Before the Green Lantern panel at Comic Con on Friday, DC Comics CCO and superstar writer Geoff Johns decided to give a few more details. Live in Los Angeles with the Comic Book Club, Johns discussed all three of his current ongoing titles and Batman: Earth One. Obviously, most important to you is what Geoff had to say about the latest event to hit the lantern books. Read some choice quotes below about Justice League and GL or head over to CBC for the audio.

After some Batman talk, Johns was asked about the function of the Justice League title. Does Johns see the book as “the cornerstone of the DCU” or “the flagship title”? Simply put…”I guess so.” He also stated that the first year is about the path to becoming the team that everyone thinks they are. Then he was asked about the current villain the team is facing, David Graves.

“I wanted to embody the perception of the Justice League by having an author experience the Justice League firsthand when they first form, have a great opinion about them and perpetuate that opinion by writing this book about them that was really big…seeing him going from that to wanting to destroy something he help build is kind of representative of what the team needs and how the people see the team.”

Geoff then gave a little insight about how he creates his villains, by putting the needs and wants of the character first. “I actually go through emotion. What the character needs or what I think the character needs to be challenged by. I like that theme of heroes being challenged to be better than they are. I did it with Flash and Zoom, and its kinda the same.”

Then finally Geoff was asked about the Third Army. Specifically asked…”What is The Third Army?” Johns told the hosts:

“The Third Army is the Guardians third try at creating an army that can make the universe a safe place. The Manhunters didn’t work. They think the Green Lantern Corps didn’t work, and you’ll see why. So they create another army to replace them.”

While joking about the Guardians(“They need to get punched in the face!”), Johns went on to give a few more details about the third army event. “At the core, the book[Green Lantern] has always been about willpower. This is kinda the concept of The Third Army…the Guardians deem the one thing in the universe they thought was emotion and the Manhunters, but the Manhunters didn’t work. ‘Oh, the weakness in the universe is fear! So we’re going to create an army that conquers fear!’ And that didn’t work because all these other lanterns split off and there’s chaos.

So now they realize that the thing that’s wrong with the universe and thats being perpetuated is WILL. Free will. ‘We need to take free will away. So the Third Army is just a bunch of…things…You’ll see what they are and what they do. It’s really about the Guardians saying ‘Free Will is basically the worst mistake to ever be fallen upon the universe and we need to remove it.’

So there you have it. Geoff Johns just laid out the basics for you. Hopefully more will be given this week in San Diego.