Reading Comics #91 "Geoff Johns on Olympus"

Some of my readers might believe this Comics Reader obsesses over Grant Morrison.  This is not strictly true.  I obsess over Grant Morrison and Geoff Johns.  This is an important distinction.  I've obsessed over both of them for about five years now, which is a drop in the bucket of Grant's career and about half of Geoff's.

Grant and Geoff are similar in a lot of ways, the way they revere continuity and build on it, how they've been DC's top writers and world-builders for years.  Otherwise they're very different writers.  Grant has made a career subverting expectations.  Geoff has slowly emerged as a writer who must live up to them.  He's accomplished this in a number of ways.  His first major project was JSA, which was an extension of what first brought Geoff attention, Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E., his first legacy book.  He spent years writing the Justice Society and eventually brought his run to its logical conclusion, integrating the DC superhero legacy project Kingdom Come (written by Mark Waid, with whom Geoff and Grant as well as Greg Rucka collaborated on the seminal 52) with the Society's continued existence as a team dedicated to securing their successors' futures.

His next notable work was an extended run on The Flash, where he became the second most notable writer of Wally West's adventures (after Waid).  Years later Geoff returned to that particular franchise, revitalizing Barry Allen, the classic Silver Age Flash.  Yet as far as individual superheroes go, he will at least at this point always be known for Green Lantern, which he's been working on since Rebirth in 2004.

There have been other projects, like Hawkman, Avengers, Action Comics, and Aquaman, not to mention the events Day of Judgment, Infinite Crisis, Blackest Night, and Flashpoint, as well as another extended run on a legacy team, Teen Titans, but what really distinguishes Geoff from Grant is that he has very rarely done work outside of the superhero genre.

One such project was Olympus, a venture from DC and Humanoids that he wrote with Kris Grimminger in 2005.  A few weeks ago I randomly found it available at Escape Velocity in downtown Colorado Springs and figured I couldn't possibly pass up the opportunity to read it.

As the title suggests, Olympus deals with Greek mythology, from before the time Rick Riordan and Sam Worthington brought it back into the mainstream with Percy Jackson and the new Clash of the Titans.  Reading it, I'm reminded of Geoff's Hawkman, as well as his current Aquaman, like a blending of the two.  Structurally, it's very similar to the films A Perfect Getaway and Into the Blue, the latter of which was released the same years, the former four years later.  Students part of a college archaeological program have taken a field trip to Greece when they find themselves caught in unexpected circumstances, first treasure hunters who mistake their boat for the one some rivals are aboard, and then the ramifications of discovering Pandora's Box at the bottom of the sea.

Classic monsters like the Cyclops and the Minotaur attack them as mayhem ensues.  The artwork of Butch Guice keeps the action grounded yet engaging.  It's really the opposing views of sisters Sarah and Rebecca that drives the story.  Sarah is similar to Shannon from Lost (you can view Olympus as the version of that series that some fans may have preferred if you'd like; Lost began the fall before Olympus was released), while Rebecca is a bit like Locke (though without the "Don't tell me what I can't do!" attitude; she does support, however, the professor leading the field trip who may be losing her job when they get back).

There is something of a plot hole in the character of Deems, who seems to be a lot more significant than he turns out to be, while the ending is more suggestive than conclusive, but otherwise there's so much here to enjoy, either in relation to the material I'm familiar with from Geoff's career or Greek mythology or just the story itself.  Well worth checking out for a comprehensive appreciation of Geoff Johns as a standout comics talent.