DC Entertainment’s Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns has announced that he will give up writing DC’s Green Lantern comic after more than nine years of shepherding the galactic, ring-toting police force through Blackest Night and Brightest Day to the upper ranks of DC’s comic book properties.  Johns will depart the galactic setting of the various Lanterns with Green Lantern #20 that will be published in May with art by Johns’ longtime collaborator Doug Mahnke. 

 

Johns told the Associated Press that he is leaving the Lantern books to concentrate on Justice League.  He continue handling the writing chores for Justice League (DC Comics’ #2 book) as well as Aquaman and the upcoming Justice League of America ongoing title.

 

Johns certainly deserves a lot of credit for bringing Green Lantern to the very top echelon of DC heroes--during the Blackest Night event the galactic ring-toter was arguably DC’s top comic book property.  Unfortunately for DC, Warner Bros. was unable to bottle the comic book popularity of Green Lantern at the time and transfer it to the big screen with anything resembling the popularity the property had developed in the comic book market.  Until someone proves otherwise Green Lantern will remain one of those comic book properties that doesn’t translate with ease to the more realistic and literal medium of film.

Johns is not the only creator leaving the Green Lantern family of titles.  According to DC's May solicitations Peter Tomasi and Fernando Pasarin are ending their run on Green Lantern Corps with issue #20, Tony Bedard is off of Green Lantern: New Guardians after #20, and Peter Milligan ends his run of Red Lanterns in May as well.