2026 Peninsula Libraries Comic Arts Fest
Celebrate 10 years of Peninsula Libraries Comic Arts Fest with us this April 2026! We’ve stood by our mission to celebrate comics and honor them as visual art and literature. Since 2015, you’ve helped enable aspiring artists and inspired readers of all ages through author visits, hands-on workshops, Small Press Comics Expos (SPCE) highlighting local creators and other comics-related programs. Thank you for your ongoing love of comics!
Our next SPCE will be at the South San Francisco Public Library (901 Civic Campus Way, opens a new window) on Saturday, April 4, 2026! Make sure to mark your calendars and save the date.
Small Press Comics Expo
Saturday, April 4, opens a new window
10:00 AM – 4:00 PM
South San Francisco Library and
Parks & Recreation Center
901 Civic Campus Way, opens a new window
South San Francisco, CA 94080
Celebrate our tenth PLCAF and our fifth Small Press Comics Expo, opens a new window by meeting amazing local creators and our inspirational keynote speakers! As always, SPCE and all our PLCAF events are FREE. Visit our artist alley exhibit hall and peruse prints, plushies, zines, comics and more!
The Expo is BARTable, opens a new window and accessible via SamTrans! Additional parking is available across El Camino Real at 33 Arroyo Drive below the Municipal Services Building.
RSVP on Eventbrite, opens a new window for a special gift while supplies last.
Brandon McKinney
10:30 AM-11:30 AM
Brandon McKinney, opens a new window is a storyboard artist and director for television animation, a comic book artist and children’s book illustrator. He’s worked for Warner Bros., Hasbro Animation, Marvel Animation, Warp Graphics, Darby Pop Comics, Dark Horse Comics, Electronic Arts and Lucasfilm, among many other companies over his career.
Growing up, Brandon became enthralled by Spider-Man comics and the Star Wars films. Those propelled his desire to tell stories with pictures, and he started drawing every day. He got his first job in comics while he was still in high school before going on to draw Child’s Play, Godzilla and Elfquest comics, as well as hundreds of scenes from Star Wars for the Big Little Book adaptations. In 1999, Brandon got his first job doing TV animation storyboards for ‘Batman Beyond’, but kept a foot in the comic book world. He is currently working on storyboards for shows like Star Trek Lower Decks, Solar Opposites, Harley Quinn, and Kite Man: Hell Yeah.
Jessica Fong
11:45 AM - 12:45 PM
Jessica Fong, opens a new window is a Bay Area-based illustrator known for her stunning cover art in DC Comics’ GLAAD Award–winning Poison Ivy series. Her artwork blends surrealism with nature, often featuring dark yet beautiful imagery. Fong’s work captures the “terribly sublime,” a theme that is both haunting and aesthetically captivating. She contributes a range of covers for DC, Marvel, Mad Cave Studios, IDW Publishing, Image Comics, Heroic Signatures, and more. Her work can also be found in Wizards of the Coast’s Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering, Critical Role’s Midst series, Fandom Inc, and Marvel Snap. When the opportunity arises she contributes to independent projects, works on personal narrative work, and raises money for various LGBTQ causes at various conventions and appearances.
In this one-hour panel discussion, Jessica will talk about her career as a comic illustrator and beyond!
Maia Kobabe and Lucky Srikumar
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Join us as Maia Kobabe (Gender Queer: A Memoir, Breathe: Journeys To Healthy Binding) and Lucky Srikumar (Opting Out, @luckys.comix) discuss their upcoming middle-grade comic, Opting Out (Scholastic Graphix, May 5, 2026). Opting Out is the story of a middle schooler named Saachi who is navigating friendship woes, sister issues, and puberty, while trying to resist blue-and-pink binaries. Maia and Lucky will discuss the six-year process of co-writing and co-illustrating this book and its themes of gender identity, poetry, Hindu mythology, complicated friendship feelings, and family relationships.
Indie Cartoonists Draw-a-Thon
2:30 PM - 3:30 PM
Local professional cartoonists face-off in a friendly spar, as they are challenged to draw quirky prompts and discuss their varied approaches to cartooning. Featuring Josue Cruz, SS Julian, Daniel McCloskey, Mary Shyne, Danna Staaf, and Vince Vert.
Meet Your Favorite Authors All Month Long
Gaysians! With Mark Curato, opens a new window
Tuesday, April 14, 2026 | 5:30 PM - 6:00 PM | Online
Join us for a virtual Q&A session with acclaimed author and artist Mike Curato for his heart-warming adult graphic novel Gaysians!, opens a new window Grab a library copy of Gaysians ahead of time and jot down all your insightful questions. Limited copies of Gaysians will be raffled away at the SPCE, as well as to Zoom attendees after the event.
Gaysians is a gorgeous tale of four gay Asians as they navigate love, identity, and friendship in Seattle during the early aughts. It’s a fierce, funny, and tender store of queer resilience and self-discovery.
Andrew Farago Presents "Snoopy: The Story of My Life"
Thursday, April 23 | 4:00 PM – 5:00 PM | John Daly Library
Presented as a graphic memoir, Snoopy, the Story of My Life, opens a new window tells the complete history of the beloved comic strip character as if Snoopy was writing it himself.
Writer Andrew Farago is a curator with the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco, and has written several books, including A Minecraft Movie: From Block to Screen
and the Harvey Award–winning Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Ultimate Visual History.
Workshops With Illustrators
Learn to draw your own comics and find your own inspiration
with our Peninsula Libraries Comic Arts Fest artists!
We’ll have events at all libraries throughout San Mateo County:
Burlingame Library,, opens a new window Daly City Library, opens a new window, Menlo Park Library, opens a new window, Redwood City Library, opens a new window, San Bruno Library, opens a new window, San Mateo County Libraries, opens a new window and South San Francisco Library, opens a new window.
2026 Peninsula Libraries Comic Arts Fest
Celebrate 10 years of Peninsula Libraries Comic Arts Fest (PLCAF) with us this April 2026! We’ve stood by our mission to celebrate comics and honor them as visual art and literature. Since 2015, you’ve helped enable aspiring artists and inspired readers of all ages through author visits, hands-on workshops, Small Press Comics Expos (SPCE) highlighting local creators and other comics-related programs. Thank you for your ongoing love of comics!
Our next SPCE will be at the South San Francisco Library (901 Civic Campus Way, opens a new window) on Saturday, April 4, 2026! Make sure to mark your calendars and save the date.
Small Press Comics Expo
Saturday, April 4
10:00 AM – 4:00 PM
South San Francisco Library and
Parks & Recreation Center
901 Civic Campus Way, opens a new window
South San Francisco, CA 94080
Celebrate our tenth PLCAF and our fifth SPCE by meeting amazing local creators and our inspirational keynote speakers! As always, SPCE and all our PLCAF events are FREE. Visit our artist alley exhibit hall and peruse prints, plushies, zines, comics and more!
The Expo is BARTable, opens a new window and accessible via SamTrans! Additional parking is available across El Camino Real at 33 Arroyo Drive below the Municipal Services Building.
RSVP on Eventbrite, opens a new window for a special gift while supplies last.
Brandon McKinney
10:30 AM-11:30 AM
Brandon McKinney, opens a new window is a storyboard artist and director for television animation, a comic book artist and children’s book illustrator. He’s worked for Warner Bros., Hasbro Animation, Marvel Animation, Warp Graphics, Darby Pop Comics, Dark Horse Comics, Electronic Arts and Lucasfilm, among many other companies over his career.
Growing up, Brandon became enthralled by Spider-Man comics and the Star Wars films. Those propelled his desire to tell stories with pictures, and he started drawing every day. He got his first job in comics while he was still in high school before going on to draw Child’s Play, Godzilla and Elfquest comics, as well as hundreds of scenes from Star Wars for the Big Little Book adaptations. In 1999, Brandon got his first job doing TV animation storyboards for ‘Batman Beyond’, but kept a foot in the comic book world. He is currently working on storyboards for shows like Star Trek Lower Decks, Solar Opposites, Harley Quinn, and Kite Man: Hell Yeah.
Jessica Fong
11:45 AM - 12:45 PM
Jessica Fong, opens a new window is a Bay Area-based illustrator known for her stunning cover art in DC Comics’ GLAAD Award–winning Poison Ivy series. Her artwork blends surrealism with nature, often featuring dark yet beautiful imagery. Fong’s work captures the “terribly sublime,” a theme that is both haunting and aesthetically captivating. She contributes a range of covers for DC, Marvel, Mad Cave Studios, IDW Publishing, Image Comics, Heroic Signatures, and more. Her work can also be found in Wizards of the Coast’s Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering, Critical Role’s Midst series, Fandom Inc, and Marvel Snap. When the opportunity arises she contributes to independent projects, works on personal narrative work, and raises money for various LGBTQ causes at various conventions and appearances.
In this one-hour panel discussion, Jessica will talk about her career as a comic illustrator and beyond!
Maia Kobabe and Lucky Srikumar
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Join us as Maia Kobabe (Gender Queer: A Memoir, Breathe: Journeys To Healthy Binding) and Lucky Srikumar (Opting Out, @luckys.comix) discuss their upcoming middle-grade comic, Opting Out (Scholastic Graphix, May 5, 2026). Opting Out is the story of a middle schooler named Saachi who is navigating friendship woes, sister issues, and puberty, while trying to resist blue-and-pink binaries. Maia and Lucky will discuss the six-year process of co-writing and co-illustrating this book and its themes of gender identity, poetry, Hindu mythology, complicated friendship feelings, and family relationships.
Indie Cartoonists Draw-a-Thon
2:30 PM - 3:30 PM
Local professional cartoonists face-off in a friendly spar, as they are challenged to draw quirky prompts and discuss their varied approaches to cartooning. Featuring Josue Cruz, SS Julian, Daniel McCloskey, Mary Shyne, Danna Staaf, and Vince Vert.
Meet Your Favorite Authors All Month Long
Gaysians! With Mark Curato, opens a new window
Tuesday, April 14, 2026 | 5:30 PM | Online
Join us for a virtual Q&A session with acclaimed author and artist Mike Curato for his heart-warming adult graphic novel Gaysians!, opens a new window Grab a library copy of Gaysians ahead of time and jot down all your insightful questions.
Gaysians is a gorgeous tale of four gay Asians as they navigate love, identity, and friendship in Seattle during the early aughts. It’s a fierce, funny, and tender store of queer resilience and self-discovery.
Limited copies of Gaysians will be raffled away at the SPCE as well as to Zoom attendees after the event.
Andrew Farago Presents "Snoopy: The Story of My Life"
Thursday, April 23 | 4:00 PM – 5:00 PM | John Daly Library
Presented as a graphic memoir, Snoopy, the Story of My Life, opens a new window tells the complete history of the beloved comic strip character as if Snoopy was writing it himself.
Writer Andrew Farago is a curator with the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco, and has written several books, including A Minecraft Movie: From Block to Screen
and the Harvey Award–winning Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Ultimate Visual History.
Workshops With Illustrators
Learn to draw your own comics and find your own inspiration
with our Peninsula Libraries Comic Arts Fest artists!
We’ll have events at all libraries throughout San Mateo County:
Burlingame Library,, opens a new window Daly City Library, opens a new window, Menlo Park Library, opens a new window, Redwood City Library, opens a new window, San Bruno Library, opens a new window, San Mateo County Libraries, opens a new window and South San Francisco Library, opens a new window.