Based in New York City, Rachel Gluckstern is an award-winning, bestselling editor in the publishing and entertainment media industry. Her career has included creative development, narrative design, and visual storytelling for both the comics industry and trade publishing, particularly on licensed formats. Her expertise is in graphic novels: the format, the market, the trends, and a deep, deep Rolodex of creators and agents.
Gluckstern’s successes started with a long run with DC Entertainment. during which she worked with high-profile licenses including Looney Tunes, Scooby-Doo, and the biggest one of all, Batman. She was a key part of the New 52 brand revitalization, introduced the surprise hit character Joker's Daughter, and achieved multiple entries on the New York Times bestsellers lists for graphic novels. And if she wasn’t the first woman to edit the flagship title, Detective Comics, then she was part of a very small, very select group of female pioneers to hit that milestone.
During her time in trade publishing, Gluckstern became a full-time editor for BuzzPop, the licensed imprint of Little Bee Books. She launched the lucrative Crayola publishing program, contracted publishing partnerships with Archie Comic Publications, Inc. and WWE, and edited books with social media stars James Breakwell and Meredith Foster.
Her biggest achievement with Little Bee Books was taking the lead in developing their nascent graphic novel program, with her acquisition of the YA romance Always Human and the middle-grade re-imagining of the classic Archie characters in the series, The Riverdale Diaries. Always Human racked up stellar reviews, including being featured in a round-up of notable LGBTQ+ graphic novels by The New York Times. The Riverdale Diaries were picked up to be stocked and sold in Walmart.
In addition to her successes in comics and trade publishing, Gluckstern has founded her own consultation business, SuperStarEditor. Highlights have included editing the novel The Wanderer and the New West by Adam Bender, which earned a starred review from Kirkus, developing the Charmz imprint for Papercutz, a middle-grade graphic novel line, and writing YA nonfiction books for Rosen Publishing including The Gross Science of Sneezing, Coughing, and Vomiting. She has been guest editor on Cozy Companion, the cozy gaming magazine published by Snowbright Studio. Most recently, she has begun editing collected editions for DC Entertainment again, starting with World’s Finest: Teen Titans. Other clients have included Penguin Random House, Scholastic, Workman, and Storymix.
Most recently, Gluckstern was the Executive Editor for InterPop, a digital media company. She built and led its comics division, and fleshed out InterPop’s original IP, the Emergents Universe. Not only did Gluckstern develop and launch six ongoing comics series, she built the infrastructure and workflow for the publishing departments and collaborated heavily on the trading card game expression of the Emergents. In short, Rachel Gluckstern is someone who thrives on creative development and who also understands the practical foundation needed to execute such efforts on the highest level.
See what collaborators and clients have to say about working with Rachel Gluckstern here.