We’ve set the flag at the Blast offices at half-mast today as the passing of Comic-Con founder Sheldon Dorf has left us gripped with sadness but at the same time amazed and in awe of his creation.

As the Associated Press reports today, Dorf was a freelance artist and a comic book letterer, founded Comic-Con in 1970, and passed away from kidney failure at a San Diego Hospital Tuesday after almost a year of hospitalization for Diabetes.

We’ll miss you, Mr. Dorf, but the solid foundation you created continues to thrive, forever cementing your place in history.