#Courtney doing Courtney-things is also very Geoff Johnslike

[zahri-melitor]

i mean this in the most politely curious way, what do you mean by Geoff Johns like? i’m newer to comics, so i really don’t know a whole lot about the writers. i see his name tossed around a bit and i can’t quite parce out what about his writing bothers the people who dislike him, and i’m so curious.

i haven’t really read anything of his yet, i don’t think, but i do know some of his stuff is on my want to read list, so i’m wondering if like…is his writing just awful?

Okay. In my own particular parlance: "Geoff Johns-like" means "banging on about Johns' favourite characters, noticeable bronze age groupy preferences, will not be shocked if it contains retcons changing things Johns doesn't like".

I am not saying that something is bad because it's written by Geoff Johns (in fact there are multiple storylines he's written I quite enjoy - go read Kon's Adventure Comics run, which contains some of my favourite Kon characterisation ever). It's meant more in terms of the fact that a lot of comics writers are quite distinct in their writing style, and you get to know their habits the more you read them. Alan Grant is going to try and sell you on the politics of anarchism. Greg Rucka really really really loves hyper-competent 30ish women with an edge, a grudge and a willingness to be seen as morally grey to achieve their aims. Scott Snyder really likes sweeping stories that have characters questioning their moral cores. Chuck Dixon is going to write everyone from a conservative viewpoint and specialises in character interaction. Grant Morrison loves pulling in pre-Crisis continuity points, whether or not they make sense. Paul Dini is Harley Quinn's biggest supporter and tends to write slice-of-life storylines in the same mode as he wrote BTAS. And so on.

The hallmarks of a Geoff Johns story are fundamentally the following: a massive hard on for the Green Lanterns Corps and Hal Jordan as the best Green Lantern in existence; he thinks Barry Allen is an interesting character; strong dislike of a lot of 90s storyline decisions, particularly the post-Crisis 'Last Son of Krypton' policy (aka 'Clark can be the only Kryptonian') and Hal as Parallax; inability to turn a script in on time; and he's one of the main writers interested in JSA stuff due to the historical quirk that his entry into DC comics came via JSA-related characters and writing. The man is not afraid of a big retcon to fix a situation he doesn't like.

I wouldn't say Johns' writing is awful. I would say he writes stories that you can pick out as specifically written by him as he has a distinct voice, and you'll have a better time with his writing if it's about a character he loves to pieces, if you also like that character.

Most of what people strongly dislike about his writing falls into his willingness to retcon situations and push particularly Hal and Barry as main characters (and people who don't like the Kon's parentage retcon).

I wouldn't actively avoid him, but I would say if you read some of his stories and decide you don't want to read more, you're not the only one.

#there's also a whole thing around Courtney Whitmore which makes sense in context #but is beyond the scope of your ask #Courtney doing Courtney-things is also very Geoff Johnslike #(short version Courtney is based on his dead little sister and Johns is VERY protective of her)