Everyone knows about Comic-Con, but the Latino Comics Expo is an entirely different cultural experience.

The event is being held in San Jose, California, today and Sunday, and offers a way for Latinos to see themselves in the superhero stories, NBC reported.

Expo co-founder and comic book creator Javier Hernandez told NBC that while he grew up with the same Marvel and DC Comics superheroes as other Americans, he could not connect to it in the same way because Latinos were not represented.

Comic book aficionados have said that the Latino comics, which are increasingly a part of the mainstream culture, are modern mythologies that challenge and inspire readers about their lives, according to NBC.

For example, Hernandez's comic book El Muerto combines Aztec mythology with Mexican folklore.

His underdog character, Diego de la Muerte, who grows up in a Catholic home, dresses up in a Mariachi costume with skull makeup. On his way to the Día de los Muertos festival, typically celebrated around Halloween and honors the spirits of the dead -- thus the name Day of the Dead -- when he is killed and transformed into a zombie by the Aztec God of Death.

Ricardo Padilla, also co-founder of the Expo, told NBC that this sort of incorporation between two cultures and two religions is important because it can translate to a deeper understanding and ability to deal with real-life scenarios for many Latinos.

It serves as both a mechanism to cope with a dual identity that many Latinos grow up with, switching between, for example, Aztec, Mexican and American cultures.

In addition, it serves as a way to encourage literacy, Padilla said.

The comics are just the modern-day version of the courage inspired by Spanish literature's most famous hero Don Quixote. But now, instead of lengthy books, the growing culture comes from using the American tradition of comic books.