SPX 2026 Recap

As we collapse across the finish line after a whirlwind weekend at SPX, let us write a love letter to the indie comics community:

From Dylan:

Last year was my first SPX. Diskette has been a frequent sight here over the years, and since taking over the press in 2024, this marks our third consecutive year back in DC. As I drove the 8 hours alone with a freshly printed pile of comics from Zoot and Leo Fox, I didn’t really know what to expect other than their overwhelming excitement for the fest and its artists. 2025 SPX was a great time for me, but I was still trying to figure out my place in Diskette’s journey: I had just been laid off of my corporate job and wasn’t full-time at the press yet. It honestly felt like I was tabling for someone else. People loved our artists’s work, and I met some great new friends, but I felt on the periphery of this huge crowd of people I knew and respected. 

This year could not have felt more different. I’ve now had plenty of different cons under my belt now and was feeling more confident as a printer and a publisher. Coming here with Robin really was a return home. As we drove through Ohio and Pennsylvania we intermittently opened the windows to cool down my AC-less Civic and yelled loudly over the rush of air about the people we were excited to see and the comics we were going to pick up. We laughed and joked about how we didn’t want to run into anyone cool before we got to our room to shower off the sweat and bugs in our teeth from the drive. And of course, the dozens of friends and familiar faces that I had come to know over the years were waiting excitedly just inside the lobby as we poured ourselves out of the car and into the hotel. I’m sorry if you smelled us–we were gross.

I’ve always had a bit of imposter syndrome no matter where I am or work. I think it comes with being a noticeably giant tranny who always catches the eyes of anyone around. I can’t really hide from the attention, so I try to hide my place in whatever setting I’m occupying. Taking over Diskette has been filling some giant shoes left over by Carta, whose impact on the community writ large is noticeable just by walking around the rows in the vendor hall. I appreciate the standards that she left for us; pushing me to make bigger and better work while growing and improving my skills as a printer. Honestly, focusing on the production side has helped me feel more connected to the medium as a whole. I’m not yet what I would consider a “real” cartoonist–which is something humorous in taking over a press like Diskette, which mainly publishes comics. So being able to have my hands in the production of some incredible work has allowed me to be a part of the process and enable some art that might otherwise not get the attention it deserves. Don’t worry, you’ll see some comics from me by the year’s end, and coming back from SPX really filled me with the energy and drive I needed to push some work in progress over the edge.

So this year, hearing the praise about our work from artists and publishers I greatly respect has been a huge boon to my confidence: no longer am I just some lucky idiot who took over an iconic press, but I can feel a part of the community itself. I know this is obvious to some, but the realization that we’re all weirdos a with the same niche interest who are excited to talk and befriend each other was something that took a moment to sink in for me. You sit on the patio and you can really pull up a chair at any table and gab for hours about each other’s practice, their upcoming work, or even their puppet show karaoke parties. Nothing feels better than instantly having a group of friends in whatever city you roll up to for a convention. I deeply admire any of the new and old friends trying to find a way to make this work and it’s been healing to commiserate and share each other’s war stories of pulped editions, disastrous cons, and flopped releases.

It’s hard out there right now: running an indie press isn’t really a lucrative field. I heard from pretty much everyone I talked to that SPX felt a little slower than last year, and I could feel it too. Maybe it was the convention center boycott or the general dystopian hellscape, but you start to look around the room nervously at how everything is going. Now it’s not all doom and gloom–this was still our best convention showing of the year, but it wasn’t nearly the blowout I had come to expect from last year. We nearly doubled our sales overall on the back of 15(!!!) new books and every time someone gleefully ran up to the table, my heart swelled with appreciation. And with that success, I think it’s important to remember that inside of that convention hall, we’re really not competing with each other. There are only a handful of huge publishers out there that take up the majority of sales in this 33.4 Billion (with a B) Dollar publishing industry [1]. Those are our real competitors. Any time a member of our audiences go out of their way to come to a show like SPX is a reminder that our work is no less valuable or important and that they care deeply about what we create. Despite going well over my personal budget (as I think everyone else does at SPX) I could have easily picked up dozens of more books. Ice soup for dinner this month I guess.

A few highlights from the trip:

We brought a Coleman stove and a flat top and grilled hot dogs in the parking lot for the hungry cartoonists coming out of the Ignatz. Given the reaction, I’ll definitely need to bring that back next year. Maybe I bring some coney sauce even so y’all can get a real Detroit dog.

• Andrew Alexander of Cram started throwing dice on the patio for trinkets, zines, cigarettes, and pens. I won my first ever game at it, beginner’s luck I guess. (Pictured in the header, drawn by Robin)
• Meeting some of our upcoming artists in person for the first time! (Check out Bread Tarleton’s book Meat Puppet debuting at PCX in a couple weeks)
• The Queer Horror panel moderated by Tanya Dorph-Mankey (Count The Lights) with our very own Ana Two (Dark Room), Corinne Halbert (Acid Nun), Natalia Lopes (Mysto Press), and Tinguu (The Cannibals).
• Dinner after the con on Sunday with an old friend of mine from Detroit who moved out to Rockville, which is also becoming a yearly tradition now.
• Getting to stop by both Fantom Comics and Pure Panic. We love the after-the-con tour of comic shops on the way out of town to drop off some wholesales.
• Stopping by Stoop Shop in Baltimore on the way home to see Casey’s studio space. (Everyone get ready for some wild output from that shop soon!)

From Robin:

Up until 2023, I didn’t really know that “indie comic shows” existed. The only comic conventions I had experienced were anime conventions or mainstream “comic-cons”. It’s interesting, the way that mainstream comic conventions are structured to maintain the division of “fan” and “creator”. The artists are placed on celebrity pedestals and their fans often pay to access them. Through this lens the possibility of achieving a peer-to-peer dynamic with creatives making similar work, or imagining being a “working artist” seems insurmountable. 

I never imagined that I could be amongst peers, sharing work, publishing work by myself and others. 

In 2023 I tabled at my first indie comic show, A2CAF SIP, hosted by my friend Sean Watkins of Athenaeum. I felt like an island; I knew no one, and I hardly had anything to sell! But I was invigorated by the feeling of community buzzing around me. It inspired me to keep pursuing comics and self-publishing, which I'm so glad I did.

Fast forward to SPX 2026—at this point I have been to several shows tabling for Diskette Press. I've self-published some of my own comics; and with Diskette, I've helped publish over a dozen comics alongside my friend and collaborator Dylan. I am starting to recognize faces and remember names and people are starting to remember me, too. The warmth with which we have been welcomed into the comics community has been humbling and so special and something I cherish deeply. I ended the weekend feeling exhausted but so happy. Here’s to many more shows to come!

[1] Association of American Publishers. “AAP StatShot Annual Report: Publishing Revenues Totaled $33.4 Billion for Calendar Year 2025.” Association of American Publishers, Aug. 10, 2026, https://publishers.org/news/aap-statshot-annual-report-publishing-revenues-totaled-33-4-billion-for-calendar-year-2025/.