Prepare to feel old, beatniks. While scrolling through my Facebook feed I stumbled upon Alan Light’s Flickr gallery. Light gave me permission to share his pictures from the 13th annual San Diego Comic-Con in 1982.
I wasn’t alive when these were taken but I really appreciate the window into history. My first San Diego experience was in 2008 and I could never image the vibe this show had at the time. SDCC 2013 is less then a month away, and I can’t wait to shoot photos like these for someone like me 30 years from now to look back and try to imagine it was like to be at comic-con.
See all the photos here.
Henry Barajas is the co-creator, writer and letterer for El Loco and Captain Unikorn. He has also written and lettered short stories for two successful Kickstarter SpazDog Press projects: Unite and Take Over: Stories inspired by The Smiths and Break The Walls: Comic Stories inspired by The Pixies. He is the Newsroom Research Assistant for The Arizona Daily Star and was nominated for the Shel Dorf Blogger of the Year award for his work at The Beat. You can follow him on Twitter @HenryBarajas.
I’ve seen these pix before. Kirby, Caniff, Eisner, Hogarth, Barks … there were giants on the Earth in those days.
At The BigWow Comicfest in San Jose, Ca. (in May) I had the good fortune of running into the wonderful Maggie Thompson. We talked a bit and she said she’s in possession of a HUGE amount of early photos that have never seen the light of day. Part of her personal project is to get them organized and scanned and put on the Internet. That will be a thing of beauty when it happens.
Now that’s what I call a time capsule.
I had just graduated high school a few weeks before this convention was held, but I wouldn’t attend my first one until I moved to San Diego in 1985 (Although an attempt was made in 1978 when I stayed the summer at my aunt’s house in Laguna Beach. That was before I started high school).
Seeing Barb Rausch brought back memories. She used to live a few blocks away from me from where I was holed up in Northridge. Used to give me rides all the time to Friends of Lulu meetings when I first settled in the greater Los Angeles area during the era when I was getting recognition from all that stuff I had printed in Comics’ Buyer’s Guide. I guess that’s how she knew my name.
And I still see Tony Raiola hawking those comic strip reprints of Tarzan and The Phantom at the Los Angeles Comic Book & Science Fiction Book Convention held at The Shrine Auditorium. Never seems to go out of style.
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Coat
I’d gladly take the SDCC of thirty one years ago to what it is now. How hardcore would one have to be to make a costume? No “How-To’s” on Youtube, no assistance, besides your Grandmother. Also the raw talent that with all those creators. Lucky for me I have met every creator I have wanted to meet, but I am sure the place would have been abuzz with those guys on the floor.
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