US - The man behind the internationally renowned Comic-Con International comic book convention in San Diego, has died aged 76.
Sheldon Dorf, whose career began as a freelance artist and comic strip letterer, founded Comic-Con in San Diego in 1970 after moving from Detroit.
He died, according to longtime friend Greg Koudoulian, at a San Diego hospital on Tuesday from kidney failure. Dorf had diabetes, an ailment that kept him in hospital for the past year.
Comic-Con International began life as the Triple Fan Fest in Detroit, a convention dedicated to comics, sci-fi science fiction and movies, before becoming the Golden State Comic-Con, held at the US Grant Hotel on August 1-3, 1970.
Today the 40-year-old event is held at the San Diego Convention Centre and draws 125,000 fans, uniting fledgling artists with new audiences. It is a key date in the calendar of many comic book fans, artists, writers and movie stars.
