The Beat Staff

Editor-in-chief: Heidi MacDonald is an Eisner award-nominated blogger and journalist who has been covering comics for over 20 years. She has contributed to The Comics Journal, Salon, New York Magazine, the LA Weekly, Publishers Weekly and many more national publications and sites. She is also a former comics editor for Disney and DC Comics where she has worked on such iconic characters as Mickey Mouse, Scooby Doo, the Powerpuff Girls, Swamp Thing and Y the Last Man. She is the winner of the Shel Dorf Award for Best Comics Blog and an International Horror Guild Award for The Night Factory Volume 2.

Contributing Editor: Jen Vaughn is a cartoonist, writer and full-time rainbow. When she’s not teaching kids that magic that lies betwixt words and pictures, she is undoubtedly drawing something filthy. She’s got a masters in cartooning so that’s something her mom can boast about at Bunco parties. You can often find her at cataloging books at the Schulz Graphic Novel Library or curating shows about cremation at the Main Street Museum in Vermont. Email her about comics magic happening in your town at the library, schools or local bookstores.

Technology Editor Bruce Lidl is a life-long comic fan and has worked for many years in the technology, consumer electronics and
digital distribution industries. He is an occasional blogger and pod-caster, and lives in San Diego.

As a young man, Spider-Man was bitten by a radioactive spider and became Spider-Man.
As a young boy, Contributing Editor  Torsten Adair got bitten by the comics bug and became a comics crusader.
Years were spent honing his skills, traveling the world, seeking out comics of all cultures, learning all he could about the alchemical dichotomy of words and pictures working together to transmit information.  Disguised as a mild-mannered librarian and bookseller, armed with an insatiable curiosity, a desire to help those in need, the arcane knowledge of millions of comics panels and articles read, and the gumption to convince all about the awesome power of comics, Torsten Adair fights a never-ending quest of literacy, enjoyment, and unabashed geekery for all!

Contributing Editor Marc-Oliver Frisch is a freelance writer and translator living in Saarbrücken, Germany. Among his translations are works by Neil Gaiman and Alan Moore, as well as fan-favorite independent titles CHEW, THE WALKING DEAD and INVINCIBLE. His personal blog is here.

Entertainment Editor Shannon OLeary is an editor, writer and cartoonist living in Los Angeles with her ghetto ass but dependable car, The Brick. She is the former Publicity and Marketing Manager for Sparkplug Comic Books and is currently working on the upcoming comics anthology, The Big Feminist BUT. She edited the 2007 comics anthology, Pet Noir (Manic D Press) and is a frequent contributor to Publisher’s Weekly. Her work has appeared in collections such as I Saw You... (Random House), To Do List (Simon & Schuster), and publications such as Bitch Magazine and Slate.com.

Contributing Editor Todd Allen is a technology consultant and former adjunct professor with Columbia College Chicago’s Arts, Entertainment & Media Management department. Allen’s book, The Economics of Web Comics, is taught at the college level. He also writes the Division & Rush webcomic. The opinions expressed here are not necessarily those of Publishers Weekly.]