Comic Con Founder Seriously Ill
Shel Dorf, once the letterer of Steve Canyon, and a founder of the San Diego Comic Convention, has been hospitalized since April and word is that he now needs permanent long-term care.
An e-mail from his friend Charlie Roberts has been circulating and is partially reprinted below:
“Wanted to let you know that Shel has been at Sharp Hospital in Kearny Mesa since April……yes, April (!)
“David Siegel called us Wednesday night about this, and my wife Joan and I went down to Shel’s home in Ocean Beach near San Diego on Thanksgiving where his brother Mike is moving everything out. I’ve known Mike since the 1980s, though it’s been some 20 years since I’ve seen him.
“Today Joan and I went with David Siegel to see Shel. He’s lost some weight and is fragile, but we had a brief and friendly visit with him. He’s extremely hard of hearing, and is apparently on pain medication but at least we were able to see him and he was glad to see us. The head nurse told us Shel will never be well enough to go home again, but otherwise he’s stable.
“Mike plans to eventually move Shel closer to a critical care hospital near Mike’s apartment in L.A. The visit to Shel’s was pretty emotional, as the first job I ever had in San Diego was helping Shel with his lettering on Steve Canyon, while Joan transcribed some of his interviews. We lived right around the corner from Shel from August 1983 to August 1987. I also made several trips to LA with Shel as unofficial photographer while he did his interviews, and got to meet some amazing people.
Those who’ve read his interviews or benefited from his early work in launching the San Diego Comic-Con off the ground might want to send him a card expressing best wishes at:
Sharp Hospital
7901 Frost Street
San Diego, CA 92123
Dorf has written about the people he’s met and experiences he’s had at Comic Artville Library.