Best Comics of 2026 kicks off with PW’s Best Books list

Let the kudos begin! As is tradition, <a href="https://comicvibe.com/the-6-best-shows-of-october-hands/” title=”The 6 Best Shows of October, Hands”>Best Books season has opened with Publishers Weekly’s Best Book picks, which include five comics. And they are:

The Abyss of Oblivion by Paco Roca and Rodrigo Terrasa, trans. from the Spanish by Andrea Rosenberg (Fantagraphics)

Bury Me Already (It’s Nice Down Here): Comics on Pregnancy and Parenting by Julia Wertz (Black Dog & Leventhal)

The Case of David Zimmerman byLucas and Arthur Harari, trans. from the French by David Homel (Arsenal Pulp)

The Nightingales by Emil Wilson (Avid Reader)

It’s an eclectic bunch, as might be predicted, with best books veterans Roca, Walden and Wertz, newcomer Wilson, and the internationally acclaimed director Arthur Harari(Anatomy of a Fall), who wrote Zimmerman with brother Lucas doing the art. It’s also the basis for his The Unknown,a French film released earlier this year.  

Some other comics appeared on the various kids lists, including Eleanor Davis, with her picture book A Very Good Parade,and the graphic novels Chernobyl, Life, and Other Disastersby Yevgenia Nayberg, Shaun Tan’sHometown, Raise the Bar by Fernanda Frick H, As I Dream of You by Jennifer Lee and LeUyen Pham, and Wake Now in the Fire by Jarrett Dapier and AJ Dungo. 

And with that, we’re off on the 2026 Best Books and awards grand prix, which will wend its way through the Best Books lists, on to the Doug Wrights, Eisners, GNCRT Awards, AMAs, Ignatzes, Ringoes, Harveys and now BODEGA CATs. And all the rest, from around the world! 

I don’t think there’s a front runner of the Book of the Year for 2026 comics. I’ve been tidying up the house, and can certainly say that there are more amazing comics put out than ever, so picking and choosing gets harder. Also, there are fewer and fewer places to anoint frontrunners. It will be an exciting awards season, for sure, with lots of excellence to celebrate.