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 […]
Dave Clark
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.
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.
It was in a phone conversation with Ken that I discovered that he, like myself and several other alumni had been invited as special “40th Anniversary Guests” to the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con. I think it took me all of a day to realize that this would be a perfect opportunity to gather all of Ken’s “boys” together in one room. It was Ken who started the tradition of Sunday dinner during the cons at Filippi’s, an Italian restaurant in the Little Italy section of SD. A tradition my sons and I had kept going all these years, so it was a fitting place to have the dinner.
Ken Krueger caricature by Milton Caniff