The full list ofaward winnerswere announced for the 38thWill Eisner Comic Industry Awardsat San Diego Comic-Con 2026, which included wins for thePurgatory Funeral Cakessupernatural fantasymanhwa and ero guro manga artistShintaro Kago.
Sanho‘sPurgatory Funeral Cakesmanhwa series was awarded the “Best U.S. Edition of International Material–Asia” award. It was published in English by Dark Horse Comics and translated byDanny Lim.
The other nominees in the category included:
- •HirayasumiVolumes 4–7, byKeigo Shinzo, translated byJan Mitsuko Cash(VIZ Media)
- •LandVolume 1, byKazumi Yamashita, translated byKevin Gifford(Yen Press)
- •Tokyo Alien Bros.Volumes 1–3, by Keigo Shinzo, translated byCasey Loe(VIZ Media)
- •Yan, Volumes 1-2, byChang Sheng, translated byVanessa Liu(Titan Manga)
Kago’s “Blood Harvest” short manga won the “Best Short Story” award, which was translated byZack Davissonand came from his latest workBrain Damage. Another story from the collection, “The Curse Room” was also nominated in the same category.
Other 2026 Eisner award winners include Kodansha USA’s five-volume hardcover collection ofKatsuhiro Otomo’sAkiramanga series in “Best Archival Collection/Project—Comic Books” andAndrea Horbinski’sManga’s First Century: How Creators and Fans Made Japanese Comics, 1905–1989in “Best Academic/Scholarly Work,” which was published by the University of California Press.
Late manga artistAkira Toriyama(Dragon Ball, Dr. Slump) was also inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Awards Hall of Fame, along withGo Nagai. Nagaihad been pre-selected for inductionearlier this year, whereas Toriyama was one of 16 nominees that wereannounced for the honorthis past February.
Other manga artists in the Eisner Comic Awards Hall of Fame includeOsamu Tezuka(2002),Kazuo Koike(2004),Goseki Kojima(2004),Katsuhiro Otomo(2012),Rumiko Takahashi(2018),Moto Hagio(2022),Keiji Nakazawa(2024),Junji Ito(2025), andShigeru Mizuki(2025).
Toriyama was previouslyinducted into the Harvey Awards Hall of Famein October 2024.
