Interviews
Richard Alf
"I think that San Diego has grown with Comic-Con and I think that the people that come to Comic-Con have come to love San Diego as well as Comic-Con."
Barry Alfonso
"I wanted to be a creative person myself. I didn't know in what way, but I wanted to. The idea of meeting a creator of something I loved so much meant a tremendous amount to me. It was [...]"
Wendy All
"I like to describe Comic-Con as being like the Addams Family - We're all a little different, but we're all loved and accepted for who we are."
Greg Bear
"What is constantly astonishing to me going to Comic-Cons is the absolute enthusiastic energy. Everyone at these conventions is there because they love this stuff... It has been nerds getting together to celebrate the art and culture of [...]"
Jackie Estrada
"One of the things that people have asked me is, 'What was it about those early 70s conventions that made you want to get involved?' I would say just the nicest people, the nicest people."
Mark Evanier
"The early conventions were a lot of fun... Everyone knew everyone. You got a chance to see everyone... It was kind of like a party with people of like interests."
Roger Freedman
"[San Diego] was very much a city of immigrants at that time... We, speaking collectively of the society at that time, were in the process of inventing a new city that could really be whatever we wanted it [...]"
Igor Goldkind
"The distinction of the San Diego Comic Convention, certainly in the early days... is it brought together a lot of different types of fans."
Jean & Chuck Graham
"The El Cortez was a great place. It was a lot of fun. I'm glad it's been saved as a city landmark."
Peter Jones
"I walked in and I saw more comic books than I'd ever seen in my life and I was just enchanted. It was like better than Christmas."
Gary Pagel
"Comics, I can really credit, for giving me a love for reading. I don't know how life would have gone if not for getting involved in comics."
Scott Shaw!
"We were driven weirdoes and we all wound up having achieved our dreams."
Mike Towry
"We were an entrepreneurial bunch and we didn't think that we couldn't do it. We just assumed that we could."
Jim Valentino
"...it was a place where I could meet people who were in the business and on the periphery of the business and I could learn about how to get into the business because there were no books, there [...]
Philip Yeh
"...it was a place where I could meet people who were in the business and on the periphery of the business and I could learn about how to get into the business because there were no books, there [...]
MADE POSSIBLE BY
This project was made possible with support from Cal Humanities, an independent non-profit state partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities. For more information, visit calhum.org.