Announcing the 2026 Ringo Award Winners

The 2026 Ringo Award winners were presented over the weekend at Baltimore Comic Con – check out the winners below or watch the entire ceremony on YouTube! 

• Sponsored by Rocketship Entertainment:
• 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)

• Sponsored by NC Comicon:
• Best Series:Absolute Batman, DC Comics
• Sponsored by Ultimate Comics:
• Best Anthology: Bowling with Corpses and Other Strange Tales From Lands Unknown, Dark Horse Comics
• Sponsored by IDW Publishing:
• Best Kids Comic or Graphic Novel – Ages 11 and Under: Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse and the Amazing Lost Ocean, Fantagraphics
• Sponsored by IDW Publishing:
• Best Humor Comic: The Goon: Them That Don’t Stay Dead, Albatross Funnybooks/Dark Horse Comics
• Sponsored by Ignition Press:
• Best Writer: Deniz Camp
• Sponsored by Ignition Press:
• Best Colorist: Dave Stewart
  
• Sponsored by Metal Ninja Studios:
• Best Kids Comic or Graphic Novel – Ages 12 and Up: Raised by Ghosts, Fantagraphics
  
• Sponsored by Metal Ninja Studios:
• Best Webcomic: Neon Pantheon.com

• Sponsored by Oni Press:
• Best Cartoonist (Writer/Artist): Craig Thompson

• Sponsored by Oni Press:
• Best Letterer: Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou

• Sponsored by Simon & Schuster:
• Best Cover Artist: Javier Rodriguez

• Sponsored by Simon & Schuster:
• Best Non-fiction Comic Work: Surrounded: America’s First School for Black Girls, 1832, Ablaze Publishing/NBM Graphic Novels

• Sponsored by Third Eye Comics:
• Best Original Graphic Novel: Herobear and the Kid Vol. 1 – The Inheritance, Papercutz

• Sponsored by A Wave Blue World:
• Best Humor Webcomic: Nothing Butt Nightwing, DC Go!/DC Comics )

• Sponsored by Hard Rock Cafe:
• Best Comics-Related Publication: Making Your First Comic, self-published

• Sponsored by Prana Direct Market Solutions:
• Best Presentation in Design: Lone Wolf and Cub Deluxe Edition Volume 1, Dark Horse Comics (Designer: May Hijikuro)

• Sponsored by NC Comicon and Ultimate Comics:
• Best Short Story:Chest Face, self-published

• Sponsored by Third Eye Comics:
• Best Artist or Penciller/Inker Team: Javier Rodriguez

• Mike Wieringo Spirit Award: The Avengers in the Veracity Trap, Abrams ComicArts

• Dick Giordano Humanitarian of the Year Award: Jeffrey Brown
• Hero Initiative Lifetime Achievement Award: Jim Lee

Brogan Fidelity Award:Jim Calafiore

The Mike Wieringo Comic Book Industry Awards is an annual celebration of the creativity, skill, and fun of comics. The nomination ballot is determined by fans and pros alike.

Our 2026 Keynote speaker was indy powerhouse Terry Moore, who began his career in comics with the critically acclaimed epic series, Strangers in Paradise, the compelling love story between three unlikely friends who find themselves bound together by their pasts. The long-running series garnered many awards, including the coveted Eisner Award for Best Serialized Story and the National Cartoonists Society Comic Book Division Reuben Award. Strangers in Paradise has been translated into twenty-one languages and is as popular today as when it was first published in 1993.

Moore has created many award winning series, including Motor Girl, the story of a wounded warrior and her imaginary best friend, Rachel Rising, a horror comic with a ten-year-old serial killer named Zoe, ECHO, a science fiction thriller, FIVE YEARS, the series that brings together characters from all of his series in one heart stopping story, and Parker Girls, the Tambi story you’ve been waiting for. Terry has also published a How to Draw book detailing techniques and tools to create comics which he updated and expanded in 2026.

Terry’s work has won numerous international awards and continues to entertain readers worldwide. In addition to publishing work under his own label, Abstract Studio, Moore has worked with major publishers on titles including Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane, Birds of Prey, Fables, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Star Wars Tales throughout his thirty three year career. Beginning in October 2026, Terry will team with Dark Horse Comics to reissue his catalog of legacy series.

A very special thanks go to the sponsors who donated items to the 2026 Ringo Awards Gift Bags, including Ablaze Publishing, Abrams Books, Abstract Studios, AMP Comics, Archie Comics, Dark Horse Comics, DC Entertainment, Fantagraphics Books, First Second Books, IDW Publishing, Ignition Press, The Lab Press, Mad Cave Studios, Metal Ninja Studios, Midnight Factory, Oni Press, RECKAH! Publishing, Rocketship Entertainment, WEBTOON Unscrolled and Z2 Comics.

In addition, the Baltimore Comic-Con would like to thank those individuals who presented at this year’s award ceremony, including: Keynote speaker Terry Moore; Olivia Dufault and Rebekah Isaacs, Scot Dunbier, Colleen Doran and Carla Speed McNeil, Michael Finn, Hunter Gorinson and Atom! Freeman, Todd Dezago, Craig Rousseau, and Matt Wieringo, James Robinson and Jim Lee, Gene Ha, and David Dastmalchian and Leah Kilpatrick. We would also like to thank Rich Woodall as well as Mike Ormond from our print sponsor, Indigo Ink, for their contributions to our awards ceremony program and presentation, as well as Joe Carabeo of Astray Productions for audio/video support.