James Spooner is an American tattoo artist and graphic novelist from New York City, living in Los Angeles. He is best known for his seminal documentary film Afro-Punk (2003), exploring the African American experience in the punk and alternative music scene, and for co-creating the Afropunk Festival in Brooklyn, New York. His first graphic novel, entitled "The High Desert," was released in May 2022. It chronicles Spooner's discovering punk as a teen in the 1980s.He is co-curating a second book entitled "Black Punk Now: A Punk Anthology," set to release in 2023.