Posted in: Comics, Current News | Tagged: doom patrol, rachel pollack, rip

Rachel Pollack, Of Doom Patrol & Vertigo Tarot, Dies At 76

Rachel Pollack passed away yesterday, with her wife and loved ones by her side, at the age of 76.

Published Sat, 08 Apr 2023 16:45:11 -0500

Last updated Sun, 21 May 2023 13:47:55 -0500

Rachel Pollack passed away yesterday, at the age of 76 with her wife and loved ones by her side. Best known in the comic book sphere for writing Doom Patrol for DC Comics, she was also a World Fantasy Award Winning author of Godmother Night as well as novels such as Unquenchable Fire and Temporary Agency and a renowned tarot artist, and author, commissioned to create the tarot deck for the James Bond movie, Live and Let Die, as well as the Vertigo Tarot Deck with Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean.

Her wife Zoe Matoff, posted on Facebook saying, "I am sad to tell you that our beloved Rachel Pollack passed so peacefully and beautifully today at about 12:45 p.m. after a touching ceremony called Hand to Heart. Several of us stood in a circle. I had my hand on her heart. I began the circle by saying how much I love her and what she means to me. Each took their turn after me sharing their own feelings and appreciation of Rachel. I know that Rachel will continue to be a Light in this world and in the next. She will continue to inspire so many of our beloved Tarot community, the Science Fiction and Fantasy community, the Comics community, and the Transgender community for whom she shared so much respect and care. We have felt and cherished your love and prayers over the past months and years as Rachel experienced so many health challenges. We are One."

Her work on Doom Patrol was uncollected for decades but that changed in recent years and DC Comics issued a Doom Patrol Rachel Pollack Omnibus recently, alongside the Doom Patrol TV series which used a number of aspects of her runon the comic. Notably she co-created Kate Godwin, Coagula, the first obliquely trans superhero. She was also one of the earliest openly trans comic book creators at the time as well. She also wrote for Vertigo Visions anthology with Brother Power the Geek, creator-owned series Tomahawk, New Gods, and Time Breakers for DC Comics. She recently reunited with her Doom Patrol team of Richard Case and John Workman to create a short story for the music-themed horror anthology comic Dead Beats.

In July last year, Pollack revealed she was undergoing chemotherapy for lymphoma, and in March that she was in hospice treatment and receiving palliative care.

Neil Gaiman posted "She was my friend for 38 years and I will miss her. Sending love to Rachel Pollack wherever her journeys take her… May you, whoever you are, have a life like Rachel's, one that changes things for people, a life where you follow your star and leave a more interesting world behind you. And may you, like Rachel, never lose your sense of humour."

DC Comics posted "DC is deeply saddened by the passing of Rachel Pollack. Her trailblazing work on DOOM PATROL changed DC forever and inspired a generation of talent, setting a new bar for ambition and experimentation in superhero comics. She loved the medium, and it loved her back."

Roz Kaveney posted "My apologies in advance if I suffer fools less gladly today. My dear friend Rachel Pollack just died to whom I owe so much of who I am and with whom in 1972, I helped draft one of the first modern TransRights manifestos. Some of the language reflects it's early date but I still like the way it demedicalises and depathologizes trans identity and recognizes varieties of trans experience. When I think about trans futures, hoping that attempts at our elimination will fail, and meeting much younger trans and non-binary people, I hope that part of Rachel's legacy both as activist and mystic will have been a serious commitment to playfulness and generosity of spirit."