How Steve Wozniak introduced a comic book Con To Silicon Valley

in case you have been starting an event that sat at the intersection of expertise and popular culture, it’s worthwhile to scarcely think about a greater founding myth than one involving an stumble upon between Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak and marvel impresario Stan Lee. as the dressmaker of the Apple II’s hardware and device, Woz played a huge role in the personalization of computer systems that ushered within the era that will carry us now not just PCs but smartphones, capsules, smartwatches, sensible TVs, and way more. And the marvel comics that Lee co-created and wrote within the Sixties are the stuff that up to date myths are made from.

When Woz and Stan did meet, they bonded. “the 2 of us take to each other so smartly we needed to work together on something, anything, every time we could be collectively,” Woz informed me. “We simply hit it off like the most effective pals ever.”

The something that came out of the ancient meeting used to be Silicon Valley comic Con, which will take place from March 18-20 at the San Jose convention center. As you’ll are expecting, it comprises panels and a express flooring dedicated to celebrating delusion as expressed in comics, films, and television. however it has every other major ingredient that reflects Woz’s influence and the experience’s vicinity: science and expertise.

“i don’t love to do the identical factor as everyone else, I at all times like to be first at something, do something completely different on a distinct monitor,” Woz says. “This will be the first comedian con with a know-how link.” The express’s friends embrace Astro Teller, head of Alphabet’s X team (previously referred to as Google X); Bobak Ferdowsi, the famously mohawked NASA engineer, and Laetitia Garriott de Cayeux, cofounder of escape Dynamics, a space expertise firm. Google is participating with a VR zone, and an App Alley section will give developers the opportunity to sing their own praises their wares totally free.

Woz describes himself as “calmly” involved with planning the comedian Con, however in addition to serving as its public face, he’s additionally certainly one of its homeowners, together with Rick White and commute Hunter, two of his colleagues at main information, a storage startup where he holds the title of chief scientist. The three also collaborated at Fusion-io, another storage company that was once received through Sandisk in 2014; Hunter is CEO of Silicon Valley comedian Con. (Stan Lee, meanwhile, shouldn’t be keen on producing the exhibit—but does plan to attend).

The con’s producers expect to promote out the San Jose convention center, which holds 30,000 folks. in the event that they do, the express might grow to be one of the crucial u . s . a .’s major pop-culture confabs, although now not on the same epic scale as the brand new York comic Con (167,000 attendees in 2015) and San Diego’s comedian-Con world (one hundred thirty,000 attendees).

Securing dates for a huge exhibit at a conference center isn’t easy; which is why Wondercon, a San Francisco Bay area establishment, lost its home on the Moscone center and has been held in Southern California in recent years. The Silicon Valley comic Con team solved that drawback and in most cases expedited their plans with the aid of acquiring and incorporating the large Wow Comicfest, an existing show that had already booked area on the San Jose conference center.

The convey’s quick timeline from idea to fact proved a challenge when it got here to signing up movie studios and other giant entertainment-industry outfits to take part, as did the fact that it overlaps with the South by way of Southwest movie pageant in Austin, Texas. however Warner Bros., Lion’s Gate, and AMC shall be exhibiting, and there will be archetypal con events akin to a back to the longer term reunion that includes Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, and Lea Thompson.

Woz The community Builder

relating to device nerdery, Woz isn’t just a founding father of the whole trade, but additionally a superfan himself. (When he saw my iPhone case, which has room for bank cards, he referred to as his wife over so she could convey me hers, which has a slot for reading glasses.) And although he says he used to be by no means a really die-arduous fan of flicks or comics, he without a doubt cared about science fiction on the comparable time that he was obsessed by using computers in the Seventies.

“each night time for the years after I was engaged on tasks leading as much as the Apple I, i might come residence after work and watch megastar Trek before I went back to work by myself projects,” he remembers. “I was young and didn’t have so much money. i could not follow the conventions around however yes, I drove the entire strategy to LA once just to head to a superstar Trek conference and spot people like William Shatner.” (fast ahead a number of decades, and Shatner might be a visitor at Silicon Valley comedian Con.)

despite the fact that Woz is celebrated for designing computer systems from scratch again when it was imaginable for one preternaturally gifted geek to do this, I’ve never thought of him merely as a solitary engineer. As a company, Apple was virtually spun out of the Homebrew computer membership, the legendary Silicon Valley establishment the place the earliest computer lovers gathered to speak save, share projects, and inspire each and every other. In 1982 and 1983, as soon as Apple had made him wealthy, he poured some of his loot into two Us festivals—song and tradition situations held in Southern California which attracted hundreds of heaps of people. afterward, working for the Los Gatos Unified college District in the Valley, he quietly taught laptop courses to grade-college youngsters for years.

In other phrases, I think of him as a guy who likes being around kindred spirits—the type of one that would possibly naturally be excited by beginning a pop-culture festival comparable to Silicon Valley comic Con. And even though he’s a self-described shy particular person, he says that he is at all times beloved being a part of a community.

“I in truth felt the Homebrew computer club was once so important, so far as the seeds of beginning Apple wouldn’t have happened with out it, that I went round for years to dozens of computer golf equipment everywhere the world,” he says.”I never advised Apple, I never had Apple purchase my aircraft tickets or my lodge tickets. i might talk to the membership to share the truth that Apple got here from that type of surroundings.”

“Why would I even put on the united states festivals?,” he continues. “It used to be actually as a result of i wished individuals to return and share an expertise and meet people. lots of people get impressed and stimulated by using the identical things. i really like just going to pay attention, observe, and study.”

Woz says he enjoys being a public figure: “I like it as a result of all over i go, individuals come up and they say, ‘i like you.’ neatly, heck, that’s rock-celebrity stuff.” but he does concede that it will probably get in the way in which of the more or less listening, commentary, and learning he craves.

“I used to go to conferences like CES and simply walk round. I didn’t understand anything concerning the products and so they all impressed me,” he explains. “Now, i can’t go to these issues, because every person’s grabbing me. The ultimate 3 times I went to a comedy club in Hollywood, I sat there thinking I was once nameless after which a comedian stated, ‘Oh, bet who’s in our target market?’ I received caught.” When Woz attends Silicon Valley comedian Con, he’ll get identified, and that’s the reason good enough—in reality, it is roughly the point.