Comic Con:
Steve Wozniak excited to host San Jose event
Steve Wozniak beamed like the proverbial candy- store kid Friday as he marveled at the Silicon Valley Comic Con exhibit devoted to his friend, comic book legend Stan Lee.
And the Apple co- founder best known as “Woz” couldn’t wait to get in line for photo ops with “Star Trek’s” Nichelle Nichols or “Harry Potter’s” Bonnie Wright.
Wozniak could pull strings and jump to the front. He is, after all, the co- organizer for the biggest geek fest Silicon Valley has seen in years. But he wants to enjoy the threeday event, which opened Friday night, just like everybody else.
“My wife may object, but I want to pay the normal rate,” Wozniak said during a preshow walk through the San Jose Convention Center with The Chronicle. “It’s just like standing in line for iPhones, feeling like you’re a part of the
world.”
About 25,000 threeday tickets have been sold for the event — a blend of science fiction, pop culture and technology — and single- day tickets are expected to sell out Saturday. The more than 250 exhibitors range from comic book sellers and artists to tech companies showing off their virtual reality creations.
Friday’s opening featured William Shatner, Capt. James T. Kirk in the original incarnation of “Star Trek,” which premeired 50 years ago this September. Late additions included Nichols, who played Lt. Uhura on the original series, and Peter Mayhew, Chewbacca from “Star Wars.”
Time machine
The convention will also feature a replica of the DeLorean time machine from “Back to the Future,” as well as three of the 1985 movie’s stars. And Madame Tussauds wax museum will unveil a wax version of Wozniak.
Wozniak organized the event with Lee, the creative force behind Marvel Comics and its everexpanding line of movies. In a previous interview, Wozniak said he and Lee met for the first time about four years ago at a Marvel Comics theme party in Las Vegas and, “We just hit it off.” They started talking about bringing a comic con to the Bay Area.
As workers finished setting up the convention Friday, Wozniak said he and Lee lamented that there was no such event in his hometown of San Jose, “which has always been known as the heart of Silicon Valley, of the geeks who love these comic heroes as well as superhero movies and science fiction movies.”
And the area seemed like a natural for a comic con because of “the imagination that computers have brought us in terms of visual effects that are in the movies,” he said. “Creativity has gotten really big. It’s recognized so well in the Silicon Valley and the rest of the world.”
The convention is on track to make a profit, and organizers are already planning on a Tokyo comic con in December.
Having fun
But Wozniak said he’s more concerned that people have fun at the convention. “That’s much more important than, ‘ Did it make money,’ or ‘ How much?’ ” he said. “I want people to go away thinking, ‘ I’m going to come back, I saw a lot of things that affected me visually and emotionally.’”
Wozniak spent the morning and early afternoon briefing reporters on the convention, but he also took time to record a video for a convention worker who planned to use it as part of a proposal to his girlfriend.
“A lot of things in our life we value, and they are important,” Wozniak said, “but there is nothing as great as true love.”