The covers to the Ghost Machine titles released on April...

Clarkston native Geoff Johns loves superheroes.

In his career, he’s revamped DC Comics’ “Green Lantern,” “The Flash” and “Aquaman.” His work on the “Superman” and “Batman” family of titles has earned critical acclaim. He created Stargirl, who is based on his late sister, Courtney. He’s written and produced numerous episodes for TV shows “The Flash,” “Titans,” “Smallville,” “Doom Patrol,” “Arrow,” and “Superman & Lois,” among others.

Yet Ghost Machine – the new comic book company he’s founded with 11 other creators (including New York Times best-selling novelist/University of Michigan alumnus Brad Meltzer) – does not have superheroes.

“We love superheroes obviously; we’ve been working on them for decades,” said Johns, of Los Angeles, a Clarkston High School and Michigan State University alumnus. “We’re not typical capes-and-tights like Marvel and DC; we wanted to break free from that and do something different. As much as we love superheroes … we didn’t want to go the route of superheroes and supervillains battling each other over and over.”

Ghost Machine was officially announced at the New York Comic-Con last fall. In January, “Ghost Machine” No. 1 was released, serving as a preview of what the company will offer in the months ahead. On April 3, the first three titles from Ghost Machine were released – all written by Johns – “Geiger,” “Redcoat” and “Rook: Exodus.”

The covers to the Ghost Machine titles released on April 3: “Geiger,” “Redcoat,” and “Rook: Exodus,” all of which are written by Clarkston native Geoff Johns. (Photo courtesy of Ghost Machine)
The covers to the Ghost Machine titles released on April 3: “Geiger,” “Redcoat,” and “Rook: Exodus,” all of which are written by Clarkston native Geoff Johns. (Photo courtesy of Ghost Machine)
The covers to the Ghost Machine titles released on April 3: “Geiger,” “Redcoat,” and “Rook: Exodus,” all of which are written by Clarkston native Geoff Johns. (Photo courtesy of Ghost Machine)

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“Geiger” was originally released in 2021 through Image Comics, written by Johns and illustrated by Gary Frank, Johns’s collaborator on “Avengers” and “Superman: Secret Origin.” They’re reuniting on the new “Geiger” series. Already, “Geiger” has been optioned by Paramount TV with Johns serving as showrunner and Justin Simien (“Haunted Mansion”) directing.

“‘Geiger’ takes place 25 years after a nuclear war in the future. It focuses on a man who protects his family who’s trapped in a fallout shelter. He protects (them) from scavengers day after day. It explores the instinct to do whatever you have to do to protect your family from a world that is dangerous. You see this man who’s a loving and kind husband and father, but he also has to become a very violent, angry, and cold monster to exist in this world. It’s this push and pull of a man being a monster for the good of his family,” explained Johns.

“Redcoat” is a sci-fi/historical fiction mash-up about British soldier Simon Pure, who becomes immortal during the American Revolution instead of Benjamin Franklin via a magical ritual.

“‘Redcoat’ came from a conversation I had with (artist/co-creator) Bryan Hitch: How long does it take for somebody to learn from their mistakes and grow as a person?” Johns said. “We explore this secret, supernatural side of American history that reveals the Founding Fathers, including George Washington … dabbled in the mystic arts. (Simon) inadvertently becomes immortal … and we follow his adventures through time. We call it ‘The Gilded Age’ meets ‘Pirates of the Caribbean.’ It’s a high adventure through American history with the most unlikely hero at the center.”

Hitch called Simon the opposite of every character he’s worked on.

“Simon has no idea what he’s capable of and we’re all going to follow his misadventures as we find out,” he said.

“Rook: Exodus” is illustrated by Jason Fabok, Johns’ “Batman: Three Jokers” collaborator. It occurs on the planet Exodus, which is ruled by humans. The Wardens wear helmets that control entire species of animals. But when the helmets fall into the wrong hands, it’s up to Rook to save this world.

“It’s about our connection to technology and nature, our relationship to nature, our desire to control nature, and our relationship to animals,” Johns said. “It’s a really fun book; I’m excited for people to check it out.”

In explaining the rationale behind Ghost Machine, Johns said it’s the first-of-its-kind, creator-owned and operated media company. The creators co-own all the intellectual property developed for Ghost Machine. As demonstrated with the 2023 Writers Guild of America Strike — one of the longest in Hollywood history — creators have become disenfranchised with the traditional industry model. Creators seek increased empowerment as a national progression to an ever-changing entertainment landscape. Ghost Machine’s business model is at the forefront of this evolution with its characters and full company ownership shared by its creators in every way.

“Our ambition for Ghost Machine is to push beyond superheroes, introducing new genres, characters, and shared universes completely co-owned by all the creators involved. We see this as the future of how (creators) will work and retain creative control and meaningfully participate in success like never before. … But we are not just a comic book company — we are the first wholly creator-owned and operated media company of its kind, born out of a desire to create and succeed together,” the founding creators said in a statement.

They were inspired by the launch of Image. In 1992, seven popular creators were working at Marvel and decided to leave and form their own company, where they would own their intellectual property without giving up the copyrights to them — something that isn’t the case at Marvel and DC.

“Over the last 2 1/2 years … we decided to try and figure out how to build a better company — a creative collective — where we would all work together, we would all own it together, and share everything and support one another. After a lot of planning, Ghost Machine was born. It really came from a desire to control our creative and business destiny,” explained Johns. “Marvel and DC are corporate-owned and run. It’s work-for-hire, the same with a lot of these other companies. Even the independents that are creator-owned, the company itself is owned and operated by the company. (Ghost Machine) is the only publisher in existence that is owned by the writers and artists. We collectively share ownership of every creation.”

Added Frank: “When Geoff and I started ‘Geiger’ a few years ago, I don’t think either of us had any idea that it would lead to Ghost Machine. A whole new model of comic company in which the people who actually make the books share and run it all? Crazy, right? And yet it now seems like such an obvious idea to me now. The work that Geoff and his team have put in to get us to this point is extraordinary.”

Johns pointed out Ghost Machine’s creators have been in the comics industry for decades and have worked on nearly every major character for Marvel and DC, as well as many major stories and epic crossover events.

“It’s a chance to get on the ground floor of something brand new. That’s exciting,” he said. “It has all the sensibilities of Marvel and DC, but we’re going beyond superheroes. We’re going to tell different types of stories: science-fiction, horror, historical fiction. That’s the reason why we did this; we did this to come together with (creators) that spent years working together and to do something new, but to do it together. Controlling your own destiny is about creative control and who you get to work with.”

Johns continued: “This is a great group of people. … Every single person is just a wonderfully talented, dedicated and kind human being. That means everything to me. These creators are seeking to forge their own destiny in this brave new world of media landscape and it’s important for creators to take control. … That’s one of the reasons why there’s strikes and negotiations. It’s an everchanging landscape and we have to change with it. … I’ve taken everything I’ve done before — in comics, film, television, video games, really everything in life — and put it into Ghost Machine. It’s the culmination of everything I’ve done to date.”

For more information on the company, visit ghostmachinepro.com.

Ghost Machine is a new comic book company that recently launched. Its characters are owned by the creators and its business operations are also run by the creators. (Logo courtesy of Ghost Machine)