan, if Rebirth is going to be a theme, I want to go back to the original goals of Green Lantern: Rebirth were.” It’s not just about going back-to-basics, it’s about going back-to-basics and finding that emotional center of the character and then expressing that in a big, bombastic way