John Barber

***John Barber*** is the editor-in-chief of IDW Publishing, former editor of Marvel Comics, and a freelance comic writer. He was the editor for Issues #1 to #17.

## Biography

John Barber was the senior editor of IDW Publishing from 2011-2016. Barber was the head of IDW's Hasbro licensed titles, such as *Transformers* and *G.I.Joe*, and edited all titles under Hasbro's banner. During this time, Barber also wrote many *Transformers* titles, and spearheaded the *Revolution* event, which was a huge comic book crossover between the Hasbro titles *Transformers, G.I. Joe, Micronauts, ROM, and Action Man*. Prior to his work at IDW Publishing, Barber was an editor and writer for Marvel, and both wrote and illustrated his own webcomic called *Outside Infinity* for the (now defunct) Modern Tales.

As of April 30th, 2018, John is the editor-in-chief of IDW Publishing.

## Work on *JEM*

Barber was an avid fan of the *Jem and The Holograms* cartoon as a child, and had been interested in creating a *Jem and The Holograms* comic since he was 10 years old. After being given the senior editor position at IDW Publishing, it was one of his top-priorities to produce a *JEM* comic, even raising the topic at his first *San Diego Comic Con* panel.

Several years later, Barber was introduced to Sophie Campbell and Kelly Thompson by Sarah Gaydos. Campbell and Thompson pitched him a formula that fit his vision for the franchise - bringing *Jem* into 2015. Barber was already a fan of Campbell's work, having seen some of her Jem fanart redesigns. The comic was announced at New York Comic Con on October 9th 2014, with a teaser poster by Amy Mebberson. The first issue of the comic launched in March 2015, with Campbell, Thompson and Barber at the helm. In his capacity as editor, Barber also answered reader letters in the back pages of every issue. Barber acted as the comic's editor for all issues up until *Issue #17* (Published July 2016), when he announced his departure as editor of Jem - and departure as senior editor for IDW Publishing - in order to pursue his own writing projects. Sarah Gaydos took over as editor as of *Issue #18* and onward.

* *Showtime, Part One* (Editor)

* *Showtime, Part Two* (Editor)

* *Showtime, Part Three* (Editor)

* *Showtime, Part Four* (Editor)

* *Showtime, Part Five* (Editor)

* *Showtime, Part Six* (Editor)

* *Outrageous Annual (2015)* (Editor)

* *Holiday Special* (Editor)

* *Valentine Special* (Editor)
* *Dark Jem, Part One* (Editor)

* *Dark Jem, Part Two* (Editor)

* *Dark Jem, Part Three* (Editor)

* *Dark Jem, Part Four* (Editor)

* *Dark Jem, Part Five* (Editor)

* *Dark Jem, Part Six* (Editor)

* *Ch-Ch-Changes, Part One* (Editor)

* *Ch-Ch-Changes, Part Two* (Editor) †

* *Enter The Stingers, Part One* (Editor) †

† Issues 18 and 19 have Barber credited as editor alongside Sarah Gaydos.
## Notable Other Works

As an editor:
* *Ultimate Elektra* (2004)

* *Ultimate X-Men* (2004)

* *Ultimate Fantastic Four* (2005)

* *Ultimate Spiderman* (2005)

* *Wolverine* (2007)

* *Kick-Ass* (2008)

* *Wolverine: Origins* (2008)

* *The Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye* (2012)

* *G.I. Joe* (2013)
As a writer:
* *Nation X* (2010)

* *Transformers: Sector 7* (2010)

* *Transformers: Dark of the Moon* (2011)

* *G.I. Joe 2: Retaliation* (2012)

* *The Transformers: Robots in Disguise* (2012)

* *​The Transformers: Fall of Cybertron* (2012)

* *The Transformers* (2014)

* *Angry Birds: Transformers* (2014)

* *The Transformers vs. G.I.Joe* (2014)

* *AXIS: Revolution* (2015)

* *Ultimate Spiderman: Infinite Comics* (2016)

* *Back to the Future* (2016)

## References

1. ↑ **IDW Publishing:** IDW Publishing:The Revolution Is Here
2. ↑ **IDW Publishing:** IDW Publishing Names John Barber as Editor-in-Chief
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Issue #2: Holo-Grams letter page
4. ↑ **IDW Publishing:** JEM AND THE HOLOGRAMS Get A Comic Book Series That Is Truly Outrageous!
5. ↑ **Comics Alliance:** COMICSALLIANCE’S ‘JEM’ FANS Take on Truly Outrageous Redesigns
6. ↑ **CBR:** CBR: NYCC EXCLUSIVE: IDW GETS TRULY OUTRAGEOUS WITH "JEM" TEASER
7. ↑ **IDW Publishing:** IDW Publishing Announces Editorial Shifts and Promotions

## Navigation

 Main Series
Jem: Dimensions: 01 • 02 • 03 • 04