IDW Publishing Forums

shanecdavis · Last edited by shanecdavis on Tue Aug 07, 2012 7:22 am; edited 6 times in total

As you all know, John Barber is the senior editor of the Hasbro licensed titles here at IDW. He has been kind enough to agree to answer questions from us here on the forum. As his time is currently limited, I will be sending him the questions and then after he has responded to them I will post his answers.

What are you waiting for??? Ask away!!

Torpedo · Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2012 2:18 pm Post subject:

Keep in mind, not only is Mr. Barber the senior editor of the Joe line, he is also writing the G.I. Joe: Retaliation movie tie-in comics.
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shanecdavis · Posted: Sat Jan 21, 2012 5:24 am Post subject:

I removed the one question rule. You have questions? John has answers!

Torpedo · Posted: Sat Jan 21, 2012 5:42 am Post subject:

Thanks for taking the time for this Q & A, Mr. Barber. From what I've read of your work in the Transformers universe, I'm impressed by both your obvious talent and your attention to continuity.

Logistical Questions
1. Are there any planned movie tie-in books for G.I. Joe: Retaliation other than the prequel miniseries you're writing?

2. Other than the upcoming annual, does IDW have any other major events of books planned for G.I. Joe's 30th Anniversary?

3. How closely do you work with Carlos, Chuck Dixon and Mike Costa to plan out what's happening in the reboot Joe books? How closely do you work with Larry Hama to plan out what's happening in A Real American Hero?

4. Have you generated any new ideas or plans for the G.I. Joe books since coming aboard as senior editor, or are the creative teams still following the plan laid out during Andy Schmidt's time?

Nostalgic Questions
5. Who is your favorite character from G.I. Joe?

6. What is your fondest memory from G.I. Joe comics or cartoons or toys?
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Author of Mr. Smartass, available for Amazon's Kindle, iPad/iPhone, and other e-reader devices and apps.

Machete Phil · Transforumer Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 750

great idea! thanks shane.

i think torpedo already asked a lot of great questions, so i don't have much to add...

1) are there any plans to work with writers other than chuck dixon and mike costa in the future?

2) does the upcoming gi joe infestation 2 storyline take place within or outside of the reboot continuity (or will it continue to be like the first joe infestation story, where andy mentioned that it was a standalone story, and that it was up to the individual reader to decide whether or not they included it in the overall continuity)?
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But from that point on... Phil Coletti was forever known as... Machete Phil.

shanecdavis · Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2012 3:10 pm Post subject:

Wow! Great questions from the both of you. We are off to a good start! John didn't give me a limit on how many questions to ask, so if anyone else wants to chime in, feel free to do so.

ER · Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2012 10:41 pm Post subject:

I'm not ignoring this - I think this is a great idea! I just can't think of any good questions to ask yet Embarassed

Great questions by Torpedo and Machete Phil - I second all those!
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cashel · Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2012 9:02 am Post subject:

Could your company focus more on arah? I am starting to accept the reboot but only because I see it as a political feature, not a g I joe comic. I'll buy both as long as dixon upgrades to a ten-minute read. I love the not writing for the trade approach. I don't enjoy dixon and it bothers me on the support. He is good at what he does but what he does dose not interest me. I want joe to continue but I think it lays in the hands of Hama. Dixon is not my style of writer. Costa is. Listen to the critics, idw, you have a hit but you're messing it up. Let's aspire to make hama's piece destruct what ddp did, This is the time to be epic! Change the status- quo. Make the book not just relevant. But make each issue something big and worth exploring. Make it deep. Make it fun. And give us hard- core fans an answer to the faceless master.
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Thank-you IDW for supporting G.I. Joe: the revamp and ARAH. Here's to forty-nine years of adventure!

Torpedo · Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2012 9:07 am Post subject:

Dixon's G.I. Joe outsells Hama's G.I. Joe.

Also...

Tiger71 · Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2012 12:01 pm Post subject:

RG1701 · I'm kind of a big deal Joined: 04 Jan 2011 Posts: 187

Also, stuff like Cobra has gotten the positive critical reviews over the years. I can't remember when ARAH really captured everyone's attention for groundbreaking story.

cashel · Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2012 9:14 am Post subject:

I am liking dixon's stuff better and costa is awesome but the charactersof arah are the ones I love. With the faceless master thing, I just wanted to see it more fully explored. Is he really what he claims to be? Jane took him down pretty easily a few issues ago. I was too hard on Dixon and the reboot. I apologize. Cobra command has been fun so far, I just want to see more real joes and less greenshirts. I wrote this late at night and even I find it hard to understand what my point is. I guess I just want Arah publicized as much as the reboot is. Again, I apologize to Dixon.
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Thank-you IDW for supporting G.I. Joe: the revamp and ARAH. Here's to forty-nine years of adventure!

cashel · Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2012 9:19 am Post subject:

cashel · Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2012 9:21 am Post subject:

Just ignore me.
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Thank-you IDW for supporting G.I. Joe: the revamp and ARAH. Here's to forty-nine years of adventure!

Quickswitch · I'm kind of a big deal Joined: 09 Oct 2007 Posts: 152

Hello sir,

Will Zandar & Zarana appear in any of the books? They're my favorite twins in G.I. Joe and I'd love to see them.

If they appear:

Will Zandar become involved in Serpentor's Coil cult?
Will more aspects of Zarana be explored other than being related to Zartan? For that matter, could we please have a character bio that focuses on her abilities in her own right--without comparing her to Zartan? We can go to Wikipedia and prior material for that. Could we also have a character bio for Zandar that actually does talk about his and Zartan's abilities and as brothers?

Not just character biographies but actual stories too for a lot of the above?