Gregory Johnston writes to ask…
I've read the pieces you've written about Shel Dorf. I never met Mr. Dorf but I'm grateful to him for the role he played in starting the convention that I try to attend whenever I can afford the trip. I was saddened to read that he became as you put it, estranged from the con. You said that attempts were made to get him involved or to receive a pension and I wonder if you could explain about those attempts and tell us what went wrong and what you would have liked to see happen.
I'm not going to get too deep into specifics on this because the situation was complicated and I'm not sure I know all the details well enough to chronicle them; nor is some of it really anybody's business. You'll just have to take my word — for whatever you think that may be worth — that the convention tried to rectify matters and that I wish Shel had been more amenable. He could be very obstinate. We were pals for close to forty years and during that time, we had arguments and disagreements, and we were even involved in a couple of business-type deals, unrelated to the con, that I thought he badly mishandled. Perhaps you have someone in your life you consider a friend even though you don't think they manage their lives properly. I have a number of them in mine.
Some of Shel's problems with the con flowed from the fact that Comic-Con International is a non-profit organization, a fact I probably should have mentioned in my writings about him. That means the con is governed by strict rules about how it handles its money and how it must account for every nickel. I think a lot of people presume that its operators all take home huge salaries and bonuses but that is not the case. Many are volunteers and the ones who are paid do not receive high wages. Yeah, the con takes in millions. It also costs millions to put on each year.
As a guy who does a lot of things at and with the con, I have been known to make suggestions. Some, they take. Some, they mull and decide (probably wisely) were rotten ideas. And often, someone there explains to me why my idea isn't practical or legal or — usually — why it would cost a helluva lot more money than I think it would. I have found the con staff to be knowledgeable and eager to please within the confines of what is possible. When they tell me my idea isn't, I accept that and figure they're almost certainly right. When someone told Shel an idea or demand wasn't feasible, he got angry. In a day or so here, I'll be linking to a must-read piece by his friend, R.C. Harvey, about the man. Bob Harvey knew Shel as well as anyone and also tried to breach the impasse he came to in his life with the convention. Bob and I encountered exactly the same problems.
The convention is a huge, complex beast that is somehow tamed on an annual basis. I was impressed the other night to see human beings do the impossible at Cirque du Soleil and I continue to be impressed with the Comic-Con International in much the same way. Knowing what I do about the problems and obstacles and legal complications and the egos and needs of guests and exhibitors, I am amazed they pull it off each year. (And please, don't write me with your complaints about things you don't like about the con. There are things I don't like about the con, too…and even if all our complaints are valid, it's still astounding how much goes right.)
What's more, the con is run for love far more than money. A convention committee member complained to me today that what I wrote about Shel had made it sound like he was the only one with any passion or love of the art forms in that hall. I don't think I said that…but if anyone took that away from anything I wrote, let me correct that impression. I've been dealing with various permutations of the convention committee since '70 and have yet to meet a person who didn't love comics and/or science-fiction. That's one of the reasons I think the convention works as well as it does.
Getting back to Shel and his estrangement: I think there was a role for him in the con in his later years. I do not quite understand why he didn't accept it. And that's about as much on this topic as I feel like writing tonight.
I will add a possible correction: I said Shel's last appearance at the con was 2001. That's the last time I saw him there, and I think he told me that was the last time he ventured into one. Others have since told me they saw him there, albeit briefly, in later years. Whatever, the point is that he went from being the point man and figurehead of the con to being a fellow who made cameo appearances and felt distanced from it all. That's very sad but I'm happy to see him getting recognition for what he did contribute, and I stand by what I wrote here: Those of us who care about comics are forever in his debt.
