Updated: March 27, 2016

Steve Wozniak, Stan Lee team up to launch Silicon Valley Comic Con in 2016

By Sal Pizarro - Mercury News

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak announced he and legendary comic book creator Stan Lee were teaming up to launch the Silicon Valley Comic Con next March in San Jose -- it's like the gods of pop culture and technology had a baby.

"I'm teaming up with friends to make this happen because I want to give Silicon Valley it's very own kind of Comic Con where everyone can have fun enjoying what they love," Woz said in the announcement posted online along with a video with him and the former Marvel Comics publisher.

Fanboys and fangirls can circle March 19-20, 2016, on their calendars and make plans for a pilgrimage to the San Jose McEnery Convention Center. The announcement also said that Big Wow! Comic Fest, taking place this weekend at the convention center, will become part of the SVCC calendar of events.

Comic book conventions have been around for more than 40 years, with the massive Comic-Con International taking place in San Diego in July. Big Wow! -- which started life as Super-Con in 1979 -- has been the Bay Area's biggest comic book and pop culture festival for the past couple of years since Wonder Con left San Francisco for Southern California in 2012. Wizard World, which runs a series of conventions in cities throughout the country, announced last year that it was bringing its pop culture roadshow to San Jose this year for Labor Day weekend.

The lines between entertainment and technology are getting blurrier, Wozniak said, and he wanted to create a place where all those interests -- movies, TV shows, web series, video games and social media -- can come together.

"When I was growing up, it was hard to be a geek," he continued. "It definitely wasn't cool, and that wasn't easy. I'm happy things have changed because now people are able to be proud of being geeks and being different. Silicon Valley Comic Con will be an event where fans of all kinds can celebrate the Age of the Geek."