David A. Kaler (b. 1936) is an American writer. He was a primary force in establishing 1960s

comic book A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

fandom A fandom is a subculture composed of Fan (person), fans characterized by a feeling of camaraderie with others who share a common interest. Fans typically are interested in even minor details of the objects of their fandom and spend a significan ...

, particularly through the form of the

comics convention A comic book convention or comic con is a fan convention emphasizing comic books and comic book culture, in which comic book fans gather to meet creators, experts, and each other. Commonly, comic conventions are multi-day events hosted at conv ...

. Later, he had a short-lived career as a comics writer for such publishers as

Charlton Comics Charlton Comics was an American comic-book publishing company that existed from 1945 to 1986, having begun under a different name: T. W. O. Charles Company, in 1940. It was based in Derby, Connecticut. The comic-book line (comics), line was a divi ...

DC Comics DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...

, and

Warren Publishing Warren Publishing was an American magazine company founded by James Warren (publisher), James Warren, who published his first magazines in 1957 and continued in the business for decades. Magazines published by Warren include ''After Hours (magazin ...

Biography

Fandom

In 1965, Kaler was living in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, sharing an East Village apartment with burgeoning comics writers

Dennis O'Neil Dennis "Denny" Joseph O'Neil (May 3, 1939 – June 11, 2020) was an American comic book writer and editor, principally for Marvel Comics and DC Comics from the 1960s through the 1990s, and Group Editor for the Batman family of titles until h ...

and

Roy Thomas Roy William Thomas Jr."Roy Thomas Checklist" ''Alter Ego'' vol. 3, #50 (July 2005) p. 16 (born November 22, 1940) is an American comic book writer and editor. He was Stan Lee's first successor as editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics and possibly bes ...

. Employed as a market researcher, Kaler had a collection of between 4,000 and 5,000 comics. By that point, Kaler was Executive Secretary of the Academy of Comic-Book Fans and Collectors (ACBFC), "... a fandom organization that would ... perpetuate the concept of comics as an art form." The group's charter included the formation of the

Alley Award The Alley Award was an American annual series of comic book fan awards, first presented in 1962 for comics published in 1961. Officially organized under the aegis of the Academy of Comic Book Arts and Sciences, the award shared close ties with th ...

s, the publication of the comic news fanzine ''

The Comic Reader ''The Comic Reader'' (''TCR'') was a comics news-fanzine published from 1961 to 1984. Debuting in the pre-direct market era (before the proliferation of comics retailers), ''TCR'' was the first regularly published comics industry news fanzine, an ...

'', and the creation of "a directory of comic fans" to assist in establishing a yearly comics convention and to endorse a "code of fair practice in the selling and trading of comic books." Under Kaler's leadership, the academy produced three successful conventionsSchelly, "Introduction," ''Founders of Comic Fandom'', p. 8. in New York City during the summers of 1965–1967, and attracting industry professionals such as

Otto Binder Otto Oscar Binder (; August 26, 1911 – October 13, 1974) was an American author of science fiction and non-fiction books and stories, and comic books. He is best known as the co-creator of Supergirl and for his many scripts for '' Captain Ma ...

Bill Finger Milton "Bill" Finger (February 8, 1914 – ) was an American comic book writer who co-created the DC Comics character Batman with Bob Kane. Despite making major (sometimes, signature) contributions as an innovative writer, visionary mythos/world ...

Gardner Fox Gardner Francis Cooper Fox (May 20, 1911 – December 24, 1986) was an American writer known best for creating numerous comic book characters for DC Comics. He is estimated to have written more than 4,000 comics stories, including 1,500 for DC ...

Mort Weisinger Mortimer Weisinger (; April 25, 1915 – May 7, 1978) was an American magazine and comic book editor best known for editing DC Comics' ''Superman'' during the mid-1950s to 1960s, in the Silver Age of comic books. He also co-created such features ...

, James Warren,

Gil Kane Gil Kane (; born Eli Katz , ; April 6, 1926 – January 31, 2000) was a Latvian-born American comics artist whose career spanned the 1940s to the 1990s and virtually every major comics company and character. Kane co-created the modern-day vers ...

Stan Lee Stan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber ; December 28, 1922 – November 12, 2018) was an American comic book author, writer, editor, publisher, and producer. He rose through the ranks of a family-run business called Timely Comics which later bec ...

Bill Everett William Blake Everett (; May 18, 1917 – February 27, 1973) was an American comic book writer-artist best known for creating Namor the Sub-Mariner as well as co-creating Zombie (comics), Zombie and Daredevil (Marvel Comics character), Daredevil ...

Carmine Infantino Carmine Infantino (; May 24, 1925 – April 4, 2013) was an American comics artist and editing, editor, primarily for DC Comics, during the late 1950s and early 1960s period known as the Silver Age of Comic Books. Among his character creations are ...

Julius Schwartz Julius "Julie" Schwartz ( ; June 19, 1915 – February 8, 2004) was an American comic book editor, and a science fiction agent. He was born in The Bronx, New York. He is best known as a longtime editor at DC Comics, where at various times he ...

Frank Frazetta Frank Frazetta (born Frank Frazzetta ; February 9, 1928 – May 10, 2010) was an American artist known for themes of Fantasy art, fantasy and science fiction, noted for comic books, mass market paperback, paperback book covers, paintings, p ...

Roy Krenkel Roy Gerald Krenkel (July 11, 1918 – February 24, 1983), who often signed his work RGK, was an American illustrator who specialized in fantasy and historical drawings and paintings for books, magazines and comic books. Influences and stu ...

, and Stephen Hickman. Kaler was given the 1965

for Best Fan Project for his production of the first so-called " Academy Con". In the summer of 1966, Kaler was the guest of honor at the first Southwesterncon, the first comics convention held in Texas.Schelly ''Founders of Comic Fandom'', p. 60. During this period, Kaler also wrote the "What's News" column for the comics news

fanzine A fanzine (blend word, blend of ''fan (person), fan'' and ''magazine'' or ''zine'') is a non-professional and non-official publication produced by enthusiasts of a particular cultural phenomenon (such as a literary or musical genre) for the pleas ...

''. For this work, he was twice selected for

s. In early 1968, Kaler left the ACBFC to pursue his professional comics writing. Nonetheless, he planned another Academy Con for the 1968

Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in October and November in the United States, Canada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Germany. It is also observed in the Australian territory ...

weekend, but it never came to pass, possibly because of the successful first iteration of

Phil Seuling Philip Nicholas Seuling (; January 20, 1934 – August 21, 1984) was an American 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, orig ...

Comic Art Convention The Comic Art Convention (CAC) was an American comic book fan convention held annually New York City, New York, over Independence Day weekend from 1968 through 1983, except for 1977, when it was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and 1978 to 19 ...

(a.k.a. the "International Convention of Comic Book Art"), which took place in New York City in the summer of 1968. By this point, comics fandom had become well established, with annual conventions being held in New York,

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

, St. Louis, and the

Southwest The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A '' compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west— ...

, and the academy's mission had been essentially fulfilled. Academy member

Maggie Thompson Maggie Thompson (born Margaret Curtis; November 29, 1942) is an American longtime editor of the now-defunct comic book industry news magazine ''Comics Buyer's Guide'', science fiction fan, and collector of comics. Early life Margaret (nickname ...

declared the ACBFC "moribund" and the group had disbanded by 1970.

Comics writing

In 1966, Kaler's former roommate

got Kaler in the door at

, as Kaler began a short-lived stint as a professional comics writer, often writing

horror comics Horror comics are comic books, graphic novels, black-and-white comics magazines, and manga focusing on horror fiction. In the US market, horror comic books reached a peak in the late 1940s through the mid-1950s, when concern over content and the ...

. He started out on Charlton's superhero title ''

Captain Atom Captain Atom is the name of several superheroes appearing in American comic books, initially owned by Charlton Comics before being acquired in the 1980s by DC Comics. All possess some form of energy-manipulating abilities, usually relating to nuc ...

'' (shortly before the title was canceled). With

Steve Ditko Stephen John Ditko. Page contains two reproductions from school yearbooks. A 1943 Garfield Junior High School yearbook excerpt lists "Stephen Ditko". A 1945 Johnstown High School yearbook excerpt lists "Stephen J. Ditko" under extracurricular ac ...

, he co-created

Nightshade Solanaceae (), commonly known as the nightshades, is a family of flowering plants in the order Solanales. It contains approximately 2,700 species, several of which are used as agricultural crops, medicinal plants, and ornamental plants. Many me ...

in ''Captain Atom'' #82 (September 1966). Kaler's other writing for Charlton included on such titles as '' Ghostly Tales'' (1966–1968), '' The Many Ghosts of Doctor Graves'' (1967), ''

Sarge Steel Sarge Steel is a detective/ spy character published by Charlton Comics during the 1960s. As he was published during the time of Charlton's ''Action Heroes'' line of superheroes, and had loose ties to some, he is sometimes included with that group. ...

'', ''Marine War Heroes'' (1967), ''Outlaws of the West'' (1967), and ''Tiffany Sinn'' (1967). After his stint at Charlton, Kaler moved to

's horror title ''

Eerie Eerie may refer to: * Feeling of creepiness * Eerie (magazine), ''Eerie'' (magazine), an American horror comic first published in 1966 * Eerie (Avon), ''Eerie'' (Avon), a 1947 horror comic * Eerie (film), ''Eerie'' (film), a 2018 Filipino horror fi ...

'', where he wrote some stories in 1968. In the period 1969–1971, Kaler wrote for the

' horror anthology '' The Witching Hour'', also contributing a

Wonder Woman Wonder Woman is a superheroine who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character first appeared in ''All Star Comics'' Introducing Wonder Woman, #8, published October 21, 1941, with her first feature in ''Sensation Comic ...

story (written in 1968 but not published until 1974). He left comics writing in 1971. In 1977, Kaler edited Vol. 3 ("Escapes to Arboria") of the ''

Flash Gordon Flash Gordon is the protagonist of a space adventure comic strip created and originally drawn by Alex Raymond. First published January 7, 1934, the strip was inspired by, and created to compete with, the already established ''Buck Rogers'' ...

comic strip A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics terminology#Captio ...

collection edited and published by

Woody Gelman Woodrow Gelman (1915 – February 9, 1978) was a publisher, cartoonist, novelist and an artist-writer for both animation and comic books. As the publisher of Nostalgia Press, he pioneered the reprinting of vintage comic strips in quality hardcov ...

/Nostalgia Press.

Awards

* 1965

for Best Fan Project — New York Comicon * 1966 Alley Award for Best Regular Fan Column — "What's News" (for ''On the Drawing Board'' section of ''

'') * 1967 Alley Award for Best Regular Fan Column — "What's News"

References

Notes

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kaler, Dave 1936 births American comics writers American magazine editors Comics fandom Comics critics Living people