Justice League of America Writer Geoff Johns Hints at Changing Roster

DC Comics Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns, who currently writes Justice League, Green Lantern, Aquaman and Justice League of America for the publisher, has been out pounding the pavement today in support of Justice League of America, which begins February 20.And, like he’s done with Booster Gold, Hawkman and Aquaman, Johns told the press that he’s interested in promoting some of DC’s lesser-known characters, those with lower profiles and possibly even a bad reputation among the fans.”When I was thinking about whether or not a second Justice League title would work, essentially, I wanted to make sure that if I was going to write another team book it was had its own point of view, its own purpose both creatively and in the bigger DC Universe,” Johns told MTV Geek. “So the Justice League has been positioned as like the A-list, the big iconic superheroes, and the Justice League of America is a very different team. As evident by the initial lineup, it’s not a team of A-listers. I think the biggest A-lister on there is probably Green Arrow, who knows it and flaunts it a little on the team. But the team is built with potential and that’s really what I wanted to dive into because I’ve always loved the big heroes, I love the big seven. Batman’s great, Superman’s great, but there is something that I’ve always really enjoyed about getting into characters that you might not have looked twice at. Green Lantern, before we relaunched it with our rebirth, I think we obviously expanded the fan base of the character. Working on Justice League of America, I like delving into characters like Mr. Terrific and Doctor Midnight that people might not know very well, they might have heard of, but their judgment is a little quick. It’s the same thing as Aquaman and so I wanted to create a team of characters that people would look at and wonder what the hell we are doing. In a good way hopefully. I wanted to create a group of characters that had potential and it’s all about unlocking potential for me. The characters that I really enjoy writing and I gravitate towards are characters that might at first glance feel less than other superheroes and that’s the whole point of the Justice League of America. It’s all about finding characters who you have low expectations for and hopefully they surprise you both in story and in the universe. Designing this book to be all about finding the potential in you no matter who you are is what, for me, makes the book a lot of fun to work on.”