The Most Important Comic Book Figure You’ve Never Heard Of… 1 1

[N e r V]

Just realized yesterday was the 30th anniversary of her death. Controversial to some I miss seeing her after her passing and like it or not she had a big impact on the industry at the time and probably would have continued if her life wasn’t cut short. In my book a forward thinker of what the industry could be. She’d be pleasantly surprised to see much of the market today has come of age.

Here’s a piece on her from last year if you don’t know who she was:

https://www.gamesradar.com/uk/an-oral-history-of-carol-kalish-the-most-important-comic-book-figure-youve-never-heard-of/

 

 

Dori Seda (1951-1988), Lee Marrs, Jan Duursema, Trina Robbins and Carol Kalish on the Women In Comics panel at the 1982 San Diego Comic Con (today called Comic-Con International).

 

Edited December 8, 2021 by N e r V

[kav]

she looks smart.  not fake smart real smart.

[N e r V]

Here’s the lovely piece Gary Groth did on her directly after her death. I actually think he’s had a number of good points over the years but they all get buried in his personal attitude and frankly lack of social Professional etiquette. I wouldn’t think he’s invited to many weddings or funerals…

https://web.archive.org/web/20000615053747/http://www.tcj.com/2_archives/e_groth1191.html

 

 

 

[N e r V]

And on the other side from Peter David:

 

http://www.peterdavid.net/archives/001238.html

[Randall Dowling]

Thanks for sharing this, my friend.  Well done.  

[Coverless 9.8]

At first I thought you were writing about Dori Seda, who also died very young.  I'm sure Kalish would be aghast at the state of the new comic book market!  They got rid of that pesky returnable newsstand distribution, and the direct market couldn't be called healthy!  Rest In Print!  

[N e r V]

On 12/7/2021 at 12:04 AM, Coverless 9.8 said:

At first I thought you were writing about Dori Seda, who also died very young.  I'm sure Kalish would be aghast at the state of the new comic book market!  They got rid of that pesky returnable newsstand distribution, and the direct market couldn't be called healthy!  Rest In Print!  

I wasn’t a big fan of that type of work but certainly remember Dori Seda and her early death too. No I wasn’t referring to the current state of the print market but more of how Marvel and others have emerged in the 21st century as well known media fixtures. No one in 1991 envisioned comics fate as it is 2021. When Amazon appeared in the late 1990’s and was a premiere bookseller at first then quickly moved to other markets by the early 2000’s that was the decline of really all print media beginning to happen. Comics weren’t loners they were just along for the ride and fortunately for them they had other options outside print unlike most others…

[stock_rotation]

On 12/6/2021 at 9:14 PM, N e r V said:

Here’s the lovely piece Gary Groth did on her directly after her death.

There are few people for whom I am looking forward to reading their obituary. Groth is one of them. What a colossal individual_without_enough_empathy.

[Namtak]

 

Edited December 7, 2021 by Namtak

[Muno42]

On 12/7/2021 at 3:54 PM, Namtak said:

One of the most expensive and important action figure

This is inappropriate.

 

[ttfitz]

I met Carol Kalish back in the late 80s at my local comic shop. This was not some big business - they might have made the Top 1000 Comic Shops if there were only 1500 of them - but here was a VP from Marvel, coming to talk to them. She was a striking woman, prematurely gray, and had the rare ability to talk AND listen. It was something, seeing someone who clearly was interested in growing Marvel's business, obviously, but also interested in making sure the local shops were doing well regardless.

[N e r V]

 

An interesting look at direct sales figures while she was at Marvel. See Tom Brevoort’s site: https://tombrevoort.com/2021/08/07/the-direct-market-sales-figures-of-marvels-carol-kalish/