Comic-Con founder Sheldon Dorf dies in San Diego

Above: The first committee members of the San Diego Comic-Con, in a picture taken in the fall of 1969 at the home of Jack Kirby. Left to right: Dan Stewart (holding drawing), Bob Sourk, Richard Alf, Barry Alfonso (in front, holding drawing), Jack Kirby, Shel Dorf and Wayne Kincaid. (Wayne was not a Comic-Con member; he was just along for the visit.) The photo comes from the collection of Richard Alf.

Saw the sad news that Sheldon Dorf, who founded Comic-Con International in San Diego, has died at age 76 from kidney failure. He had diabetes and had been hospitalized for about a year.

Dorf, a freelance artist and comic strip letterer, led a group including then teen-age Barry Alfonso, now of Swissvale, in starting a modest convention of comic-book lovers. The con now attracts more than 120,000 fans to see not just their comic-book idols, but TV and movie stars, filmmakers and show runners, who launch their biggest genre projects there.

Mr. Dorf's longtime friend, Greg Koudoulian, told the Associated Press that Dorf was friends with comic greats such as Marvel artist Jack Kirby and "Peanuts" creator Charles Schulz. He says Dorf was also instrumental in helping budding artists find audiences.

In a July remembrance for the Post-Gazette, Alfonso described the alliance with Dorf and Jack Kirby that helped Comic-Con take form:

In the fall of 1969 ... I was living in San Diego, and I had placed an ad in the local Pennysaver looking to buy old comic books. One of those who responded was Shel Dorf, a 37-year-old Detroit transplant and veteran comics aficionado. I bought some choice back issues from him and, more importantly, I put him in contact with Richard Alf, a teenage comic-book dealer whose ad I'd seen in the back of a Marvel comic. Dorf met with Alf, who in turn introduced him to Mike Towry and other key players in the origins of the convention.

It turned out that Dorf was no ordinary fan -- he had helped to put on the Detroit Triple Fan Fair, a multifaceted comics and science fiction event. He had a vision for launching something similar in San Diego.

I was invited to join the meetings of the group that formed around Dorf and Alf. At first, we debated whether there was room for another convention, especially one far away from the New York-based comics industry. Remember, in 1969 comics fandom was a fairly small and insular world, still considered something of a disreputable hobby for kids.

Despite this opinion, we knew that comic art could achieve high aesthetic value. An example we could point to was the work of Jack Kirby, creator of Captain America, Fantastic Four and the Incredible Hulk. Dorf knew Kirby, who had recently moved to Southern California. One of the first things we did as a Comic-Con planning group was to arrange a visit with the legendary Kirby, King of the Comics.

Kirby showed us royal hospitality and submitted to our sometimes obsessive questions about his characters. . . . [He] showed us that our heroes were accessible and even eager to share their artistic secrets. He became the patron saint of the Comic-Con.