The SDCC@Home event is happening this week, so it seems like a good time for Multiversity’s history column to look back at the origin and evolution of the San Diego Comic-Con. Enjoy!
Origins
The San Diego Comic Convention began in Michigan on May 24, 1964. That was the day of the Detroit Triple Fan Fair, a small proto-convention that was more like a swap meet for film, fantasy, and comics. One of the organizers of that fan meeting was Shel Dorf, the son of the owners of a local candy store. When his parents retired and moved to sunny California, the unemployed Dorf moved with them. It didn’t take long for him to find like minded fans in San Diego, and Dorf brought them an idea.
Legendary artist Jack Kirby lived nearby and was always happy to have fans into his home. Dorf drove five teenagers to meet Kirby, and he talked to all of them about starting a local fan convention. Kirby supported the idea, which convinced all the teenagers to go along with it. Kirby’s advice to them was not just to focus on comics, though. He had noticed that virtually all the fans he had met also shared an interest in movies, science fiction, and other hobbies. If their San Diego convention included all of them, Kirby thought they’d draw a bigger audience. Kirby also agreed to attend as a guest speaker.
Science Fiction author Ray Bradbury happened to give a talk at a nearby university. When it was over, Dorf introduced himself and invited Bradbury to speak at the convention as well. Bradbury agreed and said his standard engagement fee was $5,000. Dorf politely explained that they couldn’t afford that because they were a nonprofit organization trying to increase interest in and awareness of their shared hobbies. Bradbury thought that sounded nice and agreed to speak for free, prompting Dorf to get help immediately registering as a nonprofit.
The founders had trouble finding a venue for their show because no one wanted to rent space for a bunch of minors who wouldn’t be buying anything from the bar. They eventually found the US Grant hotel in a seedy part of downtown, which was willing to let them use a basement that was in the process of being renovated. Dorf negotiated a deal for a three-day convention, and the hotel through in a fourth day for free.
Using that fourth day wisely, they had two shows in 1970. The first was a one-day event in March called the Golden State Comic Minicon. It drew fewer than 100 guests and the only guest was “Famous Monsters of Filmland” editor Forrest Ackerman, but it served its purpose of raising funds for the next show, which was a three-day event in August. Called the Golden State Comic-Con, it drew about 300 guests and the founders considered it a huge success. At both, the only girl was Jackie Estrada. She became friends with the founders and joined the staff to help organize subsequent conventions.
The 1970s
In 1973, it was renamed San Diego Comic-Con, attendance had grown to about 1000, and dealers had to pay $40 for each table. It had also become popular enough to draw attendees from across the nation, including officials from major publishers, like DC’s VP, Sol Harrison. That was the year Harrison noticed some dealers offering original artwork from DC books. This intrigued him, since at the time DC’s policy was to keep all published artwork. An investigation ensued, revealing 1,900 pages of artwork had been stolen from DC’s offices. This may have factored into DC’s decision to return artwork to artists in 1974 (it was not the only consideration).
1973 wasn’t all bad news for Harrison, though. That was the year back issue dealer Phil Seuling convinced him to sell new books on a nonreturnable basis to his company, Seagate Distribution. In exchange, Seuling received a larger discount than regular newsstand distributors. Seuling used that arrangement to secure similar ones with other publishers over the next few months, creating the direct market and spurring the growth of comic specialty shops.
In 1974, the convention was held at the El Cortez hotel for the first time, and the organizers must have liked it because they returned to it the next four years. Sometime during that period, Estrada noticed how many cartoonists were doing sketches for fans around the show floor. The next year, she created a special row just for them and christened it “Artist’s Alley”.
Continued belowSDCC became enough on an institution to be ideal for industry meetings and surveys. When rumors spread in 1978 that some retailers were using the newsstand system to return books bought through the nonreturnable direct market system, Marvel solicited opinions from major retailers at SDCC regarding their preferred solution (indicating the source system in the corner box) and other options.
The convention moved to the San Diego Convention Center in 1979, where it has remained ever since.
1980s
In the early 1980s, SDCC attendance was between 5000 and 6000. The con continued to be the focal point for the development of the direct market as Seuling called to order the first meeting of the International Association of Direct Distributors in 1981. He wanted them to band together because he was worried the publishers would take advantage of them given the chance. He particularly wanted to discuss DC, who had been delaying a change in trade terms. He felt that if they spoke with a united voice, DC would have less power. Seuling was surprised when most distributors expressed a desire to coordinate with DC instead of bargain. At the same meeting, Capital City’s Milton Greipp wanted to establish a credit rating system to prevent deadbeat retailers from switching distributors instead of paying debts, but nothing came of it because no one wanted to share customer data with competitors.
In 1984, Dorf retired from the convention. He held several titles over the years, but he always had a strong hand in organizing SDCC. However, he was also a bitter man who felt his con had been taken from him, and he burned many bridges by expressing his resentment. With his departure, the a board of directors began running the event.
Two annual events were inaugurated at the 1988 convention. The first was the introduction of the Eisner Awards, the most prestigious award in the industry. The second was a panel discussion titled “Gays in Comics” hosted by Andy Mangels.
By the end of the decade, attendance had doubled to 11,000.
1990s
As the industry entered a major boom cycle, SDCC benefited greatly. In 1990, attendance rose to 13,000. By 1995, it spiked to 35,000. As the boom turned to an existential bust, SDCC only slowed its growth. It added another five thousands guests in 1997, and ended the decade at 45,000. The rapid expansion caused some changes that didn’t sit well with everyone. Slave Labor Graphics publisher Dan Vado started the rival conventionAlternative Press Expo in 1994 to give smaller publishers their own place, then turned control over it to the SDCC board the next year.
The size of the gathering meant it was a convenient location for professional gatherings. The seeds of Image were planted at the 1991 convention when Malibu publisher Dave Olbrich told Rob Liefeld, Erik Larson, and Jim Valentino that he’d be willing to publish anything they made. A 1992 meeting of the most important industry figures hosted by Capital City was entirely male, prompting Heidi MacDonald to assemble the Friends of Lulu, an organization of woman professionals, in 1993. A different organization also formed in 1993, the Comic Book Professionals Association. It had lofty goals and was promised financial backing from Marvel, DC, and Diamond, but it collapsed in less than a year because only DC followed through.
The massive captive audience also made SDCC a great place to announce new products. In 1994, DC launched its first website, the obviously named DC Comics Online, during the convention (it being 1994, however, there were no smartphones or wifi for attendees to actually experience the site). In 1998, the blue jean company JNCO tried to parlay its fad pants into a publishing effort when it debuted a comic series specially sized to fit in a pants pocket. Despite a big promotional push on the show floor, that program failed so badly that no second issue was ever released.
2000s
In 2001, SDCC’s schedule expanded to a five day event, running Wednesday through Sunday.
Although SDCC had always paid attention to film and television, it wasn’t until superhero films like Blade and X-Men became blockbusters that the affection was returned. In 2002, Ben Affleck, promoting the upcoming Daredevil movie, became the first major celebrity to be featured at the show. Hollywood’s presence at the show grew in the following years until cast panels for even non-superhero films became standard.
Continued belowTicket sales continued to increase, and the show spread to Hall H for the first time in 2004, now filling the entire convention center. Attendance plateaued at 125,000 in 2006 when ticket sales were capped by the convention center capacity. Why 2006? Was it because of the added draw of celebrities? Was it the growth of the superhero genre in film? Maybe it just inevitable? Or maybe it was because that was the year the United States Postal service set up a booth at SDCC to sell DC-themed commemorative stamps. US law had recently changed the rules for what could be shown on a stamp, and this was the first time licensed comic book characters were featured. Stamp sales at the show were very successful. Can there be any doubt the influx of stamp collectors made a difference?
When Shel Dorf died on November 3, 2009, his death was international news. Despite not being a part of SDCC for 25 years, the convention had become so broadly popular that the death of its founder was covered by NPR, the Associated Press, and other media outlets.
2010s
In 2010, the show finally outgrew the San Diego Convention Center and parts of it began taking place in nearby hotels as well.
With the show now hitting capacity every year, the number of attendees takes a backseat to the speed those attendees buy their tickets. In 2011, tickets sold out within eight hours. By 2015, they were selling out within seconds. There have been talks of expanding the convention center to increase capacity, and even talks about relocating SDCC to another city (mostly driven by Los Angeles, since all the movie folk would like to see it closer to their home). The cap on ticket sales has affected the show most notably in 2015 when SDCC became the second most attended con of the year behind NYCC.
Not everyone is happy with the convention’s growth, however. Remember how it was $40 for a dealer table back in 1973? In 2017, table rental was $18,000. It can be hard for a comic retailer to recoup that investment when a bigger fraction of the visitors each year are there to hear about movies, not buy comics.
Speaking of 2017, two other things happened that year. One was the first annual Comics Conference for Educators and Librarians, put on by SDCC and the San Diego Public Library. It was a gathering of like-minded individuals who shared ideas to use and promote comics in schools. The other was a jury ruling that Comic-Con International, the organization that puts on SDCC, had a valid trademark on “Comicon” and conventions not run by CCI needed to choose a new name or pay CCI a licensing fee to use it.
In 2020, SDCC attendance dropped for the first time ever. To zero. Concern about the COVID-19 pandemic, and in particular fears about international travel and outbreaks in California, meant the traditional show was canceled. It was replaced by a virtual convention, SDCC@Home, which was great if you wanted to hear news and announcements. It was not so great if you wanted to buy stuff from vendors.
The 2021 show, which should have been taking place the week this column was posted, is also virtual.
