George Clayton Johnson

I was nineteen and I had a date with The Devil. His name had been on the evening news throughout the 1960’s. His philosophy fit on a lapel button: “Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out.” He was infamous – he was notorious. He was Dr. Timothy Leary, a former college professor and psychedelic guru speaking at student protests, marching to his unique beat. It was Comic-Con 1976.

On July 19, 1997, after a long day spent at San Diego’s Comic-Con International, author George Clayton Johnson (Twilight Zone, Star Trek, Logan’s Run, Ocean’s 11, Kung Fu) and his wife, Lola Johnson, sat for a videotaped interview at the San Diego, CA home of Roy L. Dobbs, Jr. The interview features the off-camera voices of Comic-Con’s Founder, Shel Dorf, and the Chairman of Comic-Con #1, Ken Krueger. The video is presented here courtesy of George Clayton Johnson and Greg Koudoulian.

This article is about the July 30th through August 3rd, 1975 San Diego Comic-Con and first appeared on August 22, 1975 in the Los Angeles Free Press (where the author was Book Editor). It is presented here by permission of the author, David Laurence Wilson.