Comic-Con founder Shel Dorf dies, age 76

Comic book fan Shel Dorf founded the Comic-Con convention in 1970, and at the first event just 300 people showed up. This year, at the Comic-Con International event in San Diego more than 125,000 comic book, sci-fi, and video game aficionados showed up to rub shoulders with their heroes and get a sneak look at upcoming movies, TV shows and games.

Though Dorf is said to have lamented the "Hollywood" takeover of his event, no one can deny its ascension to become one of the most important pop culture events of each year. In the past, significant brands have been launched or rebooted at the event, including Iron Man, Lost, Battlestar Galactica, and most recently ABC's hit remake of the V miniseries, which premiered this week. Video game publishers have been making use of the event much more aggressively in recent years, with the 2009 event seeing big pushes for high profile titles like Left 4 Dead 2 and Mass Effect 2.

The Comic-Con organization have posted a tribute that you can read here.