Mark Evanier has written elsewhere of the King Kon mini-convention, which was produced in February, 1974 by Shel Dorf and Ken Krueger. Thanks to Jackie Estrada and Matt Lorentz, we are now able to present a King Kon flyer for your viewing pleasure.
Art / Images
With Comic-Con #41 coming up next month, I thought you might like to read Ken Krueger’s Chairman’s message from the program book for Comic-Con #1 (August 1970). Since Ken just gave first names, here is a list of the full names of the committee members he was thanking: Shel Dorf, Richard Alf, John Pound, Scott Shaw!, Barry Alfonso, Bob Sourk, Greg Bear, Dave Clark, Ron Cearns, Bill Lund, Gary Pagel, David McGlone, Pat McGlone, Steve McGlone, John Hull, Mike Towry, Steve Shipman, Dan Stewart, Bill Rupp, and Glen Walker.
I’ve recently scanned over two-hundred of Shel Dorf’s original negatives from the 1974 Comic-Con, which was the second El Cortez convention. Here is one of those photos, which is of Ken in the dealers room.
When Ken Krueger became chairman of San Diego’s Comic-Con in 1970, he already had decades of experience in science-fiction fandom, of which he was a well-respected member. This can be seen from the following excerpts from the first issue of Hyperopia, the “official fanzine of the BUFFALO FANTASY LEAGUE,” which was edited by Robert J. Fritz. The month of publication – July – is given but not the year. However, internal evidence indicates this is from 1952. A few obvious typos were corrected and the name of one person was changed to her initials, “G. C.” So, now, read on and get ready to take up the chant: “We Want Ken, We Want Ken!”
On March 21, 1970, San Diego’s Golden State Comic-Minicon was held in the basement of the U.S. Grant Hotel in downtown San Diego. This small, one-day convention was held to raise funds and fan-recognition for the initial three-day convention, San Diego’s Golden State Comic-Con, to be held in August of that year. Richard Alf, who was Minicon Co-Chairman (Bob Sourk was Chairman) recently found a set of photographs from that small event. One of these is reproduced above.
Ken’s son Timothy “Gus” Krueger just sent in these scans of a birthday card that Shel Dorf created for Ken’s 47th birthday in 1973. (Images are courtesy of The Krueger Archive.)
Ken Krueger caricature by Milton Caniff