Nominees announced for the 2026 Russ Manning Award

Named for the creator of ‘Magnus, Robot Fighter,’ the awards program recognizes the comic industry’s most promising newcomers.

Comic-Con International has announced the nominees for this year’s Russ Manning Most Promising Newcomer Award, which will be presented during the Eisner Award ceremony in July.

Named for the creator of Magnus, Robot Fighter, the award recognizes a new artist who “shows a superior knowledge and ability in the art of creating comics.”

Previous winners include Dave Stevens, Eleanor Davis, Jeff Smith, Marion Churchland, David Petersen, Tyler Crook, Dan Mora, Lorena Alvarez, Nate Simpson, Zoe Thorogood and Oliver Bly. Richard Blake, writer and artist of Hexagon Bridge, won the award last year.

Congratulations to this year’s nominees:

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Can’t Wait for Wednesday | ‘Scarlett’ debuts; an ‘X-Men’ era ends; ‘Barda’ goes hard + more

Check out new comics and graphic novels arriving this week by Kelly Thompson, Marco Ferrari, Josie Campbell, Pablo M. Collar, Alex Paknadel, Troy Little, Gerry Duggan, Garry Brown, Tom Waltz, Juan Jose Ryp, Deniz Camp, Juan Frigeri, Ngozi Ukazu, Tony McMillen and more.

Welcome to Can’t Wait for Wednesday, your guide to what comics are arriving in comic book stores, bookstores and on digital.

This a pretty packed week for comics, with a new entry in the Energon Universe saga, an ending to the Krakoa era of the X-Men, a prelude to a new dawn for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and a YA take on Big Barda that looks incredible. And that’s only scratching the surface!

I’ve pulled out some of the highlights below, but for the complete list of everything you might find at your local comic shop and on digital this week, you’ll want to check out one or more of the following:

As a reminder, things can change and what you find on the above lists may differ from what’s actually arriving in your local shop. So always check with your comics retailer for the final word on availability.

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