This year will see the 40th anniversary of the first San Diego Comic-Con to be hosted at the legendary El Cortez Hotel. That con, which was held August 18-21, 1972, set the pattern for a string of memorable Comic-Cons throughout the rest of the ’70s, all of which, with one exception, were at the El Cortez. For many longtime attendees, the El Cortez cons are a fondly-remembered golden age of Comic-Con.

To coincide with this year’s El Cortez Comic-Con annivesary, some early Comic-Con co-founders and committee members agreed it would be a fine idea to have a new “old-school” San Diego comic convention and thus was born the San Diego Comic Fest. We think it will be a lot of fun to have a relatively-smallish con at which we consciously try to foster the spirit, or “vibe” as we used to say, of those early fan gatherings. The 1972 Comic-Con had between 900 and 1,000 attendees, which is around the number we’re looking at for at this year’s event. The Fest intends to bring creators and fans closer together, to create an environment of creative exchange in a fun, inclusive environment, much as the El Cortez-era Comic-Cons did.

If you’ve been missing the early, intimate con experience or never got to experience it but wished you had, then we hope to see you in San Diego over the October 19-21, 2012 weekend.

For more information, please visit www.sdcomicfest.org.

Richard Alf as 1971 Comic-Con Chairman as drawn by Scott Shaw! for the con souvenir book.

Richard was an intelligent guy who never seemed to lose his sense of humor. I’ll miss him!

Scott Shaw!

Scott Shaw! was a member of the Woodchucks, a group of science-fiction and comic enthusiasts from San Diego’s Crawford High School who were mentored by Ken Krueger, a publisher, bookstore owner, and member of science fiction’s First Fandom. The Woodchucks joined with the group of comic fans that Richard Alf had helped to gather around Shel Dorf to produce San Diego’s first Comic-Cons in 1970. Since those days, Scott has gone on to become a professional, award-winning cartoonist/writer, which you can read more about at http://www.shawcartoons.com/bio.php.

Richard was so important to our small group of enthusiasts way back then—a young fellow, younger than me, who already had far more sense than me—and a strong business sense as well. I wonder how far we would have gone without his guidance, not to mention his VW? The founders of the San Diego Comic-Con were a diverse group, diverse in just the right way to keep momentum going and enthusiasm raging all at the same time. Richard was key to this. I will never forget his towering presence and that ready grin. Here’s to one of our own! And one of our finest.

Greg Bear

Greg Bear was a member of the Woodchucks, a group of science-fiction and comic enthusiasts from San Diego’s Crawford High School who were mentored by Ken Krueger, a publisher, bookstore owner, and member of science fiction’s First Fandom. The Woodchucks joined with the group of comic fans that Richard Alf had helped to gather around Shel Dorf to produce San Diego’s first Comic-Cons in 1970. Since those halcyon days of yore, Greg has become a Hugo and Nebula Award-winnning author about whom you can read more at http://www.gregbear.com/.

Richard Alf is a legendary figure in my life. I first met him in the fall of 1969, at the apartment of Shel Dorf’s parents in Clairemont. I was 12 years old. We were getting together for the first time to start a comic book club and make the first steps towards launching the San Diego Golden State Comic-Con. Except for Shel, Richard was about the oldest among us. He immediately took a leadership role, but in a way that wasn’t at all domineering. That was how Richard struck me from the start – a good, capable sort of guy who genuinely liked people and wanted to help fandom. He never gave me reason to change that opinion.

As we worked on the first several Comic-Cons, I came to see Richard as a kind of big brother. He wanted everyone to feel a part of the Comic-Con organization, even a much younger kid like me. Richard set a tone for how we did business – he was serious about the details of putting on the convention, but always good humored and full of positive feeling. He was modest – I don’t remember him making a big deal about financing the first Comic-Con. What I do remember is his big, friendly smile and his jokes. He was considerate and thoughtful, the kind of person who would do something for you for no special reason. Richard recognized the huge potential of the San Diego Comic-Con but didn’t use it to fulfill his own ego. He was inclusive in his vision, someone who recognized that sharing a good thing was more important than claiming it all for yourself.

I recall riding around in Richard’s VW bug to help promote the Comic-Con in ’72. He and Mike Towry stepped in to keep the convention going that year after a shaky start. As usual, Richard did it with his quiet, jovial aplomb and generous spirit. The ’72 Comic-Con was a success in large part because of him.

I didn’t see much of Richard after he moved on from the Comic-Con group in 1973. I recall stopping by his Comic Kingdom store and visiting him at his house in the late ‘70s. It wasn’t until 2009 that we spoke again. The 40th anniversary of Comic-Con brought us back together and I was pleased to find Richard to be his same old friendly, warm-hearted self after all those years. I know his life was not free from troubles; we talked about them as well as the positive things. But the essence of the man hadn’t changed. Richard still cherished his friends, loved fandom and wanted everyone who had worked on Comic-Con to receive their due. His penchant for jokes — including some real groaners – hadn’t changed either.

Like I said, Richard is legendary for me. He truly made a difference for me at a crucial time in my life. We shared in a great adventure in the Comic-Con’s early days. He will always be a hero for me, as well as a dear friend.

Barry Alfonso

Barry Alfonso was the first local comic fan whom Shel Dorf met after his move to San Diego in 1969. Barry referred Shel to Richard Alf, thus beginning that long, strange trip know as Comic-Con. You can read about what Barry’s been doing since his Comic-Con days at http://www.barryalfonso.com/.

San Diego Comic-Con co-founder 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 on Wednesday, January 11 from 3PM until 8PM at the same location.

Also, although arrangements have yet to be finalized as of this writing, there is a tentative plan for Richard to be interred on Friday, January 13 at 1PM next to his father at Inglewood Park Cemetery, 720 East Florence Ave., Inglewood, CA 90301.

From the left, Eisner Awards Administrator Jackie Estrada, Richard Alf, Mike Towry, and Comic-Con President John Rogers at the July 23, 2009 reception in honor of the 40th San Diego Comic-Con.

By Mike Towry

Next year (2012) will see the 40th anniversary of the first El Cortez Comic-Con, which was held August 18-21, 1972. I was Chairman of the con that year, at the ripe old age of seventeen, and it’s always held a special place in my heart. I’m not alone, however, in looking back fondly on that con and the many others that took place at that historic venue. For many longtime attendees, the cons held at San Diego’s El Cortez Hotel in the seventies along with the final one at that site in 1981 constitute a sort of golden age in early Comic-Con history.

Some of those attendees, when asked to write about their favorite Comic-Cons of yore for the 2009 Comic-Con souvenir book, reminisced fondly about the El Cortez years. For instance, Greg Bear wrote, “The El Cortez conventions were among the most fun, the friendliest, and most manageable.” Dave Clark wrote, “I have a special fondness for all of the early El Cortez Hotel conventions. The close-knit feeling of those smaller events is hard to even imagine today. In the evening after the main events were all shut down, a group of guests and hardcore fans would gather by the poolside for drinks, stories, songs and high-spirited fun going on into the wee hours.” And Jim Valentino wrote, “I’d have to say that my favorite era was at the El Cortez. The Con was so much more intimate; there was a real sense of community and camaraderie. It was the party con in those days and everyone had a great time.”

I’ve been thinking for some time that it would be cool to have a new “old school” comic convention in San Diego and with the El Cortez anniversary coming up next year, 2012 seems a good time to put one on. To that end, I’ve been having discussions with early Comic-Con committee members Richard Alf, Barry Alfonso, and Bob Sourk, as well as with other longtime fans about this. Having received a thoroughly positive response, I’m currently finalizing the details for such an old-school con— provisionally named the San Diego Comic Fest—to be held during the fall of 2012. We think it could be a lot of fun to have a relatively-smallish con at which we consciously try to foster the spirit, or “vibe” as we used to say, of those early fan gatherings.

The 1972 Comic-Con had between 900 and 1,000 attendees, which is around the number we’re looking at for next year’s event. Richard, Barry, and Bob are all three onboard as advisors. I’m also happy to announce that we already have our first confirmed Guest of Honor: Comic-Con’s Jackie Estrada. (Jackie was invited in recognition of her accomplishments in shepherding the Eisner Awards, genre editing—such as the Dark Horse Comics: Between the Panels book—creating and running Exhibit A Press, and generally being an important contributor to Comic-Con International’s success for longer than just about anybody else.)

Speaking of awards, every good con needs an awards program, right? I’ve been thinking for some time that there should be a Ken Krueger Award. Ken certainly deserves an award in his name, but what would it be for? Well, Ken was always proud of fans who succeeded in becoming professionals, and that seems like a perfect achievement to recognize with an award in his name.

Ken, in fact, had made that transition himself. Ken had started out as a teenage science-fiction fan attending the first Worldcon in 1939. By 1946 he had managed to become a professional science-fiction publisher, and in the subsequent decades continued to be active as a publisher and retailer of both science fiction and comics.

We can find one expression of Ken’s feelings on the subject of fans becoming professionals in his introduction for Ray Bradbury at the first multi-day San Diego Comic-Con (August 1-3, 1970). Ken proudly informed the audience assembled to hear Ray speak that “the field of science fiction and science-fiction fandom as a percentage has produced more professionals than any other group in the history of the world. We have produced many editors, many authors, many fine artists.” To hear the actual audio recording of Ken’s words at that time, just click on the player button below to have a listen. (If you’re reading this via news reader or email, you may have to visit the web site to play the clip.)

In his tribute to Ken that appears on the KenKruegerTribute.com site, Greg Bear wrote of Ken, “He simply enjoyed herding a bunch of wet-behind-the-ears kids into doing what he knew they were capable of doing. And that led to a ring of professional careers, to Comic-Con International, and to some of the yet-to-be-recognized glory days of Southern California culture.” It was evident during Ken’s last visit to Comic-Con in 2009 that he was more than proud of the professional success achieved by those “kids” in comics and science fiction (and in science itself for that matter).

I hope you’ll agree that a Ken Krueger Award to recognize fans who have succeeded as professionals would be a good thing and that it would be fun to have an old-school San Diego comic con at which to present the awards. Please let me know if you agree.

We were delighted today to receive an email from Stephen McGlone, whom we hadn’t heard from in years. Stephen and his brothers, David and Patrick, joined the San Diego Comic-Con committee very early on and made substantial contributions in those early years. (You can read Stephen’s brief reminiscence about those days at http://www.sheldorftribute.com/2011/04/06/stephen-mcglone-answers-shel-dorf%E2%80%99s-call-to-join-the-first-year-comic-con-committee/.)

As a small recognition of the efforts the McGlone brothers expended on behalf of the early Comic-Cons, here is a scan of the welcome page from the March 21, 1970 San Diego Comic Minicon souvenir booklet which lists the first con committee members, including Stephen and David. (You can also read Ken Krueger’s “A Message From Our Con Chairman” from the August 1970 Comic-Con program book wherein he gives a shout-out of thanks to all three McGlone brothers at http://www.kenkruegertribute.com/2010/06/19/a-message-from-our-con-chairman/.)

March 1970 Minicon Booklet Welcome Page (from the Richard Alf archives)

From my previous epistle, you are aware that the Comic-Con committee was allowed to return to the El Cortez for the 1981 convention. However, due to the fact that the hotel had been taken over by a religious organization, there were several stipulations regarding the usage of the site. The big “no-no” was the use of alcohol at any events.

For those early timers out there, you are aware that one of the things that made the Con memorable was the annual cocktail party, where the pros would hang out and mingle with fans and committee members. Since the cocktail party was not allowed to serve alcohol, this put a major damper on the event. Richard Butner, was particularly concerned about the pros not being happy and leaving early.

However, Barry Short, my programming partner, and I had several bottles of Jack Daniels hidden in our room. We raced back to our room with several empty Coca Cola cans and filled them with the forbidden item. Returning to the party, we “spiked” the drinks with some “Coke-Helper”. This improved the event greatly and all were said to have a good time. Not sure what the maid thought the next day when she had to dispose of several bottles of Jack Daniels.

Mike Pasqua
Former Programs Coordinator and Con Executive Vice President.

It was 1981 and the Con Committee had been given a “reprieve” to have the 1981 convention at the El Cortez Hotel. Despite the fact that it had been taken over by a religious organization, they were willing to allow for us to have one more convention. HOWEVER, there were some serious stipulations including the requirement that no alcohol was to be served on the premises. On Saturday night, we had already been informed that we would no longer be allowed to use the El Cortez as the convention site after this year. When word got out of this fact, several of our guests (who shall remain nameless) went on a “beer run” to allow our last night to go out in style. The next morning, as I was walking towards the hotel lobby, I saw that the entire pool had been covered with floating beer cans. The hotel manager, who was VERY unhappy, pulled me over and this conversation occurred:

Manager: You KNOW that we’re going to have to clean the pool.

Me: Well, you better because it’s filthy!

Ah, memories.

Mike Pasqua
Former Programs Coordinator and Con Executive Vice President.

Here’s the fifth batch of scans from Shel Dorf’s negatives from the 1974 San Diego Comic-Con, which was held at the El Cortez Hotel with Bill Lund as Chairman. (I received the negatives from Shel’s friend and cartooning partner Charlie Roberts. There are over two hundred pictures so I’m going to post them periodically in batches. (You can see the first four batches here, here, here, and here.)

Guests, fans, and committee members pictured include Forry Ackerman, Kirk Alyn, Milt Caniff, Frank Capra, Bob Clampett, Bill Melendez, and Charles Schulz.

Where I was uncertain of a name, I just put down a question mark. If you would like to help identify these people in the pictures, so that the question marks can be replaced with names, please leave a comment or send me a message by clicking on the “CONTACT” tab at the top. I’ve numbered the pictures M116-M150 so you can easily specify which picture(s) you can identify people in.

Update 02/01/11: Thanks to Bill Lund, who was chairman of Comic-Con 1974, for making the following identifications: “In photos M143 and M144, Bob Clampett’s wife, Sody, is on his right. And that looks like Ed Nizyborski in the back behind Sody. In photo M145, between Kirk Alyn and Forry, is Wendayne Ackerman, Forry’s wife. The photos of Frank Capra were taken during a press conference at, I believe, THE SAN DIEGO UNION.”

Update 01/31/11: Thanks to Greg Koudoulian for making the following identifications: Charles Schulz in M141, Malcolm Schwartz in M123 (far right), Bruce Hamilton in M150 (far left corner), and Bob Foster in M133.

(Click on a “thumbnail” image below to view the full-size image. At the bottom of the full-size image will be a caption with some arrows on either side that you can click to view the next or previous image. You might have to scroll the display down a little for the caption and arrows to show. Click on the full-size image to close it. Alternatively, for the maximum view, right-click the thumbnail image, select to view it in a new window, then click on the newly-displayed image to “zoom” to maximum size.)

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