Barnes served as the editor of Judge Dredd Megazine from 2001 until December 2005, during which time the title saw a considerable increase in the number of new strip pages. Among other strips, Barnes originally commissioned The Simping Detective. He also wrote a handful of Judge Dredd stories involving alternate universes or featuring a young Dredd.

He worked for five years at Doctor Who Magazine and progressed from writing strips to becoming joint editor in 1998 and sole editor from 2000 until 2002. He subsequently contributed the ongoing Fact of Fiction series of articles to the magazine.

Barnes has written or co-written a number of Doctor Who audio plays for Big Finish Productions.

He has written a number of books on cult films (including James Bond, Quentin Tarantino and Sherlock Holmes) and his book The Hammer Story, co-written with Marcus Hearn, was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award for Best Non-Fiction in 1997

Comics and magazines

• Judge Dredd:
• "Tickers" (with Maya Gavin, in Judge Dredd Megazine 3.14, 1996)
• "Medusa" (with Paul Peart and Roger Langridge, in Judge Dredd Lawman of the Future #19-20, 1996)
• "Dredd of Drokk Green" (with Trevor Hairsine, in Judge Dredd Mega Special 1996)

• Doctor Who:
• "The Cybermen: The Hungry Sea" (with Adrian Salmon, in Doctor Who Magazine #227-229)
• "The Cybermen: The Dark Flame (with Adrian Salmon, in Doctor Who Magazine #230-233)
• End Game (212 pages, ISBN 1905239092) collects:
• "End Game" (with Martin Geraghty, in Doctor Who Magazine #244-247)
• "The Keep" (with Martin Geraghty, in Doctor Who Magazine #248-249)
• "A Life of Matter & Death (with Sean Longcroft, in Doctor Who Magazine #250)
• "Fire and Brimstone" (with Martin Geraghty, #251-255)
• "Tooth and Claw" (with Martin Geraghty, in Doctor Who Magazine #257-260)
• "The Final Chapter" (with Martin Geraghty, in Doctor Who Magazine #262-265)
• The Glorious Dead (244 pages, 2006, ISBN 1905239440) collects:
• "The Road to Hell" (with Martin Geraghty, in Doctor Who Magazine #278-282)
• "TV Action!" (with Roger Langridge, in Doctor Who Magazine #283)
• "The Warkeeper's Crown" (with Martin Geraghty, in Doctor Who Magazine #378-380)

Audio plays

Audio plays include:

• Storm Warning
• Neverland
• Zagreus (with Gary Russell)
• The Next Life (with Gary Russell)
• The Girl Who Never Was
• Weapon of Choice
• A Blind Eye
• Panacea
• Brotherhood of the Daleks

He also wrote the animated serial, The Infinite Quest.

Books

Books include:

• The Hammer Story (with Marcus Hearn, originally published 1997, Titan Books, 1999 ISBN 1-84576-185-5)
• Kiss Kiss Bang! Bang!: The Unofficial James Bond Film Companion (with Marcus Hearn, Overlook Press, 1998 ISBN 0-87951-874-X)
• Tarantino A to Zed (with Marcus Hearn, B.T. Batsford Ltd, 1999 ISBN 0-7134-8457-8)
• Sherlock Holmes on Screen (originally published 1999, Reynolds & Hearn Ltd, 2004 ISBN 1-903111-78-1)