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Most of the time, when the story happens, we don’t realize it until years later. When the founders of San Diego Comic-Con first held their local comic book show in 1970, they never realized what it would become. And as with many events, not enough photos or videos were taken to revisit what, in Comic-Con’s case, became the definition of comic book conventions for generations.
But in recent years, as the size and importance of San Diego Comic-Con has become known, a “treasure trove” of never-before-seen SDCC footage from the ’70s and ’80s has been discovered – and with it, the chance to finally being able to share what the scam was like for those of us who didn’t realize it until decades later.
This footage is being compiled for an as-yet-untitled documentary based on Mathew Klickstein’s 2022 oral history of the See You At San Diego convention. Klickstein is working on the documentary, alongside filmmaker David Permut (Face/Off, Rustin) and Oscar Boyson. Several of San Diego Comic-Con’s early co-founders and contributors signed on as consultants, including cartoonist Scott Shaw!.
“They have over 15 hours of footage from the early days of Comic Con, back in the 70s and 80s,” Shaw said! one of the sources for the documentary tells Popverse. “Scott Smith stored these items for decades and decades. It’s like a treasure. When we found it, we were all like, ‘Is this real?’
Shaw! said he has seen the majority of Smith’s footage, as well as additional Super 8 film from another private archive via Jack Kusler, and said the possible documentary could be just the beginning of the history.
“We can make 10 documentaries with the amount of footage,” says Shaw! “Some of it might be a little boring, but there’s definitely a lot of great stuff.”
One such moment is when Marvel Comics icon Stan Lee chanced upon celebrity Chuck Norris at Comic-Con in 1975. Here’s a picture of that with Lee, Norris and co-founder from Comic-Con, Shel-Dorf, with the full video that will be included in the documentary:
And here’s another Comic-Con co-founder, Roger Freedman (now a physics professor and textbook author), giving a presentation in which he smashes a concrete block over Shaw’s chest!.
Klickstein calls this documentary “a first but true cinematic in-depth look into the previously untold on-screen history of the Con by those who made it all possible.”
Producers are aiming for a 2025 release, to coincide with the 55th anniversary of San Diego Comic-Con.
If you’ve made it this far, you’re craving a comic con – so why not see when the next one is near you with Popverse’s next comic con guide.
