Comic Con galaxy alights in San Jose
Will Ngo’s Groot ensemble was a marvel in thrifty costuming. Made with less than $ 50 worth of packing material, moss and a paper- covered planter box the size of an end table, it was cosplay at its finest. But the outfit, based on the tree- like “Guardians of the Galaxy” character, wasn’t built to be taken on the road.
“I have a Mini Cooper. He had to hold the head on his lap the whole way,” said costume designer and friend Nicole Kawaguchi. “We would not have been able to drive this all the way to San Diego.”
The mega science- fiction and fantasy convention that the Bay Area deserves returned this weekend, with the debut of the three- day Silicon Valley Comic Con at the San Jose Convention Center presented by Apple co- founder Steve Wozniak.
The event is the biggest convention of its kind since locally conceived WonderCon left San Francisco for Anaheim in 2011. ( WonderCon has moved again and will be held Friday- Sunday, March 25- 27, in Los Angeles.) That left Southern California with two huge comic conven
“I’m so grateful it’s back here now. We’re the Bay Area. We love geek stuff. We have such a large amount of people who are into these things.” Ty Prunty, co- host of the Superheroic podcast and Comic Con fan
tions ( the behemoth San Diego ComicCon International returns July 21- 24) and the Bay Area with none.
During this one weekend, comic geeks, anime fans and other elite cosplayers returned like they had never left, packing the convention center for all three days of the Silicon Valley Comic Con. Highlights included a William Shatner appearance Friday, a cast reunion from the 1985 movie “Back to the Future” on Saturday and Sunday’s Q& A with 93- year- old comic legend Stan Lee, who created or co- created Iron Man, the Fantastic Four, the X- Men and several other Marvel Comics characters that are now movie mega- franchises.
‘ The vibe is awesome’
But like all great conventions of its kind, the real stars were on the floor. Kids and kids- at- heart could shop for exclusive finds or ignore the merchandise booths and expensive celebrity photo ops ($ 77 to get a picture with “Back to the Future” star Christopher Lloyd — an extra $ 32 if it includes his DeLorean time machine) and just revel in the fun with fellow fans.
“It’s awesome. It’s crowded and it’s hot, but the vibe is awesome,” said Gerrard Fajardo, one of 12 members of the R2 Builders Club, who brought a replica R2 unit from the “Star Wars” movies to the venue. “Kids are loving it. Families are loving it.”
The Bay Area’s sci- fi movie convention roots date back to 1975, when the Red Hour Festival brought “Star Trek” fans, and several actors from the 1960s television series, to Abraham Lincoln High School in San Francisco. None other than The Chronicle’s Herb Caen covered the event, lauding it as “phenomenal!” and “a good scene!”
In 1976, the Star Trek Space and Science Convention debuted at the Oakland Auditorium, mixing “Star Trek” stars with NASA scientists and astronauts, along with acid guru Timothy Leary.
Forty years later, more seems to have stayed the same on the convention scene than changed. Wozniak presented the Silicon Valley Comic Con as a mix of pop culture and technology. The presentation “Let’s Go to Mars!” featured “The Martian” author Andy Weir and “MythBusters” star Adam Savage. “Trek” actors Shatner and Nichelle Nichols ( Lt. Uhura) were at both conventions, in 1976 and 2016.
Making up for lost time
The question people were asking is: Why did it go away? San Francisco and the Silicon Valley are a center of geek culture, the birthplace of Apple Computers, Atari video games, “Star Wars,” Pixar and too many great comic books to count. When WonderCon left, the next biggest comic con was the more intimate Big Wow ComicFest, which returns to San Jose Convention Center on April 18- 19.
Ty Prunty, who co- hosts the Superheroic podcast and lives in Fremont, was a WonderCon regular. He said five years away were five years too many.
“I’m so grateful it’s back here now,” Prunty said. “We’re the Bay Area. We love geek stuff. We have such a large amount of people who are into these things.”
Silicon Valley Comic Con attendees reported some first- time problems. There were huge lines on Saturday, when the main hall got so hot that some of the cosplayers in more stifling costumes said they had to go outside for breaks. But by Sunday everything seemed to be running smoothly, arguably more smoothly than the last few years of WonderCon.
Organizers reported between 30,000 and 40,000 attendees dropped in over the weekend. There are already hopes for a 2017 Silicon Valley Comic Con return, most likely back in San Jose. That will be good news for Groot costumemaker Kawaguchi, who lives in San Francisco, and was dressed in a homemade Rocket Raccoon outfit.
“I already spend so much making costumes,” Kawaguchi said. “I don’t want to spend more on hotel rooms.”