SLICE EXPO 2026
OCTOBER 31, 2026
10AM - 5PM
@ The Sheldon Concert Hall & Art Galleries
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SLICE EXPO GETS SPOOKY
SLICE Expo 2026 returns this Halloween — a celebration of independent comics, artists, and creative community in St. Louis. Join us for a season of workshops, events, and collaboration leading up to our annual expo at the Sheldon Concert Hall on October 31.
GRAB YOUR FREE TICKETS
SLICE EXPO is free to attend! RSVP to let us know you'll be there!
Exhibitors & Exhibition Map
See who'll be showcasing their work at SLICE the SLICE Expo.
OPENING NIGHT CEREMONY
Kick off SLICE weekend at our opening night ceremony at The Sheldon Concert Hall and Art Galleries. Enjoy panels from our special guests, food, and drink!
SPECIAL & FEATURED GUESTS
Nicole Goux
Special Guest
About Nicole
Nicole Goux (she/her) is an Eisner Award–winning illustrator and cartoonist from Los Angeles. She’s the artist of DC’s Shadow of the Batgirl and co-creator of F*ck Off Squad at Silver Sprocket Bicycle Club and Forest Hills Bootleg Society at Simon and Schuster: Atheneum. She has been published by DC, Dark Horse, IDW, Oni, and Avery Hill. Her most recent comic, This Place Kills Me in collaboration with Mariko Tamaki, is published by Abrams Fanfare. Her most recent book, Punk’n Heads with co-creator Dave Baker, arrived in shops April 2026 from Top Shelf Publishing.
Instagram: @ngoux
Bsky: @nicolegoux.bsky.social
Wildstar Press
Special Guest
About WildStar Press
Founded in 2019, Akira B. created this indie publishing company to uplift the voices of diverse creatives. Their personal goal was and still is to spread stories across the globe, sharing a message that’s not only positive but relatable to the minority in an effort to push that representation does in fact matter. WildStar Press is a small but growing press here to keep the fun in the creative process of building these stories and showing the importance of quality triumphing over quantity.
Instagram:
@blubat_ | @wildstarpress
Crystal Odelle
Special Guest
ABOUT CRYSTAL
Author of Trans Studies, Crystal Odelle (they/she) is a storyteller of trans/polyamorous/whore practice, writing and revising into the desire for something like a life. Their stories have appeared in Black Warrior Review, Foglifter, Split Lip Magazine, smoke and mold, Apogee, Strange Horizons, and elsewhere. Crystal was a Lambda Literary fellow and McCormack Writing Center Scholar, nominated for Best of the Net, and anthologized in We’re Here: The Best Queer Speculative Fiction. She writes RPGs at Feverdream Games and serves as an organizer at Changeling Queer Series and as a hybrid reader at Abode Press. Her writing and performances trouble the divide between fiction and reality toward liberation.
Instagram: @crystal_ography
Facebook: Crystal Odelle
Dave Scheidt
Featured Guest
About Dave
Dave Scheidt is a writer from Chicago, Illinois. When he’s not writing comic books, he likes to play video games, watch monster movies, and eat snacks. He’s the co-creator of the Mayor Good Boy graphic novel series published by Random House Children’s Books as well as Agents of SLAM and Wrapped Up with co-creator Scoot McMahon. He’s also worked on comics like Star Wars, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Bendy and the Ink Machine, Adventure Time, and many, many more.
Instagram: @davescheidt
Bsky: @davescheidt.com
Cleonique Hilsaca
Featured Guest
About Cleonique
Cleonique Hilsaca is an award-winning multidisciplinary artist and educator from Honduras. She received a BFA in Illustration from the Savannah College of Art & Design and an MFA in Illustration & Visual Culture from Washington University in St. Louis. Her professional work can be found in comics, picture books, tabletop games, and galleries. Clients include Random House Children’s Books, Oni Press, Renegade Game Studios, and Sesame Workshop. Cleonique has been honored with accolades and awards from the Society of Picture Book Writers and Illustrators, the American Advertising Awards, the American Institute of Graphic Arts, and the Society of Illustrators of NY and LA. She lives with her partner and their cat in St. Louis, MO.
Instagram:
Bsky:
Shay Mirk
featured Guest
About Shay Mirk
Shay Mirk (they/she) is a graphic journalist, editor, and teacher who is the publisher at nonfiction comics press Crucial Comix. For six years, Shay was a contributing editor at comics publication The Nib, where projects she worked on won both Eisner and Ignatz awards. They are the author of several books, including Guantanamo Voices, an illustrated oral history of Guantanamo Bay prison, and Making Nonfiction Comics: A Field Guide to Graphic Journalism, about the craft of making nonfiction comics (co-written with Eleri Harris). They are a zine-maker and illustrator whose comics have been featured in The New Yorker, Bitch, and NPR, and are a volunteer editor with Cartoonists for Palestine. They are white, nonbinary, and queer.
Instagram: @mirkdrop | @crucialcomix
Parking at the Sheldon
Parking is available at the Fox Theatre lot and the Fox Theatre parking garage on Washington Boulevard, and at meters along Washington, Olive Street, and North Spring Ave.
The Main Event
Food and Drink
Program Schedule
Policies
Safe Spaces Policy
SLICE is a safe space, which means that it is intended to be a welcoming, engaging, and supportive environment free of oppressive actions, behavior, and language. Participants and attendees are asked to consider how their language and behavior impact others in attendance.
The following guidelines will help SLICE be a safer space:
Respect people’s physical and emotional boundaries.
Always get explicit verbal consent before touching someone or crossing boundaries.
Respect people’s opinions, beliefs, differing states of being, and differing points of view.
Be responsible for your actions and aware that they may have an effect on others regardless of original intent.
The following actions and forms of discrimination and abuse will not be tolerated:
Racism, sexism, classism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, and all other forms of discrimination
Theft of money or property
Physical, verbal, or mental abuse
Sexual harassment or inappropriate/unwelcome comments and behaviors
Disruptive or disrespectful behavior
Causing a participant or attendee to feel distressed or unsafe
Should an issue arise with a participant or attendee during the Expo, please come to the information table and ask for a SLICE organizer. Organizers will be available to hear these concerns and find a solution that is in the best interests of making the community and the event a safer space. The SLICE organizers reserve the right to ask any attendees who are violating the safe space policy to change or address their unsafe behavior or language, or leave the event if necessary.
Covid-19 Policy
Masks are strongly encouraged for all attendees, exhibitors, and staff at SLICE. In order to protect immunocompromised folks in our community, we ask that you wear your masks in the expo hall.
SLICE recommends testing for COVID-19 within 48 hours prior to the event. If you test positive the day of the event, please do not attend.
SLICE staffers will provide free KN95 masks to those who need them. The Sheldon is equipped with HVAC filtration that meets CDC ventilation guidelines for COVID-19. We are providing outdoor seating options and encourage guests to eat outside.
Thank you to the Cartoonist Cooperative for publishing the Masking Initiative and Resources guide, which was crucial to our planning!
Costume Policy
SLICE is on Halloween this year, and we want you to show up in costume! To ensure a safe, inclusive, and enjoyable environment for all participants, please adhere to the following guidelines when wearing your costume to the expo.
In general, costumes should be appropriate for a family-friendly environment.
SLICE does not allow weapons, real or fake, of any kind. Realistic replica firearms, sharp metal edges, fireworks, and explosive devices are strictly prohibited.
Costumes must not contain words, images, or themes that are offensive or derogatory. Costumes that are in of themselves offensive or derogatory are not permitted.
No costumes that mock, caricature, or disrespect race, ethnicity, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, or disability.
Nudity is not allowed. Costumes must be no smaller than standard swimwear. Footwear is required and must be worn at all times.
No full face coverings allowed.
Be mindful of the crowd! Costumes must generally fit through standard doorways and must not hinder your ability to move through the expo hall.
SLICE reserves the right to reject any costume at any time and for any reason.
Thanks to our 2026 Sponsors & Partners
