Rachel Pollack passes away at age 77

Trailblazing author Rachel Pollack has handed away after an extended sickness.

Her spouse Zoe Matoff posted on FB:

I’m unhappy to inform you that our beloved Rachel Pollack handed so peacefully and superbly immediately at about 12:45 p.m. after a touching ceremony known as Hand to Heart. (*77*) of us stood in a circle. I had my hand on her coronary heart. I started the circle by saying how a lot I like her and what she means to me. Each took their flip after me sharing their very own emotions and appreciation of Rachel. I do know that Rachel will proceed to be a Light on this world and within the subsequent. She will proceed to encourage so a lot of our beloved Tarot group, the Science Fiction and Fantasy group, the Comics group, and the Transgender group for whom she shared a lot respect and care. We have felt and cherished your love and prayers over the previous months and years as Rachel skilled so many well being challenges. We are One.

Pollack was greatest recognized in comics for her run on Doom Patrol at Vertigo, however she was additionally a famed for her data of the Tarot, by way of works resembling Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom: A Book of Tarot, one of the vital important works ever written on the topic.

Pollack’s Doom Patrol run began in 1993, following Grant Morrison’s epic stint, however she held up her finish of the cut price, working with Richard Case, Linda Medley and Ted McKeever to introduce characters resembling Charlie the Doll, The Bandage People and The SRS (Sexually Remaindered Spirits), and Kate Godwin, the primary trans superhero.

I do know extra will probably be written right here about Rachel, however I knew her as a smart and delightful lady who was all the time prepared to present her time to make the world a greater place – each by her highly effective writing and her personal generosity. She touched many individuals, and I’m so glad that lately her place as one of many first trans comics creators in mainstream comics was extra extensively recognized, and her work and profession was given the place it deserved. An Omnibus of her Doom Patrol work was printed final yr.

Rest in peace, Rachel, we are going to always remember you.