San Diego Comic-Con co-founder and Shel’s pal Richard Alf passed away on January 4, 2012. There will be a memorial service for Richard at 3PM on Thursday, January 12 at the following location: Bonham Brothers & Stewart Mortuary and Cremation Service 321 12th St., Ramona, CA 92065 (760) 789-1678 There will also be a viewing […]
Jack Kirby
Inside Comics #2, August 1974 (published by Galaxy News Service) featured a Mark Evanier article titled “The Mini-Cons That Attacked Southern California!” The article focused on one-day mini-conventions, in particular Greg Koudoulian’s First Sunday Club and the Super Sunday convention produced by David Alexander and Terry Stroud. One other small convention that was featured was the King Kon put on by Comic-Con International’s own Shel Dorf and Ken Krueger. The following is an excerpt from that article reprinted with the author’s permission.
We thought you might enjoy hearing Shel Dorf’s voice as recorded during a December 1970 visit by San Diego fans to Jack Kirby’s house in Thousand Oaks, California (where the Kirby family had bought a house after renting in Irvine). This is just a brief excerpt from the nearly three-and-one-half hours of audio that was recorded that day. In it, Shel and Jack discuss California living.
Here’s a portrait of Shel by Jack Kirby from June, 1989. (Scanned image of portrait provided by Charlie Roberts.)
On Sunday, November 9, 1969, Shel Dorf led a group of San Diego comic fans on their first pilgrimage to the home of Jack Kirby, who had recently moved from New York to Irvine in Orange County, California. Travelling with Shel were the rest of the first Comic-Con committee – Richard Alf, Barry Alfonso, Dan Stewart, Bob Sourk, and Mike Towry – a young friend of Barry’s named Wayne Kincaid, and Barry’s mother, Sylvia Alfonso. We all piled into a rented station wagon and Shel drove us to our rendezvous with destiny.
Jim Harmon, author of “The Great Radio Heroes” and many other works and an award-winning Comic-Con guest, writes about Shel Dorf’s generous spirit, having dinner with Shel and Ray Bradbury and Stan Lee, meeting Fay Wray with Shel at Cinecon, and more.
Phil Yeh, Godfather of the Graphic Novel, writes about the positive difference Shel Dorf has made in his life and career and those of other cartoon and comic creators. Phil also remembers the encouragement he received at the first Comic-Con (1970) from Ray Bradbury and Jack Kirby.
We thought you might enjoy hearing a sample of Shel’s voice. The following clip was extracted from a recording of a conversation that took place between Jack Kirby and a group of San Diego fans back in December 1970 at Jack’s house in Thousand Oaks, California. In it, Jack and Shel discuss Jack’s name change and his early attempt at an acting career.
Audio link to recording of Comic-Con 2009 Secret Origins panel with Comic-Con #1 committee members Richard Alf, Barry Alfonso, Greg Bear, Dave Clark, Roger Freedman, Ken Krueger, Bill Lund, Scott Shaw!, and Mike Towry. Includes transcript of Richard’s account of Shel Dorf’s early guidance as Comic-Con founder.
Sheldon L. “Shel” Dorf is a kind man with a big heart who has spent the majority of his life enriching the lives of others. Shel is not a rich man in the classic sense of the word, but he has possessed a seemingly bottomless well of goodwill, which he has shared selflessly with countless […]
Jack Kirby (left) and Shel Dorf — Nov. 9, 1969