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A tribute to Shel Dorf, founder of San Diego's Comic-Con International
Jack Kirby (left) and Shel Dorf — Nov. 9, 1969
Click here to learn more about the Comic-Con 2010 Shel Dorf panel.
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http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=131118723593907
This is the official site for the AFTERCON, thanks for allowing us to do such an honorable event for Shel!!!
MY NAME IS IRA, MY COUSIN SHEL WAS A GOOD MAN WE TALKED ON THE PHONE A LOT, HE LOVED TO HEAR ABOUT MY KIDS AND FAMILY LIFE,WE ALWAYS HAD LONG TALKS ABOUT MY LIFE THE GOOD TIMES AND THE BAD BUT HE LIKED WHEN I WENT FISHING I WOULD TELL HIM STORIES, WHEN HE CAME TO DETROIT WE WENT TO SOME COMIC BOOKS STORES AND SOME COMIC CONS, THE LAST ONE WAS IN 1994 THE WHOLE FAMILY WENT WE HAD A BLAST, NOW I TAKE MY SON TO THE COMIC CONS, WE SEE ALL THE MOVIE PEOPLE AND THE T.V. PEOPLE AND THE PEOPLE THAT DO THE NEW COMICS BOOKS, WE WILL MISS HIM VERY MUCH,BUT FOR ME HE WAS SOMEONE THAT I CAN TALK TO ABOUT EVERYTHING, IF YOU KNEW SHEL HE HAD A GREAT BIG HEART,SHEL WAS MY COUSIN,I LOVE YOU AND I WILL MISS YOU…IRA
One of my greatest memories of Shel was when he introduced me to Ray Bradbury, and told him about my modern myth museum project. Shel was truly interested pop culture and very helpful with advice and encouragement. He will be missed.
YOU SHEL FANS, MAY LIKE TO ENTER “SHEL DORF” ON YOUTUBE.
I have had the pleasure and honor to know Shel since 72 Cortez, lucky enough to still have my letters and postcards from him. He was supportive of my monthly LA Cons; he was there for me when my mom nearly died. Was present when John Ziniewicz died, one of my best friends. He just showed up. I believe rarely asked SHEL for favors, yet has performed dozens for me. I will never forget him. He was very much like a big brother, and a rich man. His brother told me last week, that his older brother Shel had never picked on him or teased in anyway, wow! I was fortunate enough to visit Shel twice in the last few months. I will never forget him or his great deeds. I will always make sure his legacy is widely known. I have many friends in my life that Shel hooked me up with: Richard Alf, George Clayton Johnson, William Clausen, Clayton Moore, Mike Towry, etc. THE OFFICIAL SHEL DORF FAN CLUB AND ENTOURAGE THANKS YOU.
- GREG KOUDOULIAN
I came to know Shel through his attendance at Cinecon, the annual classic film convention/festival that takes place Labor Day weekend in Hollywood. Shel was an enthusiastic movie fan and came every year to sit in the dark and watch rare films from the silent and early sound era. For the past several years our host hotel has been the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel, and we screen our films at the historic Grauman’s Egyptian Theater. As Shel’s health declined it became increasingly difficult for him to walk the several blocks between the hotel and the theater, but even when he could no longer make the trek on foot he would come in a wheelchair, pushed by his brother. Shel had to be at Cinecon. In all my conversations with Shel I found him to be a generous spirit–and a modest one, as well. He was proud to be one of the founders of Comic-Con–but he never patted himself on the back. He was, first and foremost, a fan–someone who truly loved and appreciated the artists, writers, actors and directors that brought him so much pleasure through their work. He will be missed.
Bob Birchard
president Cinecon Classic Film Festival
THE NEW PIC WITH KIRBY AND YOU KIDS IS GREAT.
THE COMMENTS FROM JAPAN ABOUT SHEL, MADE MY DAY.
My connection to Shel was long ago and only via mail. I live near Detroit, Michigan (Shel’s birthplace) and I once wrote a letter to Milton Caniff. I was probably an early teenager back in the ’70’s and loved “Terry and the Pirates”. Milton didn’t return a note but Shel sure as heck did. He sent me a large package and drew a large ‘Dragon Lady’ picture on the back of the package. Inside was a terrific ‘How Are Ya’ note along with Milt’s autograph, Shel’s autograph and some info on what they were both up to. I still have all that material he sent me long ago! Just last week I was looking at it again thinking how nice this man who worked for Milton Caniff was. I never met Shel in person. Never was able to afford the trip to the Comic-Con. The fact that he was so nice to a faceless person some 2,500 miles away…just amazing. I have never forgotten that gesture and some thirty to thirty-five years later…I never will. Godspeed in your journey, Shel.
I always considered Shel as a good friend. On one occasion he invited me over to view his collection of original art of many famous Comic Book Artist. I will never forget that experience, his hospitality and willingness to share his treasures. He always encouraged aspiring artists and writers to keep going with their work and not give up on getting it published.
It wasn’t about money for Shel, He became detached from the
Comic Con when it no longer had the feeling of comradery of the artist,writers and fans. The intimacy is gone and feeling of a three ring circus took over. That is not what Shel was all about.
I don’t know any of the people who run the Comic Con these days,
but I think it would be a great gesture on their part to create a
substantial ”Art Scholarship” in the name of Sheldon Dorf.
Shel you will be missed and you should be honored.
John Wismont
Message body:
I got to know Shel through a mutual friend-he was in many ways a mentor to me and had a special understanding of creators-I’ll always remember a long conversation I had at his home in which I saw that insight from him
he will be missed
-Mike Lovins-
I met Shel in SD when I moved there in 1973. I worked for the SD Comic Con with Shel several years during my SD stay, and Shel became a fast friend. We attended lots of movies together and shared our love of films and comics on many occasions. I will never forget his generosity in introducing me to the real comic book giants, including Jack Kirby, Jerry Siegel, and Joe Shuster. In fact, it was because of Shel’s introduction to Joe Shuster that I ended up attending Joe’s wedding in SD in 1976 or 1977, which was a complete thrill for me. Shel had a heart of gold and I will miss him terribly.
In 1975, Shel took a couple of young men from Ohio, just arrived in San Diego, under his wing. It was me and Jon Hartz. Not only did he get us started as Comic-Con volunteers, but we wound up moving into the next-door cottage in Ocean Beach.
Shel encouraged me to write a column for Comics Buyer’s Guide, arranging it with publisher Alan Light.
Comic-Con and the column got me a job at Pacific Comics. This started a 35-year career in the business, and I am happy to acknowledge that without Shel it never would have happened.
He took me on many fascinating excursions to meet his friends- people like Jack Kirby, Ralph Bakshi, Don Foster of Chuck Jones’ studio, Burne Hogarth, George Clayton Johnson and many others. He took me to Forry Ackerman’s birthday party. Wow. I saw him provide similar opportunities for many others through the years.
Some afternoons I would sit and talk with him as he lettered Steve Canyon, usually with the taped audio of an old movie or radio show playing in the background. We shared a lot.
He loved his Ocean Beach, and never got over his luck at being able to live there.
I chauffeured him around as he helped Superman artist Joe Shuster get relocated in San Diego. He was delighted to see Joe get some money from his creation after the lean years, and worked hard to make sure he saw the respect and honor he deserved.
I stayed in touch with Shel after he left Comic-Con, and was able to give back a little as he progressively fell on harder times. But I could never come close to repaying him.
He extended his kindness to my Dad, taking him on a trip to Tijuana on the trolley and other adventures. My father painted Shel’s portrait in watercolor, and has the photo of Shel posing with it hanging in his house.
Throughout his later years, although he became more reclusive, he would always demonstrate a positive attitude that was inspirational. He continually and consistently expressed gratitude on a regular basis. Gratitude for being able to live in the world of cartooning and movies, gratitude for the talent of his exalted friends, and equally the talent of unknown newcomers who knocked on his door. I learned a lot from that, and have found it to be worth trying to emulate. I don’t succeed as well as Shel did, but it pointed me in the right direction.
I’d say that anyone who has benefited from or just attended and enjoyed Comic-Con owes Shel a debt of that gratitude, whether they know it or not. I know I do.
My condolences to Michael, the family, and all of the extended Comic-Con family. We’ve lost a pure spirit and a pal.
- David Scroggy
November 3, 2009
One of my fondest memories is riding a Greyhound bus to San Diego in 1975 for my first convention at the El Cortez Hotel. The 1975 con would be miniscule compared to today’s con, but it was intoxicating to my 13 year old self. I am so grateful to Shel Dorf and all the volunteers from those long gone days. RIP, Shel.
It was really great to see all you guys and Shel,…this is a great looking site,and a great tribute to a great man and friend.Shel always went out of his way to help people,no matter the consequences,….I remember when he dropped a homeless keyboard player at my house without warning me,…6 months later he moved out .now he lives in Germany.
Some of my favorite memories of youth are that of the San Diego COMIC CON, especially the early days at the El Cortez Hotel. What a privilege to meet so many of my heroes. Writers, Artists and purveyors of Modern MYTHOLOGY. Bradbury! Siegel & Shuster! Eisner, Steranko & Adams! Stan Lee! Poolside CONversations with George Clayton Johnson & Timothy Leary! Sunday Brunch at Sergio Aragones’ table! Mel Blanc, June Foray & Daws Butler! “Captain Sticky”…
Best of all was Jack Kirby!! He was always so friendly and generous with his time (even when he and Roz were trying to eat!). Among the photos that I hope to share with you soon, is a picture of “The King” drawing Chuck Norris!
Under Shel’s watch, Comic Con was an intimate setting where fans could meet their favorite creators. The way it SHOULD be today. GOD Bless you Shel for promoting a TRUE American ART form, The Comic Book!
I drove from New Orleans to be at the 1st of Shel’s cons. I had to because I love San Diego (having lived there 1947-1953) and because it was at the U.S.Grant that Bill (WilliamF) Nolan and I put on the Sou-Westercon in 1952. Shel was surprised and pleased that I came so far. The con, though small, was intimate and wonderul. I came back for others of Shel’s gatherings until, I believe, 1978 or 79.
One in particular, held at the El Cortez, was a special treat. Jack, my life partner, and I rang for the elevator. As it reached our floor someoine came running up yellin,”Hold that cab!” Cab?, I thought how unusual. No sooner had we got in when the voices started. The young man from our floor was Daws Butler and on the elevater was June Foray and other voice people. As we passed floor after floor the voices practiced for their section of the convention. It was like a Looney Tunes, Disney, televion conventions rolled into one.. When we reached the convention floor a few people got on but none of our group got off. Instead we rode that marvelous machine of pure joy up and down, up and down while character after character conversed and put all of us who were not voices in stitches. Finally someone asked, “Think we’re ready for the people?”And a hundred different chaaracters that responded. “Almost!” and up and down we went again. Finally we stopped at the correct floor and deposited our multiutude of delight. “Once more, dear friends. Once more.”" someone said. “Suck in your belly and get ready.” another answered. As the voices exited I felt sad. And totally enchanted . The past few minutes was an experience I will always treasure. And I have. I told Shel about it later in the con. “Great fun, wasn’t it. I’ve had the same type of experience. But not in an elevator. ”
In the early days of comic convention only three people put on what I call “family cons” because we were family back then; each of us sharing our knowledge of comics and their marvelously talented artists. They were Phil Seuling in New York City, Don Maris in Oklahoma City and Shel Dorf in San Diego.
Shel will be greatly missed. But the memories of his conventions will be with us as long as comic books and artists are collected and appreciated. And that, my friends, seems not destined to end, but rather to grow and grow each year.
I never thought that the 64 pages of pleasure and fantasy I loved so much would in the future be not just part of popular culture, but a driving force in Popular Culture.
A great part of what is all around us now is due in part to a visionary named Shel Dorf.
Thank you, Shel. I never had an opportunity to say it before. But I do again now. Thank you, Shel Dorf. May flocks of Angels, reading comics, surround you forever.
I have often retold the story of how I became a professional comic book artist and writer and publisher in my teens and it always starts when my dad took me down to that first San Diego Comic-Con. I was too young to drive and was living in a tough section of Los Angeles where I really didn’t know very many comic book fans. I had never even met a professional artist and didn’t have a clue what steps to take to get into this field. I really had to convince my Chinese born dad that this was a drive worth taking (my father probably regrets this trip to this day since he had hoped that I would become an engineer).
I met Jack Kirby and Ray Bradbury that year and I was able to ask them how to get into the field of creating comics and writing books. I was not a very good speller and I recall that Ray told me that there were editors. It didn’t even matter if you typed perfectly! Jack was very warm and direct as he told me to just do it. I remember thinking that Jack was a giant of a man and that I now had the permission from these two giants to do what I had always dreamed of as a very young kid. Both of these men were completely humble and you could see that they loved what they did for a living.
I was still in high school in the fall of 1970 when I started my own publishing company and now more than 86 books later, I can say that being at that Comic-Con really changed my life in so many ways. Our little publishing company will turn 40 in 2010 and I really credit that first meeting with Jack and Ray as the inspiration I needed to just “do it.”
I find more and more these days I am making sure that everyone in the world who sees me painting murals on our Cartoonists Across America & The World tour or hears me speak in my public speaking engagements and through the media interviews I give knows this story of that very first Comic-Con and that it was the incredible dedication and love for the cartoon arts and all related fields of popular culture from one man that really made this possible.
I was a special guest at this years Comic-Con for the very first time in celebration of the 40th anniversary and at the special party for the old timers, I had a chance to talk to many of the “kids” who were there at the start of the Comic-Con. These young people who helped Shel get the whole thing started all had their own unique tales of those early days and how it changed their own lives. We shared stories about those early conventions and talked about how Shel was able to get so many incredible guests to attend the convention before it was still small enough where a fan or young professional could pretty much talk with the greats of our field. I suggested that night that San Diego needs to name a street for Shel since the Comic-Con played such a major role in putting downtown San Diego on the map.
Over the years Shel would drop me occasional notes about my tour promoting literacy and the arts using comics that I started back in 1985. In one letter in 2001, he signed a photo of Ray Bradbury and himself at a 1997 book signing. In the photo Shel is wearing my “Read. Avoid Extinction.” dinosaur t-shirt next to Ray surrounded by books. I have this photo hanging right above my computer to remind how a few rare people can seriously change the lives of one kid from L.A. As I get older, I am forever reminded that every one of us has to remember that we all touch lives in both positive and negative ways. Shel Dorf is one person who really made a positive difference to a whole generation of creative people and their fans.
Thank you so much for the wonderful tribute to our dear Shel. I’ve known Shel all my life as we are first cousins and one week apart in age. Our families were very close and as a result, Shel and I spent much time together . We went to the movies every Saturday afternoon as kids and especially enjoyed the musicals of the ’40’s. We would buy the records of the movie songs, come home and put on a lipsinging performance for our families.
My sister and I used to tease Shel as we would read the funnies and throw away the newspaper. Not Shel, he would cut out his favorite strips and paste them in scrapbooks, which he kept for many years. I didn’t see much of Shel when we grew out of our teens as I married and moved out of town and he went on to art school, but we did keep in touch. He was quite a good artist but his first love remained the comic strip. He was so proud when he became Milt Caniff’s letterer. He gave us all quite a thrill when Milt Caniff allowed him to first put his father in one of the Terry and the Pirate strips, then his mother and then me.
Shel is a unique person; a truly gentle, caring, warm human being, who gave from the heart. Throughout the years he always remembered my husband, children and me, with books, comics, notes and an occasional telephone call. How he loved San Diego and the many friends he made there, especially the children. He was proud and happy when both his and his friends efforts succeeded and the Comic-Con came into existence. That was his baby!
I will always remember what a wonderful son he was to his mother and his genuine love for his family and friends. All my best to you dear Shel.
With much love,
Donnie
It was great to see all three of you in San Diego!
Mike Towry, Thanks for emailing me about the new web site that you, Richard, and Barry started up!
It was good seeing you and Richard at the Mysterious Galaxy Book Signing Event in September also.
A direct link to my blog post this morning featuring this web site is here:
http://makeitsomarketing.tripod.com/popularcultureblog/index.blog/1951600/new-shel-dorf-tribute-web-site/
Thanks again for letting me know you guys got this Tribute site started!
Hope you get a lot of visitors and contributors here!
Michael