THE DEFINITIVE SPX 2015 SPECIAL GUEST LIST. STUDY UP, KIDS! TIME IS SHORT!
KATE BEATON
Her humorous, quirky takes on history, literature and famous people propelled Kate Beaton’s Hark! A Vagrant! series of webcomics into a New York Times bestseller, as well as winning both the Harvey and Ignatz Awards. SPX 2015 will see the debut of Ms. Beaton’s latest compendium of comics, Step Aside Pops! A Hark! A Vagrant Collection for Drawn and Quarterly. She also just published her very first children’s book, The Princess and The Pony from Scholastic Books.
PHOEBE GLOECKNER
Diary of a Teenage Girl, Phoebe Gloeckner’s semi-autobiographical graphic novel published in 2002, was released earlier this year as a critically acclaimed movie starring Kristen Wiig. Garnering a 93% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, Ms. Gloeckner co-wrote the screenplay to Diary that was a selection at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. Influenced by the women’s comics anthology Twisted Sisters, Ms.Gloeckner work was published in such titles as Wimmen’s Comix, Young Lust and the Robert Crumb edited magazine, Weirdo. A compendium of all of her comics work to date, A Child’s Life and Other Stories, was published in 1998, generating significant controversy, with public schools and library systems banning the book due to its frank portrayal of sex and drug use. Ms. Gloeckner is a trained medical illustrator and is an associate professor at the University of Michigan School of Art and Design. Ms. Gloeckner will also be signing her books at the CBLDF table.
NOELLE STEVENSON
Noelle’s hit webcomic Nimona has just been nominated for a 2015 Eisner Award for Best Digital/Web Comic, on top of having the first Nimona graphic novel released last month by Harpercollins. Ms. Stevenson was one of the primary writers of the hit series Lumberjanes from Boom! Studios, which has just been optioned for a movie. She is now writing for such Marvel titles as Thor and Runaways, as well for the Disney series Wander Over Yonder. SPX is honored to host Ms. Stevenson as guest for the first time.
BRANDON GRAHAM
From his beginnings as a graffiti artist in his hometown of Seattle to his recent run as writer on the Image comics series Prophet as well as creator of his own comics Multiple Warheads, King City, Elevator and Universe So Big, Brandon Graham has been a vocal and passionate proponent of independent comics. Mr. Graham will sign his books as a fundraiser for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. Stop by the CBLDF table to buy his works, including his latest from Image Comics, 8House: Arclight #2, as well as issues #2 and #3 of the science fiction anthology series he co-edits with Emma Rios, Island.
MICHAEL DEFORGE
Having recently designed an Adventure Time title card and running an active Patreon account, Michael DeForge represents the modern cartoonist and working freelancer. DeForge marches onward in 2015, with SPX privileged in seeing the debut of his Koyama Press publications, the graphic novel Dressing and Lose #7, the latest in his award winning comics series. 2015 also saw the release of the collection of two of his Patreon works in On Topics from Breakdown Press, as well as First Year Healthy from D&Q. His singular vision and design-influenced style of storytelling make each new work instantly recognizable and remain with readers well after they have put the book back on the shelf.
NOAH VAN SCIVER
Noah Van Sciver continues to create new work as the “cartographer of his generation” (Paul Buhle, TCJ). A true powerhouse, Van Sciver has one-two-three-FOUR new books out this year: Saint Cole and Fante Bukowski from Fantagraphics, My Hot Date from Kilgore Books, and Cheer Up from Hic and Hoc. Van Sciver utilizes the aesthetics of underground and alternative cartoonists before him like Crumb, Clowes and Bagge while speaking straight from the heart of today’s disenchanted and disenfranchised youth.
MATT BORS
Matt Bors irreverent take on politics and society garnished him the prestigious Herblock Award in 2012, as well as being a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Editorial Cartooning. His cartoons appear in such alt-weekly newspapers as the Sacramento Bee and the Pittsburgh City Paper as well as online. He is the editor of the widely read and critically acclaimed web site The Nib, which since its inception in 2013, has published over 2000 social and politically oriented cartoons and comics. For SPX 2015, there is a Kickstarter campaign underway to publish the first print collection of works from The Nib’s wealth of graphic social commentary, with cartoons and comics by Matt Bors, Gemma Correll, Erica Moen, Emily Flake, Matt Lubchansky, Ted Rall, Keith Knight, Liza Donnelly and Ann telnaes, amongst other contributors.
LILLI CARRÉ
Illustrator, animator and cartoonist Lilli Carré is the co-founder of the Eyeworks Festival of Experimental Animation in Chicago, which will occur November 5-7, 2015. Her animated cartoons have been shown across the world at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival and the International Festival Rotterdam, amongst other venues. Her artwork has been displayed at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago and her illustration work has appeared in the New York Times, and The New Yorker. Her most recent compilation of comics, Heads or Tails published by Fantagraphics, went into its second printing this year.
THEO ELLSWORTH
SPX 2015 will see the debut of Theo Ellsworth’s final installment of his dense, surreal, exquisitely drawn comics series trilogy, Understanding Monsters - Book Three, from Secret Acres. Understanding Monsters - Book One was selected for The Best American Comics 2014 and was named an Lynd Ward Prize Honor Book. Understanding Monsters - Book Two was recently selected to be represented in the Society of Illustrators Cartoon Annual in New York. Ellsworth was a contributed to the Eisner Award winning book, Little Nemo: Dream Another Dream, as well as to the political anthology Occupy Comics. He also displays his two and three dimensional works in art galleries around the United States.
SCOTT MCCLOUD
The indefatigable Scott McCloud joyously joins the ranks of special guests on the heels of his tour for The Sculptor from First Second, a graphic novel following the harrowed life of a cursed (or blessed) sculptor given extreme creative powers that come with the ultimate price tag. McCloud’s resume recently included a guest editorship on The Best American Comics (2014), and is the reigning American king of comics scholarship in comics form with his series, How to Understand Comics, Making Comics and Reinventing Comics. If you have ever labored long into the night on a 24 hour comic, you can thank the multiple award-winning (Eisner, Harvey, Kirby and Manning) McCloud for that challenge in person.
BILL GRIFFITH
SPX 2016 will see the debut of the very first graphic novel by Bill Griffith. Titled Invisible Ink and published by Fantagraphics, it is the story of his mother’s extramarital affairs with a cartoonist that took place in suburban Levittown and the culture center of Manhattan in the 50’s and 60’s. Griffith’s continues his pithy, pointed and surreal social commentary through his long running strip Zippy the Pinhead. Zippy is available online and is syndicated to newspapers around the United States such as the Washington Post and Houston Chronicle.
C. SPIKE TROTMAN
Virtually and in actuality a juggernaut, C. Spike Trotman creates comics as effortlessly as if it is her first language. From writing and drawing the webcomic-turned-print comic, Templar, AZ. to writing Poorcraft (on living well on less money, co-created with Diana Nock) to editing the smash hit anthology, Smut Peddler, Trotman is the epitome of pulling up one’s own bootstraps while making some fine comics. Trotman made a splash in the publishing world recently with horror anthology, The Sleep of Reason, now coming out through her own line of comics Iron Circus Comics. Can’t wait to for SPX? Dig into Trotman’s exuberant new podcast Dirty Old Ladies, co-hosted by Kel McDonald.
JENNIFER HAYDEN
Hailing from the world of fiction and children’s book illustration, Jennifer Hayden makes no bones about creating work directly influenced by her life. With her newest autobiographical comic, The Story of My Tits from Top Shelf, Hayden delves into the world of breast cancer with the acerbic tongue of a sharp-eyed survivor. Her past graphic novel, Underwire, collected her webcomics from ACT-I-VATE on life, full of piss and vinegar and laughing gas. Hayden’s comics are a delight and yet another not-to-miss purchase at SPX.
STUART IMMONEN
Schuster-Award winning artist, Stuart Immonen remains to this day one of the most dependable and thoughtful mainstream pencillers in the comics world while still being publishing his own creator-owned comics. Most recently, his austere and beautiful Russian Olive To Red King was released by AdHouse Books, written by Kathryn Immonen. While working for both DC and Marvel, Immonen penciled titles from Superman to Thor as well as The Incredible Hulk and a long run on All-New X-Men with writer Brian Michael Bendis. And this flexible artist still finds time to make a webcomic (co-authored by Kathryn Immonen) It’s Never As Bad As You Think as well as the 2010 Top Shelf title, Moving Pictures. Meet this powerhouse of a cartoonist at SPX this September on the hallowed grounds of the Marriott.
KATHRYN IMMONEN
Kathryn Immonen is a Canadian comics writer who has written for both DC and Marvel Comics, notably on such titles as Patsy Walker: Hellcat, Runaways, Heralds, and Journey Into Mystery. Earlier this year she and her husband/collaborator Stuart released the critically well-received Russian Olive to Red King from Adhouse Books. Russian Olive to Red King is the newest graphic novel collaboration between Kathryn and Stuart, their previous efforts being Never As Bad As You Think from Boom! Entertainment and Moving Pictures from Top Shelf, which was nominated for both Stumptown and Doug Wright Awards.
DERF
Making its debut at SPX will be the latest autobiographical graphic novel by Derf, Trashed from Abrams Books. Derf’s squiggly, wonderfully exaggerated cartoon style is used to tell the story of what it was like to be a twenty-something garbage man, replete with all the losers and idiosyncratic townsfolk he had to deal with while collecting the trash. His previous graphic novel My Friend Dahmer won the Prix Révélation at Angoulême in 2014, and was listed as one of Time Magazine’s Top 5 Non-Fiction books of 2012. Derf’s long running alt-weekly strip, The City, which he ended in 2014 after 25 years, led him to win the prestigious Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award.
JESSICA ABEL
Merging the worlds of comics and verbal podcasts/radio, Jessica Abel interviewed the creators of such shows as This American Life, Radiolab and Snap Judgement, for her latest book, Out on the Wire: The Storytelling Secrets of the New Masters of Radio from Broadway Books. The book uses the visual world of comics to uncover the narrative techniques now being used by the best journalists and storytellers in the world of podcasts and radio. Ms. Abel is a long time teacher of comics, having written two well-known and often used books on the subject, Mastering Comics and Drawing Words & Pictures. Her graphic novel, La Perdida, won two Harvey Awards and was Comic of the Year at Time Magazine. Ms. Abel will only be at SPX on Saturday, September 19th.
TED RALL
An enfant terrible of the political cartoon world, Ted Rall’s latest work is appropriately about the enfant terrible of the surveillance world, Eric Snowden, who was interviewed extensively for this book. In his latest graphic novel, Snowden from Seven Stories Press, he talks about how Snowden and other whistleblowers revealed the full extent and impact of the surveillance being performed by the NSA and other government agencies. Mr. Rall is a long time political cartoonist, comic’s journalist and writer, having won the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award and the James Aronson Award for Social Justice, as well as being a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Editorial Cartooning.
LUKE PEARSON
Luke’s Hildafolk series started as a single issue comic that expanded into three volumes of Scandinavian inspired, critically acclaimed children’s books for the artistically daring publisher Nobrow. Mr. Pearson’s notoriety with the Hilda series and his other comics have led him to storyboard episodes of Adventure Time, as well as illustration assignments for such prestigious outlets as The New York Times, The New Yorker and the New Republic.
GEMMA CORRELL
Illustrator, writer, artist Gemma Correll rounds out the guest list with her succinct cartoons and whimsical books. Correll’s The Worrier’s Guide to Life hits stands this year from Andrews McMeel while A Pug’s to Guide to Etiquette is still making readers’ sides ache from laughter. With a pen line easily suited to many audiences, Correll also celebrates illustrating new children’s books this year with Pig and Pug, written by Lynne Berry, from Simon & Schuster and Being a Girl, written by Hayley Long, from Hot Key Books.
FREDERIK PEETERS
SPX 2015 is honored to have the very first United States appearance of critically acclaimed, Swiss graphic novelist Frederik Peeters. This year saw the release of the final volume of his well reviewed planet hopping space epic, Aama Vol. 4: You Will Be Glorious, My Daughter, published by SelfMadeHero. Peeters has been nominated five times in the Best Book category at Angoulême and has done a number of posters and other illustration work in Europe. Peeters lives with his wife and daughter in Geneva, Switzerland.
DYLAN HORROCKS
Dylan Horrocks is returning to Small Press Expo for the first time in over a decade. Horrocks began his diverse career with the publication of Pickle, which ran from 1993-97 published by Black Eye Press. Pickle included the serialization of Hicksville, a groundbreaking story that was collected into a graphic novel that won plaudits from reviewers around the globe. Horrocks has had international success in alternative and mainstream comics with books like Atlas from Drawn & Quarterly, and as writer for DC Comics and Vertigo. In 2014, Fantagraphics published Sam Zabel and his Magic Pen to wide critical and fan acclaim. Horrocks is an Eisner Award winner and in 2006 he was appointed University of Auckland/Creative New Zealand Literary Fellow. Horrocks currently lives in Auckland, New Zealand with his wife and sons.
BRECHT VANDENBROUKE
Brecht Vandenbroucke is a Belgian cartoonist and illustrator. His debut graphic novel, White Cube,took the Angouleme International Comics Festival by storm in 2013. Vandenbroucke’s distinctive painted panels and brightly colored spreads intermingle pop culture influences and commentary on the fine art world, offering an absurdist view of the institutions of that world. White Cube has been published in Belgium, Finland, Norway, Spain, Germany, France, and in English by Drawn & Quarterly. Since graduating from art school a few years ago, he has worked for numerous periodicals, including the New York Times, and has participated in group shows all over the world. Vandenbroucke lives in Antwerp, Belgium.
JOAN CORNELLA VAZQUEZ
Joan Cornellà Vázquez is a Spanish cartoonist and illustrator, famous for his surreal, unsettling comic strips. Full of awkward moments and visual gags, Cornellà’s comics employ an uncomfortably playful tone that has garnered him over one million facebook fans. He has the gruesome, ironic comic strip down to a fine art, creating complex and hilarious narratives expressed in no more than six panels. His illustrations have been appeared in numerous Spanish publications as well as The New York Times, and in 2009 he published the award-winning graphic album, Abulio. SPX 2015 see’s the debut of Mox Nox, a collection of his comics from Fantagraphics Books.
ANNA EHRLEMARK
Formerly a painter, sculptor and art teacher, Anna Ehrlemark found her calling in sequential arts, a form that seemed to naturally evolve out of the narrative component in her sculpture installation work, with pen and ink became the medium of choice. Her comics have appeared in a number of local and international publications: Black (Italy), Stripburger (Slovenia), Zone 5300 (Netherlands), ArtReview (UK), Asiatroma/Le Dernier Cri (France), Broken Pencil, Exile, Taddle Creek (Canada), Mineshaft(USA) and The Best American Comics (USA). Her debut collection of comics titled Heartless came out in September 2012 with the Nova Scotia-based publisher Conundrum Press, and was translated and published in France in 2013 by Ici-même Editions. Winners, published by Floating World Comics, is her first graphic novel in the United States and will see its debut at SPX 2015. Ehrlemark lives in Gothenburg, Sweden.
BENDIK KALTENBORN
Bendik Kaltenborn is an illustrator for the New Yorker and New York Times; a cofounder of the Dongery zine collective; and a cartoonist. Kaltenborn has exhibited in Norway, Italy, Serbia, Taiwan, Sweden, Japan, and the United Kingdom. His SPX 2015 debut book is also his first English-language graphic novel: Adult Contemporary is a collection of odd imaginings, surrealist comics, and physical comedy gags. Kaltenborn’s comics reveal a vibrantly colorful planet populated by lumpy, big-nosed people totally absorbed in their own off-kilter personal dramas. He has published two collections of comics in Norway, which have been translated to French, Spanish, German, and Swedish. Kaltenborn lives in Oslo, Norway.
