It’s almost unimaginable that Silicon Valley, the center of the nerd universe, hasn’t had a fantasy convention since before the pandemic. It’s a giant void for lovers of sci-fi, comics, movies and cartoons, almost as sad as if Burning Man gave up the ghost.
But fantasy lover and self-proclaimed nerd Mike Broder is opening the doors of imagination this weekend at San Jose’s McEnery Convention Center with a host of actors, artists, writers and performances.
“The Bay Area has a very large, robust geek community,” says Broder, 49, of Fort Lauderdale and formerly of Brooklyn. “It’s always been very strong. You know, there’s always been a huge, huge geek culture.”
San Francisco had an early event called BayCon that started in the 1960s. Then there was Wonder Con, which moved to Anaheim after having problems with Moscone Center.
San Jose launched a great pop culture and technology convention in 2016 called Silicon Valley Comic Con and later named Silicon with Adam Savage. Celebrity spokespeople included comic creator Stan Lee and Apple founder Steve Wozniak.
“Where are your multi generational pop culture shows?”
That’s what Broder is bringing. Guests for all ages. His logo: “GalaxyCon is more than a comic con. It’s a celebration of fandom.”
Founded in 2006 and now in Fort Lauderdale, Oklahoma City, Raleigh, Columbus and Richmond, it attracts between 20,000 and 50,000 fans for each show. He also does Animate! and Nightmare Weekend.
“We’re a multi-genre pop culture convention, you know, with actors and voice actors and wrestlers and cosplayers and comic creators. You know, we booked the show so that there’s a little bit for everyone. You’ll see that we’re very Star Trek heavy, but we also have Star Wars people and sci-fi people. We’ve got Weird Al. We’ve got John Cleese. We’ve got some amazing comic creators.”
Broder definitely has the cred. He owned a comic book store in Florida and had to sell some of his own comic collections to pay bills.
“My first show was a Creation show in New York City when I was 9 years old to see DeForest Kelley and Jack Kirby,” he says. “And, it changed my life. My mother took me. I love Star Trek. I mean, you know, I remember when Star Trek III came out, I remember going to the theater around the corner, seeing it probably 20 times that summer.”
Check out Galaxycon.com for the complete lineup, but some highlights include Emily Swallow, from The Mandalorian and The Last of Us; Corbin Bernson from Psych, L.A. Law and Major League; Brent Spiner, from Star Trek: The Next Generation; John DiMaggio, of Futurama; Charles Martinet, of Super Mario; and Sarah Natochenny, of Pokemon and the Jungle Book.
There are also plenty of comic writers of Spider-man; Wolverine; Batman, and Superman, to name a few. It’s a nerd’s fantasy come true.
I can’t wait.
GalaxyCon at San Jose Convention Center, Friday-Sunday. Prices range from $40 for a Friday pass to $325 for a three-day VIP pass. Kids 9 and under are free with a paid adult. Visit Galaxycon.com for info.
