Johns off GL & writing Trinity War...what book should he write after that?

[Flashpoint]

Geoff Johns is done with GL and in the middle of writing Trinity War. Once Trinity War is over, speculation is rampant that Shazam and possibly the long-promised Cyborg ongoing will spin out of Trinity War. So which book should Geoff write next: Shazam? Cyborg? Or something else entirely (a new Atom ongoing, a relaunched Doom Patrol, etc)?

Given Geoff's stellar sales track record with world-building following the hugely successful relaunches of Green Lantern, Aquaman and Justice League, which DC property should Geoff helm next?

Place your bets!

[Ves]

Element Woman.

[Rakzo]

At this point, I'm pretty sure that he's going to work on the relaunch of Shazam probably along with Jeff Lemire.

[BrotherUnitNo_4]

He should give up one of the Justice League books. I'm just not a fan of creators holding two critical books in a franchise.

Then he can launch Shazam with Lemire.

[Flashpoint]

At this point, I'm pretty sure that he's going to work on the relaunch of Shazam probably along with Jeff Lemire.

This is a really tough call for me. Geoff Johns is DC's undisputed golden boy. Every title he helms lately turns to gold. One wonders what heights Hawkman could have scaled had Johns & Morales' run lasted as long as his GL run. I loved that book.

Honestly, Lemire could helm Shazam all on his own and it would do fine; he just needs a killer artist.

I am much more concerned about Cyborg. Black-led superhero books such as Static Shock and Black Panther have struggled mightily to survive in the direct market and are routinely cancelled for lackluster sales. Given that Geoff's hometown is Detroit and Cyborg in an ongoing is something he's promised to us in other interviews, nothing would please me more than to see Geoff writing Cyborg. It could be the biggest selling black superhero book in years--and that would be a very good thing. Seeing more diversity in the Big Two's ongoing books would be most welcome and a breath of fresh air.

You may be right. But I'd still prefer Geoff write Cyborg.

[MrStytch]

Depending on events during the Trinity War, I wonder if Johns next project might be a Question ongoing? He seems to be drawn to second and third-tier characters so it's possible but I'd also love to see what he could do with a Cyborg ongoing.

[Judge-Dredd]

This is a really tough call for me. Geoff Johns is DC's undisputed golden boy. Every title he helms lately turns to gold. One wonders what heights Hawkman could have scaled had Johns & Morales' run lasted as long as his GL run. I loved that book.

Honestly, Lemire could helm Shazam all on his own and it would do fine; he just needs a killer artist.

I am much more concerned about Cyborg. Black-led superhero books such as Static Shock and Black Panther have struggled mightily to survive in the direct market and are routinely cancelled for lackluster sales. Given that Geoff's hometown is Detroit and Cyborg in an ongoing is something he's promised to us in other interviews, nothing would please me more than to see Geoff writing Cyborg. It could be the biggest selling black superhero book in years--and that would be a very good thing. Seeing more diversity in the Big Two's ongoing books would be most welcome and a breath of fresh air.

You may be right. But I'd still prefer Geoff write Cyborg.

Why not just keep Gary Frank?

[Rakzo]

This is a really tough call for me. Geoff Johns is DC's undisputed golden boy. Every title he helms lately turns to gold. One wonders what heights Hawkman could have scaled had Johns & Morales' run lasted as long as his GL run. I loved that book.

Honestly, Lemire could helm Shazam all on his own and it would do fine; he just needs a killer artist.

The reason why I'm saying that the title will be handled by Johns/Lemire is that they mention on the article that Johns is working closely with Lemire on the JL group, plus Lemire has expressed interest on Shazam in the past.

I am much more concerned about Cyborg. Black-led superhero books such as Static Shock and Black Panther have struggled mightily to survive in the direct market and are routinely cancelled for lackluster sales. Given that Geoff's hometown is Detroit and Cyborg in an ongoing is something he's promised to us in other interviews, nothing would please me more than to see Geoff writing Cyborg. It could be the biggest selling black superhero book in years--and that would be a very good thing. Seeing more diversity in the Big Two's ongoing books would be most welcome and a breath of fresh air.

You may be right. But I'd still prefer Geoff write Cyborg.

I think Johns will probably do a backup story about Cyborg in JL before launching his own series.

[Flashpoint]

Why not just keep Gary Frank?

Frank has been able to do Shazam because it's only 8 to 10 pages a month. He and Johns are already locked into Batman: Earth One, Volume 2. He won't have time to do a full 22 pages a month for Shazam.

Keep your eyes on Doug Mahnke. I suspect he'll be up for Trinity War, Shazam or Cyborg later in the year.

[Rakzo]

Why not just keep Gary Frank?

He's busy as hell with Batman: Earth One Vol. 2.

[Flashpoint]

The reason why I'm saying that the title will be handled by Johns/Lemire is that they mention on the article that Johns is working closely with Lemire on the JL group, plus Lemire has expressed interest on Shazam in the past.

DC loves Lemire; that much is obvious. If anyone is following in Geoff's footsteps, it's Lemire. He's becoming their new go-to guy for fixing DC properties the same way Geoff did 10 years ago. He's clearly being groomed for ever bigger projects. I think he could easily helm Shazam all on his own with little or no help from Geoff.

I think Johns will probably do a backup story about Cyborg in JL before launching his own series.

If it matches the quality of the Shazam back-up in Justice League? I'd be fine with that.

But I strongly suspect Cyborg (like Shazam) is going to have a big, fat starring role in Trinity War for 6 or 7 months--which would set up a Cyborg ongoing quite nicely.

[Flashpoint]

Depending on events during the Trinity War, I wonder if Johns next project might be a Question ongoing? He seems to be drawn to second and third-tier characters so it's possible but I'd also love to see what he could do with a Cyborg ongoing.

I hadn't considered a Question ongoing. But I'd peg another writer for that gig. Maybe Fialkov, Kindt or Venditti?

[Rakzo]

As I've said in the other thread:

I'm calling it now: Johns and Mahnke on the Shazam relaunch!

DC loves Lemire; that much is obvious. If anyone is following in Geoff's footsteps, it's Lemire. He's becoming their new go-to guy for fixing DC properties the same way Geoff did 10 years ago. He's clearly being groomed for ever bigger projects. I think he could easily helm Shazam all on his own with little or no help from Geoff.

The thing is that Johns has worked a lot on the new Shazam and it probably has become one of his pet projects based on the amount of concepts he has developed and there are still some ideas that he has yet to develope, that's why I'm sure that he's going to relaunch the title in June.

If it matches the quality of the Shazam back-up in Justice League? I'd be fine with that.

But I strongly suspect Cyborg (like Shazam) is going to have a big, fat starring role in Trinity War for 6 or 7 months--which would set up a Cyborg ongoing quite nicely.

Sure, that could also happen, we will have to wait and see.

[RandomFalls]

Nothing. After Green Lantern he'll still be writing Aquaman, JL and JLA, and no doubt after Trinity War he'll be penning whatever the next big event is. He should concentrate on writing the books he's got rather than spreading himself too thin and risking the quality dropping as a result.

I would love to see a Shazam on going though, and if Johns does take on another book then that's what I'd expect it to be.

[Flashpoint]

As I've said in the other thread:

I'm calling it now: Johns and Mahnke on the Shazam relaunch!



The thing is that Johns has worked a lot on the new Shazam and it probably has become one of his pet projects based on the amount of concepts he has developed and there are still some ideas that he has yet to develope, that's why I'm sure that he's going to relaunch the title in June.



Sure, that could also happen, we will have to wait and see.

#1: Mahnke is the artist on Trinity War. You could hardly find a safer bet in all of comics right now.

#2: Hell, we could start a whole 'nother thread just for speculating on which DC properties are going to land the golden ticket of being one of the inevitable slew of Trinity War spinoffs.