It’s interesting. There are some people who you know you’re indebted to, even though you’ve never met. Folks who created something popular and valuable and precious that lasts and thrives and grows, sometimes to the point that its origins and originator are forgotten. And while that’s natural, it’s also important to occassionally take the time to remember.
On November 3, 2009, Shel Dorf, the creator of that which is now known as Comic-Con International: San Diego, died.
Shel Dorf was born in Detroit in 1933 and became a fan of comics. That’s an understatement. He became comics number one fan, the one who recognized and advocated the greatness of comic strips and comic books at a time when they were largely considered ephemera unworthy of real regard.
Dorf’s passion for comics lead him to befriend, seemingly, every comics creator around. His friendship with the legendary Milt Caniff lead Dorf to a breif stint contributing to Caniff’s strip Steve Canyon. Beyond his personal professional credits, his connections let him help establish fan conventions in Detroit in the mid-1960s. When he later moved to San Diego, he organized the comics community there to create a similar convention, and the rest is history.
That first convention at the U.S. Grant Hotel in 1970 drew a few hundred people, and while many, many people were involved with making it a success, Dorf was the sine qua non, without whom none of it would’ve happened.
Over the years, as the convnetion’s scope grew and expanded, Dorf’s involvement with the show changed and ultimately lessened. But his imprint still lingers in the San Diego Convention Center for that magical week in July, as more than a hundred thousand people now come to enjoy what has grown from that seed planted for that first show’s few hundred.
It’s astounding how important the San Diego Comic-Con has become in our corner of pop culture. It’s the first best place to celebrate our favorite genres. There are authors who feel they’ve truly arrived only when they first sign at autograph at the convention. I have colleagues who vie for a chance to work the show (little suspecting what I’ll put them through when they hit they show floor.) And none of that–none of it–would have happened without Shel Dorf.
An online tribute to Shel Dorf is here. Obits and memories and anecdotes will surely abound in the days to come. But I can’t think of what the landscape of pop culture would look like–neither personally nor professionally–were it not for Shel Dorf. And for that, for right now, let me just say, “Thanks.”
