Absolute Batman and Deniz Camp Lead the Pack at the 2026 Ringo Awards

The fan-and-pro-voted Ringo Awards handed out their 2026 honors at Baltimore Comic-Con on September 26, with keynote speaker Terry Moore on hand, and the Absolute Universe's flagship title came away as one of the night's biggest winners. Absolute Batman took home Best Series, while its writer Deniz Camp picked up Best Writer — a strong follow-up to the book's already-reported 487,000-order showing on issue #24 earlier this month. Javier Rodriguez doubled up on honors, winning both Best Cover Artist and Best Artist/Penciller-Inker Team.

Craft categories spread the wins around: Dave Stewart took Best Colorist, Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou won Best Letterer, and Craig Thompson was named Best Cartoonist. On the fan-favorite side, Batman was voted Favorite Hero and Doctor Doom took Favorite Villain, while Favorite New Series went to Excavator and Favorite New Talent to Reese Hannigan. Bowling with Corpses and Other Strange Tales From Lands Unknown won Best Anthology, and Etan Comics was named Favorite Publisher.

The ceremony also handed out its legacy honors, with the Hero Initiative Lifetime Achievement Award going to Jim Lee and the Dick Giordano Humanitarian Award to Jeffrey Brown. Unlike the industry-juried Eisners, the Ringos are voted on largely by working comics professionals and retailers, which makes Absolute Batman's sweep less a critical nod and more a signal of how thoroughly the book has won over the people actually making and selling comics this year.