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IDW Publishing Names John Barber As New Editor in Chief

Posted by Va'al Apr 30, 2018 at 12:50pm CDT 22,184 views
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You'll remember the story we covered about IDW Publishing's Chris Ryall stepping down, and then moving to Skybound Press - according to The Hollywood Reporter, we now have news of a replacement, and a familiar name at that for readers of the Transformers comics: John Barber has been promoted to Editor in Chief of IDW!

Read on below for more details on the news, including the other addition at the publisher of Anita Frazier in Senior VP of sales and marketing, and let us know your thoughts in the Energon Pub discussion boards!

Weeks after Chris Ryall stepped down from the position, Heat Vision has learned that John Barber has been named editor in chief of San Diego-based comic company IDW Publishing. His appointment coincides with the news that Anita Frazier has joined the publisher as senior vice president of sales and marketing.

[...]

Barber, previously group editor of Hasbro properties at IDW, entered the comic book industry as a self-published creator in the late 1990s, before joining Marvel editorial in 2004, working on the Ultimate Comics imprint as well as Marvel’s X-Men line and the first Dark Tower comic books. He joined IDW as a writer for its Transformers line before becoming a senior editor at the company, a position he eventually left in favor of freelance writing, working on IDW’s Transformers vs. G.I. Joe and Back to the Future titles in addition to a number of titles for Marvel.

“To me, the title of editor in chief has a resonance — and a legacy — in comics,” Barber told Heat Vision. “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.”


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Re: IDW Publishing Names John Barber As New Editor in Chief (view post)
Comment by ZeroWolf Apr 30, 2018
Congrats to barber, wonder what the knock on effect of this will be?
Re: IDW Publishing Names John Barber As New Editor in Chief (view post)
Comment by ScottyP Apr 30, 2018
Very happy for Mr. Barber! I feel like I have to use "Mr." now that he's EIC.
Re: IDW Publishing Names John Barber As New Editor in Chief (view post)
Comment by partholon Apr 30, 2018
now this is just bizarre.

didnt barber quit his job as group editor to concentrate on the writing ?

VERY strange move.

still barbers been responsible (editorially) for some of the best periods of IDWs output so its a good move.

maybe now well get books written on merit *cough visionaires cough * instead of "Flavour of the month" creators.
Re: IDW Publishing Names John Barber As New Editor in Chief (view post)
Comment by ScottyP Apr 30, 2018
partholon wrote:didnt barber quit his job as group editor to concentrate on the writing ?

VERY strange move.
That was two years ago and the job he just took on now was occupied by Ryall at the time. How is that strange?
Re: IDW Publishing Names John Barber As New Editor in Chief (view post)
Comment by Randomhero Apr 30, 2018
ScottyP wrote:
partholon wrote:didnt barber quit his job as group editor to concentrate on the writing ?

VERY strange move.
That was two years ago and the job he just took on now was occupied by Ryall at the time. How is that strange?



Yeah it’s not that strange. What was strange was him being he editor and the writer. That’s always been taboo or at least with Marvel and DC. They don’t let editors write the books they oversee or didn’t use to. I know marvel hated that Marvel UK was letting Furman write books when he was also the editor of them. IDW has always been lenient on it though
Re: IDW Publishing Names John Barber As New Editor in Chief (view post)
Comment by Daniel Adkins Apr 30, 2018
Randomhero wrote:
ScottyP wrote:
partholon wrote:didnt barber quit his job as group editor to concentrate on the writing ?

VERY strange move.
That was two years ago and the job he just took on now was occupied by Ryall at the time. How is that strange?



Yeah it’s not that strange. What was strange was him being he editor and the writer. That’s always been taboo or at least with Marvel and DC. They don’t let editors write the books they oversee or didn’t use to. I know marvel hated that Marvel UK was letting Furman write books when he was also the editor of them. IDW has always been lenient on it though

He also never edited his own books. So while he wa soverseeing things and editing MTMTE and Windblade, exRID was edited by Carlos Guzman. That tends to happen in most cases at IDW, or at the very least it did with Rom (since David Hedgecock edited that book).
Re: IDW Publishing Names John Barber As New Editor in Chief (view post)
Comment by Randomhero Apr 30, 2018
Daniel Adkins wrote:
Randomhero wrote:
ScottyP wrote:
partholon wrote:didnt barber quit his job as group editor to concentrate on the writing ?

VERY strange move.
That was two years ago and the job he just took on now was occupied by Ryall at the time. How is that strange?



Yeah it’s not that strange. What was strange was him being he editor and the writer. That’s always been taboo or at least with Marvel and DC. They don’t let editors write the books they oversee or didn’t use to. I know marvel hated that Marvel UK was letting Furman write books when he was also the editor of them. IDW has always been lenient on it though

He also never edited his own books. So while he wa soverseeing things and editing MTMTE and Windblade, exRID was edited by Carlos Guzman. That tends to happen in most cases at IDW, or at the very least it did with Rom (since David Hedgecock edited that book).



That right! I forgot Carlos was assistant editor on RID! My mistake
Re: IDW Publishing Names John Barber As New Editor in Chief (view post)
Comment by Rodimus Prime Apr 30, 2018
This is good news. With the relaunch of the Transformers comics and Roberts thankfully leaving the brand (not sure if he's out of IDW, just away from Transformers) Barber getting more editorial influence should result in a better quality story than what we've been getting. And I'm happy for him in general just for moving up.
Re: IDW Publishing Names John Barber As New Editor in Chief (view post)
Comment by D-Maximal_Primal Apr 30, 2018
Really awesome news, Barber deserves it with his work!
Re: IDW Publishing Names John Barber As New Editor in Chief (view post)
Comment by TulioDude May 1, 2018
Congratulations to him!John Barber has wrote some of the best stories in IDW,I I'm reaally happy he got to gorw more in there.
Re: IDW Publishing Names John Barber As New Editor in Chief (view post)
Comment by Nexus Knight May 1, 2018
Congrats to the ever so fabulous John Barber. To the writers of IDW stories- Prepare to have to remember the most minutia of your stories. They sure as heck will be needed to pop back up later. :lol:
Re: IDW Publishing Names John Barber As New Editor in Chief (view post)
Comment by ScottyP May 1, 2018
Rodimus Prime wrote:This is good news. With the relaunch of the Transformers comics and Roberts thankfully leaving the brand (not sure if he's out of IDW, just away from Transformers)
I say this as nicely as possible: the entirety of the board's readership knows you don't like Roberts and I think by bringing this up constantly it makes the other content in your posts get lost and the other points in them get diminished. I don't want to skim over your stuff but man, it has gotten repetitive and personally it is not-quite-but-borderline white noise.
Re: IDW Publishing Names John Barber As New Editor in Chief (view post)
Comment by Galactic Prime May 1, 2018
ScottyP wrote:
Rodimus Prime wrote:This is good news. With the relaunch of the Transformers comics and Roberts thankfully leaving the brand (not sure if he's out of IDW, just away from Transformers)
I say this as nicely as possible: the entirety of the board's readership knows you don't like Roberts and I think by bringing this up constantly it makes the other content in your posts get lost and the other points in them get diminished. I don't want to skim over your stuff but man, it has gotten repetitive and personally it is not-quite-but-borderline white noise.


So it's fine for people to praise these crappy writers over and over, but the few who want to remind everyone how crappy they actually are is repetitive?

EYEROLL
Re: IDW Publishing Names John Barber As New Editor in Chief (view post)
Comment by Rodimus Prime May 2, 2018
ScottyP wrote:
Rodimus Prime wrote:This is good news. With the relaunch of the Transformers comics and Roberts thankfully leaving the brand (not sure if he's out of IDW, just away from Transformers)
I say this as nicely as possible: the entirety of the board's readership knows you don't like Roberts and I think by bringing this up constantly it makes the other content in your posts get lost and the other points in them get diminished. I don't want to skim over your stuff but man, it has gotten repetitive and personally it is not-quite-but-borderline white noise.
I haven't done it that much. But I get your point. I'm not saying I'm changing my mind, but with him leaving, it does make it easier.

And Galactic Prime is right in this case. There are not many people who speak out against the snow job IDW has done on readers with the ending of MTMTE and the first half of LL and just because most members of the fandom are so eager to worship Roberts makes those of us who are in disagreement regarding his "talents" that much more outspoken.

Anyway, back to Mr. Barber. Now that he's moving up, will he still have an immediate role in the upcoming reboot, or will Transformers be handled by an entirely new writing staff?
Re: IDW Publishing Names John Barber As New Editor in Chief (view post)
Comment by ZeroWolf May 2, 2018
But why do you feel the need to be outspoken? And I also feel there is a difference in how you vented your feelings at the beginning rp compared to how Galactic does. You used to explain your reasoning and made it clear it was your opinion. You never lashed out at other users for liking him and his work. Does people liking Roberts work bug you? If so, why? In a world where people can say with a straight face that they enjoyed the twilight books and the fifty shades series (and all knock offs) I've made peace with the fact that there's people who enjoy the writers I don't like.

Also I was under the impression that a whole new creative team were coming together for this interpretation (obviously now under the watchful eye of barber so some elements may return, if he felt they added to the mythos)
Re: IDW Publishing Names John Barber As New Editor in Chief (view post)
Comment by Galactic Prime May 2, 2018
ZeroWolf wrote:But why do you feel the need to be outspoken? And I also feel there is a difference in how you vented your feelings at the beginning rp compared to how Galactic does. You used to explain your reasoning and made it clear it was your opinion. You never lashed out at other users for liking him and his work. Does people liking Roberts work bug you? If so, why? In a world where people can say with a straight face that they enjoyed the twilight books and the fifty shades series (and all knock offs) I've made peace with the fact that there's people who enjoy the writers I don't like.

Also I was under the impression that a whole new creative team were coming together for this interpretation (obviously now under the watchful eye of barber so some elements may return, if he felt they added to the mythos)


I suppose the same question can be poised at you. Why do you need to feel so outspoken to praise these crappy writers all the time?

It's because we have an opinion and we're as entitled to express our displeasure as you are with your praise.

I'm not sure how old any of you are, but I have been a TF fan since day 1 in 84 and I grew up without all this stupid BS political correctness and how every little snowflake gets offended because someone used the word Retarded, or crappy.

The words used aren't as important as the context of the idea being conveyed. If I think something is retarded or crappy, that's what I'm going to call it. I'm not concerned with how Political Correctness has taken everything to the extreme so that now we have participation trophies and safe words.

If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and has feathers, I'm calling it a duck, it's that simple.
Re: IDW Publishing Names John Barber As New Editor in Chief (view post)
Comment by ZeroWolf May 2, 2018
I know the question can be put back at me but in doing so we're only going to be going back in circles, plus you know that people will come and defend what they like if they feel it's underattack, which as I say, ends up in a circle where nothing is accomplished. I like Roberts work and what idw have accomplished, you don't.

In your opinion they are crappy, my opinion is of the opposite. Neither of us are absolutely correct. Which is why debates like this tend to go nowhere. Hence why I made peace with the fact people like twilight.

Also political correctness? What making a few more fembots? How can people be so irate over these things? It's a comic, just by putting these things in isn't going to cause the world to spontaneous combust.
Re: IDW Publishing Names John Barber As New Editor in Chief (view post)
Comment by Rodimus Prime May 2, 2018
Okay, I know I am guilty of derailing the thread, but please let's get back towards John Barber and the new writing staff. The discussion on content of comics that have already been issued belongs in the respective threads for those comics.

Has IDW mentioned any possible replacements for Scott and Roberts?
Re: IDW Publishing Names John Barber As New Editor in Chief (view post)
Comment by ZeroWolf May 2, 2018
Not yet but I would suggest that might get revealed at sdcc. In fact I think they will do a reveal/tease of what's to come after unicron. At the very least codenames of books (be they ongoings, miniseries or one shots) with their creative team.
Re: IDW Publishing Names John Barber As New Editor in Chief (view post)
Comment by D-Maximal_Primal May 2, 2018
In my personal opinion, Barber will oversee everything, but he won't be hugely directly involved, and we will have a whole new set of talent. But I still hope Barber can teach them some things, like continuity and some of the storytelling he has done.

I'm also of the mind that the comics are going to coincide with the new toyline starting next year, with the toyline itself talking about the War for Cybertron stories.

I'm not convinced we will see any reveals this year, until maybe at the very end for what happens next.
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