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Manga Creator Go Nagai to be Inducted into Eisner 2026 Hall of Fame
posted on by Crystalyn Hodgkins
The committee who chose the inductees includes: Michael T. Gilbert, Karen Green, Alonso Nuñez, Diana Schutz, Jim Thompson, and Maggie Thompson.
The other 18 inductees include: Edwina Dumm (posthumous), Oliver Harrington (posthumous), Don Heck (posthumous), Abe Kanegson (posthumous), Paul S. Newman (posthumous), Hector German Osterheld (posthumous), Tom Palmer Sr. (posthumous), Jimmy Swinnerton (posthumous), Bob Bolling, Gerry Conway, Denys Cowan, Mike Friedrich, Lee Marrs, Bud Plant, Mike Royer, Dave Sim, Carol Tyler, and Rick Veitch.
The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards will also announce 16 additional nominees for the 2026 Hall of Fame from the judges next week. From those 16 nominees, voters in the comics industry will elect four winners.
The Hall of Fame trophies will be presented in the morning July 24 as part of San Diego Comic-Con. The main Eisner Awards ceremony will be presented in the evening on the same day.
The Eisner Awards stated the following regarding Nagai's work and his reason for being inducted in to the Hall of Fame:
Of the many genres of manga popular today in the United States, there are few that Gō 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 debuted as a manga artist in 1967 with Meakashi Polikichi and went on to create many classic and genre-defining works, including Cutie Honey, Devilman, Mazinger Z, Getter Robo, and Harenchi Gakuen. In recent years, he has continued to pen new spinoffs, such as his ongoing Devilman Saga manga. He has also serialized the autobiographical Gekiman! manga about the creation of his various notable titles.
The Japanese government honored Nagai with the Order of the Rising Sun Award, Gold Rays with Rosette for his significant contributions to the country in November.
#永井豪 旭日小綬章を拝受いたしました。
— ダイナミックプロ【公式】 (@Dynamicpro_info) November 12, 2025
発表から本日までたくさんのあたたかいお祝いのお言葉頂戴いたしました。本当にありがとうございます。
現役マンガ家としてこれからも作品を創ってまいります。 pic.twitter.com/m1N0cINPmE
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), and Keiji Nakazawa (2024). Horror manga creator Junji Ito was inducted last year during San Diego Comic-Con 2025.
Sources: Comic-Con International's website, The Beat (Heidi MacDonald)
