By Stephen Joseph McGlone
My brothers, David and Patrick (and our neighbors at the time, Mike Williams and Gary Pagel), and I answered an ad in the newspaper. Shel Dorf had placed it when he decided to get things rolling for what was to become the San Diego Comic-Con. At the first meetings, we met Shel, Richard Alf, Mike Towry, Scott Shaw, Ken Krueger, Barry Alfonso and a bunch of others. I was just out of High School. Mike Williams and my brothers had a few years to go and Gary Pagel was in junior high.
We were thrilled by the project and helped by being gofers and doing whatever general help was required. After the first couple of years, other things came along and we had to settle for helping out when we could or just trying to attend when we could.
We didn’t have the cash on hand to make the famous trip to Kirby’s, but we saw the pictures when they got back. And I remember one night at the El Cortez when a bunch of volunteers were asleep, I mean hanging out, in the lobby when George Clayton Johnson came by and sat down with us and regaled us with stories about Hollywood and writing.
We spent a lot of time with Shel and Ken in those days. We were treated like adults instead of the snot-nosed kids that we were. Of course, the only written memory of us is a listing of my brother David in a program, a few years later. He was the last one to actively participate in committees. Thanks to Greg Koudoulian and Will Lund, I found out about this site and the Shel Dorf Fan Club page. Thanks, guys!
Jack Kirby (left) and Shel Dorf — Nov. 9, 1969