Of all the sights, sounds and events at this past weekend’s New York Comic Con at the Jacob Javits Center, the Friday panel featuring critically acclaimed, best-selling Green Lantern scribe Geoff Johns was of particular interest to the fans. The affable Johns, now also chief creative officer at DC Comics, dispensed with any trace of formality and sat down at the lecture hall’s onstage table.

Johns was joined by colleague and DC Comics editor Edie Berganza and opened the panel to questions from the attending fans, eventually eschewing the table altogether and strolling out to stand on the stage with microphone in hand.

What ensued can only be described as a mutual love-fest, filled with many gushing proclamations of admiration for Johns’ work in comics and as a writer on TV’s Smallville, interspersed with a slide presentation showcasing current and upcoming projects from DC Comics. Johns’ enthusiasm mirrored that of his audience and his enjoyment of what he does was as conspicuous as Kunta Kinte at a Merle Haggard concert. The audience was let in on the author’s writing process and his goal of treating any character he writes as “an A-list character,” citing his own fantasy of intentions for Aquaman, a fantasy plan that sounded full of promise (and which will not be spoiled here, in case Johns actually gets to see it happen in published form).

Nevertheless, in the modern world of comic book publishing, even bestselling authors are on a short leash when it comes to releasing news of plot points or upcoming story arcs. Some of the fans’ questions were met with vague answers that either hinted at events on the horizon or Johns stonewalled any revelations and said, “I can’t talk about that right now. I’m sure there’s a sniper out there somewhere in the audience waiting to take me out if I say anything….”.

But the two highlights of the panel were the moment when a career U.S. military serviceman expressed his appreciation and that of his colleagues for Johns’ work, which was met with a sincere expression of gratitude to the soldier for his service to the country. And then a fan asked Johns to recite the famous Green Lantern oath, which Johns agreed to do it, but only if the audience joined him.

The hall resounded with the din of some three hundred attendees, when these fans, from all walks of life and cultures, uttered the words of the famous oath with the same instantaneous recall they would likely use to state their own names. It was a moment of true chest-swelling geek pride, and a fitting coda to an audience with one of the comics industry’s modern masters.