2019

William R. Lund was born in Spokane, WA, joined the Navy and eventually became a founding member of Comic-Con. He has written for Comicscene and Fangoria and primarily acted on stage. He was also a recipient of the Inkpot Award.

Beth Holley became involved with the San Diego Comic Convention (now Comic-Con International) in 1989 shortly after moving to California from Norfolk VA. She served as information coordinator 1989-1991, VP of publicity & publications 1991-1993, and the VP of exhibits from 1994-2008.

Gene Henderson, a SoCal native, got his first comic at the age of six . . . and he has been collecting them ever since. He was at the first Comic-Con in 1970, and is very proud to be attending the 50th! Gene has been a board member, vice president, director of security, and archivist for Comic-Con. For over three decades he coordinated the Russ Manning Promising Newcomer Award, and co-created the annual Will Eisner Hall of Fame display that’s a yearly part of the Art Show.

Lawrence (Lance) Geeck became involved with the San Diego Comic-Con starting around 1977 as a volunteer helping out at the convention. In the following years, he became more active and was voted to be a member of the board of directors. During this time he helped setup agreements with the hotel and convention center in San Diego. Eventually he was voted into the executive vice-president position and then became president the following year.

Dr. Roger Freedman teaches physics and astronomy at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He’s the co-author of four widely-used physics and astronomy textbooks that include lots of comic book and SF references. He worked on Comic-Con in its formative years in the 1970s and was the leader of Comic-Con’s first “house band,” Dr. Raoul Duke and his All-Human Orchestra. Today he’s on the board of directors of San Diego Comic Fest.

In 1966-69 David Clark had the good luck to go to high school in San Diego with Greg Bear, Scott Shaw, John Pound, and Roger Freedman. They all shared a love of science fiction, comics, monster movies, and all things weird and wonderful! In 1970 they all became founding members of the first San Diego (Golden State) Comic-Con. Over these many years David has written comics, sold comics as a retailer, and managed to attend most of the 50 Comic-Cons. He now pursues his interest in SF and pulp art with presentations on the classic artists.

Currently living in Greenwood, DE, Richard Butner is now semi-retired. He works for two resource centers for homeless and recovering persons. Formerly, he was a purchasing agent at ILC Dover, where, among other items, he purchased materials for U.S. spacesuits.

After graduating from Pt. Loma High School in 1975, Maeheah Alzmann was invited by Vicky and Dina Kelso to attend her first ever Comic-Con, and she was immediately hooked. During her 12 years on the committee, she met exquisitely talented people that she would never have had the honor of meeting, learned what it takes to be part of a dedicated group of people with a common goal, and acquired friends that she would trust with her very life to this day.

Wendy All’s first Comic-Con meeting in 1972 changed her life trajectory. She grew up loving geology, archaeology and languages, although she also enjoyed drawing and creating environments for her dolls. Inspired by professional writers and illustrators at Comic-Con, she graduated Art Center and landed a job at Mattel. She has also designed toys for Hasbro (My Little Pony, Star Wars), Disney Consumer Products (Disney Princesses), illustrated food packaging and licensed children’s books.

Barry Alfonso’s credits as a professional writer include articles and interviews for publications such as the Los Angeles Times and Rolling Stone, songs recorded by numerous pop and country artists (including Pam Tillis’s 1995 Number One hit “In Between Dances”) and Grammy-nominated album liner notes. His biography A Voice of the Warm: The Life of Rod McKuen was published by Backbeat Books in May. Barry is also active as an oral historian and graphic novel scriptwriter.