Geoff Johns is clearly a man of many talents pushing himself to new heights. From producing and writing TV shows, to writing an excellent Doomsday Clock series, to making Aquaman relevant again, he’s done a lot in only a few years. Earlier today at his very own spotlight panel Johns got into the details of new DC Universe show Titans, discussed new comic book endeavors Shazam! and the “Three Jokers” storyline and even revealed a brand new show he’s writing and producing called Stargirl. That’s more reveals than most days at San Diego Comic-Con. To close out his show however, he had one more announcement, and it’s big.
DC Comics has new imprints on the way like DC Ink and DC Zoom, but why not one more? Similar to Gerard Way’s Young Animal, Johns will be curating his own line of comics as part of an imprint called Killing Zone. Johns said the imprint was formed so as to challenge himself even further. “I’ve got a banner of a bunch of different books, and basically they form one big tapestry.” Johns said they take place from the 1940s to the 2040s and just over a century in time. This imprint will include lesser known characters, characters Johns said Dan DiDio would never let anyone write because they’re too obscure, plus brand new characters too. When the topic of release came up DiDio said “early-mid next year,” with Johns clarifying until they both agreed May 2019 sounded right.
DiDio said this imprint is a necessity because it is all tied to one person’s single idea, much like Neil Gaiman’s Sandman universe and Gerard Way’s Young Animal line. It’s a “pop up” imprint, as DiDio put it, which begged the question from DiDio, “What brings you to this area?”
Johns reflected the imprint came out of his frustrations with the political climate in America and he’s carrying that out metaphorically through the characters. In an anecdote, Johns said his friend commented on how he couldn’t stand to look at the White House. “The White House is the White House,” Johns said. “I want to be proud to be American — it’s not going to be from politicians but from the people in the country.” His comment got a rousing applause. He went on to say that’s where the bud of this story started and the rest formed after he asked DiDio which characters nobody wanted to use. Yet another challenge in a long line of career moves Johns takes on fearlessly.
In a bit of a surprise, Johns admitted everything in Killing Zone is being considered for film and television via DC Universe.
We can’t wait to see what he has in store for us May 2019.
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