Funeral services are being held today for Richard Alf, who was one of the founders of what we now know as the Comic-Con International in San Diego. I thought you might enjoy seeing this magazine show report on how it all began, as discussed by Richard and by Mike Towry, another guy who was there at the inception.
Two caveats: The report says there were 150 attendees at the first con in 1970. They may be confusing the one-day tryout con (called the Golden State Comic-Minicon) which took place on March 21, 1970 with the first real convention down there. The first real one was called the Golden State Comic-Con and it was held August 1-3 of 1970. I'm not sure how many people attended the Minicon — I wasn't one of them — but I've heard estimates that range from 150 to 250. I did attend one day (Saturday) of the 3-day one and I'm pretty sure they had more than 150 there, just on that day. Matter of fact, I recall more than 150 attending the Jack Kirby speech. Shel Dorf used to tell me they had 500-600 attendees over the three days of that convention and that doesn't strike me as impossible…though it's also possible that the number was more like 300, which is the tally usually quoted.
Also in the piece below, all the photos of scenes from the Comic-Con are from years later than 1970. I'm not sure I've ever seen a photo taken at the first convention.
Anyway, here are Richard and Mike telling it like it is. Or rather, was…
