IDW have announced their new editor in chief, following the departure of Chris Ryall, and it’s someone that readers of IDW’s Transformers comics will be familiar with – John Barber.
John Barber is a veteran comic writer and editor, who has written and edited a range of comics, including Wolverine, and Marvel’s Ultimate line. On the Transformers front, he’s the man who made sense of multiple contradictory bits of Movie fiction with gusto with the Sector Seven and Dark of the Moon comics, as well as writing the Robots in Disguise ongoing (later renamed Transformers, and relaunched as Optimus Prime). He’s also served as senior editor at IDW, where he oversaw all of the Transformers (and Hasbro) licensed comics, overseeing the genesis of the Hasbro comics universe and its first crossover, Revolution.
Speaking to Hollywood Reporter, John Barber said: “To me, the title of editor in chief has a resonance — and a legacy — in comics. It’s something to live up to, a position I find pretty inspiring. So I don’t know if I can really express my excitement at being back at IDW in this new role. As editor in chief, I’m in a position to help guide the company into a new era, working with our creators and our partners to make the best comics out there. IDW has some of the biggest and most fun properties in pop culture under our publishing umbrella, and I think some of the stuff we already have planned for the future will spin some heads. The comics world is constantly changing, and IDW’s always changed with the times — keeping its core values and looking toward tomorrow. And being right in the thick of that is just where I want to be.”
This is exciting news, and we wish John all the best in his new role, and that IDW moves from strength to strength under his stewardship.
justiceg
Sorry, I'm totally confused because this whole conversation happened ten years ago …what are you talking about? What "actual character change" are you talking about?
Appreciate your passion there broski, but perhaps another way to help "stop spreading fake whatever" is to not drag up a dead thread to reply to stuff said four months back if not more? =)
Deadend
That had nothing to do with Ryall's leaving. And there was no going behind Hasbro's back on that. Both are still in good standing with Hasbro.
It was a mess period that's more complicated than anyone wants to really talk about honestly. But a large chunk of it was on "fans" overreacting to begin with to a new character that was actually really cool(and shouldn't have been an issue since they got their classic version updated figure), and other areas sticking their nose in where it didn't belong. So these "fan" theories about it aren't true and are all pretty off base conjecture. And it got blown of proportion from there.
The person who came up with the actual character change still works with Hasbro. The only thing on the creative side that was slightly bothersome, was that the problem areas were directly antagonized by the writer and tbh, he wasn't exactly completely wrong and honestly those areas should have been antagonized a bit for such a silly complaint they blew out of proportion for a different universe character, but maybe with some better explanations of the thought process on the "MANDATED character change".
So please stop spreading that fake gossip/lies. It's tiring.
Barber was set to get this promotion because Ryall was leaving and had been prepping for this even before that.
Ivar
It would be nice to bring out a special regarding the \"Battle of Hell\'s Point\"
This was one of the most legendary battles between decepticons and autobots.
Would be nice to have a special or one shot about tjis great battle.
Infosaur
I've found Barber to be a passable writer (who gets blown out of the water by Scott & Roberts) who mangles dialogue and misuses characters. (After 12 years of barely mentioning Sunstreaker & Sideswipe are brothers, we get Tracks & Needlenose?!?)
That said, when he plays the long game, he's actually rather impressive. (Tarantulas is Springer's father, Prowl is a master manipulator, Optimus steps down from leadership, etc.)
So I'd love to see him come up with long term story arcs, then promote the right writers to tell the story, pick the characters, write the dialogue.
Now, the only issue is, we're starting this new world order during a brand relaunch. So I'm wondering just what I'm in for?
misfire19d
The more I read these posts the more I'm realizing Barber didn't earn the EIC job. He was the only one left who would do it.
Dark Starscream
Just my personal opinion, Barber was a very sub-par writer with juvenile, uminteresting dialogue and poor creative choices. Being a Transformers fan, I read the comics, but I never got giddy about them as I have with Roberts' MTMTE/LL comics.
With Barber's writing, I often found myself rolling my eyes, or having to push myself through the rest of a terrible comic. I actually dreaded reading his books. As it stands, I only read Barber's comics just to keep up with the same continuity as Lost Light.
shamanking282
And I admit, I think a lot of our assumptions of Barber’s editing come from the differences in James Roberts’ writing while Barber was editing him.
Probe
I mean, I think he's written some of the best Transformers comics and that his writing saw a huge jump in quality when he left editing, but I ALSO think he's a good editor. Not sure if I feel he's better at one or the other since they are not easily comparable.
Sockie
Which "early IDW days" do you mean? He was editor at the start of the MTMTE/RiD era, not the Furman -Ations at the very beginning.
G.B. Blackrock
FWIW, I think a lot of the folks who are thrilled by this news agree that he was a better editor than a writer.
AzT
Andrew Griffith on Twitter
GoLion
I'm cautiously optimistic by the news of Barber's return/promotion to this position. Let's face it, the quality of stories started to slip when Barber stepped away from said position. Anyone can look at the comichron numbers and see the drop after he left. Granted, it wasn't a significant drop but there was a drop.
I'd be happy with a leap back to the realm of 10,000 books being sold a month (Something I think will happen with Barber back in the driver's seat). Oh, and the floppy sales are still the best metric for judging how a book performs (Anyone who says they don't are dead wrong, and I question the intelligence of anyone who says the comichron numbers don't count). A book isn't selling 20,000 copies and getting cancelled. Once a book drops to around 5000 or less on the comichron chart a book is typically cancelled.
misfire19d
Uncle Yetibacca
Congrats Mr.Barber! I'm pretty sure that this is going to lead to amazing stories.
xD! You just made my day dude xD.
In this day and age neither did I.
Glad someone agrees with me. Even if I loved the concept of the Hasbro universe (since I'm a sucker for shared universes), I can admit that Revolution was the definition of rushed. I really hope they do try the Hasbro universe again, but right, which is why Barber as Editor-In-Chief gives me hope.
justiceg
Disagreed, I am learning to love lapping slop in preparation for Barber's triumphant ascension
misfire19d
THIS. This is the measured response IDW deserves now.
dragon_lord
I definitely glad he's coming back, let's see how well it affects the quality of the books.