# Which Marvel Comics executive dropped dead when they fired him?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-marvel-comics-executive-dropped-dead-when-they-fired-him/1029707>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Tags:** comic-books-manga\
**Created:** [May 1, 2026, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-marvel-comics-executive-dropped-dead-when-they-fired-him/1029707 "2026-05-01T21:31:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\
**Post date:** [May 1, 2026, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-marvel-comics-executive-dropped-dead-when-they-fired-him/1029707/1 "2026-05-01T21:31:31Z")

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In Sean Howe’s _Marvel Comics: The Untold Story,_ he mentioned a hard-driving, cost-cutting executive for Marvel Comics who was summarily fired by new owners and collapsed–dead?–on the spot. I just spent the last half hour trying to find that passage in my Kindle copy, and can’t. Does anyone remember this story? I’m thinking it was Joe “The Squid” Calamari, but it could just as easily be Ike Perlmutter or one of those other upper management guys who were post-Shooter and pre-Disney.

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**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\
**Post date:** [May 1, 2026, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-marvel-comics-executive-dropped-dead-when-they-fired-him/1029707/2 "2026-05-01T21:49:52Z")

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This is the best cite that I can find, such as it is. If you search for ‘clutched’ it says Albert Landau collapsed when told he would be replaced by Jim Galton. Galton would have been the hard-driving, cost-cutting executive and I don’t think that Landau died at that time.

> **[Why Your Favorite Writer or Artist Left That Marvel Comic You Used to Read](https://ronbrassfield.wordpress.com/2013/05/29/why-your-favorite-writer-or-artist-left-that-marvel-comic-you-used-to-read/)**
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> Mundane concerns such as Spring cleaning, groundskeeping efforts, trying to get back into the swing of screenwriting, getting the car’s air-conditioning working again, and preparing to take o…

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**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\
**Post date:** [May 1, 2026, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-marvel-comics-executive-dropped-dead-when-they-fired-him/1029707/3 "2026-05-01T22:48:56Z")

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Sounds right, thanks!