It may turn out to be the biggest event the San Jose Convention Center has held. Steve Wozniak’s name (and face) behind Silicon Valley Comic Con certainly guarantees that people are interested. When he took over the much smaller Big Wow! Comic Fest last year, we had to hold our breath a bit. This fun comics-centric show was about to go away. But it didn’t. It’s still there in the heart of the exhibit hall, with many familiar creators who had been the bedrock of the show in years past doing brisk business. And that’s on an opening night in San Jose when people are just starting to trickle in for “Preview Night.” (San Jose crowds have not yet learned of the value of that extra night.) Tomorrow, estimated to have upwards of 30,000 attendees, will be huge.
So in the meantime, here are some sights from what is likely the “quiet day” of Silicon Valley Comic Con. Because tomorrow, William Shatner speaks (again), Christopher Lloyd, Michael J. Fox, and Lea Thompson reunite for Back to the Future reminiscences, and for those of us with an even narrower sense of fandom — Alan Tudyk is going to talk about Con Man and his upcoming comic spinning out of that webseries, Spectrum.
In addition to running Fanboy Planet, Derek has written for ActionAce, Daily Radar, Once Upon A Dime, and The Wave. He has contributed stories to Arcana Comics (The Greatest American Hero) and Monsterverse Comics (Bela Lugosi's Tales from the Grave). He has performed with ComedySportz and Silicon Valley Shakespeare, though relocated to Hollywood to... work in an office? If you ever played Eric's Ultimate Solitaire on the Macintosh, it was Derek's voice as The Weasel that urged you to play longer. You can buy his book "I Was Flesh Gordon" on the Amazon link at the right. Email him at [email protected].