SCCS-ONLINE.org

DECEMBER 2009

President's Mess.
Karyl Miller,
Prez, SCCS

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2009
NCS-SCCS Comic-Con
Party fotos and 'toons

Fabulous TV Interview w Jorge
Pacheco about Comic-Con and
SCCS!
click here!
Then scroll down LIST on Right side
of page for link to "Comic Con Day
One - Jorge Pacheco"

SICK BAY
9/12/09
Our dear friend Jack White is still
in the hospital with leg problems.
He and wife Lynn Stedd have
been SCCS' staunchest and most
generous supporters for years.
Lynn serves as our Treasurer
and is our link to the San Diego
Blood Bank. Jack lends us his
fabulous Magic and Toy Museum
and our annual SCCS Winter
Holiday Party is a gift of the
couple.
Please send your get well cards
or letters to their home and Lynn
will deliver them to the hospital.
Jack White 4288 Arguello, San
Diego, CA 92103

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+
From Charlie Roberts -
"We did a road trip to Las Vegas
on Monday, and stopped by
halfway in Barstow to visit Paul
Gringle. Though the room he
shares has limited space, Paul
was in good spirits.....which
became even better spirits when
we offered to take him out to eat.
As you may already know Paul's
favorite pastime is food,
followed closely by pretty girls.
Thus, a pretty waitress would
make Paul's day perfect. Well,
the waitress wasn't too
pretty....unless you like
mustache's....but the food
portions were incredible with
reasonable prices. If you're on
the road around Barstow and get
hungry, I heartily recommend
"Mega Tom's" on Main Street.
Paul ordered the "Fish Dinner",
which must have weighed in at 6
pounds 11 ounces or
thereabouts.
Paul ate approximately three
ounces, and took the rest back
to the Veteran's Home. I imagine
there was a food fight after we
left. Picture a re-enactment of
the Battle of the Bulge, but with
breaded fishsticks, toast and
cole slaw flying through the air
instead of bullets.
We had some laughs, and Paul
said to give everyone his best.
Am attaching photos of Paul and
a pretty girl (Joan) at "Tom's" and
Paul at the entrance to the
Veteran's Home ( the tank is not
loaded !) . Paul always enjoys
company and "cartoon talk". If
you can't visit, send him a card
or a note when you have time."
The address is :
Arthur Paul Gringle
Veteran's Home of California
100 East Veteran's Parkway
Barstow Ca 92311
760-252-6205

NEXT MEETING: November 24 - (all day) San Diego
Charger Blood Drive - Town and Country Convention
Center - SCCS caricaturists will draw blood donors

December - no holiday party/no meeting

Next regular meeting
Wednesday: February 10, 2010, 6:30 PM
Guest Speaker tba

SCCS Past Presidents
Jim Whiting, Janet Williams, Matt Lorentz,
Dean LeCrone

SCCS Braintrust at SCCS Gallery at Grandma Bebes
Hilltop Hideaway Restaurant Oceanside CA.
l to r: Paul Gringle, Paul (Aquaman) Norris d. 2008,
Jim Whiting, Charlie Roberts

MEMBER NEWS
11/12/09

San Bernardino cartoon
artist received early
guidance from Charles
Schulz

04:08 PM PST on
Tuesday, November 10,
2009

By PENNY E. SCHWARTZ
Special to The
Press-Enterprise

Cartoonist Charles
Schulz launched the
careers of Snoopy, Linus
and Charlie Brown -- and
gave a boost to cartoon
artist Darlene Douthit of
San Bernardino as well.

As a teenager in the
early 1960s, Douthit was
a budding cartoon artist
living in Sebastopol in
northern California. She
had been told that a
professional cartoonist
lived nearby, she said.

She packaged her
portfolio of drawings and
set out for Schulz's
house in nearby Santa
Rosa during a rainstorm.

"I looked like a drowned
rat when he (Schulz)
opened the door and
invited me in," she said.

Schulz showed her
around his house and
studio, and
recommended that she
consider the Minneapolis
mail-order school where
he studied and was then
teaching, Douthit said.

That advice set her on
the path to a career in
cartooning. Her work is
featured through Nov. 28
at the Redlands Art
Association gallery.

Darlene Douthit, of San
Bernardino, shows her
cartoons, caricatures,
animal portraits and
digitally enhanced
photos.

Douthit, 66, said she was
drawn to cartooning as a
child.

"I loved it the first time I
saw it," she said.

At age 10, she sent her
portfolio to Disney
Studios and received a
letter back, signed by
Walt Disney, urging her
to contact them again
when she was older.

"I never did," she said. "I
just got busy trying to
make a living."

Douthit studied fine art
and commercial art at
San Bernardino Valley
College and illustration
at Scottsdale Art School.
She worked as a
professional illustrator
and layout artist for nine
years before starting her
own freelance business.

For the past 16 years,
she has taught at the
Redlands Art Association
and the Riverside Art
Museum.

She also presents
workshops at libraries
and museums, and
illustrates children's
books.

A few years ago, one of
her younger students
asked about drawing
manga, a Japanese
cartoon style. That led to
a new specialty in manga
and anime, another
Japanese cartoon style.

"In manga, the eyes are
large and sparkly, the
hair is exaggerated and
done in wild colors and
the stories have lots of
romance and adventure,"
she said.

Anime involves
characters featured in
videos, video games and
movies, she said.

"These forms appeal to
kids because of the
drama and excitement,"
she said. Her Redlands
art show features her
cartoons and animal
portraits along with
digitally enhanced
photographs of animals
and landscapes.

Reach Penny Schwartz
at 909-794-4116 or
panache616@earthlink.ne
t

11/3/09
Dear Friends,
SCCS has come a long way in the three +
years I’ve been president.

We've created a small but vital
executive board.
We’ve had myriad Guest Speakers,
parties, drawing lessons and
caricaturist volunteer events.
Our SCCS Comic-Con party is now a
cool NCS event too.
We created video art lessons.
We increased our membership while
reducing (by half) our dues and
meeting fees.
We can pay dues online.
We have an SCCS t-shirt store.
Our bank account is healthy.
We canceled our newsletter but beefed
up and made current, our website.
We created a valuable member
database and zipcode directory.
We’ve got business cards and
Membership cards.
We are well-fed at meetings.
We’ve amplified SCCS presence via our
website sccs-online.org, our Yahoo
Group, our Meet-Up.com, our Facebook
page, Evites and press releases in our
local and on-line newspapers.
We've finally got a permanent meeting
place at the SD Blood Bank (thanks to
Lynn Stedd)

And even though it’s been fun, it’s time for
a change. We're looking for a new
president! Know anybody? How about
you? You're welcome to nominate anyone
(including yourself)! I'd be happy to show
that person the ropes and share with him
or her or you - the many secret
passwords we've collected to do all of the
above. In the meantime, we'll be having a
reduced meeting schedule.

I thank you for all your support. Karyl
Karyl@MillerReport.com

MEETINGS 2009

November 24 - San Diego
Charger Blood Drive - Town and
Country Convention Center,

December - no meeting, no party

Meetings 2010

February 10 General meeting
and guest speaker, Blood Bank

April 24 Saturday - Cartoonist
Day, SD Blood Bank

July 24 – Thursday – Comic-
Con Kick-Off Party , Buster’s
Beach House

September – 8 Wednesday –
General Meeting and Guest
Speaker Blood Bank

November 23 Tuesday –
Charger Blood Drive

December 8 Wednesday –
Holiday Party

North County Meetings at
Grandma BeeBee's Hilltop
Hideaway remain the same

            SHEL DORF FUNERAL
                          11/5/09

Shel's passing away and the funeral
services 24 hours later perhaps caught
many or our SCCS and NCS members off
guard; at least it did for me. I was not online
in the afternoon of the day that Shel left us.
Perhaps like you, I missed the online
announcement of his passing and the
funeral until the next morning. I was
fortunately able to attend because my time
is usually flexible.

A representative number of SCCS members
were able to attend, perhaps about ten,
which included our Prez, Karyl and yours
truly. I would estimate there were about 40
to 50 in attendance, so Shel was clearly
loved and respected by many, especially
considering such short notice and being a
workday. Three TV film crews and
interviewers were also there to document it.
Hopefully you saw the news sound bites that
evening. If you go to their websites I'd
Imagine you can locate the footage.

It was a somewhat cloudy afternoon with
bits of warm sunlight constantly peeking
through. That appropriately reflected the
mood of everyone as we talked before the
service and shared memories of Shel
himself as a warm person, his great
achievements which continue to shine, and
his failing health which perhaps accounted
for the few raindrops that fell onto us and
Shel's grave site as everyone began to
leave.

This was my first Jewish Funeral Service, so
I found the funeral customs and religious
clothing of the Rabbis particularly
interesting. Thank goodness Karyl was
there to answer my questions. Shel's
traditionally simple yet elegant pine coffin
was a perfect analogy of Shel's life, always
humble and understated.

The Rabbi read passages in Hebrew and
then English. I preferred the wonderful
sound of the almost songlike cadence he
put into the Hebrew. I was fascinated with
and loved when after Shel was lowered into
the grave two Rabbis began to shovel earth
into the grave from a large pile . No small
symbolic shoveling mind you, they were
very intent on filling that grave and
heartedly worked at it. It initially surprised
me, then almost immediately it made perfect
sense. I experience for the first time the
sounds of dying as the shovels were filled
and then the hollow sound of earth landing
on the wooden casket. In its own way, it was
a beautiful sound as it was repeated over
and over almost like a beat to a song while
everyone watched in silence.

We then were all invited to join in. Everyone
took turns using shovels that were
provided, some just a shovel full, others for
a while longer. An image I will always carry
with me is the last corner of the covering to
Shel's casket slowly disappearing under 'my'
final shovel full... then Shel was gone,
under the covering of a reddish brown
blanket of earth. Some moments in life find a
special place in our memory, this for me was
one of them.

Once everyone had the opportunity to join
in as long as they needed and the grave
was almost full, caretakers used equipment
to quickly fill in the rest as we all watched. I
learned that a Jewish funeral is not over
until the person is completely buried. I really
like that! The experience caused me to
realize that leaving a funeral before the
grave is filled in gives far less closure.
Having participated in the burial by
shoveling earth into the grave gives a
feeling of true finality.

We will all miss Shel, however he lives on
through his cartooning achievements, the
Comic-Con, and the many people he has
touched, most of whom never actually meet
him, but benefited by his life.

~Joe Schmidt

          Shel Dorf New Talent Fund
                             11/5/09

As many of you know, Shel Dorf the founder of
Comic-Con International ( formerly The San Diego
Comic-Con) , passed away on Tuesday November
3 after a lengthy illness.
Shel's brother Michael Dorf has asked Shel's long
time friend Michael Towry to set up the " Shel
Dorf New Talent Encouragement Fund" in Shel's
honor.
Michael Towry, along with Richard Alf and several
other young comic collectors, were part of the
original convention committee and helped Shel
with the first several Comic-cons. Richard Alf was
Comic-con Chairman in 1971 and Michael was
Comic-con Chairman in 1972.
If any of you reading this ever went to the San
Diego Comic-con / Comic Con International,
enjoyed Shel's many columns over the years in
"The Comic Buyer's Guide", read the "Steve
Canyon" comic strip which Shel lettered for many
years, or just plain love comics and the graphics
medium this would be a great way to say "Thank
You" and help a most worthwhile charity in the
process. Donations may be sent to:

Shel Dorf New Talent Encouragement Fund c/o
Michael Towry
PO Box 232497
San Diego, Ca 92193
You might also enjoy checking out Micael's
excellent Shel Dorf Tribute website:
WWW.ShelDorfTribute.com
Thanks for your time and consideration.
Respectfully, Charlie Roberts

Shel Dorf Funeral Flowers - True Story!
11/5/09
With just hours before Shel's funeral I needed
to order flowers from SCCS pronto, so I
phoned a flower shop near the cemetary
figuring they would be best suited to do the
job on time.
The lady on the phone seemed nice enough
and smart enough so against my better
instincts of sending her an Email, I just
carefully conveyed our message to be spelled
out on a ribbon. "SCCS misses fellow
cartoonist and good friend," I said.
I even had her read it back to me to make sure
she got it right. Below is a photo of the flowers
and the message.
(I just know Shel would have laughed. )
Karyl Miller

      2010 COMIC- CON
   SOLD OUT TODAY!
                 11/12/09

Surely Shel Dorf is turning over in his
grave knowing the convention he started
so many years ago is sold out 7 months in
advance!

Comic-Con International
Monday, November 09, 2009, 11:45:00 PM

1-Day Memberships Go On Sale
December 15
Tuesday, November 10, 2009, 12:10:00 AM
| cci-info@comic-con.org (Comic-Con
International)
While 4-Day Memberships may be sold
out, we have plenty of 1-Day
Memberships for each day of the show
that we'll begin selling online only on
Tuesday, December 15th. Stay tuned for
further announcements coming soon.
___________________________________
Don't miss out: Sign up for the
Comic-Con.org RSS feed to get the
announcement on signing up for
professional 4 day memberships!

Shel Dorf OBIT, LA Times

Charlie Roberts fotos of November meeting.
L. Karyl Miller & speaker Andy Mitchell
R. George Gladir, Karyl M. , Mike Towry