Art I Loved at Small Press Expo

Last weekend, one of the largest indie comics events on the east coast took place in Bethesda, Maryland. Small Press Expo is an art festival dedicated to showcasing independent artists and their work through panels and exhibitions – large retailers and publishers are sidelined to celebrate smaller creators and emerging talent. Going to conventions has always been a favorite past-time of mine and Small Press Expo is a particular favorite because it’s relatively cheap ($20 per day) and despite being hosted in a smaller venue, many artists I love and big-names in the graphic novel field attend. 

This year I went for one day, Saturday the 14th, and managed to spend nearly $200 in a five hour period. So without further ado, here’s my favorite art from SPX 2024. 

JOURNALS

One of the best things about SPX is that it also showcases student work from various college journals – and most of them are given away for free. As someone who’s worked on and written for lit mags, receiving these is like a goldmine for hidden talent. There were two schools giving away journals this year that I managed to grab copies from, Virginia Commonwealth University and the School of Visual Arts. 

VCU handed out three different student media journals: Amendment, a progressive literature and art journal; Emanata, an anthology of comics; and Pwatem, a collection of undergraduate literature and art. Each one contained unique and beautiful art, but my favorite was Emanata purely because they were the team presenting VCU’s work at SPX and were all passionate about their production. 

The School of Visual Art had two journals to give away – one a double collection of art from 2024 BFA illustration and comics students, and one comic magazine titled Ink. The SVA table also sold different original zines and comics from students at the school in a variety of genres, styles, and length. 

ZINES

Zines are undoubtedly the most common product sold at the expo as a cheaper and faster alternative to self-publishing graphic novels or comic volumes. Zines ranged anywhere from $1-$25, and could be any size from 1”x1” to a standard folded 8.5”x11”. Some of my favorites I bought include Abigail Lee’s Meet Cute, a short comic about someone imagining different meet-cute scenarios with strangers, and Cold Boy Press’ Cloudy, a collection of reflection themed pieces that is donating 75% of their profits to PCRF. I also bought a sticker from Abigail Lee who was an absolute delight to talk to and was dressed in the most wonderful, color-filled outfit I’d ever seen. 

STICKERS, PRINTS, AND PACKS

Something that tends to be very prominent at other conventions is fanart, but since SPX is made to support indie comics, many artists use the space to promote their original works instead. However, I still managed to find some fanart to purchase – most notably a risograph print of the Fruits Basket characters by Boya Sun and stickers of the Moomin characters by ghostspacess. A lot of prints this year were risographs which give a very particular vibrancy and texture to the images that’s similar to the style of traditional zine printing. 

Some unique finds of the year were card packs. Laura Ketcham’s Pack of Horrors is a collection of monster-themed character cards. Each card includes art of the monster, their basic attributes, danger level, abilities, and weaknesses – and though the deck seems to draw on many different inspirations, each creature is entirely unique. Shing Yin Khor’s card pack is a tiny stack of watercolor map features. Each card contains a simple illustration and description, such as “a river that divides mountains,” while the back of the card tells a linear narrative story about a traveler encountering the areas. 

ART CARDS

It isn’t an art festival if I haven’t managed to grab at least a dozen art cards from the exhibition. Simply put, art cards are business cards with the creator’s art on them, often including the artist’s handles and occasionally extra information like a QR code or the artist’s bio. Collecting them has become a hobby of mine, especially as I come in contact with the same artists at different events and can collect duplicates or variants of ones I already have. There were some really beautiful ones this year, including Cottonbook’s postcard-sized, cozy, watercolor print, Felt Mythical’s holographic cat sticker, and Boxerbun’s pokemon-esque trading card (the second I’ve collected of hers).

SPECIAL MENTIONS

Though I was excited to see many things at SPX, there was one goal I’d had since the previous year: purchasing Knapsack. Knapsack is a comics and illustration anthology published by Tiny Pocket Press and kickstarted over the course of last spring. This anthology is possibly the greatest thing I’ve ever laid my eyes on: 200 pages of brightly colored Shojo Beat and Shonen Jump inspired comics by artists I’ve been following for years. This anthology is the magnum opus of my SPX purchases (and probably my most expensive purchase as well). 

Lastly, my favorite free art I received was the attendee badge itself. It’s a simple illustration of a person drawing a comic at their desk as vines entangle their room, drawn by Ngozi Ukazu. I got to hear Ukazu speak at a panel this year and she was just as insightful as she was funny; it was so surreal being able to meet a graphic novelist I’ve read since I was a kid. 

Indie comics are an important backbone of the arts industry and SPX does a fantastic job of supporting emerging and established artists in the indie world. As much as I’m happy with everything I got this year, I can’t wait to see what’s in store for the next festival. 

From top left to bottom right: hiiarts, Gabbie Benda, sierra bravo art, Gianna Meola, dechanique, Ashanti Fortson, Deb Lee, Hannah Templer, Ashley Jablonski, Lucky Pocket Press, Laura Ketcham, Coco Fox, Abigail Lee, Milk and Honey Comics, Natalie Norris, Angela Hsieh, Naomi Rashel, Elise Dietrich, Cricket Press, Boxerbun, Emily Cheeseman, Kristen Acampora, Charlotte Blocker, Aalex Fletcher, Grace Desmarais, Carl Lucas, Ocicatsy and Wensleydale, ghostspacess, Shing Yin Khor, sublime pigeon, judgedarts, VivaLaRiso, feltmythicalimaginings, Cold Boy Press, Mystopress, (Ben Fleuter, Natasha Tara Petrovic, Alexis Leriger de la Plante, Evan Sabo, Britt Sabo,), Ink Lit Mag, Amendment @ VCU, Bridget Bilbo, figofswords, cottonbook, Arielle Jovellanos, Rebecca Mock, Clover Ajamie, Richard Mercado, eightfish, Boya Sun, tdrkiz, School of Visual Arts BFA Students, Emenata @ VCU, Pwatem @ VCU, Datura Magazine, Jules Zuckerberg, Noa Haynes, Mar Julia, Fieldmouse Press, Syney Chavan, Jordan Chao, Megan Kearney, Megan Brennan, Nur Schuba Illustration, Tikklil, Comics People, Tanya Dorph-Mankey, Sun & Hon, Al Neun, Mo McMasters, MystoPress

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