How Our Beloved Comic Con got Started

San Diego Comic Con International (SDCC) is by far the biggest comic convention on the globe.

And when you are among the other 125,000 fans packed into San Diego’s Convention Center, and its 600,000 square feet of exhibition space, it’s hard to imagine how the first Comic-Con got to grow into this modern day behemoth that has become a global phenomenon.

The Con was the brainchild of comic book fans Shel Dorf and Jerry Bails and started life in Detroit in the 1960’s. After their friend, Robert Brusch, organized a convention for comics fans in 1964, Dorf and Bails took over the event.

Naming it the “Detroit Triple Fan Fair,” they made it an annual event for local comic fans until 1970 when Dorf moved toCalifornia. After moving toSan Diego, Dorf decided to see if he could get the same interest from comic book fans. He organized a one-day event in March he called the “Golden State Comic-Minicon,” in an attempt to raise enough cash to pay for a much bigger convention he planned to hold over three days later that year. He succeeded and in Auguest 1070, the San Diego Comic Con was born.

The Beginnings

Managing to get the doyen of comic book collectors and science fiction writer, Forrest J Ackerman, on the committee (whose collection also made one of the star attractions), the first San Diego Comic Con was held in the basement of the historic US Grant Hotel. While attended by only 300 people, a far more timid affair compared to today’s extravaganza, Dorf and his fellow organizers, Richard Alf, Ken Krueger and Mike Towry, deemed the convention enough of a success that they decided to make it an annual event.

Over the years, the attendance to the convention grew steadily, and the Comic-Con soon became large enough to need bigger premises. It moved from the US Grant Hotel to the El Cortez Hotel, the Universityof Californiaand Golden Hall, before finally moving to its current home at the San DiegoConvention Centerin the early 1990s.

Comic Con Today

San Diego Comic Con’s continuing success has been the committee’s dedication to the fans. By networking with fan organizations, the San Diego Comic Con has always tried to connect fans with comic book creators. Over the last decade, The Con has become an important date, not just for the writers and publishers of comic books, but also forHollywoodtoo. Because of the recent success of comic book movies, such as CaptainAmericaand X Men, movie producers, actors and directors are all regular attendees.

While the organizing committee, Comic-Con International, also host two other conventions: WonderCon and the Alternative Press Expo – both held in San Francisco- the San Diego Comic Con remains the largest gathering of comic book fans, writers, artists and publishers across the globe. Attendees and exhibitors come from all over the world, including Manga publishers from Japanand comic creators from Britainand France.

Comic Con Facts

• The San Diego Comic Con International consists of 13 board members, employs 20 full and part time workers, and has a regular staff of 80 volunteers, all of whom ensure the smooth running of the convention.
• The San Diego Comic Con International is a nonprofit organization. All profits from the convention go into producing the event, which enables the organizers to make each convention bigger and better than the previous year.
• The Comic Con is now so large that it has a annual impact on the local economy worth $162 million, benefitting businesses throughout San Diego.
• In 2010, San Diego Comic Con International announced it would be staying in San Diego for the foreseeable future (at least until 2015).
• In 1979, the Comic Con suffered a robbery and had to ask for donations to help pay its bills or the future of the event would have been under threat. It’s a testament to the generous nature of comic book fans that they raised more than enough to keep the convention going.
• The Comic Con has attracted a host of different celebrities over the years, including Matt Groening, who attended long before he created the Simpsons, Johnny Depp, Robert Downey Jr. Nicolas Cage, Angelina Jolie, and Seth Rogen.
• Comic Con 2012 is to be held from 12-15 July and is expected to be the biggest and best event yet!

Jenny Parker is a full time writer and researcher currently living in London. As a child she loved drawing and writing her own comic strips which has grown into freelance article writing in adulthood. She specialises in travel writing which has its perks like the many cruise holidays and free hotel stays she’s had over the years.