David Mariotte spent his teen years on a ranch just outside the border town of Douglas.
It was just far enough off the beaten path to remind him he was a world away from his native San Diego, and remote enough to spark his imagination.
“The country was really pretty and I enjoyed being out there,” said Mariotte, who also drew some creative energy from his father, prolific comic book author Jeffrey J. Mariotte. The senior Mariotte’s titles over a three-decade career includes “Empty Rooms,” “The Devil’s Bait,” novels based on the “Charmed” and “Angel” television series, “Season of the Wolf,” “Missing White Girl,” “River Runs Red” and “Cold Black Hearts.”
The younger Mariotte watched his father work and tagged along to regional comic-cons, especially a few biggies held in California. He spun his own ideas for comic book plots and characters, and at one point teamed up with his father on a project that eventually went nowhere.
It was almost as if his future was being settled on that Douglas ranch.
“That’s part of where I developed the skills that brought me to where I am,” said Mariotte, 24, who majored in journalism and minored in women and gender studies at the University of Arizona.
Journalism seemed the perfect major, Mariotte said, pointing out all of the comic book characters based on journalists. But the degree and time spent writing for the campus newspaper, the Arizona Daily Wildcat, also helped him develop his writing skills.
He graduated in 2016 and within months landed an associate editor’s job with IDW Publishing, following in his father’s footsteps. The elder Mariotte was the first editor and chief at IDW when it was launched in 1999.
In his 2½ years at the San Diego publishing house, David has worked on several popular franchises including “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” “Sonic the Hedgehog” and “Transformers.” He also created the “Hanazuki” series, based on the animated children’s YouTube series. He has so far produced three installments of the comic.
Mariotte’s trip home for this weekend’s Tucson Comic-Con will be something of a family reunion, he said. His father and stepmother, comic book author Marsheila Rockwell, who now live near Phoenix, are among the guest authors at the three-day event, which will bring in dozens of comic book creators, editors, writers and producers.
