Comic Con founder Shel Dorf (b.1933) died on November 3. Dorf was trained at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago before working as a freelance artist in New York. As a teenager, he had helped run Triple Fan Fest in Detroit. When he moved to San Diego in 1970, he decided to run something similar and Golden State Comic Con was born. Dorf walked away from the convention in the mid-80s after running it for 15 years.
Following the announcement that Diamond Comic Distributors will not be shipping comics teh week of December 30, Indy Comic Week has been established, with a call for independent and small press comic book creators to fill the vacancy and arange to publish new materials and offer them to stores on December 30.
Warner Brothers has announced that Diane Newton will take the newly created position as head of DC Entertainment. The creation of DC Entertainment is to better manage the DC library of characters for Warner Brothers. Newton has previously overseen the Harry Potter franchise. DC President Paul Levitz will step down from his position to become a writer, contributing editor and consultant to DC Entertainment.
Disney has announced that it has agreed to purchase Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion, pending shareholder approval of the deal. If Marvel shareholders approve the deal, they will receive $30 in cash and .745 shares of Disney stock for each share of Marvel they currently hold.
Jerry Weist, the author of Bradbury: An Illustrated Life and The Art of Frank R. Paul has been diagnosed with multiple myeloma. The diagnosis was made early and he has begun chemotherapy as part of an experimental program. In 1974, Weist founded The Million Year Picnic comic book shop.
Comic artist Frank Borth III (b.1918) died on August 9. Borth did much of his work during the Golden Age of Comics, beginning with “Ken Stuart” in the late 1940s. He created the character Spider Widow and also wrote the strip “There Oughta Be a Law,” illustrated by Warren Whipple. He also did some work for Cracked. Much of his work was on the Catholic-oriented Treasure Chest.
The winners for the Eisner Awards were announced at the International Comic-Con in San Diego, California. The Eisners are presented for excellence in comic book/graphic novel writing and illustrating.
A fire damaged the building housing the Comic Den in Renton, Washington on June 11, causing damage to the store. The Comic Den will most likely relocated to a vacant building on South Third Street according to owner Howard Wheatley. The fire started at 232 Wells Ave. S. when an overloaded outlet shorted in a boarding room located in the building.
The city of Metropolis, Illinois, which has been holding a Superman Festival for more than thirty years, has announced plans to swear in honorary citizens at this year’s festival, scheduled to run from June 11 through 14. The town is offering the chance to assume the Superman stance and swear to pledge themselves for “truth, justice, and the American way.” In return, they will be declared honorary citizens of Metropolis.
Ralph Chicorel will be auctioning off 110 comics from his collection, begun when he was a child. Most of the comics were originally purchased by Chicorel for a dime. Chicorel read them once and kept them in good condition. The collection, which includes issues of Batman #1, Marvel Comics #1, Bulletman #1,and Marvel Mystery Comics #9, is expected to sell for more than half a million dollars. Previously, Chicorel sold off 900 comics when the comic collecting boom was just beginning.