Award-winning author Derf Backderf is a Special Guest at Small Press Expo 2026 in Rockville, Maryland in September – an event that also sees the release of his latest graphic novel, The Dissidents, published by Abrams Books.
This special annual event will also feature a number of British creators, including Paul B. Rainey whose latest project, Murder School, published through Drawn & Quarterly, is a memoir of British middle school bullying and one precocious comic nerd’s fight to make it through, while remaining as invisible as possible.
The Dissidents is a timely graphic novel from author of My Friend Dahmer and Kent State about racism, violence, and political turmoil in America in the early 20th century, when a handful of cartoonists and journalists pushed back against a corrupt administration to defend the rights of free speech.
Derf Backderf is the author of My Friend Dahmer, Trashed, and Kent State. He is the recipient of the prestigious Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for political cartooning. His weekly comic strip, “The City”, appeared in more than 150 newspapers for nearly 25 years.
The story follows a group of political cartoonists who draw for the provocative magazine, The Masses. Art Young, Boardman Robinson, Cornelia Barns, and others, were stars in their day but are now forgotten. What they documented in their cartoons is a country spiralling into darkness, under attack by German saboteurs, and secretive private militias, plagued by racism, and rocked by class war.
But an autocratic president will not tolerate any dissent or criticism. The cartoonists are harassed, spied upon, blacklisted, and finally indicted for sedition and put on trial, with 20-year sentences hanging over their heads. Two others are forced to flee the country into exile. One is imprisoned and tortured. Another is incarcerated by the U.S. Army and scheduled for execution.
Backderf, who lives in Cleveland, Ohio, and, like one of The Masses political cartoonists George Bellows, is an alumnus of Ohio State University, delivers a unique account of American history, and lost comics history, that connects the events of today to seeds that were sown over 100 years ago…
One of the primary antagonists in the upcoming book is the secretive American Protective League, whose tactics echo those of modern equivalents in the US.
Formed in 1917 by a super-patriot from Chicago, “the APL served as a veritable secret police force for the undermanned Justice Department,” Derf noted recently. “Their anonymous agents, much like ICE today, stamped out dissent across the country, anything they deemed “un-American.” They kicked in doors, conducted warrantless searches, kidnapped and interrogated suspects, intimidated and tortured innocent citizens. All without the slightest legal authority to do these things, and with the tacit approval of President Woodrow Wilson, an autocrat who would not tolerate criticism of any kind.
“Within months of its founding, the APL boasted a staggering 100,000 agents, and that total would double by the end of the Great War. Every city in the country had a chapter. It’s the largest vigilante force ever assembled, and no one remembers that it existed.
“The APL focused on the large immigrant communities of the early 20th century. Sound familiar? Within months, it served as union-busting muscle for rich oligarchs, and any and all critics of the Wilson Regime.”
• The Dissidents: Autocrats! Vigilantes! Communists! And Cartoonists! by Derf Backderf is published on 17th September 2026 | ISBN: 978-1419772559 | Buy it from AmazonUK (Affiliate Link) | UKBookshop.org (Affiliate Link)
Small Expo Special Guests
The annual Small Press Expo is a comics and graphic arts festival taking place in Rockville, Maryland, that presents the best and brightest established creators in independent comics.
Alongside Derf, other Special Guests this year include Peter Bagge (HATE), Jared Cullum (Usagi Yojimbo: Kaito ‘84), Kim Deitch (How I Make Comics), Cara Gormally (Everything is Fine, I’ll Just Work Harder), Lisa Hanawalt (I Can’t Stop Thinking About Horses and Sex), Raquelle Jac (Bimbo Agitprop), Lola Lorente (Mary Pain), Fran Mariscal Mancilla (Moribundo), Arizona O’Neill (Opioids and Organs), Fred Nolan (Major Taylor: The World’s Fastest Man), Paul B. Rainey (Murder School), Noah van Sciver (Johnny Appleseed), Spanish artist Don Julio Serrano (published in El Jueves), Rachael Smith (Who Killed Nessie?), award-winning filmmaker and graphic novelist James Spooner (It Starts With Anger), and Julia Wertz (Bury Me Already).
In addition to the opportunity for public exposure and potential revenue the festival provides to attending artists, the event also allows less established to network with publishers and prominent creators, providing unique opportunities for the comic artist/writer that is just starting out.
SPX prides itself on maintaining an open, rather than curated, registration policy and open access between attendees, exhibitors and volunteers. SPX is unique amongst the various comic book exhibitions, as it does not allow retailers to have a formal presence at the festival. Only creators and publishers are allowed to exhibit.
Check out their program here at smallpressexpo.com
More about The Dissidents
“WE’VE BEEN HERE BEFORE . . . BUT WE FORGOT.”
It’s 1916. President Woodrow Wilson, a deeply divisive authoritarian who is also a white supremacist with open contempt for constitutional rights, sits in the Oval Office. Racial tensions, unprecedented economic inequality, a groundswell of support for unionisation, and the rise of both a reactionary far right militia and a growing radical opposition shake the very foundations of American society. A pandemic is two years away. And the 1900s have only just gotten started.
“AMERICA IS A COUNTRY ON THE BRINK OF CHAOS.”
The Dissidents follows a group of real and influential political cartoonists who worked for the magazine The Masses – Art Young, Boardman Robinson, Cornelia Barns, and others, dominant in their day but now forgotten – as well as a fictional young German immigrant from Cleveland, Joe Hertle, who has come to New York to make his name.
They rub elbows with the great opposition voices of the day, such as journalists Max Eastman and John Reed, and the radical provocateur Emma Goldman. What they document in their cartoons and illustrations is a country spiraling into darkness, under attack by German saboteurs and private militias, plagued by racism, and rocked by class war.
For the crime of documenting the times they live in, these cartoonists are indicted for sedition and put on trial by the U.S. government, with twenty-year sentences hanging over their heads. Two others are forced to flee the country into exile. Another is incarcerated by the U.S. army and scheduled for execution!
Award-winning author Derf Backderf raises the bar for visual storytelling in this gripping, layered, and perceptive original graphic novel, told through the lens of the political cartoonists whose work shaped our history and also held a mirror to it. Finding a personal connection as a journalist who started out as a political cartoonist, he opens a door to our past and crafts a story that pulls from the strongest elements of his previous work. In The Dissidents, Backderf delivers an utterly unique account of U.S. history, making connections to the events of today as they relate to the seeds that were sown over a hundred years ago.
The Dissidents is described by his publisher, Abrams Books, as his magnum opus, “a gripping tale of political passion, artistic ambition, love, and betrayal, with great characters and unexpected twists. It’s a suspenseful and fascinating American story that is almost completely forgotten today – and a terrifying and relevant warning from the past…”
• The Dissidents: Autocrats! Vigilantes! Communists! And Cartoonists! by Derf Backderf is published on 17th September 2026 | ISBN: 978-1419772559 | Buy it from AmazonUK (Affiliate Link) | UKBookshop.org (Affiliate Link)
- About the Author
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John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: Comic Previews, Comics, Creating Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Events, US Comics
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