In light of the recently announced Will Eisner 2026 nominations for comic book industry awards, I thought I would provide a quick reading list for newcomers to this site. Several of the nominees in key categories have been profiled here, and serve as great starting points for considering comics and ethics.
A good place to start would be three of the series nominated for Best Continuing Series. Indeed, the ethics overview post that has gotten the most uptake and interest here, according to my server logs, is:
It’s interesting that a creator-owned comic has gotten the most traction here – but that just goes to show how much love is out there for this heavily-philosophical comics series by Kieron Gillen and Caspar Wijngaard (from Image Comics). Of course, Kieron linking to my post online and in his blog probably didn’t hurt. 😉 This is one of my favorite series of all time, so I can’t think of a better starting point (although my introduction to it is a long read!). I will posting an update for the third story arc here shortly – stay tuned!
The Power Fantasy was nominated for Best New Series last year, but lost out to another excellent series with heavy philosophical themes:
Absolute Wonder Woman is a fantastic series, my personal favorite of the excellent Absolute line at DC Comics (and the second place winner in my server logs :). It has lots of meaty ethics topics explored by Kelly Thompson and Hayden Sherman. I had a lot of fun describing the distinctive forms of ethics that Kelly seems to be channeling for their version of the iconic character. And note the latest surprise plot twist this past month will likely have me revisiting this title again soon! No spoilers, but it potentially recasts the series’ entire ethics in interesting ways.
The third returning series that got a dedicated overview post here last year:
This somewhat hard-to-characterize series (with supernatural elements and a strong family-focus) was created by Kelly Sue DeConnick and David López (Dark Horse Comics). It was also one of my favorite write-ups from last year. The series is frankly hilarious – I don’t think I laughed as hard in any of my comics readings last year. But don’t let that fool you – it is also one of the most explicitly philosophical series I have reviewed to date. It seems to have flown a bit under the radar last year, so I’m glad to see it get the recognition it deserves this year. Another must-read!
Switching gears a little, I also reviewed one of the nominated series for Best Humor Publication:
I was glad to see this first full-length Jeff limited series listed in the humor category (and not one of the children’s categories). Although suitable for younger readers, there is a lot of subtle ethics smuggled into the delightful Jeff The Land Shark series by Kelly Thompson and Tokitokoro (Marvel Comics). Kelly previously won in this category in 2024, with long-time artistic collaborator Gurihiru, for the republished short-form Marvel Infinity Jeff comics. I find that Jeff doesn’t get the respect he deserves by adult readers, and I strongly urge you to not let these all-ages stories pass you by. Kelly has snuck in a lot of interesting ethics and ideas into this latest mini-series.
There are of course tons of other great nominations in the 30+ Eisner comics categories – including a few series that I plan to profile this year. Equally, that are many excellent series that didn’t get a nomination this year (I’m always holding out hope for Jed MacKay and Devmalya Pramanik‘s Moon Knight series). I plan to do my part in highlighting some of those other excellent stories over the course of this year.
One thing to highlight for all of the above is their outstanding artwork. Although I tend to focus on the writer’s words when it comes to ethics, none of these series would have been anywhere near as compelling without the stunning artistic collaborations at their core. Indeed, I can think of few series where the combination of writing and art have come together so impactfully as in those series above. They are all truly worthy of your attention – and of receiving the awards they were nominated for.
On that note, I’d like to again highlight the collaboration for the original art on this site. At the top of the page, you’ll see the latest artwork by the talented Pablo Alcalde. This scene shows a comic book store with all the philosophers and superheroes developed by Pablo for Comic Philosophy. The issues they are reading were all Pablo’s idea though (see my guesses here).
Some personal favorites
While those are the main series to get an Eisner nom, as a neuroscientist I’d be remiss if I didn’t highlight two of my other favorite posts from last year: Moral Thinking, Fast and Slow and my Vision overview. The first details the current status of brain research into how we make moral decisions (it will likely surprise you!), and the second explores a lot of hefty philosophy-of-the-mind concepts, especially around identity and free will. Check them out if you are interested in the latest thinking about how our minds seem to work.
More about Comic Philosophy
Although I am not very active on social media, I have collected some of the kind comments I’ve received from comics creators about this site (with much gratitude and thanks to all)! You might want to check that link out for some reading ideas.
If you are searching for individual comics series or characters, they can be found many ways here. From the home page, check out the scrolling banner at the top, the Categories section right below it, or the chronological Posts page, for example. If you are looking for specific authors, you can find an alphabetical list on my Glossary of Terms post.
To understand this site better, you can always visit the About Me or About Site pages. In terms of ethics content, I think you’ll find a lot by checking out my Ethics 101 page (and that Glossary page already mentioned).
Please feel free to drop me a line if you would like any personalized recommendations, or post a comment on any of the posts here. I would love to hear from you!
See my Glossary post for a list of the key philosophical concepts and related links on this site.
