The annual Small Press Expo comics and graphic arts festival presents the best and brightest established creators in independent comics. In addition to the opportunity for public exposure and sales, this annual event also allows less established artists to network with publishers and prominent creators, providing unique opportunities for comic artists and writer that are just starting out.

This year’s SPX will take place Sept. 15th & 16th at the Marriott Bethesda North Hotel & Conference Center (about an hour’s drive south, just north of D.C.!) Among the artists and presses showing this year will be MICA Alums and current students, including Dandelion Wine Collective, Ann Xu, Binglin Hu, Amanda Castillo, Annabelle Hayford, and Sara Hagstrom.

SPX also hosts a wealth of small presses, whose works span a wide breadth of viewpoints, topics, styles, and narratives not often produced by traditional publishers. This includes Fantagraphics, Drawn & Quarterly, Koyama Press, AdHouse Books, Silver Sprocket, Flying Eye Books, and many, many more.

On display here are works from a fraction of the over 600 artists and presses at this year’s SPX. If you are interested in sequential arts, comics, zines, or publishing we hope you’ll take a look at this opportunity to connect with others in the field.

If you would like to check out any of these materials, please ask at the library front desk. For more information, visit smallpressexpo.com