The El Paso Comic-Con, commonly referred to as EP-CON, is entering its 3rd anniversary organized by local comic book publisher, Broken Tree Comics. The event will be taking place at the El Paso Convention Center on September 15th-16th with a special preview night on the 14th.
EP-CON 2012 boasts an indubitable roster of special guests this year, such as guest of honor and famed comic book artist, Arthur Suydam, who is best known for his Marvel Zombies covers. Other guests are actor Edi Gathegi, cover artist Edgar Delgado, cartoonist Andy Kuhn, actor Dave Prowse and scores of other impressive guests.
Julian Lawler is the owner and editor in chief of Broken Tree Comics and founder of EP-CON. He has taken time out of his busy schedule to discuss the evolution of the EP-CON brand and his passion for the comic book industry.
Broken Tree Comics is really doing big things for El Paso by organizing this yearly event. How long has your company been around?
Broken Tree Comics has been publishing books since our inception in 1999. I’m personally a bit of a late bloomer when it comes to comic books since I really didn’t grow up reading them, but I still loved the heroes. I began getting acquainted with the comic book industry through friends who are passionate about it.
At some point, these same friends and I were looking to do some large scale projects and we decided to invest money and started Broken Tree. Initially, we made a lot of mistakes. However, from those mistakes, we gained a lot more experience and that’s how our business got going. Once we got on track, it really became an unstoppable force.
What are some of the titles that Broken Tree Comics publishes?
Right now, we average about two books a year. The last book that we published is ‘Triangle Man’ which is a harsh reality cop drama. There’s a lot of gratuitous violence, sexual innuendos and drug use, so it’s definitely not a book for kids, which can make it hard to market.
We have another series titled ‘Trouble Point’. It’s a smaller project that has taken longer to put together than I would have wanted, but I consider it Broken Tree’s flagship title. The story is centered on El Paso and Juarez and is really relevant to the issues we see in this region.
We’re also getting ready to release another full color comic that we will try to have ready for EP-CON 2012. It’s drawn by Richard Bonk who is an ex-penciler for ‘Spawn: The Dark Ages’ and this new book will be a fantasy series about a doppelganger causing chaos in a medieval city.
When did you get the idea behind spearheading a comic book convention? What was your motivation?
Being a comic book writer enabled me to stay in touch with what everybody else in the city wanted and one of those things was bringing a Comic-Con to El Paso.
I eventually considered starting an event like this myself, so I discussed it with my friends and we mulled over it for a few days. During that time, people began spreading the word and we were selling tables before I had even fully committed to putting the event together. It was a no-brainer to run with the idea.
How have you seen EP-CON grow in popularity as the years have gone by?
From year one to year two we saw a 500% growth so we had to move the venue from the Wyndham Hotel to the El Paso Convention Center. This was a huge but necessary step for us because we jumped from 1200 attendees in our first year to over 6000 in the second year. This year, we are very close to selling out the entire venue and are expecting 15 to 20,000 spectators.
Despite all the special guests that we get, it’s a comic convention. We are always going to stick to those roots and we will continue to make sure that it is comic oriented despite the pop-culture aspect that seems to overtake the event.
What was the major challenge when you started?
The biggest challenge when we first started was getting special guests to attend. Our first year we had a few awesome comic book guests and then for year two, we stepped it up a notch and had Peter Mayhew, who played Chewbacca in the Star War series, Billy Dee Williams, also of Star Wars fame and the Power Rangers as special guests.
That was a major step for the organization because it gave us validity. This year, we couldn’t stop the calls from coming in. We could have literally filled that convention center with special guests. The only thing that held us back was budget.
What have you enjoyed the most out of orchestrating EP-CON every year?
The best compliments that we have received as an organization is that our attendees have been impressed with how many comic book guests have been present and the amount of comic book studios represented in El Paso. It amazes me when people come up to us and thank us for having EP-CON.
It’s so surreal how much the event has grown. Sometimes, doing this event can be overwhelming; there is so much to do on a daily basis. I am up many a night working on sketches, flights and panels. Then I need to be up at 6 a.m. for my full-time job. When EP-CON receives positive comments, it makes me value what I am doing.
Connect:
www.ep-con.com
www.facebook.com/ElPasoComicCon
TXT: Crysti Couture
PHOTOS: Hector Riveroll (C) 2012 www.riverollphotography.com
