RIP Shel Dorf



Shel Dorf, comics fan, letterer, and the driving force behind the early years of the San Diego Comic-Con, passed away yesterday from complications related to diabetes. He was 76.

Growing up in Detroit, the young Dorf organized fan gatherings and conventions, including the “Triple Fan Festâ€

And four day passes are gone.



http://www.comic-con.org/cci/cci_reg.php

its a good thing we got our 4 day passes w/ preview night right away. All my friends thought we were crazy to get tix this far in advance but looks like my readyness paid off.

Does anyone else have passes or were going to get passes only to see this?

From yesterday's San Diego Union-Tribune:

Comic-Con sells out four-day passes

By Peter Rowe

Thursday, November 12, 2009 at 12:52 a.m.

Did you get the memo? Four-day passes for the 41st annual Comic-Con International sold out faster than a speeding bulletin, disappearing more than eight months before the July event.

The county’s largest convention and one of the world’s premiere pop culture showcases, this super show seems impervious to economic turmoil. Despite the recession, the Con raised prices on its four-day passes to $100 from $75 and still sold out — in record time — by last Friday.

“I think everyone in comics is stunned by this,â€

I saw this in yesterday's San Diego Union Tribune:

Convention Center gets more land to expand

Agency works out deal for $13.5 million

By Helen Gao

Thursday, November 19, 2009 at 1:09 a.m.

A key piece of waterfront real estate for the expansion of the San Diego Convention Center is being acquired by the nonprofit city agency that manages and markets the downtown facility.

The board of the San Diego Convention Center Corp. decided on Tuesday to spend $13.5 million to buy out a lease on a 7-acre-plus property held by Fifth Avenue Landing LLC.

The acquisition has been in the works for a year and will allow for contiguous expansion of the Convention Center.

Under the deal, the Convention Center Corp. will pay $1 million upfront to the company, controlled by businessmen Ray Carpenter and Art Engel. Over the next four years, it will pay $500,000 each year and then make a balloon payment on the fifth anniversary of the closing of the sale.

If the expansion plan does not pan out, the corporation can back out of the deal, but it will lose whatever money it has paid the lease holders.

“At any given time if we cannot get approval to do the expansion there, then we can walk from the deal. They simply take possession of the property,â€

RIP Ken Krueger

Ken Krueger, a co-founder of the San Diego Comic-Con and an influential figure in comics publishing and retailing on the West Coast in the formative era of the Direct Market, passed away over the weekend. Krueger owned Alert Books in Ocean Beach and helped Shel Dorf and other comics enthusiasts get what would eventually be known as The Con up and running, and by all accounts, was a level-headed, stabilizing force. He also managed the warehouse for Pacific Comics, one of the early indie comics publishers and distributors, and helped publish the first work of many important figures. One of them, Scott Shaw writes:

Jim Valentino just shared the sad news that Ken Krueger, who was not only one of the founders of the San Diego Comic-Con — and who also attended the very first science-fiction convention in NYC on July 4, 1939 — has died. No details of Ken’s death are available yet, but Ken recently appeared at SDCCI’s ‘09 for its 40th anniversary. Although he was not in good physical shape (to be kind), Ken’s mind seemed sharper than ever, with a memory for details of the past that were quite impressive. Ken published my first comic book story; he also published the first pro work by SF author Greg Bear, GARBAGE PAIL KIDS painter John Pound, Dave (ROCKETEER) Stevens, Jim (Image Comics) Valentino and others. I and many of my friends owe him a lot. When Pacific Comics was a major comic distributor, Ken oversaw the operation of their warehouse. Ken was a down-to-Earth guy who never sought titles or fame, but added legitimacy to the formation of Comic-Con due to his experience in fandom and as a publisher and retailer.

Mark Evanier has more, of course:

His experience with s-f conventions was one of many things he brought to the nascent Comic-Con when he signed on in 1970 as its first chairperson. Another was his lifelong love of comics and fantasy. Professionally, Ken operated a string of bookstores throughout this life and also dabbled in distribution and publishing. As a publisher, he gave many talented artists their first in-print experience, including Dave Stevens, Scott Shaw!, Greg Bear and Jim Valentino. (He was the Best Man at Valentino’s wedding and an obvious father figure to Jim and others who came up through the San Diego fan community.)

But perhaps his greatest contribution to the early cons in San Diego was that he was the Grown-Up.


Krueger attended several of the 40th Anniversary events at this year’s con — he can be seen in this photoset by Roger Freedman of several events.



Mike
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2010 Special Guest List

Comic-Con 2010 Hotel Reservations Open March 18th

CCI-IFF Rules and Form

Comic-Con Magazine fall 2009 issue now online

i thought a little bit of reflection might be in order.....

Where im from (melbourne australia) we don not get a lot of conventions.
My first ever featured John Romita jr as a guest and admittedly the rest was a blur.Except that it was the weekend of Jack "the king" Kirbys death. I was aware as a youngster that even though i hadnt been a part of his world for very long, i had just scraped in there as a fully fledged comic person.I had read some of his work ..had attended my first con and paid my respects.

This year, i attended Shel Dorf and Ken Kreugers creation. Shel, as i had discovered, wasnt all that into it in the end. However Ken was there in 09.
it may seem strange , but i feel like i just, once again had the opportuity to participate under these two "founders " reign.

That's a great reflection Brad. Thanks for posting.

Great post, Brad!

ok. now lets move on to fun stuff again! ...weve had our moment of respectful silence.

Whats the plan ? Are you going to start an all new thread or just keep this one running but rename it "count down to 2010"?

im looking for ward to seeing photos from 2009 just like you had up for 2008!