Comic-Con International

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Comic-Con San Diego Comic-Con Comic-Con International <tr><td colspan="2"> </td></tr>
Location	San Diego Convention Center San Diego, California
Years in existence	1970 to present <tr><td colspan="2" style="text-align: center;">Official Website</td></tr>

Comic-Con International, commonly known as Comic-Con or the San Diego Comic-Con, is an annual multigenre fan convention founded as the Golden State Comic Book Convention and later the San Diego Comic Book Convention in 1970 by Shel Dorf and a group of San Diegans. It is traditionally a four-day event (Thursday through Sunday) held during the summer in San Diego, California, at the San Diego Convention Center. Officially, "The San Diego Comic-Con" is the name of the non-profit organization that organizes and puts on the convention.

Originally showcasing comic books, the convention has expanded over the years to include a larger range of pop culture elements, such as science fiction, fantasy, horror, animation/anime, manga, toys, collectible card games, video games, television, and movies. The convention is the largest of its kind in the United States, filling to capacity the San Diego Convention Center with 125,000 attendees in 2006.

Since 1974, Comic-Con International has bestowed its annual Inkpot Award to guests and persons of interest in the industries of popular arts as well as to members of Comic-Con's Board of Directors and convention committee. It is also the home of the comic-book industry's Will Eisner Awards.

1 History
2 Events
3 Media Appearances
4 Quotes
5 Locations and dates
6 See also
7 Footnotes
8 References
9 External links

[edit] History

Comic-Con originated in the basement of the U.S. Grant hotel in 1970, with an estimated attendance of 300 people, according to the 2005 souvenir book. It later was held at the El Cortez hotel and later moved to San Diego's Convention and Performing Arts Center/Golden Hall before eventually moving to the convention center.

[edit] Events

Image:SDiegoConCtr.jpg

Along with panels, seminars, and workshops with comic book professionals, there are previews of upcoming feature films, portfolio review sessions with top comic book and video game companies, and such evening events as awards ceremonies and The Masquerade; a costume contest, and the Comic-Con International Independent Film Festival which showcases shorts and feature length movies that do not have distribution or distribution deals.

Traditional events include an eclectic film program, screening rooms devoted to Japanese animation, gaming, and the Comic-Con International: Independent Film Festival, as well as cartoonist Scott Shaw!'s "Oddball Comics" slideshow and animation expert Jerry Beck's Friday-night program featuring TV's "worst cartoons ever".

Like most comic book conventions, Comic-Con features a large floorspace for exhibitors. These include media companies such as movie studios and TV networks, as well as comic-book dealers and collectibles merchants. Like most comics conventions, Comic-Con includes an autograph area, as well as an "artists' alley" where comics artists can sign autographs and sell or do free sketches. Despite the name, artists' alleys can include writers and even models.

[edit] Media Appearances

Comic-Con has served as the setting for Mark Hamill's Comic Book: The Movie and for an episode of HBO's Entourage.

[edit] Quotes

Mark Evanier on the first Comic-Con venue: "I never stayed in the old U.S. Grant [hotel] but it was the scene of the first San Diego Con, which I attended way back in 1970, back when we thought it was mobbed to have 500 comic fans in the same place at the same time. The hotel was undergoing a massive renovation then as well, but was merely upgrading from Extremely Shabby to merely Somewhat Shabby. The place I still miss is the El Cortez Hotel, where the con was held for several years in the seventies. I'd say the place was a dump but that would be demeaning to dumps. Still, it was a fun dump, run by a management that didn't seem to care all that much what we did to it".<ref>"News from Me" (column of April 7, 2006) by Mark Evanier</ref>

Evanier on an early spillover venue: "In the seventies, when we all started going to San Diego Comic Book Conventions, back when they called them that, [the Hotel San Diego] was a frequent venue for con events. Some years, before it outgrew any available hotel ballroom, the Inkpot Awards presentation was held there. There were many memorable parties and gatherings, such as in 1982 when a group of Jack Kirby's friends staged a memorable surprise birthday party for him in one of its halls. Perhaps some year, you were either so hard up for money or so desperate for an available room (or both) that you even booked into its sadly deteriorating accommodations. It was one of the cheaper places to sleep and con-goers took advantage of that up until June of 2001 when the building was declared structurally unsafe and was closed down".<ref>"News from Me" (column of April 8, 2006) , by Mark Evanier</ref>

[edit] Locations and dates

March 21, 1970, U.S. Grant Hotel (as Minicon)
Aug. 1-3, 1970, U.S. Grant Hotel
Aug. 6-8, 1971, Muir College, University of California, San Diego Campus, La Jolla, California
Aug. 18-21, 1972, El Cortez Hotel
Aug. 16-19, 1973, Sheraton Hotel, Harbor Island, California
July 31 - Aug. 5, 1974, El Cortez Hotel
July 30 - Aug. 3, 1975, El Cortez Hotel
Nov. 7-9, 1975, El Cortez Hotel
July 21-25, 1976, El Cortez Hotel
July 20-24, 1977, El Cortez Hotel
July 26-30, 1978, El Cortez Hotel
Aug. 1-5, 1979, Convention and Performing Arts Center [and] U.S. Grant Hotel
July 30 - Aug. 3, 1980, Convention and Performing Arts Center [and] U.S. Grant Hotel
July 23-26, 1981, El Cortez Hotel
July 8-11, 1982, Convention and Performing Arts Center [and] Hotel San Diego
Aug. 4-7, 1983, Convention and Performing Arts Center [and] Hotel San Diego
June 28 - July 1, 1984, Convention and Performing Arts Center [and] Hotel San Diego
Aug. 1-4, 1985, Convention and Performing Arts Center [and] Hotel San Diego
July 31 - Aug. 3, 1986, Convention and Performing Arts Center [and] Hotel San Diego
Aug. 6-9, 1987, Convention and Performing Arts Center [and] Holiday Inn on the Bay
Aug. 4-7, 1988, Convention and Performing Arts Center [and] Omni Hotel at Horton Plaza
Aug. 2-5, 1990, Convention and Performing Arts Center [and] Holiday Inn on the Bay
July 4-7, 1991, San Diego Convention Center [and] Pan Pacific Hotel
Aug. 13-16, 1992, San Diego Convention Center [and] Doubletree Hotel
Aug. 19-22, 1993, San Diego Convention Center [and] Doubletree Hotel at Horton Plaza