Mega. Super. Infinity. Community organizer and writer David Heringer dreams big.

“I consider myself a hopeless creator in the way that I seem to take my own creative path in everything in my life,” says Heringer, who strives to think as large as the worlds of science fiction and fantasy that he consumes. “I think everyone has a little bit of this inside. We were made to be creative, and I feel Infinity Con is about bringing that out.”

Heringer is heading up Tallahassee’s first Infinity Con on Saturday, a family-friendly comic book convention that celebrates comic, sci-fi, video game and entertainment fandoms. Heringer’s interests in these genres stem from a childhood proclivity for exploring the woods around his small town Florida home and making up stories.

He wrote them down as they transformed into ideas for comics. Science fiction, fantasy and horror are his favorite genres, while Spider-Man and Batman top the list as far as superheroes. His father loved diving into these unknown realms with him, while his mother would read him the “Chronicles of Narnia” at bedtime.

“I’ve always wondered what’s out there,” says Heringer. “Growing up in a Christian home and seeing spiritual things in the church, I’ve always wondered about what we don’t understand.”

Music was another burgeoning passion in high school. Heringer learned saxophone and joined a ska band. He loved being a singer and traveled around as a front man, writing lyrics and melodies. However, he struggled to trim down his ideas into the traditional songwriting format.

“I was trying to write stories in song,” says Heringer, who eventually started working on a solo concept album.

The plot of this album revolved around a nano-technological future based on stories of skin grafting and heart transplants. The backstory was so extensive that his wife questioned if he truly was a songwriter or if he had another calling.

As Heringer began writing more often, he started several novels and collaborated with a hip-hop artist on a comic book series. For his other works, he used television shows like “The Twilight Zone” and “The Walking Dead” as jumping off points into new material.

“I generally write a concept, then do some world-building describing what kind of a world I want to create,” says Heringer. “I make some loose rules of what that world will be, then I’ll start writing the first few chapters.”

At one point, Heringer helped run an indie music event, The Objective, in Nashville. Coordinating nearly 500 musicians, he saw firsthand what it took to be behind the scenes, as well as how to handle the logistics of creating a fun atmosphere for attendees.

When he attended MegaCon in Orlando for the first time a few years back, he marveled at the sheer scale of the event. As an attendee, Heringer was delighted to meet and speak with leading industry creators about his aspirations as a comic book writer.

“You see comics piled high and towers of T-shirts,” says Heringer. “It creates this atmosphere of walking in somewhere like Disney. You see these elaborate costumes like they’re walking out of Marvel comics. It was mind-blowing being a part of that.”

When his friend and former bandmate, Ray Hancock asked him to step in and help with Infinity Con in Lake City in 2014, Heringer jumped at the chance. They hoped for a few people and were surprised with hundreds. They promoted the event in Tallahassee comic book shops for the past six years and began to see an interest in bringing the event to the capital city.

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