2026 Programming
We are excited to offer a selection of signings, panels, and classes this year! See below for our full programming schedule.
Signings
Our signing lineup offers a chance to step outside the show floor and connect directly with your favorite writers and artists. Meet the creators behind the work you love, discover new voices, and get your books, zines, and prints signed in a more relaxed, up-close setting.
Signings are open to the public and will take place on a first come, first served basis, with no pre-registration required.
Signings will take place just outside of St. Mark’s Comics, on the first floor of Building 5 at Industry City.
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Angel Fuentes
Signing on Sat, April 18 | 1pm
Angel Fuentes is a writer from Puerto Rico who has authored several short stories and screenplays. His most notable work, Santa Cristal (2005), was made into an independent film. In 2009, he researched and wrote a documentary teleplay on the history of comic books in Puerto Rico for the local TV show Prohibido Olvidar. Angel also founded and served as publisher of RBA Comics, where he wrote several titles with some of the best comic artists from the island. His recent works include Violet Descends, Transient of the Stars, Grit n Gears, and Gunbreed. -
Rachel Merrill
Signing on Sat, April 18 | 2pm
Rachel Merrill is a comics creator, an artist, and an animator. She is the artist for Gil Thorp and co-creator with Henry Barajas of Death To Pachuco for Image Comics.Her work has appeared in The New Yorker Daily Shouts, and Z2. She was also an animator for the Lily Gladstone film, Quantum Cowboys.
Past clients have included Netflix, Meta, NBA, and many others.
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N. Steven Harris
Signing on Sat, April 18 | 3pm
The 2 time Eisner Nominated, multi-Glyph Award winning comic book illustrator N. Steven Harris has had a career spanning over 30 years in the comic book industry. He’s worked for Marvel, DC and many other companies.Some of his titles include Deadpool, Aztek, Robin, and the Eisner Nominated, VLA (Virgina Library Assoc.) Graphic Novel Diversity and Glyph Award winning, Watson and Holmes.
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Lisa Burdige and John Hazard
Signing on Sat, April 18 | 4pm
Lisa Burdige and John Hazard are an award-winning writer/artist couple and the co-creators of the Ringo Award-nominated Background Noise Comic.Their first comic collection, LOVE LETTERS, EVERY DAY (Oct. 2025), was nominated for a Zelda Award. They are both also arts educators. While their life is not a fairy tale, they are living happily ever after in Brooklyn.
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Kevin Alvir
Signing on Sun, April 19 | 1pm
Kevin Alvir (rhymes with souvenir) is a Brooklyn-based cartoonist, musician, and educator. His work has been seen at Funny or Die, HBO's High Maintenance, podcast tiles, and album artwork. Kevin creates a graphic novel series for Top Shelf Comix, called LISA CHEESE & GHOST GUITAR. Volumes 1 & 2 are OUT NOW. Volume 3 is in the works. Not to mention, Kevin self-publishes his other series, Captain Warlock, his cutie pie witchboy looking for friends comic.
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Cat Willett
Signing on Sun, April 19 | 2pm
Cat Willett is an illustrator and author based in Brooklyn, NY. Her new book, Unconditional, Stories of Women and the Animals They Love, is an intimate and moving collection of stories about women and their life-changing relationships with animals, told in vivid graphic novel style.
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Collin Krumrie
Signing on Sun, April 19 | 3pm
Collin Krumrie (crumb rye) is a cartoonist from Bridgman, Michigan. Collin is making his comics debut at Brooklyn Independent Comics Showcase with his science fiction comic No Future, No Fear.
Collin has previously had art appear in publications from Cosmic Lion Productions and Zuperhero Comics.
Classes
Dive into our lineup of classes and workshops! Build your skills, explore new ideas, and create alongside a community of artists in a supportive, hands-on environment.
These sessions are open to the public and open to artists of all ages and experience levels. Classes have limited capacity and will take place on a first come, first served basis, with no pre-registration or ticket required to attend. Be sure to check each description carefully, as some classes provide materials while others ask you to bring your own.
All of our classes and workshops will take place in Building 7 of Industry City at 51 34th St, Brooklyn, NY 11232.
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Life Drawing: The Figure in Motion
Saturday, April 18 | 12-1pm
*Bring your own supplies!
Hosted by Art Students League with instructor Steve Walker.In this hour-long class, instructor Steve Walker will demonstrate how gesture drawing becomes an integral tool in the comics-making process through the use of a live model.
We will run through a series of poses with an emphasis on character action and interaction. Poses will start from short 30 second poses and end with a long 20 minute pose.
Please bring a sketchbook and drawing materials. No pre-registration is required—this workshop is first come, first served, so we encourage you to arrive early!
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Making Comics 101
Sunday, April 19 | 12-1pm
*Bring your own supplies!
Hosted by Art Students League
with instructor Fabian Pearl.Learn how to make comics in this free class with cartoonist and printmaker Fabian Pearl. The class will walk students through the process of making a 4-panel gag comic, a popular format used by comics such as Garfield, Calvin and Hobbes, and more.
We’ll go through the process of making 2 gag strips and talk storytelling strategies.
Please bring a sketchbook and drawing materials. No pre-registration is required—this workshop is first come, first served, so we encourage you to arrive early!
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Zine Club!
Sunday, April 19 | 2-4pm
*Supplies will be provided!
Join this zine-making workshop hosted by Lista Studios with instructor Wil Bigio.We'll begin with a blissfully short history of zines, their importance, and three essential cutting/folding methods. The majority of the workshop will be hands-on creation. Using techniques from collage to image transfers to stenciling, printmaking, and drawing, we will all create our own mixed media zines that we can take home and cherish.
This workshop is part of Lista Studios' bi-weekly Zine Club, which meets on the first and third Wednesday of every month from 6:30 to 8:30 pm.
All materials are provided. The workshop will run on a rolling, drop-in basis until materials are used up (or until 4 pm).
Panels
Panels are back at BICS for a second year!
All of our panels are open to the public with limited capacity and will take place on a first-come, first-served basis, with no pre-registration required.
Panels will take place at Fort Hamilton Distillery in Building 6 of Industry City, right next door to BICS! We will have plenty of signage and volunteers on site to help you find your way.
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Comics Carousel
Saturday, April 18 | 1-2pm
Hosted by R. SikoryakSince 1997, R. Sikoryak has hosted Carousel, a series of comics readings and visual performances by cartoonists and theater artists.
The presentations are a hybrid, sometimes reminiscent of a radio show (usually with live narration, often with music and sound effects) combined with wildly creative imagery. From stick figures, to lush illustrations, to the occasional photograph, Carousel embraces all forms of visual storytelling. Some performers have also incorporated live drawing and painting, musicians, shadow puppets, video game environments, illustrated scrolls, drag, and dance into the show. While many presentations have a sense of humor, the stories vary greatly in theme; some are autobiographical, some historical or educational, and others are philosophical or fanciful.
Join us as cartoonists Kevin Alvir, Sarou Armstrong, Lisa Burdige & John Hazard, Chuck Kaslow, and Sadie Levine present their work!
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Bill Plympton's Animation Masterclass
Saturday, April 18 | 2-3pm
Hosted by world-famous animator, Bill Plympton!Bill Plympton is considered the King of Indie Animation, and is the first person to hand draw an entire animated feature film, The Tune. Bill moved to New York City from Portland, Oregon in 1968 and began his career creating cartoons for publications such as The New York Times, The New Yorker, National Lampoon, Playboy and Screw.
In 1987, he was nominated for an Oscar® for his animated short Your Face. In 2005, Bill received another Oscar® nomination, this time for his short Guard Dog. Push Comes to Shove won the prestigious Cannes 1991 Prix du Jury; and in 2001, another short film, Eat, won the Grand Prize for Short Films in Cannes Critics' Week.
After producing many shorts that appeared on MTV and Spike and Mike's, he turned his talent to feature films. Since 1991, he's made eleven feature films. Nine of them, The Tune, Mondo Plympton, I Married A Strange Person, Mutant Aliens, Hair High, Idiots and Angels, Cheatin', Revengeance, and Slide are all animated features.
Bill Plympton has also collaborated with Madonna, Kanye West and Weird Al Yankovic in a number of music videos and book projects and he's created numerous commissioned ads for Geico, Trivial Pursuit, Ford, Mercedes, Nike and Taco Bell. In 2006, he received the Winsor McCay Lifetime Achievement Award from The Annie Awards. He also animated eight opening "couch gags" for FOX-TV's "The Simpsons" and six "Trump Bites" shorts, which was #1 on the New York Times online, using real audio from Donald Trump. It won a 2019 Webby Award. He also won the National Cartoonist Society Lifetime Achievement Award.
Mixers
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Comics Publishing Mixer
Saturday, April 18 | 4-6pm
51 34th St, Brooklyn, NY 11232 | Industry City (Building 7)
Are you trying to break into the comic and graphic novel publishing industry as an editor, designer, or publicist? Are you a publishing professional looking to meet others in your field? Then join us for this networking event, brought to you by Comics Publishing Career Launchpad. Robyn Chapman (senior editor, First Second) will host this friendly and welcoming mixer, along with other professionals from major publishing houses.