The Will Eisner Comic Awards judges panel has inducted 19 comic industry professionals into the Eisner Hall of Fame. Eight posthumous inductees are Edwina Dumm, Oliver Harrington, Don Heck, Abe Kanegson, Paul S. Newman, Hector German Osterheld, Tom Palmer Sr., and Jimmy Swinnerton. The 11 living inductees for 2026 are Bob Bolling, Gerry Conway, Denys Cowan, Mike Friedrich, Lee Marrs, Go Nagai, Bud Plant, Mike Royer, Dave Sim, Carol Tyler, and Rick Veitch.

“To be eligible for the Hall of Fame, the person must have made a significant contribution to the comic book/graphic storytelling medium, whether by creating a major character (or characters), producing memorable stories that are considered ‘classics,’ having an art style that influenced numerous others, innovating storytelling devices in the medium, advancing comics publishing, or otherwise having a lasting influence on the industry. The person’s first professional work must have occurred at least 35 years before the year of the awards (that would be 1991, for this year’s awards),” according to the Eisner Awards press release.

Dumm was an early female cartoonist and creator of Cap Stubbs and Tippie, Harrington was a pioneering Black cartoonist and creator of Dark Laughter, Heck co-created Iron Man, Hawkeye, and Black Widow, Kanegson lettered Will Eisner’s The Spirit, Newman was a prolific comic writer with over 4,000 stories to his credit, Oesterheld was an influential South American comic writer known for El Sargento Kirk, Palmer was a celebrated inker who inked Gene Colan and Neal Adams’ art, and Swinnerton was a newspaper strip creator whose titles included Little Bears and The Little Tigers.

Bolling is the creator of Little Archie, Conway co-created Punisher, Ms. Marvel, Firestorm, and Power Girl, Cowan co-founded of Milestone Media and co-created Static, Friedrich created the Star*Reach independent comic publisher, Marrs co-founded Alternative Features Service and was one of the first women working in underground comix, Nagai is an influential manga creator who helped pioneer the magical girl genre, Plant is a comic shop founder and published comics and trade publications under Bud Plant Inc., Royer is an artist known for his DC work with Jack Kirby in Mister Miracle and Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen, Sim is the creator of Cerebus the Aardvark funny animal comic that also provides commentary on politics and society, Tyler is a cartoonist and comics educator who created Soldier’s Heart, and Veitch has worked in comics for 50 years and is known for Heavy Metal and Swamp Thing.

The inductees were chosen by a panel of six Hall of Fame judges that includes Michael T. Gilbert, Karen Green, Alonso Nuñez, Diana Schutz (replacing former judge Dr. William Foster), Jim Thompson, and Maggie Thompson. The selections will then be joined by four more inductees chosen from 16 nominees that were proposed by voters within the comic industry.