NEWS
‘ABSOLUTE BATMAN,’ ‘BILLY BAT’ NAB HARVEY AWARDS
Plus: Batman Creators and Editors Inducted into Hall of Fame
Posted by Brigid Alverson on October 11, 2026 @ 5:44 pm CT
Scott Snyder and Nick Dragotta’s Absolute Batman Vol. 1: The Zoo was named the Book of the Year in the 2026 Harvey Awards, which were presented in a ceremony on October 9, during New York Comic Con. The ceremony also marked the presentation of the first Sophie Castille Award, named for the late Director of Mediatoon and co-founder of Europe Comics (see “R.I.P. Sophie Castille”), which went to translator Montana Kane for her work on True Colors: Growing Up Weird in the ‘90s, by Elise Gravel (Drawn & Quarterly).
The Hall of Fame inductees, all of whom were connected with Batman as creators or editors, were Jerry Robinson, Frank Miller, Klaus Janson, Tim Sale, Marshall Rogers, Jim Aparo, Dick Giordano, Denny O’Neil, Frank Robbins, Carmine Infantino, Dick Sprang, Jenette Kahn, and David Mazzucchelli.
Winners in the seven categories were:
Book of the Year
Absolute Batman Vol. 1: The Zoo, by Scott Snyder and Nick Dragotta (DC Comics)
Digital Book of the Year
The Lycan, by Mike Carey, Thomas Jane, David James Kelly, and Diego Yapur (Comixology Originals)
Best Children’s Book
The Inbetweens, by Faith Erin Hicks (First Second)
Best Young Adult Book
This Place Kills Me, by Mariko Tamaki and Nicole Goux (Abrams)
Best Manga
Billy Bat, by Naoki Urasawa and Takashi Nagasaki (Kana/Abrams)
Best International Book
Nocturnos, by Laura Pérez, translated by Andrea Rosenberg (Fantagraphics)
Best Adaptation from Comic Book/Graphic Novel
Spider-Noir (Prime Video/MGM+). Based on Spider-Man Noir (Marvel Comics) by David Hine, Fabrice Sapolsky & Carmine Di Giandomenico
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Brigid Alverson
Contributing Editor. Alverson has been writing about comics since she launched MangaBlog in 2005. She wrote the Comics A.M. column for Robot 6 (now part of CBR), and currently edits the Good Comics for Kids blog at School Library Journal. In her earlier life, she had roles at magazine and book publishers.
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