WCS Awards 2026

I started reading Frieren with my daughter about a year and a half ago, when she was still in kindergarten (best/worst dad?!). Now we’re on Vol. 15, and I’m dreading the moment we read the last page together.

At its core, Frieren is a meditation on how we perceive time and how fleeting human lives are. Having that mirrored in real life intensified the reading experience. With the manga on indefinite hiatus, I wonder how old she’ll be when we continue our reading journey someday…

The rest of my list: more melancholic, weird, or awesome stuff. ’26 was a great year for comics.

Throughout 2026, I've often felt afraid.

I think it's been a year of uncertainty for everyone on this planet.

Comics have been a constant in my life, often a safe haven, sometimes something more.

In Ghost in the Shell, I unexpectedly found that same world I was afraid of, right there on the page: a chilling disregard for human rights, political uncertainty, greed, and that marvel we call AI blurring the lines of reality.

I've always been somewhat skeptical of this genre, but in Masamune Shirow's work, I found the most relevant comic I've read all year.

In my book, Lemire and Nguyen teaming up can never go wrong. Whether they take us to the grimy streets of Gotham or into outer space, I know that the journey will always leave me asking for more.

Crowbound is the more that I needed in 2026: a totalitarian world that crushes everyone and separates parents from kids… Rose is a mother who is set to battle this order with some magical help after making a Faustian bargain.

Lemire gives us his signature precision in writing emotions, and Nguyen’s style is a great contrast to the upcoming bloodshed. Love it!

A few years ago, I bought two issues of TMNT/Usagi Yojimbo: Wherewhen at Walt’s. Still have Mike’s “thank you for ordering from us” letter (I never completed the series, tho). But what I wanna say is that Usagi stories have always brought me a quiet kind of joy, and Kaitō ’84 was no exception.

A fresh take on Mr. Sakai’s legacy, with Jared Cullum’s beautiful watercolors, pure ’80s Asian action cinema vibes, and a wonderful mix of crime and supernatural adventure (oh, that lovely aftertaste I adore!).

Fun fact: Usagi debuted in 1984, which is exactly when the creators decided to set the story.

LAND was the one that stayed with me the most this year. Its world feels like a mix of old legends, dark dreams, and the feeling that nothing is quite what it seems. Strange, beautiful, and a little creepy.

The other manga on my list were all very different: the emotional story of That's Not Love, the quirky charm of Cat-Life Balance, the quiet sadness of Tokyo These Days, and the dark, beautiful world of Fool Night.

One complaint: Yen Press made LAND a seriously chunky boy. Gorgeous, but potentially lethal to your wrists.

“How far must we go to save the world?” This familiar question at the heart of many superhero stories has rarely been tackled as compellingly as in Kieron Gillen’s alternate history of the nuclear arms race.

Six characters with vastly different approaches to the same goal are pitted against one another in an elaborate exploration of ethics and morality, faith and control, personal concerns and the common good.

It’s nuanced, it’s thrilling, and it made me go back to it more than any other book this year. I still don’t know how to save the world, but I know a hardcover release would help!

“How’s life?”

“Stressful, but I hope it’ll pass.”

“Inshallah.”

That’s how a lot of conversations with my friend begin. But what if it never passes? What if I'm spending less time with those I love while waiting for life to calm down?

Sunny by Taiyō Matsumoto forced me to slow down. To marvel at things as long as the kids do. To let them be angry, contradictory, desperate to be loved, without asking them to explain themselves. What stayed with me was the patience it takes to really see someone. To listen. To stop wishing for a kinder world, and simply start being human to one another.

When I first heard of Hirayasumi, I was going through a pretty rough time… questioning where I wanted to go in life and what really makes me… well… ME!

And Hirayasumi felt like one of those stories that came into my life at just the right time…

It not only brought laughter to my cloudy days but also showed me that life doesn't have to follow a perfect path.

Sometimes you sprint toward a goal… sometimes you need to change direction…

And sometimes… you just need to stop and enjoy being alive, especially with good stories like these…

James Harren’s The Demon might be the perfect distillation of DC’s recent mission statement. The publisher has done a tremendous job opening its world to new artists and letting them truly cut loose. So, with the launch of the Next Level initiative, everything the Absolute line promised is now being adapted across the main line: reimagining iconic characters by moving beyond familiar formulas and getting to their thematic core.

From the very first issue, Harren strikes a perfect balance between classic Kirbyesque influences and his own style, creating a comic-reading experience like no other. It’s all the character deserves and then some!