Comic-Con has just posted details for the Ken Krueger panel at http://www.comic-con.org/cci/cci10_prog_fri.php. The panel will be held on Friday, July 23, 2010. Hope to see you there (wearing your Ken Krueger Fan Club t-shirt, if you’ve got one). Here are the details:
Scott Shaw!
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.
While scanning some of Shel Dorf’s black-and-white negatives of the 1973 San Diego Comic-Con, I came across this picture of Ken on a panel with Scott Shaw!, John Pound, and two as-yet-unidentified people. (Does anyone recognize them or recall what the panel was about?)
At the ComicConMemories.com web site, you can listen to audio recordings of many committe members and guest speakers from the first San Diego’s Golden State Comic-Con, which was held August 1st thru 3rd, 1970 in the U.S. Grant Hotel. The list of those recorded includes the following: Ken Krueger, Shel Dorf, Barry Alfonso, Greg Bear, Ray Bradbury, Roger Freedman, Mark Hanerfeld, Earl Kemp, Jack Kirby, Scott Shaw!, and Morrie Turner.
The new online, Fall 2009 edition of the Comic-Con Magazine is available from http://www.comic-con.org/common/cc_magazine.shtml. It features very nice articles on San Diego Comic-Con International Founder Shel Dorf (pages 4-5) and Chairman of Comic-Con #1 Ken Krueger (page 6). There is also a great picture of Ken with some of the original Comic-Con crew at the 2009 Comic-Con on page 36.
Scott! Shaw contributed the following scan of the original 1971 edition of GORY STORIES QUARTERLY’s intro page, which has a nice sketch of Ken by John Pound. (GORY STORIES was an underground comic published by Ken through his SHROUD Publishers.)
Links to online-media coverage of Ken Krueger’s passing and his legacy in comics and science-fiction fandom. The links were good as of December 2, 2009. They may, however, not be “permanent” links and may be in effect for only a relatively-short period of time.
Alan White sent in the following picture of Ken Krueger with some of the original Comic-Con gang at Comic-Con International #40, July 2009. Alan helps to put on the Xanadu science-fiction convention in Las Vegas (http://www.xanadulasvegas.com/). He has a nice mention of Ken on his web site (http://www.scifivegas.com/) along with a link to this site.
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.
Jim Valentino remembers Ken’s 1999 going-away party with guests Scott Shaw!, David Scroggy, John Koukousakis, Max McBurney, Clayton Moore, the late Bill Liebowitz, Harlan Ellison, and many more.
Ken Krueger caricature by Milton Caniff