Results tagged “San Diego Comic-Con” from Modern Mythology

SAN DIEGO (AP) -- Sheldon Dorf, who founded the world famous Comic-Con International comic book convention, has died. He was 76.

A longtime friend, Greg Koudoulian, says the Ocean Beach resident died at a San Diego hospital on Tuesday from kidney failure. He had diabetes and had been hospitalized for about a year.

Dorf, a freelance artist and comic strip letterer, founded Comic-Con in San Diego in 1970 after moving from Detroit.

Today, the convention draws 125,000 fans a year and is a major gathering for comic book fans, artists, writers and movie stars.

Koudoulian says Dorf was friends with comic greats such as Marvel artist Jack Kirby and "Peanuts" creator Charles Schulz. He says Dorf was also instrumental in helping budding artists find audiences.

And so the Long Beach Comic Con has come and gone leaving more than a few good impressions from attendees and industry professionals alike. 

BOOM! Studios editor Mark Waid ("The Incredibles," "Irredeemable"), Jimmy Palmiotti ("Jonah Hex") and small press veteran Dale Wilson (DWAP Productions) were just a few of the pros who said they were pleased that a comic con returned to Long Beach.

"It's a friendly city to be in to have a show and we jumped right on it," Wilson said.  "And it's turned out to be a great show. We're pretty happy with everybody that's here." 

When my co-workers ---  who have never really been to a comic convention --- asked me this weekend if L.B. Con is anything like San Diego Comic-Con International, I first have to explain the obvious difference in size. It's similar in many ways but the style of the Long Beach Comic Con is different from the one in San Diego.

It all depends on what kind of comic convention experience you're interested in.  I have a friend you'd have to kidnap before you get him back to another San Diego Comic-Con -- yet  he showed up in Long Beach Sunday.

Other people I know want to see a spectacle, so San Diego would probably blow them away.

I'll be gone for a bit on vacation and will be back in action next week.  Modern Mythology still has more to share on the Con so check back with us over the next few days.

Modern is more than a year and a month old, and I want to thank every reader and every contributor who visited and lent their ideas, creativity and time.  I've got a few new ideas, so now it's time to take this blog and make it better. 

Are you ready for another year?

The image above is from Picture is Unrelated -- but in my case it seems appropriate.


 

 

I remember standing in line at one of the Starbucks dugouts in the San Diego Convention Center at Comic-Con International about four years ago waiting to get my cup o' wake-me-up when I saw my first Slave Leia costume-player.

It was model Christy Marie walking by and making her busy rounds in the quasi-legendary "metal" bikini taking pictures with fans and droolers alike.

Over the years the Leias multiplied.  Maybe they were always there. But where there were once few now there are legions.  Notable midriffs from Attack of the Show's Olivia Munn to Veronica Mars' Kristen Bell have been exposed in the costume. And now another mass Slave Leia throwdown hits Comic-Con this year.

I'm not telling you to go, I'm just letting it be known that Leiasmetalbikini.com is the sponsor of this gathering at 1 p.m. Friday July 24.  Will there be some Leias in the house?  I would be surprised if there wasn't a good turnout.  The Slave Leia costume is like... the new stormtrooper.  

By the way, where you at, Christy Marie?

http://www.leiasmetalbikini.com/



Photo Credit: That's Slave Leia (Christy Marie) and I in a snapshot taken by my good friend at the San Diego Comic-Con a few years ago -- yeah, I took a picture with her too.

Fans who don't make it to San Diego for Comic-Con International already know plenty of ways to keep up on the announcements, creator interviews and celebrity appearances via the web.

How about those fans who want to see it live on their TV? 

In what is being dubbed a Comic Con first, fan-fave channel G4 and Lucasfilm will air The Star Wars Spectacular! Saturday July 25 at 2 p.m. Eastern and Pacific on G4.  Hosts Olivia Munn and Kevin Pereira will guide the coverage.

I have not taken advantage of G4 in the past when it comes to the Comic-Con and I am blown away by the amount of coverage this event is getting across all media.

Speaking of coverage, Modern Mythology will be at the San Diego Comic-Con.  It's our inaugural Con coverage as a blog (I went last year and video profiled a local writer-artist for the Press-Telegram). I'll drop more details in the near future.

No, Olivia Munn (above) will not be helping me -- Darn it.


Image by Gabriel Bouys/AFP/Getty Images