May Roundup

From massive industry shakeups and bittersweet farewells to a historic wave of award wins, there is an absolute mountain of news to dive into this month. We say a sombre farewell to two titans of the medium: legendary writer Gerry Conway and influential manga pioneer Yoshiharu Tsuge. An era also officially ended at ComiXology, as the final remaining employee quietly exited the building following Amazon’s restructuring.

We are seeing incredible new creative ventures, like TokyoPop Kids introducing manga to under-12 readers, and the powerhouse collaboration of Webtoon, Kadokawa and Redice Studio launching Studio White to adapt major Japanese franchises. This comes alongside DC’s remarkable comeback, dramatically closing the gap on Marvel’s long-held market dominance.

Yet, the creative pulse of the industry has never been stronger, as evidenced by a historic month of award showcases. Graphic storytelling continues to command mainstream respect on the global stage, with Lee Lai securing a historic win for the graphic novel Cannon. With the 2026 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards nominees officially announced, the celebration of comic artistry is just getting started. Dive in as we break down all the biggest news, creator struggles, and industry shifts for the month of May.

NEWS

• Australian cartoonist Lee Lai’s graphic novel Cannon won the 2026 Stella Prize. First for the form in the award’s 14-year history, taking home $60,000.
• Comic writer Gerry Conway, creator of Punisher and pivotal Spider-Man stories including Gwen Stacy’s death, died aged 73 after shaping Marvel and DC comics history
• TokyoPop launched TokyoPop Kids, a new imprint for readers under 12, debuting fall 2026 with manga, picture books, graphic novels, and multilingual titles.
• Scott Snyder revealed DC’s 2026 Absolute Universe crossover will unite major heroes, with Martian Manhunter central to the story and Jason Aaron scripting the event
• Webtoon, Kadokawa and Redice Studio launched Studio White a new webcomic studio adapting major Japanese franchises like Sword Art Online and Record of Lodoss War.
• Girls’ Love publisher Yuri Hub joined GlobalComix, bringing translated yuri manga and doujinshi from creators including Ayu Inui, Rion Nomiya and Namaniku to subscribers.
• DC’s Absolute Wonder Woman and Image’s The Power Fantasy earned 2026 Hugo Award finalist nominations for Best Graphic Story or Comic alongside diverse fantasy graphic works.
• Anand RK, Suparna Sharma and Bloomberg’s Natalie Obiko Pearson won the 2026 Pulitzer Prize for trAPPed, a graphic investigation into India’s digital scam crisis.
• Influential manga artist Yoshiharu Tsuge, creator of surreal classics like Screw Style and The Man Without Talent, died aged 88, leaving a lasting comics legacy.
• ComiXology’s final employee quietly departed following Amazon layoffs, marking the end of the pioneering digital comics platform’s original team after years of restructuring.
• Gender Queer: The Annotated Edition, an expanded 2026 reprint of Maia Kobabe’s memoir featuring new creator and academic commentary on identity and comics craft.
• 35 comics creators shared stories of creative struggle in Young Comics Laureate Mollie Ray’s Instagram initiative.
• Winners celebrating comics by, for, and about people of colour were announced at ECBACC. Orí by Oludare Oredipe took Story of the Year; Rise of the Mafu dominated multiple categories
• Jamie Smart’s Bunny vs Monkey won the first-ever Graphic Novel category; Dav Pilkey took Illustrator of the Year.
• Comics sales data is getting clearer as ICv2 and Prana DMS expand their reporting. The big takeaway: DC has staged a remarkable comeback, dramatically closing the gap on Marvel’s long-held market dominance over the past year.
• Gachiakuta, Re-Living My Life with a Boyfriend, and The Darwin Incident officially took home wins at the 50th Kodansha Manga Awards
• Comic-Con has officially announced the nominees for the 2026 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, honoring the year’s best comic achievements.
• The month-long Nib and Ink Fest (NIF) this May features a digital comics marketplace alongside free, weekly virtual events

REVIEWS

• Gemma Correll’s darkly funny graphic memoir about living with anxiety, told as a nightmarish theme park
• A horror anthology with five genre-spanning stories crossing time, politics, and dark humor.
• A visually inventive queer thriller about a trans chef and co-workers covering up their boss’s death.

INTERVIEWS

• Frank Quitely discusses teaching comics history at San Diego State University, his evolving creative process, and returning to writing his own stories, emphasising honesty in both writing and art.
• Bryan Talbot discusses his decades-long comics career, saying he’s still working on new projects and plans to keep drawing and writing until the end, despite health challenges and industry frustrations.
• Eoin Colfer and Andrew Donkin discuss their graphic novel War, explaining its focus on the human impact of conflict through the intertwined stories of a young girl and a conscripted soldier.
• Neal Adams reflects on his philosophy of comics art, stressing craft, storytelling, and discipline, while discussing how artists develop skill, style, and emotional honesty through practice and observation.
• Ram V discusses Deicidium, an ambitious Image/Morgen series built around gods manifesting through humans in a dystopian future. He explains its global publishing model, 96-page novella format, and long-term collaborative storytelling approach.
• Mark Russell discusses The Forgotten Divine, explaining how it explores belief, myth-making, and cult-like certainty through a story about visions, faith, and the tension between personal truth and external reality
• Debut creator Jared Sarnie gets candid about grief, assisted suicide, and the burning desire to make art that connects — in new OGN The Machine is Broken.
• Stjepan Šejić’s beloved cosmic horror series Death Vigil rises from the dead — new arc starting August 2026.
• The Shelfdust editor reflects on one-issue-at-a-time criticism and why comics commentary online lost its way.

COLLECTIONS

• The 2026 Graphic Medicine Awards shortlist has been announced, highlighting health-focused comics across educational, long-form, and short-form categories that explore illness, care, and lived experience
• Excerpt from Paper Airplane introduces a new adult-oriented magazine blending comics, essays, and puzzles that celebrates human-made creativity while rejecting ads, algorithms, and AI-generated content.
• Avery Hill Publishing’s Autumn 2026 line-up includes new graphic novels from Darryl Cunningham, Tillie Walden, Kristyna Baczynski and B. Mure, continuing its strong indie-focused publishing slate.
• School Library Journal’s spring manga picks spans fantasy romance, hard-edged sci-fi, and a Captain Underpants manga debut. With 11 titles to restock shelves for tweens and teens.
• The month-long Nib and Ink Fest (NIF) this May features a digital comics marketplace alongside free, weekly virtual events

MEDIA

• Comic writer Matthew Rosenberg discusses his comic If Destruction Be Our Lot, his creative process, and his industry approach.
• A Pulitzer-winning graphic novel investigating a sophisticated “digital arrest” phone scam that targeted an Indian neurologist, exposing global cyber-fraud.
• An analysis of comic artist Tradd Moore‘s mind-bending art style, exploring his unique influences and boundary-pushing sequential storytelling techniques.
• Strange Brain Parts explores the postmodern themes, meta-narrative depth, and reality-bending impact of Grant Morrison’s seminal Animal Man comic run.
  

NEW RELEASES

Junior

• Anders and the Castle by Gregory Mackay (Allen & Unwin) [9781761066283] [Australian creator]
• Anders and the Mountain by Gregory Mackay (Allen & Unwin) [9781761066238] [Australian creator]
• Brume Vol 2: The Forest of Lost Souls by Jerome Pelissier, Carine Hinder (Hippo Park) [9781662641268]
• Dragon Quest: The Adventures of Dai Vol 6 Dragon Knights by Riku Sanjo, Koji Inada (Viz Media) [9781974762439]
• First CrushThe New Girl: A Graphic Novel #2 by Cassandra Calin [Scholastic] (9781761812125)
• Go Viral! (Pizza and Taco #10) by Stephen Shaskan [Scholastic] (9781761812118)
• Greatest Goal in the Galaxy (Uranus FC #1) by Mick Elliott [Scholastic] (9781761527500)
• Hana and Taru by Leo Schilling, Motteux [Magnetic Press] (9798894881447)
• Hupo and the Doom Lagoon by Billy Patridge (Flying Eye Books) [9781838742706]
• Jeff the Land Shark: Friends and Rivals by Kelly Thompson, Tokitokoro (Marvel Comics) [9781302966942]
• Junie B. Jones And Her Big Fat Mouth by Barbara Park, Colleen AF Venable, Honie Beam (Random House Books for Young Readers) [9780593645697]
• Juniper Mae: Journey to the Levels Below by Sarah Soh, Tim Fraser (Flying Eye Books) [9781838741716]
• I Survived The California Wildfires, 2018 by Lauren Tarshis, Cassie Anderson, Georgia Ball [Scholastic] (9781761812057)
• Karen’s Surprise A Graphic Novel (Baby-Sitters Little Sister) by Ann Martin, Shauna Grant #12) [Scholastic] (9781761812040)
• Lamington Left Behind by Andrea Innocent (Figment Books) [9781761212819] [Australian creator]
• The Night Mother Vol 2 by Jeremy Lambert, Alexa Sharpe (Oni Press) [9798894880426]
• Olive: Lost in Inner Space by Vero Cazot, Lucy Mazel (Abrams ComicArts) [9781419788277]
• Supergirl’s Family Vacation by Brandon T. Snider, Sarah Leuver (DC Comics) [9781799502845]
• Treehouse by Trace Balla (Allen & Unwin) [9781761181252] [Australian creator]
• Twisted TalePart of Your World by Liz Braswell, Camilla Innocenti, Davide Sarti [Scholastic] (9781761812040)
• Webster The Spider Monkey Spectacular Amazement by Art Baltazar (Papercutz) [9781545826355]

YA

• Aya and Her Magic Cat by Sam Ita (Tuttle Publishing) [9784805319987]
• The Book of Murmurs by Candice Purwin (Fantagraphics) [9798875001765]
• Cemetery Kids Don’t Die Vol 2 Run Rabid by Zac Thompson, Daniel Irizarri (Image Comic) [9798894880808]
• The End of the Arab of the Future A Youth in the Middle East Vol. 1 by: Riad Sattouf, Sam Taylor (Fantagraphics) [9798875002373]
• The Friendship Paradox by Aśka (Allen & Unwin) [9781761181689] [Australian creator]
• Immortal Legend Batman by Kyle Higgins, Mat Groom [DC Comic] (9781799506393) 
• Inferno Girl Red Vol 2 by Mat Groom, Erica D’Urso (Image Comics) [9781534335080] [Australian creator]
• JLA: A League of One Deluxe Edition by Christopher Moeller [DC Comic] (9781799508014)
• The Oddly Pedestrian Life of Christopher Chaos Volume 3 by James Tynion IV [Random House] (9781506741697)
• Queer and How We Got Here: A Personal History by Hazel Newlevant (Little Brown & Company) [9780316274227]
• Spider-Verse Vs. Venomverse by Mat Groom, Kyle Higgins, Luciano Vecchio, Jim Towe (Marvel Comics) [9781302961558] [Australian creator]
• Teenage Mutant Ninja TurtlesThe Booyakasha Books, Vol. 1 by: Landry Q. Walker [IDW Publishing] (9798887244112)
• To the Stars and Back Volume 2 by Peglo (Hachette) [9780316587549]

Adult

• Artificial by Maria Llovet (Image Comics) [9781534334670]
• Batman: Detective Comics Vol 2: Elixir by Tom Taylor Mikel Janin (DC Comics) [9781799502654] [Australian creator]
• Breakthrough: Life on the Brink by Christopher Fink (Fantagraphics) [9798875002182]
• Complete Hate Vol 3 by Peter Bagge (Fantagraphics) [9798875002366]
• Dune House Harkonnen Vol 3 by Brian Herbert, Michael Shelfer, Kevin J. Anderson (Random House) [9798892158350]
• EC Archives – The Complete Extra by Colin Dawkins, Johnny Craig (Random House) [9781506754154]
• Escape Volume 1 by Rick Remender, Daniel Acuña (Image Comics) [9781534333147]
• Everything Dead and Dying by Tate Brombal, Jacob Phillips (Image Comics) [9781534332539]
• Final Boss Volume 1 by Tyler Kirkham (Image Comics) [9781534334243]
• Gay Mormon Dad by Chad Anderson, Remy Burke (Graphic Mundi) [9781637790984]
• Ghost and Witch Vol. 1 by Kore Yamazaki (Seven Seas Entertainment) [9798895619926]
• How I Make Comics by Kim Deitch(Fantagraphics) [9798875001673]
• Lost Fantasy Volume 2 by Curt Pires, LucaCasalanguida(Image Comics) [9781534330979]
• Martyr Loser King by Saul Williams, Morgan Sorne (First Second) [9781626721999]
• Mary Pain by Lola Lorente (Drawn & Quarterly) [9781770468535]
• Names and Faces by Leise Hook (Henry Holt & Company) [9781250845030]
• No Man’s Land by Szymon Kudranski (Image Comics) [9781534333604]
• Pageant by Justin Gradin (Fantagraphics) [9798875001185]
• Pink Monster by Claus Daniel Herrmann (Oni Press) [9798894881324]
• The Reaper and the Waiting by January Sun (WEBTOON Unscrolled) [9781834110080]
• Saga Book Four Hardcover by Brian K. Vaughan, Fiona Staples (Image Comics) [9781534332607]
• Soviet Land: A Tragicomic Thriller by Pierre-Henry Gomont (Abrams ComicArts) [9781419788857]
• Stimulus by Daniel Freedman, Tomm Coker, Robert Sammelin, Stefano Realdini , Filya Bratukhin (Dark Horse) [9781506753928]Trailer Park Warlock Volume 1 by Matthew J Rainwater (Dark Horse) [9781506753935]