Geoff Johns Talks Blade: The Series

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Source: Sci-Fi Wire

Comic author Geoff Johns, who is a writer and consultant for Spike's upcoming Blade: The Series, told fans here that he co-wrote the pilot for the show with the Blade movie writer David S. Goyer, who is one of the TV show's executive producers. "We have been working together, obviously, in comic books for about four years, so about a year ago David called me up said, 'Hey, we are thinking about doing Blade the TV series. Do you want to help me co-write the pilot?'" Johns said in a panel at the annual Wizard World Convention over the weekend. "I said, 'Yeah,' because I love the movies and the character. So we sat down with Spike TV and started talking about ideas."

Blade: The Series, starring Kirk "Sticky" Jones as the title character, is based on Marvel Comics' vampire-hunter franchise and its series of movies. Goyer and Johns drafted the overall direction of the show's first season, Johns said. "The advantage of doing a TV series compared to a movie is that we get to delve into the history of the character, so there is a lot of year-one type stuff," he said "We see a lot of his origin and what he was before [he was] Blade. We see how he got his tattoos, and we see where he picked up his sword, everything as the series progresses. That's what interests me: Why and how did this guy become Blade?"

Besides Goyer and Johns said that the show's writers include show runner David Simkins (Charmed, Dark Angel), Daniel Truly (The Pretender), Adam Targum (The Dead Zone), Barbara Nance (The X-Files) and Marv Wolfman (Teen Titans0.

The first season will comprise 13 episodes, "and we have stories within that, but a lot of it is serialized, and a lot of the stand-alone episodes are built into the overall arc, like The Shield," Johns said. "Goyer always wanted the 13 to be one big movie with little stories in between, so there will be a conclusion at the end of the 13, with plot threads that will continue into season two. It's like a comic book. Overall, the series focuses on Blade coming back to his hometown of Detroit and trying to clean it up. There we meet all sorts of people from his past, and there are a few Marvel guys in there, too." Blade: The Series premieres June 28 at 10 p,m. ET/PT on Spike.