A sk Joe Boudrie what’s new at this year’s Phoenix Fan Fusion, and he immediately goes full-on fanboy. Not surprising, since he helped organize the annual pop-culture and comic con for almost two decades — and has been a die-hard comic book collector for even longer. With the enthusiasm of a caffeinated hobbit, Boudrie launches into a rapid-fire rundown of the new delights awaiting the thousands of Arizona geeks who will invade the Phoenix Convention Center this weekend. “Mario Kart” racing simu- lators. WWE-style entrances for pro wrestling fans. An expanded tabletop gaming zone for those rolling for initia- tive. More than 1,500 hours of program- ming. And one of its most star-studded list of celebrity guests yet, featuring names Marisa Tomei, Simon Pegg and “Star Wars” prequel actor Hayden Christensen. “We haven’t had a guest list this epic in just about as long as I can remember,” Boudrie says. In short, Fan Fusion is a three-day Valhalla of geeky fun, cosplay and fandom that’s nerdier than ever. One big change to this year’s Fan Fusion you won’t find in its colorful, 124-page programming guide: Boudrie is now overseeing the event as convention director. Last fall, Fan Fusion founder Matt Solberg left the role after 23 years helming the event dating back to its humble origins as Phoenix Cactus Comicon in 2002. (He’s still the owner of Square Egg Entertainment, the company that owns the con.) No “Game of Thrones”-style coup was involved in the leadership change. Solberg stepped aside to focus on other aspects of the con and gave command to Boudrie, Fan Fusion’s vice president and longtime programming director. “Matt reached out and asked if I’d be interested in taking on the challenge,” Boudrie says. “I told him, ‘I’ve never regretted saying yes to anything you’ve asked over the years and I’m not going to start now.’” Now Boudrie’s captaining the ship. And it’s set to warp. His continuing mission? To grow Fan Fusion at a time when more Arizona cons than ever are battling for local geeks’ attention and dollars, and maybe eventually bring it back to the peak popularity it enjoyed nearly a decade ago. Fan Fusion 2025 this weekend, June 6 to 8, is the first step on that quest — and Valley geeks are already hyped for the event. ‘Phoenix’s hometown con’ It’s been a long, strange trek for Fan Fusion over the past 23 years. Launched by Solberg in 2002 as Phoenix Cactus Comicon — a one-day, one-room event at a Best Western in Ahwatukee with 32 vendor tables and 432 attendees — it bounced around the Valley while growing steadily. By 2010, it made a superhero landing at the Phoenix Convention Center and morphed into a blockbuster pop culture convention and an annual juggernaut, drawing celebs, cosplayers and a legion of fans each year. Attendance doubled over- night, rocketing into the tens of thousands and increasing each year. Matt Hinds, a longtime attendee and co-founder of the Blue Ribbon Army fan group, says the event became a corner- stone of Arizona geek culture. “It became Phoenix’s hometown con where you could go in costume, geek out and walk up to celebrities like Peter Mayhew and go, ‘What’s up, Chewbacca?’” Hinds says. “It’s been the biggest event of the year.” And Boudrie was there from day one. Tipped by a flier at a local comic shop, he attended with his son, Christopher Clark (so named for big-screen Superman/Clark Kent actor Christopher Reeve). “It was a pretty small convention,” Boudrie recalls. “I remember picking up an X-Jet from the ‘X-Men’ cartoon series for him from one of the vendors.” Still, it made an impression, and Boudrie — a comic book aficionado who estimates he has “6,000 or 7,000” titles in his personal collection — kept coming back. Four years later, he volunteered behind the scenes, becoming director of programming. Like Professor X running the X-Men, he led a sprawling crew that managed various programming tracks at the con, ranging from authors and celeb- rity guests to cosplay and gaming. “I had hands-on experience with every aspect of (the con),” Boudrie says. Turns out it was also on-the-job training for becoming Fan Fusion’s convention director. BY BENJAMIN LEATHERMAN PHOENIX FAN FUSION RETURNS THIS WEEKEND. WHAT TO EXPECT AT ARIZONA'S BIGGEST GEEK EVENT OF THE YEAR. PHOTO BY CARLOS ARIAS Arizona cosplayers, from left: Jess Santos as Bumblebee, Tauri Icenogle as Optimus Prime, Adán Garcia as Kylo Renn, Ronin Kasai as Hawkman, Kyle Appel as The Lich King, Nick McGuire as Wolverine, Kenn Brobst as Blaster, Jeff Seager as a Sandtrooper and Ben Wheat as a “Halo” Spartan.
