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Late Manga Creator Akira Toriyama Inducted into Eisner Hall of Fame

The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards is announcing the winners on Friday evening.

Toriyama was one of 16 nominees announced in February. The full nominee list included: Kate Carew, Colleen Doran, George Evans, Crockett Johnson, Peter Kuper, George McManus, Kevin Nowlan, Mimi Pond, Posy Simmonds, Jeff Smith, Paul Smith, Leonard Starr, Akira Toriyama, Mark Waid, Chris Ware, and S. Clay Wilson.

Of these 16, Toriyama was inducted, along with Chris Ware, Colleen Doran, and Jeff Smith.

The judging committee had pre-selected 19 Judges Choice honorees in January to be inducted into the Hall of Fame this year, including manga creator Gō Nagai.

The previous Japanese inductees of the Eisner Hall of Fame were Osamu Tezuka (2002), Kazuo Koike (2004), Goseki Kojima (2004), Katsuhiro Ōtomo (2012), Rumiko Takahashi (2018), Moto Hagio (2022), Keiji Nakazawa (2024), Shigeru Mizuki (2025), and Junji Ito (2025).

Akira Toriyama and Naoki Urasawa were nominated in 2019, but were not among the four selected.

Toriyama was previously inducted into the Harvey Awards Hall of Fame in October 2024.

Toriyama began his first serialized manga, Dr. Slump, in 1980, and it inspired two television anime and multiple films. Toriyama followed it up with Dragon Ball, which ran from 1984 to 1995, and is still inspiring manga and anime sequels and spinoffs today. The manga's Dragon Ball anime adaptation, its sequel Dragon Ball Z, and its other numerous sequels and anime films are equally as well-known as the manga, and its hero Goku has become a character known throughout the world.

Toriyama is also well-known as the character designer for the Dragon Quest, Chrono Trigger, and Blue Dragon games.

Source: San Diego Comic-Con's website