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

comic book A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

enthusiast and the founder of

San Diego Comic-Con San Diego Comic-Con is a comic book convention and multi-genre entertainment event held annually in San Diego, California, at the San Diego Convention Center. Founded in 1970, originally showcasing primarily comic books and science fiction/fant ...

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

Early life

Born in

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

, Michigan, Dorf was a fan of comic books and comic strips, particularly Chester Gould's work on the daily strip '' Dick Tracy''. 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 comics artist, comic book artist, widely regarded as one of the medium's major innovators and one of its most prolific and influential creators. He grew ...

, 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, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

as a major component. Dorf went on to produce the DTFF in 1967 Thompson, Maggie
''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 coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

, California,"Founder of Comic-Con Dies at 76"
, City News Service 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 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

, now considered the standard bearer for U.S. comic conventions. 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 in communications material, formerly and colloquially UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California, United States. Es ...

; 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 Comic-Con Internati ...

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, "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 ...

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 is the name of three fictional superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The first and third are humans Thaddeus Brown and Shilo Norman, while the second is New God Scott Free. The Scott Free incarnat ...

''. 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. His career has spanned over six decades, and he has received an Academy Award and three Golden Globe Awards. He also received the Irving G. Thalberg Memor ...

'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 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 (UPM), founded in 1970, is a university press that is sponsored by the eight state universities in Mississippi (i.e., Alcorn State University, Delta State University, Jackson State University, Mississippi Sta ...

'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 (comic), Weird Science'', ''Weird Fantasy'', an ...

(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 comics illustrators/artists in that they produce both the literary ...

'' #14 (July 2001).

Death and legacy

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

diabetes Diabetes mellitus, commonly known as diabetes, is a group of common endocrine diseases characterized by sustained high blood sugar levels. Diabetes is due to either the pancreas not producing enough of the hormone insulin, or the cells of th ...

-related complications in Sharp Memorial Hospital, San Diego. He was survived by his brother, Michael. The Shel Dorf Awards were created in 2010 to honor "'the comic industry's best and brightest talents', and voted on by fans." In 2011, the Detroit Fanfare convention began presenting the awards, which were presented through 2013.

References

Citations

Sources

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 in California Inkpot Award winners Artists from Detroit 1933 births 2009 deaths