(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 wrote the Star Trek: Ongoing series for IDW, tying into the films set in the alternate reality, as well as:
- Wrote the Star Trek Into Darkness prequel comic Star Trek: Countdown to Darkness [1]
- Wrote its companion comic Star Trek: Khan
- Consulted on the 2013 video game [2]
- Wrote the crossover mini-series Star Trek - Green Lantern: The Spectrum War, which was also co-published by DC Comics [3]
- Co-wrote the mini-series Star Trek: Starfleet Academy with writer Ryan Parrott, set in the alternate reality
- Wrote the mini-series Star Trek: Manifest Destiny, also set in the alternate reality
- Wrote the crossover mini-series Star Trek - Green Lantern: Stranger Worlds, which was a sequel to The Spectrum War
- Wrote 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
- Wrote the Star Trek: Discovery - The Light of Kahless comic miniseries, which focuses on the backstory of T'Kuvma and which was co-written with novelist and Star Trek: Discovery staff writer Kirsten Beyer
- Wrote the "Star Trek: Discovery Annual 2018", which he also co-wrote with Kirsten Beyer
- Wrote the Star Trek: Discovery - Succession comic miniseries, also co-written with Kirsten Beyer
- Wrote the story for Star Trek: Fleet Command, the mobile game set during Star Trek Beyond's timeframe [4]
- Co-wrote Star Trek: Picard - Countdown, along with Kirsten Beyer, a three-issue miniseries tie-in for Star Trek: Picard
- Co-wrote Star Trek: Picard - Stargazer, again with Kirsten Beyer, another three-issue miniseries tie-in for Star Trek: Picard
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]