For Immediate Release
Contact Email: press@smallpressexpo.com Small Press Expo Announces Derf, Kim Deitch, James Spooner, Noah Van Sciver, CK Gormally, and Raquelle Jac. Bethesda, Maryland - July 21, 2026 Media Release - Small Press Expo is proud to announce the second group of Special Guests for SPX 2026.
This is in addition to the previously announced Special Guests Lisa Hanawalt, Julia Wertz, Frederick Noland, Peter Bagge, and Jared Cullum.
Read more about SPX 2026 Special Guests here.
The show takes place on Saturday, September 12, and Sunday, September 13, with programming and workshops about the amazing world of independent comics as well as an exhibitor floor featuring over 450 creators.
Additional Special Guests will be announced over the next few weeks. SPX 2026 is honored to have the following creators as Special Guests to this year's show.
Banner by Sanika Phawde |
|
Derf
Derf's latest graphic novel, THE DISSIDENTS. will debut at SPX 2026. The book follows a group of political cartoonists who draw for the provocative magazine The Masses. Art Young, Boardman Robinson, Cornelia Barns, and others were stars in their day, but are now forgotten. What they document in their cartoons is a country spiraling into darkness, under attack by German saboteurs, and secretive private militias, plagued by racism, and rocked by class war. An autocratic president will not tolerate any dissent or criticism. The cartoonists are harassed, spied upon, blacklisted, and finally indicted for sedition and put on trial— with 20-year sentences hanging over their heads. Two others are forced to flee the country into exile. One is imprisoned and tortured! Another is incarcerated by the U.S. Army and scheduled for execution!
The Dissidents is a gripping, layered, and shocking story, told through the eyes and the work of the political cartoonists of The Masses. It’s a story of artistic courage in the face of merciless authoritarianism. In The Dissidents, Derf delivers a unique account of U.S. history– and lost comics history– that connects the events of today to seeds that were sown over 100 years ago. |
|
|
Kim Deitch
It is an honor to announce that legendary underground cartoonist Kim Deitch is a special guest at SPX 2026! One of the most prolific artists of his generation, Deitch enters his 60th year of cartooning more inventive than ever and showing no signs of slowing down. He'll be signing copies of his newest book, How I Make Comics--a creatively kaleidoscopic, non-stop exploration of how Deitch's imagination turns ideas, influences, and irritations into comics in his inimitable style--and Reincarnation Stories, a cosmic jigsaw puzzle of creation.
|
|
|
|
|
James Spooner
It Starts with Anger is the latest by James Spooner, published by Pantheon. From award-winning filmmaker and graphic novelist James Spooner, comes the untold origin story of the AFROPUNK movement and festival. In the early 1990s, a mixed-race Black teenager arrives in New York City searching for belonging in the punk scene, only to discover that racism and exclusion persist even within supposedly progressive spaces. Through zines, music, activism, and a cross-country journey documenting Black punks, Spooner helps give voice to a generation that had been largely overlooked. What begins as an underground cultural movement eventually grows into the internationally recognized AFROPUNK phenomenon. Blending memoir, comics, and punk ephemera, It Starts with Anger is a coming-of-age story, a celebration of Black punk culture, and a reflection on the uneasy relationship between rebellion and commercialization. |
|
|
Noah Van Sciver
We are thrilled to announce that Noah Van Sciver is a special guest at SPX 2026! Over the past decade, Noah Van Sciver has established himself as the most versatile graphic novelist working today. Whether it be in the service of straight-up satire (Fante Bukowski, Beat It, Rufus!), serious historical nonfiction (Joseph Smith and the Mormons, The Hypo: The Melancholic Young Lincoln), autobiography (As a Cartoonist, One Dirty Tree), or books for younger readers (Calamity Before Jane, Johnny Appleseed), Van Sciver’s singular voice and style has proven remarkably malleable to the needs of each project. With his newest graphic novel, The Mess, Van Sciver stakes yet new creative ground as a fiction writer, crafting the most magnetic and literary work of his career.
|
|
|
|
|
Cara Gormally, 'CK', will be signing their debut graphic memoir, Everything is Fine, I’ll Just Work Harder (Street Noise Books). This graphic memoir tells the story of a workaholic professor who embarks on a transformative therapeutic journey after an facebook friend request re-surfaces long-buried trauma. Reviewers describe Gormally’s book as a “map for those who feel lost” offering “a fresh perspective on the most intimate parts of our brains.” Infused with research describing the science of trauma, fellow recovering work-too-hard badasses will be encouraged to learn that sometimes the strongest thing we can do is learn how to be soft as we become our true selves. |
|
Raquelle Jac
We are so pleased to announce that Raquelle Jac is a special guest at SPX 2026! Her debut graphic novel, Bimbo Agitprop, captures the reality of growing up in West Texas in the early 21st century, through Satanic Panics, Y2K, a recession, abusive parents, crummy men, identity-centric politics, and woke/anti-woke pendulum swings. In the tradition of Aline Kominsky-Crumb and Phoebe Gloeckner, Jac wields art like a knife to organize, agitate, and dismantle the predatory systems that immiserate us all. |
|
|
Small Press Expo (SPX) is the preeminent showcase for the exhibition of independent comics, graphic novels, and alternative political cartoons. SPX is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit that brings together more than 450 artists and publishers to meet their readers, booksellers, and distributors each year. Graphic novels, mini comics, and alternative comics will all be on display and for sale by their authors and illustrators. The expo includes a series of panel discussions and interviews with this year’s guests.
The Ignatz Award is a festival prize held every year at SPX recognizing outstanding achievement in comics and cartooning, with the winners chosen by attendees at the show.
For more information on the Small Press Expo, please visit http://www.smallpressexpo.com. |
|
Small Press Expo
P.O. Box 5704
Bethesda, Maryland
20824
|
|
|
|
|
