Our Dark Knight Rides Off Into the Sunset

A thank you and farewell to RQ Art Director Michael Wohlberg

by Heather Shayne Blakeslee

A week before Root Quarterly was supposed to go to print for the first time in the spring of 2019, our designer had to drop out.

There wasn’t an opportunity to push back the print date: The party was scheduled, the sponsors secured, the tickets on sale and going quickly, and, come hell or highwater, we needed a brand new magazine to be created. In a week. With nothing yet designed.

The morning I got the call and understood the position I was in, I calmly hung up the phone, took a deep breath, and said to myself, “think.”

It took only a few seconds for a name to pop into my head: Michael Wohlberg. As the COO of Red Flag Media and the editor-in-chief for its sustainability title, Grid, I had worked with him for several years, and knew that he possessed the three things I was looking for: someone who was exceptionally fast, a monster print designer, and a professional who could land one design challenge after another on sometimes challenging material.

I texted Mike and alerted him to the emergency situation. I stared at my phone waiting for bubbles to appear, and immediately they did. He sent no text, but did send a picture of Batman, standing tall with a cape flowing behind him in an animated GIF, hands on his hips and ready to go. My anxiety level immediately went down, and the dark knight and I got to work.

illustration by Chrisopher Spencer • colorization by Michael Wohlberg • image from Vol. 2, Issue Two: FIGHT / FLIGHT / TEND & BEFRIEND

Though he was going to print with another magazine that week, though he was moving in with his amazing girlfriend Nancy that week, though he had fewer than seven days to come up with every choice needed to set us up for success that week, he made a great issue. We worked in his old apartment, where the only thing still set up was his computer, a chair, and a step stool, which we took turns sitting on. Apartment dust-bunnies rolled by in the nearly empty room. His dog Henry occasionally looked up at us with encouraging eyes.

Through sheer force of will, we made a magazine.

At the launch party, a beautiful inaugural issue of Root Quarterly was sent out into the world (you can still play find-the-typo if you’d like to see remnants of the extreme duress we were under I as fiddled with stuff our then copy editor, now ideas editor, Walter Foley, never got to see). Michael was about to leave the celebration.

As our chief illustrator Christopher Spencer complimented him on his work, I nervously asked Mike, “Would you do this again?”

“Hit me up,” was his reply, with a smile and goodbye for the evening. I was elated.

Through sheer force of will, we made a magazine.

Ford Fischer photo remix courtesy Michael Wohlberg

Two years and eight outstanding issues later, it’s time to say goodbye for good so that Mike can concentrate fully on his day job as the art director for Decibel magazine. Did I mention he’s a tried and true metalhead? Did I mention that funny text exchanges such as, “Can you take the blood spatter off the flower but leave it on the wall?” were fairly common?

Mike’s brilliance is his ability to bring visual depth and a strong vibe, no matter the vibe that is called for in the work, which he always reads thoroughly before even starting on concepts. A designer who reads is less common than you think, but when you get a piece back and they’ve chosen just the right approach, and just the right pull quotes treated in an arresting way, and all the right colors, and some great, bold font choices that help tell the story, you know you’ve got a magazine person in your midst.

People have noticed, and when they talk about the magazine, design is front and center.

Billy Penn asked, “A New Yorker for Philadelphia?” and described us as, “A high-production arts and culture affair with fiction, poetry and essays.”

When Library Journal named us a Best New Magazine in 2019 just after our launch, they said, “A joy to leaf through—and read. It is heavily illustrated, with a mix of photographs, drawings, and comic panels, and it makes creative use of typography. The content includes an eclectic mix of essays, fiction, interviews, reviews, and recipes, making for a strong new title.”

The Philadelphia Inquirer said we are, “An ambitious, meticulously designed publication about arts, culture, politics, food, and Philadelphia. It offers journalism, fiction, poetry, photographs, graphics, and personal essays by a diverse and youthful crew of creatives.”

That crew of creatives is now a man down, and Mike will be hard to replace. Not just for his insanely good instincts and monster production skills, but because he is funny, and kind, and honest, and cranky in the good kind of way—the cranky that comes from wanting things to be just right. (There were times I thought he might be in my head, because he always delivered just what was needed.) Though we all will miss him, I know I’ll miss him most of all, because he is a wonderfully creative collaborator.

Did I mention he’s a tried and true metalhead? Did I mention that funny text exchanges such as, “Can you take the blood spatter off the flower but leave it on the wall?” were fairly common?

Michael Wohlberg, thank you, my friend. For answering the bat signal, for the last two years, and for every killer spread you’ve ever designed for Root Quarterly. You will always be our hero, and you’ll be sorely missed. All best wishes to you for what lies ahead.

With Appreciation,

Heather Blakeslee
Publisher & Editor-in-Chief
Root Quarterly

If you think you might be our new designer, a big pair of shoes and a superhero cape awaits. Check out what we’re looking for and be in touch.