esterday, Sony Online Entertainment scored another point for its upcoming superhero MMO, when it announced the addition of a highly regarded DC scribe to its development team. The announcement of a headlining writer has been anticipated by DC fans, as many wondered how the influx of super-beings introduced in the MMO would make sense in the greater context of the DC Universe. The man who has been granted this great responsibility is Geoff Johns.

With iconic industry professionals such as Jim Lee already on board, it must have become obvious that high-profile talent was the way to go with DCUO. Geoff Johns fits the profile well. He began his career writing in 1999, and has worked on projects such as Green Lantern, Action Comics, and the Justice Society of America in addition to The Flash, Teen Titans, 52 and Infinite Crisis.

“Having a writer of Geoff’s caliber brings even more authenticity to the DC Universe Online, and should provide fans with an exciting new medium for his storytelling skills,” said John Blakely, SOE-Austin’s VP of Development. “Together with Jim Lee, who is our executive creative director for the game, we are tapping into the very best talent from the comic-book industry.”

Johns and Lee have not worked together in the past, but it’s apparent that the duo feels the relationship will be fruitful.

“We’ve brainstormed about the DC Universe many times but this will be our first time working together on something of this magnitude,” added Jim Lee. “This really shows the level of commitment everyone on this project has to capturing the DC Universe in an authentic, compelling way.”

We had a chance to sit down and chat with the newly elect DCUO writer and talk to him about his personal history and involvement with the project. If you need to, take this chance to catch up on the basics of DCUO here.

Interview
Game Informer: First, can you briefly fill us in on how you became involved with DC Universe Online and your history as a comic-book writer?

Geoff Johns: Sure. I have been writing comics for eight or nine years, and most of my work has been DC specific the last five or six years. I have been exclusive to DC, so almost everything I do has been within the DC universe. And so Jim and I had been wanting to do something together for a while, and we had been talking about different comics and stuff, and this virtual comic book – this huge thing – came up and he called me and asked me if I wanted to write the overall story for it and work with him and work with Sony on creating a virtual DC universe that you can explore and become a part of. I was really excited with that.

GI: Is this your first time writing for an interactive medium? You have done some work for television, correct?

Johns: Yeah, I have done some TV and film work, but this is the first time I had done any video-game work.

GI: Have you worked with Jim before?

Johns: No, I have known him for a long time. I have been offered video games before, but nothing has ever been quite the right thing. My focus has always been comics, and that is my first passion. So it has been very interesting and challenging and fun to attack this in a different way than you would attack a comic book or a story, because it is a little bit limitless.

You know, it is creating a secret origin for the user that will come in and play a large part. You create your own character and you are introduced to the DC universe all the way from the mainstays to the deep, deep underground. So it was really kind of compelling to say ‘Do you really build Titans Tower?’ And they say, ‘yes.’ And so that was something I thought would be really fun to be a part of.

GI: So as far as your involvement in the project, how does that work? Are you writing a story with dialogue, or is this more along the lines of fleshing out a scenario?

Johns: Basically, it’s like a lot of scenarios, but I typically have written the overall secret origin storyline of you coming in. And there are a lot of different perspectives than that, and so it is a very strange way to write compared to a straight narrative, because it is a lot of different narratives weaved together. And there are a lot of side scenarios that happen off of that. There are a lot of different missions and goals and different things that can happen and incidences and they are all kind of encompassed by this big story. It is like a Choose Your Own Adventure book, depending on who you are, what choices you make. In Secret Origins, it is about something happens, or something inspires you or something angers you or something changes you and you make a choice on what to do next, and that choice is what I have kind of tried to take it in. That your experience outside of the computer, your secret identity, you put on your name and costume and powers and abilities and you enter the DC universe and you interact through there and you find your role and what it is going to be within that world.

GI: As far as the actual dialogue goes, is there a separate team that works on that after you have crafted the storyline and quests and whatnot?

Johns: Yeah, we are still kind of in the midst of that. We are finishing off the big storyline, and then after that we will talk about it and move from there. But yeah, if I wrote every line of dialogue and wrote every small scenario this would be a full-time job because it is so immense.

GI: As the writer, how involved are you in bringing the characters to life and translating them into the online universe. Is that something you play a role in at all?

Johns: Well translating them is actually pretty – well, not easy – but it is designed in a way. There were a lot of conversations back and forth with Sony on this, that most people know who Superman and Batman and Wonder Woman are, a lot of people know who Green Lantern is, or Flash, but you hit the characters like the Metal Men or the Doom Patrol and for people who don’t know the DC universe, there is a lot to these characters. So the question is; is there a way that we can go to these characters and learn about them? It really is like someone learning about the DC Universe, and you will learn about the DC universe as you play. You will encounter characters that you have never heard of. But you will get a sense of what their role is in the DC Universe and in your Secret Origin story.