(written from a Production point of view)
Mike Johnson is a comic book author, and a former employee of Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman.
Before being tapped to write the Star Trek prequel comic Star Trek: Countdown for IDW Publishing with fellow Orci/Kurtzman employee Tim Jones, his comic resume was limited to work for DC Comics on their Titans and Superman/Batman comics and a story in their 2008 Halloween special. Johnson and Jones subsequently wrote Star Trek: Nero and the Star Trek: The Official Motion Picture Adaptation. Continuing this trend, Johnson wrote comic book tie-ins to Fringe and Transformers: Prime, as well as episodes of the latter.
In 2011, Johnson went into writing comics full time, writing Supergirl for DC. He writes Star Trek: Ongoing for IDW, tying into the films set in the alternate reality, as well as:
- The Star Trek Into Darkness prequel comic Star Trek: Countdown to Darkness, [1]
- Its companion comic Star Trek: Khan.
- As well as also being consulted on the 2013 video game. [2]
- The crossover mini-series Star Trek - Green Lantern: The Spectrum War which was also co-published by DC Comics [3]
- Co-writing the mini-series Star Trek: Starfleet Academy with writer Ryan Parrott set in the alternate reality.
- The mini-series Star Trek: Manifest Destiny also set in the alternate reality.
- The crossover mini-series Star Trek - Green Lantern: Stranger Worlds which was a sequel to The Spectrum War.
- The Star Trek: Boldly Go series which is set in between the events of the first appearance of the Enterprise-A in Star Trek Beyond to its final completion in the closing shot of the film after the presumed time jump.
- The Star Trek: Discovery - The Light of Kahless comic miniseries which focuses on the backstory of T'Kuvma and was co-written with novelist and Star Trek: Discovery staff writer Kirsten Beyer.
- The "Star Trek: Discovery Annual 2018" which he also co-wrote with Kirsten Beyer.
- The Star Trek: Discovery - Succession comic miniseries also co-written with Kirsten Beyer.
- Star Trek: Fleet Command, the mobile game set during Star Trek Beyond's timeframe. [4]
Johnson personally considers the current films not set in a split timeline, but in a very similar reality, which allows him to ignore elements of canon that should hold true for both realities. [5]