Carol Kalish
Encyclopedia
Carol Kalish was an American writer, editor, comic book retailer, and sales manager. She worked as Direct Sales
Manager and Vice President of New Product Development at Marvel Comics
from 1981 to 1991. She is credited with pioneering the American comics direct market when it was in its adolescence, in part through a program wherein Marvel helped pay for comic book stores to acquire cash registers. She was the winner of an Inkpot Award
in 1991, and in 2010 was posthumously awarded the first ComicsPRO Industry Appreciation Award, beating nominees such as Will Eisner
, Julius Schwartz
and Phil Seuling
.
with Honors in Geography and a specialty in History.
Kalish worked as a comic book
retailer and wholesaler. Her first work in circulation was two years as Circulation Manager on the science fiction publication Galileo
. This led to the position as assistant editor on a line of comic books with New Media Publishing, and later Marvel, where she began working at 1981, having been hired by Ed Shukin, Marvel’s Vice President in charge of sales.
She was known as Marvel's "Mistress of Propaganda," and "discovered" Alex Ross
and Peter David
, who worked with Kalish as Assistant Sale Manager in Marvel Comics
' Sales Department, along with Sandy Schechter.
Beginning in the mid-1980s, Kalish spearheaded the expansion of the Marvel's distribution into theretofore unexplored retail outlets, including major bookstores such as B. Daltons and Waldenbooks
.
Kalish also conducted numerous trips to comic book shops during the course of her work and on her vacation time, during which she would offer advice to retailers on how to improve their stores. During these visits, Kalish consistently observed the absence of cash registers on the part of retailers, and was inspired to originate Marvel's cash register program, with which the company would subsidize, at bulk cost, registers for retailers, which is credited with positively affecting the level of professionalism of the direct market.
According to a March 2010 piece by retailer and Comic Book Resources
columnist Brian Hibbs:
Kalish also set the official Marvel direct sales policy regarding retailer orders of back issue stock, emphasizing to retailers that they should order only what they could sell within a month’s time, and not order additional copies intended solely for back stock, as this would merely tie up their money. Although this was considered "heresy" at the time, Kalish advised retailers that was far wiser to keep capital available for the flow of new comics coming into stores.
It was during Kalish's tenure in Marvel Sales that copies of the company's adaptation of the 1983 film Star Wars: Return of the Jedi
was discovered by actor Mark Hamill
on sale a month prior to the release of the film. After Hamill alerted Lucasfilm
, Marvel, according to Kalish, swiftly recalled the book off the stands. Though none of the three people in the Sales Department were fired over the incident, it resulted in premature revelation of the secrets of the film's plot.
During the last year or so of her life, Kalish developed a line of religious books, Civil War comics, and "greeting card" comics to expand Marvel's market. She was also preparing to leave Marvel to start her own publishing firm.
Tributes to Kalish were generally complimentary, including a Peter David
-written eulogy in the Comics Buyer's Guide
, in which he credited her with making him a comics industry professional, and a memorial service arranged by Marvel Comics president Terry Stewart. The outpouring of grief seen in the letters pages of CBG was theretofore unprecedented.
Fantagraphics publisher Gary Groth
, however, was less effusive. Although respectful of Kalish's personal qualities, Groth considers that these were not always used for the best of purposes: "Kalish, who I have no reason to believe was anything other than decent and personable in her personal relations, devoted her professional life to expanding the hegemonic power of a corporation that already owns all the distributors and most of the retailers...." Groth's piece led to outrage on the part of Kalish's friend and former co-worker, writer Peter David
, who named his youngest daughter after Kalish, and found Groth's piece to be "vicious", and retaliated by parodying Groth as Louis Lance, a snobbish publisher of the only comics he considers to be "true art", who looks down on superhero comics published by large, work-for-hire companies, in a fictitious panel discussion that David ran in "Snob Appeal", an edition of his then-weekly column, "But I Digress..." in Comics Buyer's Guide
. David also took issue with attacks on Kalish by Mile High Comics
retailer and columnist Chuck Rozanski
.
When Glenn Hauman
, the webmaster of David's website, reprinted David's eulogy to Kalish on David's site in 2002, along with a request to the site's visitors to link heavily to the post in order to displace Groth's 1991 piece as the top search result on Google
, Comics Journal online editor Dirk Deppey defended Groth's 1991 piece, saying that it was directed not at Kalish personally, but at her work and the outpouring of grief on the part of CBG letter writers and David himself, which Groth and Deppey perceived as "beatification", trite and inarticulate.
In 2010, Kalish was awarded the first ComicsPRO Industry Appreciation Award in the posthumous category, a "Hall of Fame"-type award that was created to honor behind-the-scenes publishing personnel for helping to promote the comics market, beating fellow nominees Will Eisner
, Phil Seuling
and Julius Schwartz
. The award was accepted by Richard Howell on her behalf. Though Howell was not present at the ceremony, writer/editor Paul Levitz read a statement by Howell, who stated that Kalish's goal was "to make the direct market as strong as it could be".
Direct market
The direct market is the dominant distribution and retail network for North American comic books. It consists of one dominant distributor and the majority of comics specialty stores, as well as other retailers of comic books and related merchandise...
Manager and Vice President of New Product Development at Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
from 1981 to 1991. She is credited with pioneering the American comics direct market when it was in its adolescence, in part through a program wherein Marvel helped pay for comic book stores to acquire cash registers. She was the winner of an Inkpot Award
Inkpot Award
The Inkpot Award, bestowed annually since 1974 by Comic-Con International, is given to some of the professionals in comic book, comic strip, animation, science fiction, and related pop-culture fields, who are guests of that organization's yearly multigenre fan convention, commonly known as...
in 1991, and in 2010 was posthumously awarded the first ComicsPRO Industry Appreciation Award, beating nominees such as Will Eisner
Will Eisner
William Erwin "Will" Eisner was an American comics writer, artist and entrepreneur. He is considered one of the most important contributors to the development of the medium and is known for the cartooning studio he founded; for his highly influential series The Spirit; for his use of comics as an...
, Julius Schwartz
Julius Schwartz
Julius "Julie" Schwartz was a comic book and pulp magazine editor, and a science fiction agent and prominent fan. He was born in the Bronx, New York...
and Phil Seuling
Phil Seuling
Philip Nicholas Seuling was a comic book fan convention organizer and comics distributor primarily active in the 1970s. Seuling was the organizer of the annual New York Comic Art Convention, originally held in New York City every July 4 weekend throughout the 1970s...
.
Early life
Kalish had a sister named Candace. She graduated from Radcliffe CollegeRadcliffe College
Radcliffe College was a women's liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and was the coordinate college for Harvard University. It was also one of the Seven Sisters colleges. Radcliffe College conferred joint Harvard-Radcliffe diplomas beginning in 1963 and a formal merger agreement with...
with Honors in Geography and a specialty in History.
Career
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
retailer and wholesaler. Her first work in circulation was two years as Circulation Manager on the science fiction publication Galileo
Galileo (magazine)
Galileo Magazine of Science & Fiction was a science fiction magazine which appeared as a quarterly in the 8½ × 11 format for five issues, issue #5 being published in October 1977. It then changed to a bimonthly publishing schedule beginning with issue #6 published in January 1978. The last issue...
. This led to the position as assistant editor on a line of comic books with New Media Publishing, and later Marvel, where she began working at 1981, having been hired by Ed Shukin, Marvel’s Vice President in charge of sales.
She was known as Marvel's "Mistress of Propaganda," and "discovered" Alex Ross
Alex Ross
Nelson Alexander "Alex" Ross is an American comic book painter, illustrator, and plotter. He is praised for his realistic, human depictions of classic comic book characters. Since the 1990s he has done work for Marvel Comics and DC Comics Nelson Alexander "Alex" Ross (born January 22, 1970) is an...
and Peter David
Peter David
Peter Allen David , often abbreviated PAD, is an American writer of comic books, novels, television, movies and video games...
, who worked with Kalish as Assistant Sale Manager in Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
' Sales Department, along with Sandy Schechter.
Beginning in the mid-1980s, Kalish spearheaded the expansion of the Marvel's distribution into theretofore unexplored retail outlets, including major bookstores such as B. Daltons and Waldenbooks
Waldenbooks
Waldenbooks , operated by the Walden Book Company, Inc., was an American shopping mall-based bookstore chain and a subsidiary of Borders Group. The chain also ran a video game and software chain under the name Waldensoftware as well as a children's edutainment chain under Walden Kids...
.
Kalish also conducted numerous trips to comic book shops during the course of her work and on her vacation time, during which she would offer advice to retailers on how to improve their stores. During these visits, Kalish consistently observed the absence of cash registers on the part of retailers, and was inspired to originate Marvel's cash register program, with which the company would subsidize, at bulk cost, registers for retailers, which is credited with positively affecting the level of professionalism of the direct market.
According to a March 2010 piece by retailer and Comic Book Resources
Comic Book Resources
Comic Book Resources, also known as CBR is a website dedicated to the coverage of comic book-related news and discussion.-History:Comic Book Resources was founded by Jonah Weiland in 1996 as a development of the Kingdom Come Message Board, a message forum that Weiland had created to discuss DC...
columnist Brian Hibbs:
Once upon a time Marvel, under Carol's DM sales team, was the most DM-friendly publisher. The cash register program, rack credits via the IADD, effective and scrupulous solicitations, these were all things that happened under Carol's watch. In fact, I'll still always remember being 16 years old, working at another person's store, and Carol was in town for a vacation, and she took the time to come in and make a half-dozen practical and direct suggestions as to how that store could be made better; not specifically for Marvel, but just a better store in general. That was a powerful memory for me, and the lessons that Carol taught us have stuck with me all of these years later. I thought, "that's how I want to be when I grow up", and I am, frankly, personally embarrassed that current Marvel management isn't willing to live up to her legacy, and engage the people who sell their comics for them, and represent them to the buying public.
Kalish also set the official Marvel direct sales policy regarding retailer orders of back issue stock, emphasizing to retailers that they should order only what they could sell within a month’s time, and not order additional copies intended solely for back stock, as this would merely tie up their money. Although this was considered "heresy" at the time, Kalish advised retailers that was far wiser to keep capital available for the flow of new comics coming into stores.
It was during Kalish's tenure in Marvel Sales that copies of the company's adaptation of the 1983 film Star Wars: Return of the Jedi
Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi is a 1983 American epic space opera film directed by Richard Marquand and written by George Lucas and Lawrence Kasdan. It is the third film released in the Star Wars saga, and the sixth in terms of the series' internal chronology...
was discovered by actor Mark Hamill
Mark Hamill
Mark Richard Hamill is an American actor, voice artist, producer, director, and writer, best known for his role as Luke Skywalker in the original trilogy of Star Wars. More recently, he has received acclaim for his voice work, in such roles as the Joker in Batman: The Animated Series, Firelord...
on sale a month prior to the release of the film. After Hamill alerted Lucasfilm
Lucasfilm
Lucasfilm Limited is an American film production company founded by George Lucas in 1971, based in San Francisco, California. Lucas is the company's current chairman and CEO, and Micheline Chau is the president and COO....
, Marvel, according to Kalish, swiftly recalled the book off the stands. Though none of the three people in the Sales Department were fired over the incident, it resulted in premature revelation of the secrets of the film's plot.
During the last year or so of her life, Kalish developed a line of religious books, Civil War comics, and "greeting card" comics to expand Marvel's market. She was also preparing to leave Marvel to start her own publishing firm.
Death and legacy
Kalish died on September 5, 1991 from a brain aneurysm, at the age 36.Tributes to Kalish were generally complimentary, including a Peter David
Peter David
Peter Allen David , often abbreviated PAD, is an American writer of comic books, novels, television, movies and video games...
-written eulogy in the Comics Buyer's Guide
Comics Buyer's Guide
Comics Buyer's Guide , established in 1971, is the longest-running English-language periodical reporting on the American comic book industry...
, in which he credited her with making him a comics industry professional, and a memorial service arranged by Marvel Comics president Terry Stewart. The outpouring of grief seen in the letters pages of CBG was theretofore unprecedented.
Fantagraphics publisher Gary Groth
Gary Groth
Gary Groth is an American comic book editor, publisher and critic. He is editor-in-chief of The Comics Journal and a co-founder of Fantagraphics Books.-Early life:...
, however, was less effusive. Although respectful of Kalish's personal qualities, Groth considers that these were not always used for the best of purposes: "Kalish, who I have no reason to believe was anything other than decent and personable in her personal relations, devoted her professional life to expanding the hegemonic power of a corporation that already owns all the distributors and most of the retailers...." Groth's piece led to outrage on the part of Kalish's friend and former co-worker, writer Peter David
Peter David
Peter Allen David , often abbreviated PAD, is an American writer of comic books, novels, television, movies and video games...
, who named his youngest daughter after Kalish, and found Groth's piece to be "vicious", and retaliated by parodying Groth as Louis Lance, a snobbish publisher of the only comics he considers to be "true art", who looks down on superhero comics published by large, work-for-hire companies, in a fictitious panel discussion that David ran in "Snob Appeal", an edition of his then-weekly column, "But I Digress..." in Comics Buyer's Guide
Comics Buyer's Guide
Comics Buyer's Guide , established in 1971, is the longest-running English-language periodical reporting on the American comic book industry...
. David also took issue with attacks on Kalish by Mile High Comics
Mile High Comics
Mile High Comics is an online retailer and a chain of 4 Colorado comic book stores founded by Chuck Rozanski in 1969 from his parents' basement in Colorado Springs, Colorado....
retailer and columnist Chuck Rozanski
Chuck Rozanski
Charles Rozanski is a German-American retailer and columnist, known as the President and CEO of the Denver, Colorado-based Mile High Comics Inc., and a columnist for the Comics Buyer's Guide.-Early life:...
.
When Glenn Hauman
Glenn Hauman
Glenn Hauman is an American writer, editor, publisher and comic book colorist. He has worked in a variety of roles in print and electronic publishing, including software and website development, as well as for his TV and novel work within the Star Trek and X-Men franchises.-Career:Hauman worked was...
, the webmaster of David's website, reprinted David's eulogy to Kalish on David's site in 2002, along with a request to the site's visitors to link heavily to the post in order to displace Groth's 1991 piece as the top search result on Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
, Comics Journal online editor Dirk Deppey defended Groth's 1991 piece, saying that it was directed not at Kalish personally, but at her work and the outpouring of grief on the part of CBG letter writers and David himself, which Groth and Deppey perceived as "beatification", trite and inarticulate.
In 2010, Kalish was awarded the first ComicsPRO Industry Appreciation Award in the posthumous category, a "Hall of Fame"-type award that was created to honor behind-the-scenes publishing personnel for helping to promote the comics market, beating fellow nominees Will Eisner
Will Eisner
William Erwin "Will" Eisner was an American comics writer, artist and entrepreneur. He is considered one of the most important contributors to the development of the medium and is known for the cartooning studio he founded; for his highly influential series The Spirit; for his use of comics as an...
, Phil Seuling
Phil Seuling
Philip Nicholas Seuling was a comic book fan convention organizer and comics distributor primarily active in the 1970s. Seuling was the organizer of the annual New York Comic Art Convention, originally held in New York City every July 4 weekend throughout the 1970s...
and Julius Schwartz
Julius Schwartz
Julius "Julie" Schwartz was a comic book and pulp magazine editor, and a science fiction agent and prominent fan. He was born in the Bronx, New York...
. The award was accepted by Richard Howell on her behalf. Though Howell was not present at the ceremony, writer/editor Paul Levitz read a statement by Howell, who stated that Kalish's goal was "to make the direct market as strong as it could be".
External links
- Carol Kalish at the Grand Comics Database