We previously recounted how on Saturday, October 17th, 2009, a group of fans and professionals from the Los Angeles, Riverside County, and San Diego areas got together to visit Shel Dorf in the hospital. On the morning of the next day, Sunday, October 18th, author George Clayton Johnson, former Comic-Con committee member Clayton Moore, comic artist William Clausen, and Shel Dorf Fan Club co-founder Greg Koudoulian visited Shel’s former residence in Ocean Beach, San Diego, CA. While there, Greg videotaped George, Clayton, and William talking about Shel. (The following video is made available courtesy of Greg Koudoulian.)
Video
On July 19, 1997, after a long day spent at San Diego’s Comic-Con International, author George Clayton Johnson (Twilight Zone, Star Trek, Logan’s Run, Ocean’s 11, Kung Fu), who is a long-time and much-beloved Comic-Con guest, and his wife, Lola Johnson, sat for a videotaped interview at the San Diego, CA home of Roy L. Dobbs, Jr. The interview features the off-camera voices of Comic-Con’s Founder, Shel Dorf, and the Chairman of Comic-Con #1, Ken Krueger. The video may be viewed at http://www.comicconmemories.com/2010/03/23/video-conversations-with-george-clayton-johnson-and-lola-johnson courtesy of George Clayton Johnson and Greg Koudoulian.
In 1983, fan Charlie Roberts sent Milton Caniff a request for a sketch of the Dragon Lady character from the Terry and the Pirates comic strip and enclosed a check for it, hoping it would be adequate. On May 11, 1983, Milt did Charlie’s sketch while talking to Shel Dorf and being videotaped by Tom French. He also signed Charlie’s check over to the National Cartoonist Society’s Milt Gross fund for cartoonists in need. Here’s video of that informal “chalk talk.”
The following video is from the Shel Dorf Archives and was kindly made available by Charlie Roberts. The interview was originally videotaped by Tom French, who ran the San Diego Comic-Con dealers room for many years. At the time of the interview, Shel was the letterer for Caniff’s comic strip Steve Canyon. The interview is divided into eleven parts and there is a description of the highlights of each part following the video player.
Links to video and text media coverage of Shel Dorf’s passing and his legacy as Comic-Con’s founder. The links were good as of November 14, 2009. They may, however, not be “permanent” links and may be in effect for only a relatively-short period of time.
Jack Kirby (left) and Shel Dorf — Nov. 9, 1969