Comic-Con International announced today that veteran manga artist Go Nagai will be inducted into the 2026 Will Eisner Comic Awards Hall of Fame class.
Comic-Con provided the following description of Nagai as one of the newest inductees:
Of the many genres of manga popular today in the United States, there are few that Go Nagai (Kyoshi Nagai) has not either influenced or outright created. On Mazinger Z, he created the first mecha robots — a genre centered on piloted giant robots — popular now more than ever. With Cutie Honey, he helped pioneer the “magical girl” genre. The postapocalyptic visions, dark violence, and psychological depth present in works such as Violence Jack and Devilman were hugely influential, not only in his native Japan, but also the world over. Much of his work continues to be adapted across other media to this day.
Nagai has previously created several manga series, with some of his best known titles including Harenchi Gakuen, Cutie Honey, Mazinger Z, Violence Jack, and Devilman. He has also been credited as the creator of the Grendizer franchise and co-creator of the Getter Robo series.
Previous Japanese manga artists to be honored at the Will Eisner Comic Awards Hall of Fame include Osamu Tezuka (2002), Kazuo Koike (2004), Goseki Kojima (2004), Katsuhiro Otomo (2012), Rumiko Takahashi (2018), Moto Hagio (2022), Keiji Nakazawa (2024), Junji Ito (2025), and Shigeru Mizuki (2025).
The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards are awarded annually during San Diego Comic-Con. In 2025, Taiyo Matsumoto’s Tokyo These Days won the Best U.S. Edition of International Material—Asia award and Yuna Hirasawa’s My Journey to Her manga won the Best Digital Comic award.
Sources: Comic-Con International Official Website (via Comics Beat), Comic-Con Official Twitter
