Sheldon "Shel" Dorf (July 5, 1933 – November 3, 2009) was an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

enthusiast and the founder of

San Diego Comic-Con International San Diego Comic-Con International is a comic book convention and nonprofit multi-genre entertainment event held annually in San Diego, California since 1970. The name, as given on its website, is Comic-Con International: San Diego; but it is c ...

.Spurgeon, Tom.
Shel Dorf, 1933-2009
, ''The Comics Reporter'' (self-published), 4 November 2009. Accessed 4 November 2009
Archived
4 November 2009. Evanier, Mark,

, ''POV Online'' (self published), November 3, 2009. Accessed 4 November 2009
Archived
4 November 2009. Dorf was also a freelance artist and graphic designer, who lettered the ''

Steve Canyon ''Steve Canyon'' is an American adventure comic strip by writer-artist Milton Caniff. Launched shortly after Caniff retired from his previous strip, '' Terry and the Pirates'', ''Steve Canyon'' ran from January 13, 1947, until June 4, 1988. It e ...

'' comic strip for the last 12 to 14 years of the strip's run.

Early life

Born in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and t ...

, Dorf was a fan of comic books and comic strips, particularly

Chester Gould Chester Gould (; November 20, 1900 – May 11, 1985) was an American cartoonist, best known as the creator of the '' Dick Tracy'' comic strip, which he wrote and drew from 1931 to 1977, incorporating numerous colorful and monstrous villains. Ea ...

's work on the daily strip ''

Dick Tracy ''Dick Tracy'' is an American comic strip featuring Dick Tracy (character), Dick Tracy (originally Plainclothes Tracy), a tough and intelligent police detective created by Chester Gould. It made its debut on Sunday, October 4, 1931, in the ''De ...

''. Dorf studied at Chicago's Art Institute before moving to New York and beginning his career as a freelancer in the field of commercial design. In the 1960s, Dorf had made the acquaintance of a number of creators working in the two fields, among them

Jack Kirby Jack Kirby (born Jacob Kurtzberg; August 28, 1917 – February 6, 1994) was an American comic book artist, writer and editor, widely regarded as one of the medium's major innovators and one of its most prolific and influential creators. He gre ...

, upon whom Dorf would occasionally call.

Career

Comic-Con

In 1964 back in Detroit, teenager Robert Brosch organised a convention for fans of the comics medium, which Dorf and

Jerry Bails Jerry Gwin Bails (June 26, 1933 – November 23, 2006) was an American popular culturist. Known as the "Father of Comic Book Fandom," he was one of the first to approach the comic book field as a subject worthy of academic study, and was a primar ...

, the "father of comics fandom," attended."Historian Collects Comics: They Are Works of Art," ''Detroit News'' (1965). The next year Dorf and Bails took over the event, christening it the " Detroit Triple Fan Fair" (referring to fantasy literature, fantasy films, and comic art) and organizing it as an annual event. The Detroit Triple Fan Fair (DTFF) is credited as being the first regularly held convention featuring

comic books A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are oft ...

as a major component. Dorf went on to produce the DTFF in 1967

Thompson, Maggie Maggie Thompson (born Margaret Curtis; November 29, 1942), is an American longtime editor of the now-defunct comic book industry news magazine ''Comics Buyer's Guide'', science fiction fan, and collector of comics. Early life Margaret ( nickna ...

''Newfangles'' #2
(May 1967), p. 2. and 1968 as well. In 1970, Dorf moved to

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

,"Founder of Comic-Con Dies at 76"
,

City News Service City News Service, Inc. is a regional news service covering Southern California. City News Service clients include local and regional newspapers, broadcasters and websites. History The company was founded in 1928 by Marvin Willard and Welland Go ...

via Fox5SanDiego.com, November 4, 2009 to take care of his aging parents. Almost immediately, he organized a one-day convention "as a kind of 'dry run' for the larger convention he hoped to stage," with

Forrest J Ackerman Forrest James Ackerman (November 24, 1916 – December 4, 2008) was an American magazine editor; science fiction writer and literary agent; a founder of science fiction fandom; a leading expert on science fiction, horror, and fantasy films; a pr ...

as the star attraction. Dorf's first three-day San Diego comics convention, the Golden State Comic-Con, was held at the U. S. Grant Hotel from August 1–3, 1970.Rowe, Peter
"Obituary: Sheldon Dorf; Comic-Con co-founder
''

The San Diego Union-Tribune ''The San Diego Union-Tribune'' is a metropolitan daily newspaper published in San Diego, California, that has run since 1868. Its name derives from a 1992 merger between the two major daily newspapers at the time, ''The San Diego Union'' and ...

'' / Sign On San Diego, November 4, 2009 It would eventually grow into the San Diego Comic-Con International, now considered the standard bearer for U.S.

comic conventions A comic book convention or comic-con is an event with a primary focus on comic books and comic book culture, in which comic book fans gather to meet creators, experts, and each other. Commonly, comic conventions are multi-day events hosted at co ...

. The convention moved in subsequent years to the El Cortez Hotel; the

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego is ...

; and Golden Hall, before settling into the San Diego Convention center in 1991.

Later endeavors

As "'Founding Father' of San Diego Comic-Con," Dorf received an

Inkpot Award The Inkpot Award is an honor bestowed annually since 1974 by Comic-Con International. It is given to professionals in the fields of comic books, comic strips, animation, science fiction, and related areas of popular culture, at CCI's annual conv ...

at the 1975 San Diego Comic-Con. In 1984 Dorf began compilation and editing of the ''Dick Tracy'' comic strips in comic book format for

Blackthorne Publishing Blackthorne Publishing, Inc. was a comic book publisher that flourished from 1986–1989. They were notable for the ''Blackthorne 3-D Series'', their reprint titles of classic comic strips like Dick Tracy, and their licensed products. Blackthorne ...

, "proudly" publishing ninety-nine issues and collecting the material again in twenty-four collections.Gould O'Connell, Jean and Locher, Dick. ''Chester Gould: A Daughter's Biography of the Creator of Dick Tracy'', McFarland, 2007, p.203. Chester Gould's daughter, Jean Gould O'Connell credits Dorf with bringing "Tracy out to another generation." Comics historian

Mark Evanier Mark Stephen Evanier (; born March 2, 1952) is an American comic book and television writer, known for his work on the animated TV series '' Garfield and Friends'' and on the comic book ''Groo the Wanderer''. He is also known for his columns and b ...

said Caniff "honored Shel by making him into a character. It was a well-meaning football player named "Thud Shelley" who appeared a few times in the Canyon strip.

also made Shel into a character ... a father figure named Himon who appeared in ''

Mister Miracle Mister Miracle (Scott Free) is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. He first appeared in ''Mister Miracle'' #1 (April 1971) and was created by Jack Kirby. Publication history Mister Miracle debuted in ...

''. In 1990, Dorf was employed as a consultant on

Warren Beatty Henry Warren Beatty (né Beaty; born March 30, 1937) is an American actor and filmmaker, whose career spans over six decades. He was nominated for 15 Academy Awards, including four for Best Actor, four for Best Picture, two for Best Director, ...

's big-screen adaptation of Dick Tracy. Dorf would also contribute interviews to the comics press and movie collector magazines (including for ''The Buyer's Guide for Comic Fandom'' /nowiki>TBG/nowiki> and '' Film Collector's World''), and his conversations with

Milton Caniff Milton Arthur Paul Caniff (; February 28, 1907 – April 3, 1988) was an American cartoonist famous for the ''Terry and the Pirates'' and ''Steve Canyon'' comic strips. Biography Caniff was born in Hillsboro, Ohio. He was an Eagle Scout and a r ...

and

Mort Walker Addison Morton Walker (September 3, 1923 – January 27, 2018) was an American comic strip writer, best known for creating the newspaper comic strips ''Beetle Bailey'' in 1950 and ''Hi and Lois'' in 1954. He signed Addison to some of his strips. ...

have both been collected in the

University Press of Mississippi The University Press of Mississippi, founded in 1970, is a publisher that is sponsored by the eight state universities in Mississippi. Universities *Alcorn State University *Delta State University * Jackson State University *Mississippi State U ...

's ''Milton Caniff: Conversations'' and ''Mort Walker: Conversations'' respectively. His interview with

Wally Wood Wallace Allan Wood (June 17, 1927 – November 2, 1981) was an American comic book writer, artist and independent publisher, widely known for his work on EC Comics's titles such as '' Weird Science'', '' Weird Fantasy'', and ''MAD Magazine'' fr ...

(among the few to see print) for ''TBG'' was reprinted in ''

Comic Book Artist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and ...

'' #14 (July 2001).

Death and legacy

Dorf died at age 76 on November 3, 2009, from

diabetes Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level ( hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ...

-related complications in Sharp Memorial Hospital, San Diego. He was survived by his brother, Michael.

References

General references

Inline citations

External links

Shel Dorf Tribute.com
*

Russ Maheras list of Shel Dorf interviews for "The Buyer's Guide for Comic Fandom"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dorf, Shel American magazine editors Comics critics Culture of San Diego Deaths from diabetes Inkpot Award winners Artists from Detroit 1933 births 2009 deaths