Shel Dorf

Early life

Born in Detroit, 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, 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, the "father of comics fandom", attended. 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 as a major component. Dorf went on to produce the DTFF in 1967 and 1968 as well.

In 1970, Dorf moved to San Diego, California, 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, It would eventually grow into San Diego Comic-Con, 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; 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 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.

Chester Gould's daughter, Jean Gould O'Connell credits Dorf with bringing "Tracy out to another generation." Comics historian Mark Evanier 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. Jack Kirby also made Shel into a character ... a father figure named Himon who appeared in Mister Miracle. In 1990, Dorf was employed as a consultant on Warren Beatty'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 [TBG] and Film Collector's World), and his conversations with Milton Caniff and Mort Walker have both been collected in the University Press of Mississippi's Milton Caniff: Conversations and Mort Walker: Conversations respectively. His interview with Wally Wood (among the few to see print) for TBG was reprinted in Comic Book Artist #14 (July 2001).

Death and legacy

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

References

1. [https://www.comic-con.org/awards/inkpot Inkpot Award]
2. "[https://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5glBwbXu7D8-IxwlvxGDy2BgS0YyAD9BOTBVO0 Founder of San Diego Comic-Con dies at 76]{{dead link. (June 2024)
3. Spurgeon, Tom. "[http://www.comicsreporter.com/index.php/shel_dorf_1933_2009/ Shel Dorf, 1933-2009]", ''The Comics Reporter'' (self-published), 4 November 2009. Accessed 4 November 2009. [https://web.archive.org/web/20091108223415/http://www.comicsreporter.com/index.php/shel_dorf_1933_2009/ Archived] 4 November 2009.
4. [[Mark Evanier. Evanier, Mark]], "[http://www.newsfromme.com/2009/11/03/shel-dorf-r-i-p/]", ''POV Online'' (self published), November 3, 2009. Accessed 4 November 2009. [https://web.archive.org/web/20091106070349/http://www.newsfromme.com/archives/2009_11_03.html Archived] 4 November 2009.
5. Although R.C. Harvey gives it as 12 years in the 2002 ''Milton Caniff: Conversations'', Mark Evanier states 14 in his 2009 tribute to Dorf.
6. [[Milton Caniff. Caniff, Milton]] and [[R.C. Harvey. Harvey, R.C.]], ''Milton Caniff: Conversations'', [[University Press of Mississippi]], 2002, p88. {{ISBN. 1-57806-438-4
7. Morrow, John and [[Jack Kirby. Kirby, Jack]]. ''Collected Jack Kirby Collector: Volume 2 of The Collected Jack Kirby Collector'', Morrow, John ed. [[TwoMorrows Publishing]], 2004, p 48. {{ISBN. 1-893905-01-2
8. "Historian Collects Comics: They Are Works of Art," ''Detroit News'' (1965).
9. Detroit Triple Fan Fair program book (Detroit Triple Fan Fair, 1972).
10. link. (2012-07-08 Detroit News blog (July 7, 2010).)
11. [[Maggie Thompson. Thompson, Maggie]]. [http://www.maggiethompson.com/1970/07/fanzine-library-newfangles-2-may-1967.html ''Newfangles'' #2] (May 1967), p. 2.
12. [http://www.fox5sandiego.com/news/kswb-comic-con-obit,0,5610639.story "Founder of Comic-Con Dies at 76"] {{Webarchive. link. (2011-10-04 , [[City News Service]] via Fox5SanDiego.com, November 4, 2009)
13. was held at the [[U. S. Grant Hotel]] from August 1–3, 1970.Rowe, Peter. [http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2009/nov/04/sheldon-dorf-comic-con-co-founder-devoted-artists-/ "Obituary: Sheldon Dorf; Comic-Con co-founder], ''[[The San Diego Union-Tribune]]'' / Sign On San Diego, November 4, 2009
14. [[Robert C. Harvey. Harvey, Robert C]]. ''The Art of the Comic Book'', University Press of Mississippi, 1996, p47. {{ISBN. 0-87805-758-7
15. Malloy, Elizabeth. (2008-04-18). "Charting Comic-Con's Hulk-like growth". The Daily Transcript.
16. "[http://www.comic-con.org/cci/cci_inkpot.shtml Comic-Con International's Inkpot Awards]", comic-con.org, 2009. Accessed 4 November 2009. [https://web.archive.org/web/20091229183151/http://www.comic-con.org/cci/cci_inkpot.shtml Archived] 4 November 2009.
17. Gould O'Connell, Jean and Locher, Dick. ''Chester Gould: A Daughter's Biography of the Creator of Dick Tracy'', McFarland, 2007, p.203. {{ISBN. 0-7864-2825-2
18. John Wilkens. (16 July 2006). "Comic-Con's Dorf watches sadly from the sidelines as T-shirts trump talent". San Diego Union Tribune.
19. (6 June 2012). "RIP Sheldon Dorf, San Diego Comic-Con Co-Founder". DreadCentral.
20. (November 6, 2009). "Shel Dorf dies at 76; architect behind San Diego's Comic-Con". Los Angeles Times.
21. (September 26, 2011). "The Shel Dorf Awards — all the winners". The Beat.
22. MacDonald, Heidi. (August 10, 2011). "Shel Dorf Award nominees announced". The Beat.
23. Sanford, Jay Allen. (July 21, 2022). "In defense of San Diego Comic-Con co-founder Shel Dorf: Personal POV of the original annoying comic geek". [[San Diego Reader]].
24. Melrose, Kevin. (September 17, 2013). "Voting opens for fourth annual Shel Dorf Awards". CBR.
25. "Shel Dorf Awards". Grand Comics Database.