Daniel Warren Johnson, born in March 1987 in Massachusetts and based in Chicago, is a complete creator: he writes and draws. Discovered through his webcomic Space Mullet (2012-2017), he went on to make Extremity (2017-2018), Murder Falcon (2018-2019) and Do a Powerbomb! (2022) at Image, Wonder Woman: Dead Earth (2019-2020) at DC and Beta Ray Bill: Argent Star (2021) at Marvel. His Transformers at Skybound (2023-2025) earned him two Eisner Awards in 2024: best continuing series and best writer/artist. Colorist Mike Spicer has accompanied him since Extremity. His next creation, Chainkata #1, is announced at Image for November 2026: 40 pages with no ads.
There are artists you recognize from a single panel. Daniel Warren Johnson is one of them: characters with bodies twisted by effort, fights where every blow weighs, enormous machines, sweat, tears, and almost always a story of grief or family ties beneath the violence. In about ten years, he went from a self-published webcomic to the biggest licenses, without ever giving up on writing his own stories.
This portrait follows his career in order, work by work, then pauses on what makes him singular and on the place Chainkata holds in his path. It is aimed at the reader who wants to know where to enter his work, and at the collector who wants to know which issues matter.
The beginnings: from the hospital to the webcomic
Johnson has said he discovered comics through Calvin and Hobbes, in a sheltered childhood where certain comics and cartoons were forbidden to him. Homeschooled from third grade to the end of high school, he trained in drawing with a teacher at a local art center, whom he cites as a decisive influence. He then left for Chicago to study to become a teacher, before changing course and working as a hospital orderly.
It was during this period that he launched Space Mullet, a science fiction webcomic that ran from 2012 to 2017. The story stood out for its graphic energy and its sense of rhythm. Dark Horse published a printed collection of it in 2016. Space Mullet already contains the essentials of his universe: battered characters, a chosen family, and action scenes drawn like choreography.
First work at a publisher
The Ghost Fleet
His first series at a major independent publisher, on a script by Donny Cates, also early in his career. Johnson is only the artist here, but the story of elite truckers suits his taste for machines and action perfectly.
He then draws Alabaster: The Good, the Bad, and the Bird (Dark Horse, five issues, 2015-2016), on a script by Caitlín R. Kiernan. These are his only two works as a pure artist on a full series: the rest of his career is, for the most part, that of a complete creator.
The creations at Image: the signature of a creator
Extremity
Johnson pitched Extremity in 2015 to Image and Skybound; the series appears starting in 2017. In a world of floating islands, a young artist maimed by an enemy clan seeks her place in a war of vengeance. It is also the start of his collaboration with colorist Mike Spicer, who will not leave him again. The series is nominated for the Eisner Awards in the best limited series category.
Murder Falcon
A heavy metal guitarist fights monsters alongside a giant falcon that only his music can summon. Behind the pretext, Johnson tells a story of courage in the face of illness. In the hardcover edition, he opens the book with a personal text in which he explains that the series brings together everything that matters to him.
Do a Powerbomb!
A young wrestler agrees to take part in a tournament organized by a necromancer, in the hope of bringing her mother back to life. Wrestling is treated there with rare seriousness and tenderness. The series receives the 2023 Eisner Award for best publication for teens.
The big publishers: Wonder Woman and Beta Ray Bill
Wonder Woman: Dead Earth
In a post-apocalyptic future, Wonder Woman wakes up in a ravaged world, populated by nightmarish monsters. His fight scenes earned him a nomination for best artist of the year 2020 from a major trade outlet. It is the work that made him known beyond Image's readership.
Beta Ray Bill: Argent Star
Johnson takes hold of Beta Ray Bill, the alien worthy of wielding Thor's hammer, and makes of it a story about identity and wounds. Mike Spicer is again on colors. In 2021, a major comics news site awarded him its best artist prize, praising his fights and his empathy.
He also co-wrote The Jurassic League (DC, 2022, six issues), drawn by Juan Gedeon, which transposes the Justice League into dinosaurs. And he multiplies short stories in the anthologies of both big publishers: Batman: Black and White #4, Superman: Red and Blue #5, Deadpool: Black, White & Blood #2, an issue of Wolverine, and more recently Absolute Batman annual #1. He also signs many covers, including a variant of Absolute Batman #2.
Transformers: the consecration
Transformers (Skybound)
In June 2023, Skybound announces that Johnson and Spicer will launch the new Transformers series, part of a shared universe of licenses. Johnson writes the first twenty-four issues and draws the first six, before handing the art over to Jorge Corona and Jason Howard. The series earns him two Eisner Awards in 2024: best continuing series and best writer/artist.
He then extends his work at Image with The Moon Is Following Us, whose #1 comes out in September 2024: a ten-issue series, whose art he shares with Riley Rossmo, again with Spicer on colors. The story, carried by a family that sets out to find their daughter in a dreamlike world, confirms his taste for stories of parents and children.
What makes a Daniel Warren Johnson story
The fight as a language. With Johnson, a brawl is never an interlude. It tells something: the anger of a loss, the fear of losing, the decision to get back up. That is what explains why the prizes he has received often praise both his fights and his empathy.
Family, everywhere. A mother to bring back, a daughter to find, a brother to protect, a child to pass something on to: almost every one of his works rests on a threatened family bond. The surface excess, monsters, robots, wrestling, dinosaurs, serves to make this bond visible.
The duo with Mike Spicer. Since Extremity, Spicer colors almost everything Johnson draws. The two names go together, and the style of one cannot be understood without that of the other. In our ranking of the best comics artists, it is this kind of visual signature that makes the difference.
The reader's book before the speculation object. Johnson publishes complete stories, often short, designed to be reread. That shows in his formats, like that of his next title.
Chainkata: what we know as of October 3, 2026
Image has scheduled Chainkata #1 for November 2026. The first issue has 40 pages with no ads, a format that gives room to the story and fits his taste for one-sitting reads. It is an original creation, written and drawn by Johnson. Beyond these elements, nothing else is confirmed by a primary source at the time of writing: neither the length of the series, nor its detailed plot.
For a collector, Chainkata #1 follows on from Extremity #1, Murder Falcon #1 and Do a Powerbomb! #1: the first issues of his creations. It is this sequence, more than any one isolated issue, that forms the heart of a creator collection.
Where to start, and what to collect
To discover: Murder Falcon or Do a Powerbomb!
Two complete, short stories that sum up all his talent. The first for the emotion, the second for accessibility.
For superheroes: Wonder Woman: Dead Earth and Beta Ray Bill
Two miniseries of four and five issues, easy to read and to assemble.
For the consecration: Transformers #1 to #6
The part he writes and draws alone, crowned by two Eisners.
For the collection: the first issues of his creations
Extremity #1, Murder Falcon #1, Do a Powerbomb! #1, The Moon Is Following Us #1, then Chainkata #1 in November 2026. To place these titles in the publisher's catalog, see our Image Comics collecting guide.