The Harvey Awards are one of comics' highest honors, recognizing the best of the best for the past year's comics, graphic novels, manga, webcomics, and adaptations. Presented annually at New York Comic Con, the Harvey Awards have seven big awards voted on by creators, along with 3 special awards decided on by the Harvey Awards committee themselves. Compared to the recent Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, the nominees for the Harvey Awards skew more towards literary, international, and bookstore-driven comics while still acknowledging mainstream superheroes.

In fact, DC's Absolute Universe has been the breakout superhero line of the year, and its showing up in the 2026 Harvey Awards with nominations for both Absolute Batman and Absolute Martian Manhunter for 'Book of the Year' - which is notable because in some years, superhero fiction has struggled at the Harvey Awards. That being said, the nominees for 'Book of the Year' are predominantly from the literary side of comics.

Another trend is the number of nominees coming from non-English sources. While the 'Best Manga' and 'Best International Book' in large part is to be expected to be translated, translated works are elsewhere as well - with translator Andrea Rosenberg having four nominations. As a subset to that, while manga is always big at the Harveys, more attention than ever is going towards older works (or those just coming to the U.S. for the first time) such as Naoki Urasawa's Black Bat.

Here are the 2026 Harvey Awards nominees: 

2026 Harvey Awards nominees for 'Digital Book of the Year'

• In the Real Dark Night by Jimmy Gownley (Webcomic)
• The Keluarga Cable Ship Company by Mereida Fajardo (UK Digital)
• The Lycan by Mike Carey, Thomas Jane, David James Kelly, and Diego Yapur (Comixology Originals)
• Nap Comix by Rachael Smith (WEBTOON)
• Practical Defense Against Piracy by Tony Cliff (Webcomic)
• Terran Omega: The Ghosts of War by PJ Holden (Webcomic)
• The World of Lublu by Charbak Dipta (The Charbax Store)
  
  

2026 Harvey Awards nominees for 'Best Children’s Book'

• A Fishboy Named . . . Sashimi by Dan Santat (Roaring Brook Press)
• Inbetweens by Faith Erin Hicks (First Second)
• The New Girl: First Crush by Cassandra Calin (Scholastic)
• Night Chef by Mika Song (Random House Graphic)
• Young Shadow & the Watchdogs by Ben Sears (Fantagraphics)
  
  

2026 Harvey Awards nominees for 'Best Young Adult Book'

• Angelica and the Bear Prince by Trung Le Nguyen (Random House Graphic)
• Flip by Ngozi Ukazu (First Second)
• Good Old-Fashioned Korean Spirit: A Graphic Novel by Kim Hyun Sook & Ryan Estrada (Penguin Workshop)
• Hello Sunshine by Keezy Young (Little, Brown Ink)
• This Place Kills Me by Mariko Tamaki & Nicole Goux (Abrams Fanfare)
  
  

2026 Harvey Awards nominees for 'Best Manga'

• Billy Bat by Naoki Urasawa & Takashi Nagasaki, translated by Kristi Iwashiro (Kana/Abrams)
• He Rolled Me Up Like a Grilled Squid by Yoshiharu Tsuge, translated by Ryan Holmberg (Drawn & Quarterly)
• Land by Kazumi Yamashita, translated by Kevin Gifford (Yen Press)
• Miss Ruki by Fumiko Takano, translated by Alexa Frank (NYR Comics)
• My Gorilla Family by Iijima Ichiro, translated by Ryan Holmberg (Living the Line)
• My Life in 24 Frames Per Second by Rintaro, translated by Montana Kane (Kana/Abrams ComicArts)
  
  

2026 Harvey Awards nominees for 'Best International Book'

• Animan by Anouk Ricard, translated by Montana Kane (Drawn & Quarterly)
• Buff Soul by Moa Romanova, translated by Melissa Bowers (Fantagraphics)
• Mary Pain by Lola Lorente, translated by Andrea Rosenberg (Drawn & Quarterly)
• Nocturnos by Laura Perez, translated by Andrea Rosenberg (Fantagraphics)
• Tiodora’s Letters: An Enslaved Woman’s Fight for Family and Freedom by Marcelo D'Salete, translated by Andrea Rosenberg (Fantagraphics)
• Witchcraft by Sole Otero, translated by Andrea Rosenberg (Fantagraphics)
  
  

2026 Harvey Awards nominees for 'Best Adaptation from Comic Book/Graphic Novel'

• The Boys — Season 5 (Prime Video). Based on The Boys by Garth Ennis & Darick Robertson (Dynamite)
• Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc (Theatrical — Crunchyroll/Sony). Based on Chainsaw Man by Tatsuki Fujimoto (VIZ Media)
• Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle (Theatrical — Crunchyroll/Sony). Based on Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba by Koyoharu Gotouge (VIZ Media)
• Invincible — Season 4 (Prime Video). Based on Invincible by Robert Kirkman, Cory Walker & Ryan Ottley (Image/Skybound)
• LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight (Warner Bros. Games — PS5/Xbox/Switch/PC). Based on Batman (DC Comics), created by Bob Kane & Bill Finger
• My Hero Academia — Final Season (Crunchyroll). Based on My Hero Academia by Kōhei Horikoshi (VIZ Media)
• One Piece — Season 2 (Netflix). Based on One Piece by Eiichiro Oda (VIZ Media)
• Peacemaker — Season 2 (HBO Max). Based on Peacemaker (DC Comics, orig. Charlton), created by Joe Gill & Pat Boyette
• Spider-Noir (Prime Video/MGM+). Based on Spider-Man Noir (Marvel Comics) by David Hine, Fabrice Sapolsky & Carmine Di Giandomenico
• Your Letter (Netflix). Based on Your Letter by Hyeon A. Cho (WEBTOON/Naver)
  
  

2026 Harvey Awards nominees for 'Book of the Year'

• Absolute Batman Volume 1: The Zoo by Scott Snyder & Nick Dragotta (DC)
• Absolute Martian Manhunter Vol 1: Martian Vision by Deniz Camp & Javier Rodriguez (DC)
• Black Arms to Hold You Up: A History of Black Resistance by Ben Passmore (Pantheon)
• Cannon by Lee Lai (Drawn & Quarterly)
• Drome by Jesse Lonergan (23rd Street Books/Macmillan)
• The Ephemerata: Shaping the Exquisite Nature of Grief by Carol Tyler (Fantagraphics)
• A Garden of Spheres by Linnea Sterte (Peow2)
• More Weight: A Salem Story by Ben Wickey (Top Shelf/IDW)
• The Once and Future Riot by Joe Sacco (Metropolitan/Holt)
• The Weight by Melissa Mendes (Drawn & Quarterly)

Interested? Here's where to find your closest local comic store, courtesy of Sweet, and here's a guide to how (and where) to read comics online. If you're looking for the best comics in recent memory, check out the Eisner Awards winners and the Harvey Awards nominees. And if you like free comics, here's everything we know about Free Comic Book Day 2027.