Geoff Johns exits as DC Entertainment prez and CCO

Geoff Johns is stepping down from his post of DC Entertainment president and Chief Creative Officer.

The 45-year-old executive, who went on from writing comics to playing an instrumental role in developing films and TV shows from the franchise is entering into an exclusive writer-producer deal with Warner Bros and DC, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The announcement comes days after Diane Nelson's departure as DC Entertainment's president, Johns immediate superior.

He said he took up a job at DCE as he loves the characters but he wanted to spend his "days writing and on set".

I'm thrilled to get back to a more hands-on creative role. It's a dream job on dream projects, reaching even deeper into DC's vast pantheon of characters," Johns said in a statement.

The scribe will serve as the screenplay writer and one of the producers on the feature film "Green Lantern Corps" - a subject right up his alley having spent nine years writing Green Lantern comics and its spinoffs and publishing events.

He is already writing and producing "Wonder Woman 2". He will also have a co-writing and executive producing credit on "Aquaman".

On the publishing side, Johns will write and curate a DC pop-up label under the moniker The Killing Zone, which will bring the new and lesser-known or dormant DC characters and titles out of the shadows.

He will also write a new Shazam comic series, which will come out this autumn, along with a comic titled 'Three Jokers', illustrated by Jason Fabok.

On the small screen, John has co-developed, executive producing and writing on "Titans", the first original series for the upcoming DC Universe digital service. He was instrumental in developing several shows from the universe such as "The Flash" and launching "Super Girl" and "Black Lightning".

He is also launching a banner Mad Ghost Productions.

For the CCO position, Johns will be replaced by current DC publisher Jim Lee.