As most pop-culture aficionados are well aware, the city of San Diego annually plays host to San Diego Comic-Con International, a massive gathering of fans of comic books, science fiction, movies, television, cosplay, steampunk, animation, and on and on.
While it attracts over 100,000 fans nowadays, it wasn't always such a big deal. In the mid '70's, the Comic-Con was fairly small - averaging a few thousand fans at best.
The very first Comic-Con I tried to attend was held at the El-Cortez Hotel in 1972, but I missed it by hours - my Mom and I showed up as the last of the dealers were leaving. My 9-year old heart was shattered.
I attended the Con held on Harbor Island the following year though, and again at the El Cortez the year after that one. However, all I ever went for was to find and purchase cheap comics. I was a poor kid and being able to purchase .20 cent comics for half price was a godsend. Nothing else mattered to me at that young age.
It wasn't until the 1975 Comic-Con in the early summer that I remember anything other than buying cheap comics in dealer bargain bins. That was the year I started to appreciate the fact that the very people who had created the books I loved so much were all around me.
That summer I started attending Con Committee meetings - at first somewhere out in Clairemont (I cannot recall where, exactly), but later in a small room at the El Cortez.
Eventually, Rick and I got voted in as committee members, though our only function was as gophers - running errands and watching doors, sleeping on cots in the art room to keep an eye on Steranko's original oils of The Shadow, etc.
Being a gopher also meant we got to stay in the gopher room during the run of the Con, which, as I think I've mentioned in a previous blog, was pure heaven for my teen self.
The Comic-Con was the bright spot of my life until I left San Diego in '81. I cannot understate just how much better my life was and is because of that one week a year I was able to get away from a world wherein I was considered a geek (and not in the "isn't he a cute geek" way that is the current interpretation) and be among others like me.
Which is the primary reason I drove 1200 miles back to San Diego last Thursday. Sure, I was going to see my family and friends who still reside in San Diego, but I was also going to attend San Diego Comic Fest.
Comic Fest was spearheaded by Mike Towry, one of the original organizers of the San Diego Comic-Con, as a way to bring the Con back to it's roots, not only in scale, but in atmosphere and intention - fans of comics and related genres sharing in a mutual love for a hobby.
Rick and I arrived at the Town & Country hotel fairly early Friday morning. The signage directing attendees to registration and events had yet to be put up, and the registration area itself was still being readied.
However, being as how this little reunion of a Comic-Con was being run by the people who put on the very first San Diego Comic-Con and they knew exactly what they were doing, we were able to get our badges in minutes, and, after grabbing a few schedules we set out to look around the grounds and get the lay of the land.
Our first stop was the dealers room, naturally, but there were not too many dealers in attendance yet, so we asked where we might find some coffee and were directed to the re-creation of Cafe Frankenstein on the 9th floor of the Regency tower.
Cafe Frankenstein was a European-styled coffee house that folk musician Doug Myers, writer George Clayton Johnson & artist Burt Shonberg opened in Laguna Beach, California in 1958. It was only open a short two years, but it had a lasting influence on many creative types.
I mistakenly believed it was the place Ralph Hulett had taken us on the return trip from the Hollywood Fanfare convention back in '77 or '78, but I was grossly mistaken - Cafe Frankenstein had closed down before I was even born.
The recreation of Cafe Frankenstein was impressive. There were posters from nearly every Frankenstein movie ever made all about the room, along with statues and tiki's of Frankenstein's monster, and impressive displays on every table that gave bits of history on the SoCal Beats who frequented the Cafe in it's short life.
The re-creation also included some interesting short biographies of noted luminaries of the underground scene of the day in table-top displays and flyers, and even an incredible re-creation by Wendy All of Burt Shonberg's faux stained-glass window featuring the Frankenstein monster that filled a bay window near the entrance of the original cafe.
The coffee operation was not quite up and running yet though, so Rick and I decided to go out and find a place to grab a bite for breakfast and get coffee. However, before we took off we ran into early S.D. Comic-Con pioneers Mike Towry, the wondrous organizer of the Comic Fest, and Wendy All, the talented artist who had toiled for endless hours to put together the awesome recreation of Cafe Frankenstein.
Though we have shared a few emails, I couldn't remember if I had ever met Mike before - I'm not sure if he was still involved with the S.D. Con in 1976. I did recall Wendy though. It was actually a thrill to see them both, as that somewhat put faces to all that was going on.
After we had breakfast and got some good, strong coffee off site, Rick and I made our way back to the Comic Fest. The first order of business was to be the dealers room now that it was up and running at full strength.
The dealers room was small, smaller that any I could remember from the Con's we had attended in the '70's.
However, it made up for what it lacked in volume with friendly vendors who had brought a wide variety of books and related memorabilia, and really great prices.
Being able to buy four comics for a dollar was, adjusted for inflation, an even better deal than the ten for a dollar comics I'd buy from dealer bargain bins at the '70's Cons.
There were a number of rooms set up for seminars and symposiums. For the remainder of Friday, and much of Saturday, Rick and I sat in on several great panel discussions.
Artists Alley and the art show were both on the same floor as Cafe Frankenstein. The artists and the artwork featured represented everything from the accomplished professional to the bright-eyed, ever hopeful amateur. It was refreshing to be able to interact with both in a relaxed, unhurried atmosphere.
George Clayton Johnson and Doug Myers related the mis-adventures of the denizens of Cafe Frankenstein in the late '50's. The Beat culture has intriqued me ever since I read On The Road when I was in my late teens.
Listening to them relate tales of run-ins with the establishment in the early days of the counter-culture was funny. Times change, but people and their reaction to change doesn't seem to.
Michael C. Gross hosted a little seminar on the comic-book and sci-fi & fantasy artists he recruited for National Lampoon's Funny Pages and how he was able to get Frank Frazetta to create covers for National Lampoon back in the early '70's.
That was fun - Mr. Gross was art director of National Lampoon when he was 25, and he shared some amusing anecdotes and insights that had me wishing I still had some of my older brothers copies of National Lampoon, and not just for pics of the delectable Danielle who was featured topless in the photo funnies.
A remembrance of Dave Stevens and a celebration of his life and work featured Steve Ringgenberg, Mark Evanier, Henri Mayo and Jackie Estrada. I can barely recall knowing Dave back then, my only memories being his working with Clayton Moore on the art show, and for some reason I always think of him wearing a vest - a suit vest, not a leather biker vest.
That discussion was somewhat emotional on occasion, which is to be expected when the panel membership consists of friends and not Academics. Jackie Estrada had brought a number of pics of Dave taken at various cons in the late '70's, and I was surprised at how skinny he was in the pics.
Another panel that I enjoyed immensely featured Barry Alfonso, Wendy All, Ron Turner and Pete Von Sholly recalling Dr. Timothy Leary's visit to the Con in 1976.
Dr. Leary had just been released from prison and was at the '76 Con as a guest and to promote a new book, "What Do Women Want." I have clear recollections of Dr. Leary being in the dealers room, and I'm fairly certain I was scared as hell of him (my Mom had filled my head with storys of him being a drug pusher).
That was all Rick and I could handle Friday (getting old sucks). We left to get dinner in P.B., and then relax and recharge for the next day.
First thing Saturday morning I sat in on the Spotlight on Murphy Anderson. Gary Carter asking Murphy Anderson about working as a comic book artist in the '50's and '60's was both interesting and revealing.
It was great hearing stories of how fantastic Silver and Bronze age stories and art were created - there was quite a bit more rushing to met deadlines that I had imagined. Gary Carter is a great interviewer. He brought along a large number of books Murphy Anderson had worked on from his own collection, and his knowledge of Mr. Anderson's work was amazing.
Rick had acquired a few comics trading with a dealer, and that somewhat sparked the desire for me to pick up a few books too. I went back to the dealers room and not only picked up a few more books, but ran into a lot of people I had yet been able to talk to - Clayton Moore and his wife romance novelist Terry Moore, Scott Shaw!, Jim Cornelius, Mark Evanier, and Jim Valentino (who I had last seen in Greg Pharis' Golden State Comics store near 30th and Adams about 33 years ago).
The early years panel featured original S.D. Comic-Con committee members Jackie Estrada, Mark Evanier, Roger Freedman, Greg Bear, David Clark, Wendy All, Mike Towry and Scott Shaw!. There was a lot of history at that long table, as I believe every single participant was present at the very first San Diego Comic-Con.
The El Cortez days discussion in the Cafe Frankenstein with Phil Yeh, Clayton Moore, Roger Freedman, and Jackie Estrada was fun. Clayton recounted his adventures as an amateur stuntman climbing up the fire escape of the El Cortez, something I had completely forgotten about.
I will confess to becoming a bit sentimental at times. Seeing people I had not seen in over thirty years (like Clayton Moore and George Clayton Johnson, who both looked exactly the same!).
Walking about the dealers room amongst people who were, like me, part of a sub-culture that has literally come out of the basement and is now part of the pop-culture mainstream, was a little like taking a big step back in time. There were not too many people in costumes (Costumes were almost always reserved for the Masquerade back then), and people were walking around with stacks of comics in their hands.
Even the site of the Comic Fest, the Town & Country hotel, reminded me of being at the El Cortez in the '70's. Except it was much, much cleaner.
It still amazes me that My mom and Rick's parents allowed us to stay at El Cortez for the Con. Fortunately, everyone involved in the Con was basically a good person, and my Mom had no apprehensions about them - except maybe for Captain Sticky - My Mom was always a little suspicious of that guy.
The San Diego Comic Fest was a great time. I got to meet up with a lot of people I hadn't seen in over three decades, some I remembered well, some I did not.
If Mike decides to make this an annual thing, I'll be there every year. Back in Colorado, a little tired and worn, I reflected that it might be nice to actually get a room at the venue next time - save on driving, and allow me to enjoy the late night festivities.
Oh, and I wish I had bought more bargain bin comics. Man I love reading books I don't feel compelled to treat like museum treasures.
I was there too, on Saturday. I just wish the fest sold one day tickets sooner, that the artist alley was bigger, and that I had more money to spend. Oh well, there's always next year. If you like Comic Con or Comic Fest, or just like smaller yet more relaxing conventions, I recommend the Long Beach Comic & Horror Con this Saturday (11/3/12) and Sunday (11/4/12).
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