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8th Annual Tucson Comic Con Art, Entertainment, and Influence, Nerd-Style. by Craig Baker By his own reports, Mike Olivarez isn’t so much a creator as a “big fan” of comic book culture. He’s been known to dabble as an artist, sure, but while growing up in Tucson, Olivarez’s real forte was haunting the local comic shops—every comic book shop in town, again, by his own reports. His nerd-minded fandom made him a regular at conventions around the southwest like the well-attended cons in Phoenix and San Diego, but since he was so plugged into the local scene, Olivarez started to wonder about the potential for building a small convention within his hometown. “I knew a couple of artists at the time,” he says, “and I said, ‘Hey—if I was to put on a comic book convention, would you guys come?” And they said they would. Thus, in 2008 Olivarez bootstrapped the first Tucson Comic Con by lining up about thirty vendors for a single day at the Four Points Sheraton at Speedway and Campbell (now Aloft Tucson University Hotel). Admission to the show was free and, says Olivarez, he attracted about 400-500 visitors that first year mostly via word-of-mouth advertising. “It was hot,” Olivarez says of the first show, “it was packed.” And though the turnout at that first Con came as something of a surprise, each year that followed saw still accelerated growth and, by 2012, Olivarez’s humble Con was moved to the Tucson Convention Center. Last year’s Tucson Comic Con—the seventh annual iteration of the event—saw a record 15,000plus attendees over the course of three days and, this month, with a Con that boasts more than 250 vendors and artists, upwards of fifteen costuming groups, and the first annual Pop Culture Cosplay Fashion Show at the Leo Rich Theatre, Olivarez thinks he has a good chance of hitting the 20k mark. And even though attendance to Tucson Comic Con is increasing (Sorry—I’m gonna go there) faster than a speeding bullet, Olivarez insists that he intends to make sure that the atmosphere at the local event is more intimate than at the bigger Cons, which can draw more than 100k people through their doors during a three-day run. And, says Olivarez, not only does that translate to smaller crowds to navigate and more opportunities to speak one-on-one with the artists and vendors on site, but it has also helped to keep prices low; he says that the Tucson Con is still the most affordable convention of its kind in the region.
You’d probably never hear him take credit for it, but the consensus around the local comic community seems to be that Mike Olivarez is not only more-orless responsible for the fact that Tucson is now on the map at all for pop culture nerds from outside of Southern Arizona, he’s also the reason for a great deal of expansion within that local creator community, as well. Ross Demma is a local artist, creator of a friendly purple dragon named Asbestos, and a regular at the Tucson Comic Convention, both as a vendor and a fan. Says Demma of Olivarez’s effect on the local scene, “We have a fantastic stable of, not just artists, but also writers, cosplayers, prop-makers—the community of creators has grown exponentially and a lot of that is thanks to the work of Mike Olivarez.” Local full-time creator Jenn Corella does it all—writing, inking drawing, lettering—and she similarly insists that Tucson Comic Con has been instrumental in helping the local scene to flourish since it began. With respect to finding a way into the industry as a working professional, Corella says that “the biggest thing right now is networking… and in Tucson,” she adds, “it’s gotten so much easier with Tucson Comic Con.” She says the problem before Tucson had its own Con wasn’t so much that local artists weren’t producing, but rather that they didn’t have anywhere to showcase what they were doing. And as more and more of those artists began putting up tables of their own at the event each year, that’s meant quality exposure for those local creators to thousands of new fans over the years. And that, says Olivarez, is the best part of running the convention. “Promoting local creators has always been my drive behind (Tucson Comic Con),” Olivarez says. And the payoff is even more one of influence than of finance; Olivarez says he’s just starting to see young artists coming up in the scene who cite his convention as their inspiration to start creating, and “That,” says Olivarez, “really hits home for me.” n Tucson Comic Con will take place at the Tucson Convention Center the weekend of Nov. 6-8. Tickets for a single day of attendance start at $10 for Sunday and $15 for Saturday; weekend passes are $20 or $25 including admission to the Friday night preview; admission to the costuming section of the convention alone is free. More info online at TucsonComic-Con.com. November 2015 | ZOCALOMAGAZINE.com 17