In the age of massive comic-book conventions, where the 2015 Denver Comic Con drew more than 100,000 people to the Colorado Convention Center, a boutique comic-con would seem like the natural evolution of the increasingly diverse world of nerd culture.

But this week’s inaugural Denver Independent Comic and Art Expo — or DiNK, as organizers call it — goes out of its way to ignore the smorgasbord of pop-culture offerings at most large cons for an experience focused on images and words.

No celebrities or voiceover artists. No movie teasers, video games or cosplay contests.

“Those shows are everywhere now, and that’s a good thing because they’re necessary and fun,” said DiNK co-founder Charlie La Greca, who also co-founded the Denver Comic Con. “But I’m trying to do a show that’s indicative more of what’s happening on the coasts now, with these little boutique-y shows in Baltimore, Toronto and New York. They’re very arty and cool and focused on trailblazers.”

La Greca and his DiNK co-organizers (including his brother Jeff and Denver Comic Con co-founder Frank Romero) will not rely on any of the pop-culture brands or personalities that could easily pull in thousands of people. It’s “scary,” La Greca said, but worth attempting in a place like Denver, which has a healthy and growing independent comics and publishing scene.

“I think there’s a synergy in the community with the maker movement and handcrafted movement. It’s just that I’m trying to explore that with words and pictures,” said La Greca, 48, who has worked as a comic book artist himself. “But that doesn’t mean just comics. That means graffiti and murals and tattoos and advertising, since all those can be used as sequential storytelling devices.”

DiNK will feature more than 150 international comic artists and exhibitors at downtown’s Sherman Street Event Center, from underground legend Denis Kitchen (Dope Comix) to rising names like Box Brown, Ed Piskor (“Hip-Hop Family Tree”) and Australian artist Simon Hanselmann, whose surreal, humorous work has recently appeared in The New York Times, Pitchfork Review and Vice.

The event is offering hands-on activities such as a screen-printing design lab and workshop, adult coloring books, a men’s boutique parlor from Steel and Lather and more.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a true Denver event without local flair. To that end, La Greca’s sponsors include marijuana companies like Denver Relief and Colorado Cannabis Tours, but also the Denver Public Library, horror-focused startup Hex Publishers and Sexpot Comedy.

Colorado artists both current (Chrissy Delk, Zak Kinsella, Crystal McDowell) and past ( Noah Van Sciver, Amy Reeder, John Porcellino) will also be represented.

DiNK’s “Cannabis + Comics” tour — which examines the underground intersection of comics and weed in a consumption-friendly tour bus, with comedy by Cannabist contributor Jake Browne — is close to sold out, with another likely to be added.

“With this alternative show it makes sense — although it wouldn’t have at the Denver Comic Con,” La Greca said. “And we’re trying to do it in a legitimate, educational way.”

La Greca can be a divisive figure in the regional comics world. He fought publicly and dramatically with the organizers of the Denver Comic Con after they pushed him out of the nonprofit company. Following mediation in 2014, which included a sealed resolution, La Greca has not commented on the Con much, but he told The Denver Post that DiNK reflects his current mindset toward art.

La Greca is also thinking collaboratively with DiNK’s creative decisions, including its awards ceremony, citing Denver cartoonists Ted Intorcio and Daniel Crosier as examples of people who helped design DiNK’s signature award trophy (or “Dinky,” a custom-sculpted ink bottle cast in resin, painted and laser-engraved).

“We’re giving out 10 awards this first year. We weren’t sure if people were going to submit comics for it, but we needed a team of 12 people to read the hundreds of books people sent in.”

La Greca’s attendance goals for this first year are modest, about 1,500 per day (or the general capacity of the Sherman Street Event Center) but he’s trying to make it a welcoming event for all ages and interests. Kids under 15, for example, get in free.

DiNK is also working with nonprofit organizations like Denver Drink & Draw, Love Hope Strength Foundation and Camp Comic Book, a program in the mountains for underserved, inner-city youth, with the help of the Denver Zine Library.

“There’s this whole world of commercial worship, and that’s a mixed bag, but I want to be a foil to that now,” he said. “I want to go back to the artists and the ideas. To me, that’s where the heart is.”

John Wenzel: 303-954-1642, jwenzel@denverpost.com or @johnwenzel

DENVER INDEPENDENT COMIC AND ART EXPO.

Inaugural event with more than 150 exhibitors and artists. March 25-26 at Sherman Street Event Center, 1770 Sherman St. Tickets: $12-$50, dinkdenver.com.