Tag Archives: spx

SPX 2025 has launched Advanced Tickets and Hotel Information

Posted on by
Small Press Expo

Everything is now set up for attendees to get advanced tickets and hotel rooms to SPX 2025. SPX 2025 will be held this September 13 and 14 at the Bethesda North Marriott Hotel & Conference Center across from the White Flint Metro stop.

There will be an exhibitor room with over 500 creators and publishers with the finest works that indie comics has to offer, along with over 40 slots of programming and workshops over the 2-day festival.

Special Guests for the show include Tom Gauld, Gigi Murakami, Paul Karasik, Ngozi Ukazu, Kayla E, Dean Haspiel, Mimi Pond, Jordan Crane and Ben Wickey.

Tickets for SPX 2025 are $20 for Saturday, $15 Sunday and $30 for a two-day pass. To order your tickets, go to the Eventbrite page.

Hotel rooms are $137.00 per night, not including taxes. You can reserve your room here.

The convention is also looking for volunteers. If interested in volunteering, please fill out this form.

Small Press Expo 2025 announces more Special Guests

Posted on by

Small Press Expo has announced the next batch of Special Guests for SPX 2025. The show takes place on Saturday, September 13, and Sunday, September 14, with programming and workshops about the amazing world of independent comics as well as an exhibitor floor featuring over 500 creators.

Additional Special Guests will be announced over the next few weeks.

SPX 2025 is honored to have the following creators as Special Guests to this year’s show:

Ngozi Ukazu

Ngozi Ukazu’s latest graphic novel Flip makes its festival debut at Small Press Expo. Flip follows a teenaged Black girl and her rich white crush as they figure out a body-switching curse.

Jordan Crane

Jordan Crane is a Special Guest at SPX! He’s based in LA, so this is a rare and wonderful opportunity for all his east coast fans to get signed copies of his work. His newest collection, Goes Like This, is a gorgeously designed book–exposed spine, varying paper stocks, the works–that collects all of his short stories, as well as other prints and drawings from his archive.

Mimi Pond

Mimi Pond crafts a gorgeous, dazzling biography of the Mitford Sisters.

Born with pedigrees but without the pocketbooks to match, The Mitfords were certainly no strangers to lies, intrigue, or scandal. The sisters grew from cloistered turn-of-the-century country girls into debutantes who would marry into political influence—for better or worse. Is it any wonder that a young, working class Mimi in Southern California becomes enamored with The Mitfords’ downright fanciful rich-and-famous lifestyle? This charming biography captures the dramatic antics of high society’s strongest personalities as they rubbed elbows with some of history’s most infamous fascists and communists.

Ben Wickey

Ben Wickey will be at the Top Shelf booth (tables W56-W59) all weekend, signing copies of his debut graphic novel More Weight: A Salem Story. Come check out the book that Alan Moore calls “The most insightful, beautifully crafted, and impressively researched dramatization of America’s founding frenzy that exists in any medium. An appalling masterpiece.” This staggering graphic novel explores the infamous Salem witch trials and the long shadows they cast more than 300 years later.

Small Press Expo 2025: SPX Announces Tom Gauld, Gigi Murakami, Paul Karasik, Kayla E, and Dean Haspiel as Special Guests

Posted on by

Small Press Expo has announced the first batch of Special Guests for SPX 2025. The show takes place on Saturday, September 13, and Sunday, September 14, with programming and workshops about the amazing world of independent comics as well as an exhibitor floor featuring over 500 creators.

Additional Special Guests will be announced over the next few weeks.

SPX 2025 has announced the following creators as Special Guests to this year’s show:

Tom Gauld

Tom Gauld

What happens to a cat who goes through a wormhole?

Tom Gauld returns with Physics for Cats, his second collection of science-based cartoons for the New Scientist. Find out why every scientist worth their sodium chloride has a Tom Gauld cartoon taped to their electron microscope. This new batch of hilarious gags will be as important to every self-respecting scientist as a lab coat and goggles and oversize rubber gloves.

Gigi Murakami

Gigi Murakami

Gigi Murakami will be present at SPX all weekend, signing her Ignatz-nominated supernatural horror manga RESENTER, her self-published horror anthology zine, Midnight Bites, and Abrams-published Are You Afraid of the Dark? Sinister Sisters horror anthology.

Paul Karasik

Paul Karasik

In 1994, Paul Auster’s City of Glass was adapted into a graphic novel and became an immediate cult classic.

In his SPX talk, Special Guest Paul Karasik will outline the journey in adapting Auster’s complete “New York Trilogy” with the aid of master cartoonists, David Mazzucchielli (“Asterio Polyp”) and Lorenzo Mattotti (New Yorker cover artist). Hidden secrets and comics Easter eggs will be revealed.

The Guardian has called the 3-in-1 graphic novel, “…a stone cold masterpiece.”

Kayla E

Kayla E

Eisner-nominated artist Kayla E is a Special Guest at SPX! She’ll be signing her bestselling graphic memoir, Precious Rubbish. Although it’s her debut book, it’s been garnering a remarkable amount of praise, with everyone from The New York Times (“Precious Rubbish is a scream as precisely pitched as a middle C from a tuning fork”) to The New Yorker (“Her wry portrait reveals a fresh eye, at once vulnerable and undaunted.”) to Publishers Weekly (“This four-color atomic bomb of a comic signals the arrival of a formidable talent.”) designating Kayla as an artist to watch!

Dean Haspiel

Dean Haspiel

In Spring of 2023, Dean Haspiel launched a self-publishing concern focusing on a series of crowdfunded “Deep Cuts“ from his pantheon of creator-owned characters, featuring COVID COP, BILLY DOGMA + JANE LEGIT, THE RED HOOK, and CHEST FACE. Dino continues to grow his heartfelt roster of dumb luck nobodies, exploring hybrids of action comix and speculative memoir.

Small Press Expo and AFI Silver Theatre Announces Drew Friedman: Vermeer of the Borscht Belt on May 18

Posted on by
Drew Friedman: Vermeer of the Borscht Belt

The Small Press Expo (SPX) has announced two more comics-related films with the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center in their ongoing film series celebrating comics and their impact on storytelling. This special series will feature screenings of acclaimed films and documentaries, culminating in the highly anticipated SPX 2025 weekend, that will occur September 13-14.

The series continues with a showing of the documentary Drew Friedman: Vermeer of the Borscht Belt on May 18 at 3:15 PM.

This in-depth documentary traces Drew Friedman’s evolution from underground comics to the cover of the New Yorker through interviews with Friedman’s friends and colleagues. It also features a rare peek into his private “Jewseum,” perhaps the world’s largest collection of artifacts devoted exclusively to Jewish comedians.

The screening will be followed by a Q&A with filmmaker Kevin Dougherty and producer Thom Shubilla.

The first 15 attendees to arrive at the event will receive one free limited-edition T-shirt featuring a glow-in-the-dark Tor Johnson lovingly rendered by Drew Friedman.

For more info and tickets visit the AFI Silver web site.

The SPX-AFI Silver series continues on Sunday, June 1, at 3:45 PM with a showing of No Straight Lines: The Rise of Queer Comics.

Led by such notable queer creators as as Alison Bechdel, Howard Cruse, Maia Kobabe, along with SPXers Denis Kitchen, Lawrence Lyndell and Breena Nunez, this documentary shows the trials and triumphs of the LGBTQIA+ comics community.

Preceded by a video intro from filmmaker Vivian Kleiman.

For more info and tickets visit the AFI Silver web site.

SPX Announces Funny Pages at the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center

Posted on by
Funny Pages

The Small Press Expo (SPX) has announced two more comics-related films with the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center in their ongoing film series celebrating comics and their impact on storytelling. This special series features screenings of acclaimed films and documentaries, culminating in the highly anticipated SPX 2025 weekend, that will occur September 13-14.

The SPX-AFI Silver series continues on Sunday, April 13, at 3:45 PM at the AFI Silver Theatre with a showing of Funny Pages.

Director Owen Kline made an auspicious debut as a filmmaker with this quirky and blackly comic coming-of-age tale. Kline’s love for comic book art shines through, as does an awareness that genuine underground and outsider art does not come from corporate workplaces or well-adjusted people.

The film will be screening in 35mm with a special appearance by director Owen Kline.

For more info and tickets visit the AFI Silver web site.

The series continues with a showing of the documentary Drew Friedman: Vermeer of the Borscht Belt that will be held on May 18 at 3:15 PM.

This in-depth documentary traces Drew Friedman‘s evolution from underground comics to the cover of the New Yorker through interviews with Friedman’s friends and colleagues. It also features a rare peek into his private “Jewseum,” perhaps the world’s largest collection of artifacts devoted exclusively to Jewish comedians.

For more info and tickets visit the AFI Silver web site.

SPX Announces Art Spiegelman Documentary at the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center

Posted on by
Art Spiegelman: Disaster is My Muse

The Small Press Expo (SPX) has announced an exciting collaboration with the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center to present a film series celebrating comics and their impact on storytelling. This special series will feature screenings of acclaimed films and documentaries, culminating in the highly anticipated SPX 2025 weekend, that will occur September 13-14.

The series launches with the Washington, DC premiere of Art Spiegelman: Disaster is My Muse! on Sunday, March 9, at 7:00 PM at the AFI Silver Theatre.

This intimate documentary explores the life and creative process of legendary Maus cartoonist Art Spiegelman.

Following the screening, co-director Philip Dolan will participate in a Q&A session to discuss the making of the film and Spiegelman’s profound influence on the comics world.

Throughout the year, the SPX-AFI Silver film series will continue with a diverse lineup of films celebrating comics, cartoonists, and their unique storytelling power.

In April, the series will feature Funny Pages, a teen coming-of-age story about becoming a cartoonist, screening in 35mm with a special appearance by director Owen Kline. Tickets go on sale next week at AFI.com/Silver.

Further screenings and guest appearances will be announced in the coming months.

The Small Press Expo 2024 Ignatz Award Winners are…

Posted on by
Small Press Expo 2024

The Small Press Expo (SPX), the preeminent showcase for the exhibition of independent comics, graphic novels and alternative political cartoons, has announced the 2024 winners for the annual presentation of the Ignatz Awards, a celebration of outstanding achievement in comics and cartooning.

Voting for the Ignatz Awards was opened to anybody on the SPX email lists and anyone who requested a ballot.

The Ignatz Awards ceremony was held on Saturday September 14 during the convention.

The 2024 Ignatz Winners are noted in bold with “- Winner” next to the listing.

OUTSTANDING ARTIST

  • Flippy, Nate Garcia (Domino Books)
  • Night Fever (from Gladiolus Magazine #1), Robyn Smith (Black Josei) Press – WINNER
  • Portrait of a Body, Julie Delporte (Drawn & Quarterly)
  • Spiral and Other Stories, Aidan Koch (New York Review Comics)
  • The Great Beyond, Léa Murawiec (Drawn & Quarterly)

OUTSTANDING ANTHOLOGY

  • Let Her Be Evil, Cassandra Jones, ed. (Zoop)
  • Pulping, Jenn Woodall, Jon Iñaki, Jonathan Rotsztain, Mitch Lohmeier and Paterson Hodgson, ed. (Pulping Collective) – WINNER
  • We Belong, Viktor T. Kerney and William O. Tyler, ed. (Stacked Deck Press)
  • Wheels on the Bus, Lucio Luiz, ed. (Jupati Books)
  • Won’t Back Down: An Anthology of Pro-Choice Comics, Trina Robbins, ed. (Last Gasp)

OUTSTANDING COLLECTION

  • Buzzelli Collected Works Vol. 1: The Labyrinth, Guido Buzzelli, translated by Jamie Richards (Floating World Comics)
  • Complete and Utter Malarkey, November Garcia (Fieldmouse Press)
  • Gender Studies: The Confessions of an Accidental Outlaw, Ajuan Mance (Rosarium Press)
  • Offshore Lightning, Saito Nazuna, translated by Alexa Frank (Drawn & Quarterly) – WINNER
  • Resenter, Gigi Murakami (Self-Published)

OUTSTANDING COMIC

  • Fielder #2, Kevin Huizenga (Drawn & Quarterly)
  • Follow the Doll Issue 2, Daryl Seitchik (Parsifal Press)
  • My Body Unspooling, Leo Fox (Silver Sprocket) – WINNER
  • Sunflowers, Keezy Young (Silver Sprocket)
  • The Audra Show #7: The Love Issue, Audra Stang (Self-Published)

OUTSTANDING GRAPHIC NOVEL

  • Optometry, Xiang Yata (Driftwood Press)
  • Roaming, Jillian Tamaki & Mariko Tamaki (Drawn & Quarterly) – WINNER
  • The Talk, Darrin Bell (Macmillan Publishers)
  • Time Under Tension, M.S. Harkness (Fantagraphics)
  • Unended, Josh Bayer (Uncivilized Books)

OUTSTANDING MINICOMIC

  • Find a Seat, Faye Stacey (Quindrie Press)
  • Hyper Fawnus, Anna Two (Self-Published)
  • Lullaby, Jordan Jeffries (Cosmic Dog House Press)
  • Manga Cube, LEHUO (Self-Published) – WINNER
  • Pauline Newman, Greer de Maglie (Self-Published)

OUTSTANDING ONLINE COMIC

  • Buuza!!, Shazleen Khan – WINNER
  • In the Shadow of Giants, Aria Villafranca and Matthew Fisher
  • Marigold, Emily Zilber
  • Rigsby Wi, SE Case
  • The Legend of Mariposa, James Lawrence

OUTSTANDING SERIES

  • CosmoKnights, Hannah Templer (Top Shelf Productions) – WINNER
  • CRAM, Andrew Alexander, ed. (CRAM Books)
  • Jaywalk, Floyd Tangeman, ed. (Domino Books)
  • Kuš! Baltic Comics Magazine, Various (Kuš)
  • Tongues, Anders Nilsen (Self-Published)

OUTSTANDING STORY

  • “The Happy Art”, Sami Alwani (Pulping Collective) – WINNER
  • “And When I See You, I’ll Tell You Everything” (from You Are Not a Guest), Leela Corman (Fieldmouse Press)
  • Scorpio Venus Rising #1, Corinne Halbert (Self-Published)
  • The Gift, Jamila Rowser & Sam Wade (Black Josei Press)
  • The Super Hero’s Journey, Patrick McDonnell (Abrams Books)

PROMISING NEW TALENT:

  • 10-10 To The Wind, Cole Degenstein (Fieldmouse Press)
  • Gift Box, Pingnan Lu (Self-Published)
  • Optometry, Xiang Yata (Driftwood Press)
  • Tales of the Orishas, Hugo Canuto (Abrams)
  • The Great Beyond, Léa Murawiec (Drawn & Quarterly) – WINNER

SPX 2024 Debut Review: Mae the Master leaves us wanting more

Posted on by
Mae The Master

Mae and her friends are determined to be the best martial artists on the planet. Too bad the Podunk village they live in can’t offer a bigger challenge than “Pervis, the Glass Weasel!.” But, when they come across the well known fighter Stone Caesar, have they met their match? Mae the Master is an entertaining read that’s a clear love letter to Shonen Manga.

Written and art by M. Jacob Alvarez, Mae the Master is a familiar story that doesn’t veer too much from its roots. A group of fighters are at a tournament and wind up fighting. It doesn’t get more complicated than that really. But, Alvarez delivers a fun innocence about this take that delivers a little bit of spin.

Mae the Master is an indie comic, one that’s done out of love for the genre with a bit of its own take on the “tournament concept.” In this case, Alvarez focuses on a rather innocent fighter, one that’s surrounded by many well above her abilities. Her innocence mixed with the rather realistic viewpoint of her friends, mixed with the gruff rest of the contestants creates a mix that’s not necessarily new overall, but makes it a bit more than just a comic focused on fighting. You kind of want to see the sweet innocent fighter kick some ass.

Alvarez’s art is entertaining too. The characters all have personality in their look and the fighting itself is decent. This is an entertaining indie comic, rough in the art and concept but overall it comes together and is boosted by the clear love the creator has for the concept.

The negative is the comic feels like it just ends. I wanted to read more immediately which is absolutely a good thing. I want to see the full tournament play out and where it all goes. If you’re at Small Press Expo 2024 this coming weekend, the comic is listed as free so there’s no reason to not grab a copy and check out Alvarez’s talent.

Story: M. Jacob Alvarez Art: M. Jacob Alvarez
Story: 7.0 Art: 7.0 Overall: 7.0 Recommendation: “Buy“

Hypno Spiral Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

Purchase: Get yours at SPX 2024

SPX 2024 Debut Review: The Atheist’s Guide to the Old Testament is a compact action packed take on the Bible

Posted on by
The Atheist’s Guide to the Old Testament

Described as an easy-to-read exegesis for doubters, scoffers and blasphemers, The Atheist’s Guide to the Old Testament makes its debut at this weekend’s Small Press Expo (SPX).

Written and art by M. Jacob Alvarez The Atheist’s Guide to the Old Testament keeps the focus on the action from the Torah/Bible skipping the books packed with rules and instead getting to the meat of it. Action, battles, mass murder, lots of sexual assault, it’s covered in a somewhat humorous take by Alvarez who cuts through the crap and gets to the entertaining parts.

I’ve read the Bible through and most of it is a slog. Alvarez has a knack for making it entertaining by presenting the more salacious moments. And, as presented, it comes off as a multi-part summer blockbuster.

But, what’s interesting is Alvarez brings it all together by the end reflecting on some key details that connects the stories and some of the themes and questions they raise. There’s also the dance between fact and fiction and what seems to be forgotten over time or just not really focused on.

The Atheist’s Guide to the Old Testament is an entertaining read that cuts through the slog that so much of the Bible is and instead presents things in an entertaining way that focuses on stories that could be blockbuster films. There’s an entertaining spin that Alvarez puts to it all, making the Bible a fun read that brings blasphemy, blockbuster, and pop culture fun together.

Story: M. Jacob Alvarez Art: M. Jacob Alvarez
Story: 8.0 Art: 7.75 Overall: 8.0 Recommendation: Buy

Hypno Spiral Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

Purchase: Get yours at SPX 2024 – Hypno Spiral Comics store

Small Press Expo’s 30th Birthday Celebration by the Numbers

Posted on by
Small Press Expo 2024

This weekend, September 14 -15, celebrate Small Press Expo‘s 30th birthday at the Bethesda North Marriott Hotel and Convention Center, across from the North Bethesda Metro station on the Red Line.

That’s right, the first SPX was held in 1994! Here are some other numbers to remember:

  • We will have 18 Workshops you can attend to learn more about creating your own comics!
  • Peruse the wares of over 50 Publishers printing the best in indie comics!
  • And of course, explore the tables of over 450 Exhibitors with a wide range of comics, mini-comix, graphic novels, anthologies, prints, and posters for sale!

Tickets are $20 for Saturday, $15 for Sunday, and $30 for both days. Get your advance tickets here or buy them at the door.

« Older Entries Recent Entries »