Geoff Johns leaving Green Lantern in May

Today is a sad day for Green Lantern fans such as myself as the head Lantern will be leaving the Green Lantern title. In a post to the DC comics blog Geoff Johns announced that he would be leaving the Green Lantern title in May with issue #20 being his last. Johns has stated that he wants to focus more on the Justice League universe. Fans of Johns know that he is one of the hardest working writers at DC as he is responsible for not only Green Lantern, but for the Justice League and Aquaman as well. Johns’ pen will truly be missed, as the Green Lantern title is what catapulted Johns to the top of the writer’s heap.

Johns run has lasted for 9 years, starting in 2004 with Green Lantern: Rebirth and continuing right up into the present. With the way writers constantly shift around from title to title nowadays, his run on GL is a statement to his commitment to the title. Johns has had a direct hand in some of the most incredible and innovative storylines in the GL Universe. Every big arc he has been on has been more than solid, including Rebirth, which saw Hal Jordan return as Green Lantern of sector 2814 after an almost decade long absence from the Corp, and continued on through Blackest Night, Sinestro Corp War, Rage of the Red Lanterns and Agent Orange.

I can honestly say that Johns is the reason why I am here today and why I have this position with FTN. I had been all but out of the comic game until a few years ago when I picked up Blackest Night, I was immediately hooked, which was no small feat since I had never been a Green Lantern fan until then. I went about picking up every Green Lantern trade I could get my hands and found some of the best work in comics today. No one can deny the sheer scope and grandeur of Sinestro Corp War. More than that, Johns has a knack for taking not so popular charcters and building whole new worlds for them. Aquaman was all but a joke until Johns got his hands on him, and now Aquaman is one of the most critically acclaimed series DC has to offer. The way he built on the mythos of the Green Lantern to bring us Atrocitus, Larfleeze and the rest of the colored spectrum was nothing short of genius.

Though Johns will be missed on the title that made his name, he will be taking us out with a bang. According to his blog post Green Lantern #20 will be a whopping 64 pages and will feature,”…the bizarre return of Hal Jordan, the final fate of Sinestro, the revelation of the First Lantern and an ending that I hope pays off everything we’ve ever done and ever created with GREEN LANTERN. It has art by Doug Mahnke, Ethan Van Sciver, Ivan Reis and Joe Prado and I’ve poured everything I can into the script.” As for Johns’ future, here’s what he had to say,” I’m off to focus my energy on the JUSTICE LEAGUE universe as we head into what I hope is an exciting plan – Simon Baz and B’dg will be along for the ride in JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA – and you’ll no doubt see Hal Jordan and some of the other Lanterns in the world of the Justice League before too long. And Sinestro…? You’ll have to read GREEN LANTERN #20 for that…
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Thank you Geoff for everything you have done for the Green Lantern Universe, you will be gravely missed on that title and here’s to looking forward to all the other work you will bring us.

Follow Christopher on Twitter @AUDone44 and The Nerd @nerdfollowing