2026 Ringo Award Winners Announced

Skip to commentsPublished: September 28, 2026Updated: September 28, 20262 minutes0 comments

This last weekend at the Baltimore Comic-Con, the Ringo Awards for the best achievement in comic books were announced. Below are the winners and this year’s nominees.

Fan Favorites

• Favorite Villain – Doctor Doom (Marvel Comics)
• Favorite New Series – Excavator (D4K Studios)
• Favorite New Talent – Reese Hannigan
• Favorite Publisher – Etan Comics
• Favorite Hero: Batman (DC Comics)

Jury and Fan Winners

Best Series

Winner: Absolute Batman, DC Comics

• Absolute Martian Manhunter, DC Comics
• Coexistence, self-published
• FML, Dark Horse Comics
• Granite State Punk, Orange Cone Productions
• Murder Podcast, Ignition Press

Best Anthology

Winner:Bowling with Corpses and Other Strange Tales From Lands Unknown, Dark Horse Comics

• Flash Gordon Adventures Vol. 2, Papercutz
• Jim Henson Presents, BOOM! Studios
• Knapsack Magazine Volume 2: Butter, Lucky Pocket Press
• unSEEN/unHEARD: Disability & Neurodivergence Comic Anthology, self-published
• Young Men in Love: New Romance, A Wave Blue World

Best Kids Comic or Graphic Novel – Ages 11 and Under

Winner:Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse and the Amazing Lost Ocean, Fantagraphics

• Brume Vol. 1, Astra Books for Young Readers
• The Fire Breathing Duckling, Astra Books for Young Readers
• The Lost Sunday, Oni Press
• Magda, Intergalactic Chef: The Big Tournament, Lerner Publishing Group
• Max, A Little Axolotl, Scholastics Inc.
• The Mighty Bite #3: Hog Rocket Ruckus, ABRAMS
• The Patchwork Girl of Oz Volume 1, Image Comics

Best Humor Comic

Winner:The Goon: Them That Don’t Stay Dead, Albatross Funnybooks/Dark Horse Comics

• The Blues Brothers – The Escape of Joliet Jake, Z2 Comics
• Everything Sucks: Kings of Nothing, Silver Sprocket
• How to Survive an Affair, self-published
• Physics for Cats, Drawn & Quarterly

Best Writer

• Joseph Schmalke
• James Tynion IV
• Robert Venditti
• Mark Waid

Best Colorist

• Jordie Bellaire
• John Kalisz
• Javier Rodriguez
• Alejandro Sanchez
• Stefano Simeone

Best Kids Comic or Graphic Novel – Ages 12 and Up

Winner:Raised by Ghosts, Fantagraphics

• Angelica and the Bear Prince, Penguin Random House/Random House Children’s Books
• Dracula’s Brunch Club, Oni Press
• Hello Sunshine, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
• Hunger’s Bite, Union Square & Co.
• Wynd Book Four: The Power of the Blood, BOOM! Studios

Best Webcomic

Winner:Neon Pantheon, neonpantheoncomic.com

Best Cartoonist (Writer/Artist)

• Caroline Cash
• Scott Chantler
• Anders Nilsen
• Ben Passmore
• Tiffany Petitt
• Mimi Pond
• Paige Walshe
• Ben Wickey

Best Letterer

• Taylor Esposito
• Rob Leigh
• Troy Peteri
• Nate Piekos
• Ben Wickey

Best Cover Artist

• Gabriele Dell’Otto
• Colm Griffin
• Tula Lotay
• Daniel Parent
• Riley Rossmo

Best Non-fiction Comic Work

Winner:Surrounded: America’s First School for Black Girls, 1832, Ablaze Publishing/NBM Graphic Novels

• Fela: Music is the Weapon, Amistad
• Ginseng Roots, Pantheon Books
• Love Letters Every Day, Background Noise
• Lucas Wars, Macmillan – First Second and 23rd Street
• Muybridge, Drawn & Quarterly

Best Original Graphic Novel

Winner:Herobear and the Kid Vol. 1 – The Inheritance, Papercutz

• Black Arms To Hold You Up, Pantheon Books
• The Corus Wave, Avery Hill Publishing
• David Dastmachian’s Through, Z2 Comics
• Do Admit: The Mitford Sisters and Me, Drawn & Quarterly
• Drome, Macmillan – First Second and 23rd Street
• The Ephemerata: Shaping the Exquisite Nature of Grief, Fantagraphics
• Gamemasters: The Comic Book History of Roleplaying Games, Clover Press

Best Humor Webcomic

Winner:Nothing Butt Nightwing, DC Go!/DC Comics

• The Bathroom Ghost, WEBTOON Entertainment
• Evil Inc., evil-inc.com
• Harley Quinn in Paradise, DC Comics / DC Go!
• I Am the Chief, iamthechiefcat.com
• My Little Warlord, DC Comics / DC Go!
• Taste of Justice, DC Comics / DC Go!

Winner:Making Your First Comic, self-published

• Becoming Frazetta – The Early Years of a Fantasy Art Master, Thrilling Nostalgia Comics
• COMICS! The Magazine #0, Prana Publishers
• Facing Feelings: Inside the World of Raina Telgemeier, Scholastic Inc.
• Graphic Samurai: The Art of Denys Cowan, Gizmoe Press
• Messiahs, Meshugganahs, Misanthropes, and Mysteries, Fantagraphics

Best Presentation in Design

Winner:Lone Wolf and Cub Deluxe Edition Volume 1, Dark Horse Comics (Designer: May Hijikuro)

• Beasts of the Four Nations: Creatures From Avatar: The Last Airbender, Dark Horse Comics
• Becoming Frazetta – The Early Years of a Fantasy Art Master, Thrilling Nostalgia Comics
• Cry Wolf Girl, Silver Sprocket
• Ginseng Roots, Pantheon Books
• The Hero Trade: Hero for Sale TPB, Bad Idea
• Land of Mirrors, Drawn & Quarterly
• The Smurfs Archives Vol. 1, Papercutz
• Tongues, Vol. 1, Pantheon Books

Best Short Story

Winner:Chest Face, self-published

• “Pied Piper” in Cthulhu Invades Fairy Tales, Orange Cone Productions
• “The Knife and Gun Club” in Detective Comics #1100, DC Comics
• The Fire Breathing Duckling, Astra Books for Young Readers
• “Red Snapper in the Rea” in Milk White Steed, Drawn & Quarterly
• Model Five Murder, Silver Sprocket

Best Artist or Penciller/Inker Team

• Becky Cloonan
• Werther Dell’Eera
• Jay Fosgitt
• Liam Sharp
• Hayden Sherman
• Stefan Tosheff

Mike Wieringo Spirit Award

Winner:The Avengers in the Veracity Trap, Abrams ComicArts

Hero Initiative Awards

Dick Giordano Humanitarian of the Year Award

• Jeffrey Brown

Hero Initiative Lifetime Achievement Award

• Jim Lee

Brogan Fidelity Award

• Jim Calafiore

Congratulations to this year’s winners.