As much fun as I have at Comic-Con, there's something refreshing about being home — unpacked, sitting in my usual computer chair and typing on a real keyboard instead of my laptop.
Apart from a couple of unpleasant encounters with "security personnel," I had a wonderful 4.5 days down there. I could never live full-time at that pace, rushing from meeting to event to panel to meeting, but it's fun now and then. I saw so many people for five minutes and wished I could have spent an hour or two with them.
There's much more to write about the con but I'm playing Catch-Up right now and will try and write some of it later. In the meantime, I recommend to you this article in the L.A. Times about the Eisner Awards and this article in Rolling Stone about the early days of what we now call Comic-Con International.
Regarding the latter piece: I believe it is accurate except that I should not be described as "another person involved in the founding of Comic-Con." I was a reasonably-close observer of what went on but I did not do any of it. I want to make that point loud and clear because folks like Ken Krueger and Mike Towry and Richard Alf and Scott Shaw! and Barry Alfonso and others did the heavy lifting and too much credit for their efforts has gone to Shel Dorf. I sure as heck don't want any of it going to me.
Shel was a controversial figure and I knew the sweet side of him…the side that did a lot of nice things for a lot of people. I also knew the side that was furious that he could not be the unquestioned monarch of the institution that the Comic-Con became. I don't think he ever grasped that once the convention became a non-profit organization, he could not do any damned thing he wanted with the money it made. I was one of many folks who tried to bridge the chasm and negotiate some sort of arrangement whereby he could be involved and compensated but with Shel, it was kind of like, "Give me everything or go f*ck youself!" The end result was one of the sadder stories I've witnessed in my life and there didn't seem to be any way to rewrite the ending. I do not think he was ever wronged except somewhat by fate and an awful lot by himself.
Off-topic: I think all dictionary makers should include "f*ck" — spelled with the asterisk — as a legitimate word in their editions. It's certainly used often enough.
I'll try to get back here later today with more con tales.