Meg_Lemke_BBF_2011_Shankbone.JPG

Well now it’s official! Meg Lemke will be taking over editing the graphic novel reviews for PW.

Lemke will be responsible for editing PW’s weekly reviews of graphic novels. She can be reached at [email protected]

While taking on the reviews editor job, Lemke will continue as chair of the Brooklyn Book Festival comics and graphic novel programming committee, as well as in her roles as editor-in-chief of Mutha Magazine, an online publication focused on prose and comics about modern motherhood; and as guest editor of Illustrated PEN, the graphic narratives publication of PEN America, where she is also a curator for the PEN World Voices Festival.

Meg is a powerhouse who knows the comics industry at all levels, so I know she’ll do a fantastic job with this.

It’s a position I held (and was the first ever to hold) at PW for 14 years. But with going full-time with the Beat after the acquisition by Syndicated Comics, I felt there were a lot of conflicts of interest…plus, after 14 years, time for a change and to let someone new take the car for a spin.

But it was an amazing 14 year run that saw comics and graphic novels go from a format no one respected to 85 of the book market, with cartoonists and books feted at every level of culture and society. Going by TV and movies, we’re just living in the graphic novel era, now. I don’t mean to toot my own horn in an obnoxious way, but the comics coverage at Publishers Weekly, spearheaded by the indispensable Calvin Reid, was a small but integral part of that growth, covering the business in a way that the book world understood. I’m thrilled to have contributed to that.

And to have worked with…well….everyone as a reviewer. PW reviews are unsigned, but I can name some of the folks who stopped by: Harvey Pekar, Dan Nadel, Bill Kartalopoulos, Laura Hudson, Douglas Wolk, Zainab Akhtar, Shaenon Garrity, Jennifer de Guzman, Whitney Taylor, Johanna Draper Carlson, Sam Riedel, Kelly Thompson, Thalia Sutton, Glen Downey, Juliet Kahn, Steve Bunche, Maia Kobabe, Ryan Joe, Karama Horne, Annie Mok, John DiBello, Eric Norton, Steve Bunche, Joe Sanders, Ann Kim, Lucas Adams, Frank Santoro, Dan Kois, Thal Sneddon, Hannah Means Shannon, Brian Heater, Kate Fitzsimons, Kai Ming Cha…okay, is there anyone I didn’t work with?

I’ll continue doing the More to Come Podcast (check out our rollicking roundtable on Justice League!) and a few freelance things for PW here and there. No one ever really leaves PW and I’m no exception.

Anyway, please give Meg a warm welcome!

 

4 COMMENTS

Comments are closed.