The Press Release:
In response to overwhelming demand, Brooklyn Independent Comics Showcase (BICS) will be expanding to two days for its upcoming fourth year. The event will take place on April 26 and 27, 2025, and span two indoor floors and an outdoor courtyard within Industry City.
“Due to BICS’ dramatic growth and community response, we’re happy to announce that it will become a two-day event next year,” said Aynsley Leonardis, BICS Event Director.
Started in 2022, BICS was established by St. Mark’s Comics® as a space for local, independent artists to showcase their talents and wares. The legendary comic book and collectibles shop has long been an advocate for supporting the comics industry and the neighborhoods in which it resides. After 36 years in Manhattan’s East Village, St. Mark’s Comics opened its doors in Brooklyn three years ago. With the new location came a renewed passion to provide a platform for local artists.
Leonardis worked with Industry City — the creative retail space that houses St. Mark’s Comics and over 550 companies, restaurants, and more in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park area — to secure the courtyard outside the store’s location to hold the first event. She, with St. Mark’s, has worked over the past few years to develop BICS into a can’t-miss event for the comics creating community.
BICS was a success from year one, with about 50 vendor tables at the inaugural single-day event. Through continued promotion and word of mouth, that number doubled in year two to over 100 tables and doubled yet again in 2024.
“We had 260 vendors across 200 tables for 2023, and had to turn people away,” said Mitch Cutler, co-owner of St. Mark’s Comics. Seeing the event’s evolution, the team polled their vendors to gauge interest in moving to a two-day format. More than 75% of respondents loved the idea, prompting the shift for 2025.
The event plans to include panels in 2025, and vendor applications will open on January 7th, with more details to be announced in the coming months. Anyone interested in securing a table should join the mailing list by registering on brooklynindependentcomicsshowcase.com. You can also follow bicsbrooklyn on Instagram, X, and Bluesky for the latest updates.
About St. Mark’s Comics Founded in 1984, St. Mark’s Comics had a storefront in New York’s legendary East Village for 36 years. Famous for our enormous and diverse stock, late-night hours, and spectacular staff, it became New York’s favorite comic shop. Beloved LCS to its regulars, must-stop-when-in-NYC to our international customers, St. Mark’s was THE place to get that out-of-print graphic novel at 1 o’clock on a Sunday morning, or that expert help for the perfect gift. The shop reopened in Brooklyn in 2021. Learn more at stmarkscomics.com.
Contact Mitch Cutler, St. Mark’s Comics 212-598-9439 sales@stmarkscomics.com
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PiercingMetal Thoughts: Hey before I get into the editorial pontificating about the news you just read up above, let me remind you all that I did attend my very first BICS back in April when it was held in the exterior courtyard over in Industry City. That day was considerably cold and quite windy which made enjoying the perusal quite difficult but not as difficult as on the poor artists whose works were being compromised. All that being said I am stoked that they have moved this event inside of Industry City. It’s really an amazing place to walk around and shop of find something to eat or drink. Despite the weather I did talk to a batch of artists who were tabling and found them all very interesting. Those interviews are posted on our Official PiercingMetal YouTube in case you were wondering. Depending on my generally insane schedule, I will look to attending the event in 2025 and will make sure to list it on our events calendar straight away so those who visit that site resource will be informed well in advance. I did like talking to those I spoke to and of course seeing any of the friends that were made at events like New York Comic Con and others over the years. What do you all think about this one? Are you more of an independent comic book and art fan or do you lean more on the spandex stuff like I tend to do? Chime in down below in the comments because I always love to hear from you. See you next time.