AVC: How encyclopedic was your knowledge of DC Comics, or comics in general, before you started writing them?
GJ: It's pretty vast, DC especially. I know Marvel continuity, but I know DC continuity better. I think I can hold my own with [famously knowledgeable writer] Mark Waid on most days. On a good day.
AVC: Speaking of Waid, you joined Flash after a well-liked run by him. What were your tactics for making it your own?
GJ: That was easy, because I looked at what he didn't do. He didn't do Keystone City, and he didn't do Rogues. So I fleshed out Keystone City and tried to make it a blue-collar town and reflect on who I thought Wally West was, and then take the Rogues and try to make some interesting characters.
AVC: How much of your depiction of Keystone City was inspired by growing up in Detroit?
GJ: Oh, 90 percent of it, easy. It's what I know, so it's easy to write. I just like Detroit a lot, and I thought, more importantly—Wally runs fast, and Keystone kind of stands for something important. So if Keystone is the backbone of the American blue-collar industry, and they're the ones who keep America running by making cars and trains and engines and everything, for me, thematically it just worked.
AVC: With Teen Titans, on the other hand, it seems like that was a house that wasn't in order when you came on. How did you approach that title?
GJ: How I approach it is, I look at what the iconic things are, and that's what I want to build on. They have to live in a big T, because the tower—it's cool; everyone knows what Titans Tower is. I remember there was one point when they lived in bunkers, and it never felt the same. It could be anywhere—we'll put it on the West Coast instead of the East Coast. Just the name "Titans Tower," everyone knew. I looked at, obviously, the original series, the Wolfman/Perez run, which is the most successful Titans series, the one that inspired a cartoon. I looked at what they did, and they took the classic Titans of Robin, Kid Flash, and Wonder Girl, and then added the next generation with Cyborg and Raven and Starfire, and so I took the rebirth aspect. I tried to tap into some of the iconic values I think Wolfman and Perez instilled that people will never forget, and also bring in some of the next generation with some of these new characters. That's kind of where I started.
AVC: You did a lot, particularly with the Flash Rogues, by putting a new spin on old characters. Are there any old characters you think are incapable of being revived for the modern age?
GJ: As soon as I mention a name, someone will do a great job with it next month. I think it's like, whoever gravitates to certain characters... If they're really into that character and they have passion for it, you're going to get a great character no matter who it is. I think any character has potential. There are certain characters I don't have a huge affinity for... Like Rainbow Raider, I never really understood. But that doesn't mean someone can't make him interesting.
AVC: Do you think comics are poised to recapture some of the readership they lost in the '90s?
GJ: They've been doing better in the last three or four years. Comic sales are up. They say trades are up. I have never seen numbers, but I don't know why they would ever not be truthful about it. Comics are certainly more in the mainstream audience... I think it's still a shame that we don't see them in grocery stores, where I used to buy them. I think there's material for everybody. Kids are just going to have to buy comics by accident unless someone knows an adult that will take them to a comic shop. I think if a dad says to a kid, "Hey, let's go to the comic shop, and here you can read the same comics I do!"... If a kid's 13, I don' t know if he's necessarily going to want to read what dad does.
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