San Diego Comic-Con 2026 is gearing up and had a bit of a dust-up already when it comes to AI’s presence at this year’s convention. Policies and more were released concerning the art show at the convention, which initially allowed “material produced by Artificial Intelligence (AI).” As you can imagine, with a convention built on artists that went over exactly like a turd in a pool.
(3) Material created by Artificial Intelligence (AI) either partially or wholly, is not allowed in the art show. If there are questions, the Art Show Coordinator will be the sole judge of acceptability.
We imagine extra scrutiny will be given towards every policy, presentation, exhibitor, when it comes to this year’s convention after this and speaking up can create positive outcomes.
Also, fuck AI.
Update: Glen Wooten, the individual in charge of the art show, gives much more context of the situation, explaining that the language has been that way for years but flew under the radar due to the fact the use of AI wasn’t as much of a thing. But, with the issue front and center, it needed to be updated instead of discouraging, outright banning its use. A check of the Wayback Machine has the language present in 2024.
Here’s an email exchange I had with Glen Wooten, the person in charge of SDCC’s Art Show. The previous language has been in place for a couple of years & was a compromise between himself & the higher ups. This whole ruckus convinced them that they needed more forceful language, so that’s great.
San Diego Comic-Con has named the five judges that will decide the nominees for the 2026 Eisner awards. This year’s judges include Tiffany Babb, Jerry Dear, Dr. Randy Duncan, Katie Pryde, and Regine L Sawyer.
The judges are chosen by the Comic-Con awards subcommittee made up of individuals from the board of direcors, staff, and various departments. Judges represent a cross section of the industry including creators, retailers, librarians, academics/historians, and journalists/reviewers.
There are 30 categories in this year’s award nominations. After the nominations are announced, they are voted on by industry professionals and the ceremony is held in July during San Diego Comic-Con.
Tiffany Babb writes and edits articles about comics, baseball, and pop culture. She is the editor of the comics criticism journal The Comics Courier and baseball website The Fan Files, and she has previously served as deputy editor at Popverse and as co-editor of the Eisner Award–winning PanelxPanel Magazine.
Jerry Dear works as a serials librarian at the San Francisco Public Library and also teaches the art of honing research skills at City College of San Francisco. A lifetime member of the Asian Pacific American Librarians Association, he has served on and chaired literature award committees in the adult fiction, young adult, children’s, and picture book categories. He writes articles and reviews for library newsletters, TheHorn Book Magazine, and the No Flying No Tightsgraphic novel review site, and he is also a contributor to the metadata community of practice for the youth literature Diverse BookFinder database.
Dr. Randy Duncan is distinguished professor emeritus at Henderson State University and former director of the Center for Comics Studies. He is co-author of the widely used textbook The Power of Comics and Graphic Novels: Culture, Form and Context (Bloomsbury 2009, 2015, 2023) and of Creating Comics as Journalism, Memoir and Nonfiction (Routledge 2015). He is co-editor of Critical Approaches to Comics: Theories and Methods (Routledge 2011), The Secret Origins of Comics Studies (Routledge 2017), and More Critical Approaches to Comics: Theories and Methods (Routledge 2019). Duncan is co-founder of the Comics Arts Conference, held each summer at Comic-Con, and is currently chief operating officer of Delphi Creative/Consulting LLC.
Katie Pryde owns Books with Pictures in Portland, Oregon, whose slogan is “Comics for Everyone.” Opened in 2016, Books with Pictures prides itself on its warm, kid-friendly space, curated inventory, strong ties to Portland’s comics creative community, and expert staff who can match any shopper with their next favorite read. She is also a partner in sister store Books with Pictures Eugene, established in 2020, and is on the board of ComicsPro, the trade organization for brick and mortar comic book stores. In 2022, Books with Pictures won the Will Eisner Spirit of Retailing Award.
Regine L Sawyer is a comic book writer, essayist, and editor working for companies such as DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Oni Press, Z2 Comics, Comic Book Resources, Time magazine, and more. She is also the coordinator and founder of the Women in Comics Collective International (WinC for short), an organization that supports women and gender expansive people of color working in the comic book and multimedia industries. From 2014 to 2016 Regine served as a Glyph Award judge and has been an adjudication moderator for the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards (2022–2026). In addition, Regine, along with WinC, received the Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award at the 2024 Eisner Awards Ceremony for their humanitarian work in the Comic Book industry.
Comic book Transformers bots step off the page and onto collectors’ shelves with the Transformers Void Rivals action figure pack, inspired by the Void Rivals comic series.
Inspired by the comic that started the Energon Universe, we open up the San Diego Comic-Con 2025 exclusive!
Dark Horse Comics and Absurd Ventures present American Caper, a new crime fiction comic series created and written by Dan Houser, who was co-founder of Rockstar Games and longtime head writer and creative director of the Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption series. American Caper boasts a murderer’s row of crime fiction and comics talent including fellow Grand Theft Auto veteran Lazlow, who is producing and contributing additional writing to the series. Illustrated by Eisner Award-winning artist David Lapham with finishes by Chris Anderson, colored by Lee Loughridge, and lettered by Nate Piekos, the American Caper saga is a brutal crime fiction satire set against the backdrop of our current, hopelessly fractured, preposterous political nightmare.
Get your copy now! To find a comic shop near you, visit http://www.comicshoplocator.com or call 1-888-comicbook or digitally and online with the links below.
Order the first issues from your local comic shop!
This special preview book contains black-and-white teasers from three of Ignition Press‘ upcoming titles, as well as introductions by the authors.
ROOTS OF MADNESS – a cosmic horror tale from Stephanie Williams (Nubia & the Amazons) and Letizia Cadonici (Something Is Killing the Children)
THE BEAUTY – a return of the indie sensation by writers Jeremy Haun and Jason A. Hurley, with art by Emanuela Lupacchino (World’s Finest: Teen Titans)
ARCADIA – a fantasy/sci-fi epic from the Miranda Brothers (We Live)
Story: Stephanie Williams, Jeremy Haun, Jason A. Hurley, Inaki Miranda, Roy Miranda Art: Letizia Cadonici, Emanuela Lupacchino, Inaki Miranda Letterer: Andworld Design, Dave Sharpe
Get your copy now! To find a comic shop near you, visit http://www.comicshoplocator.com or call 1-888-comicbook or digitally and online with the links below.
The trade paperback collections of the beloved, bestselling neo-Western/crime noir series—That Texas Blood by Chris Condon and Jacob Phillips—will ride back into stores with reprint featuring a smokin’ aces line of new cover art by Phillips.
These sharp-shootin’ new covers were revealed last weekend by Condon during the “Image Comics: Storytelling, Genre, and Crafting Unforgettable Comics” panel at San Diego Comic-Con.
That Texas Blood is the perfect read for fans of neo-Western TV shows like Yellowstone and Landman and crime dramas like MobLand as well as Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips’ popular Criminal series. Its sister series The Enfield Gang Massacre provides fans with a rich Western lore to further immerse themselves in.
In That Texas Blood, Sheriff Joe Bob Coates questions his effectiveness as the aging lawman of Ambrose County, Texas as chaos descends following an explosive highway confrontation and the mysterious death of local rogue Travis Terrill.
Available now at local comic book shops, independent bookstores, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, Indigo, and Waterstones:
Years after vanishing from her Chicago neighborhood, the teenage outcast has returned to a traumatized family and a media circus with nothing but a tiger-striped feather and an extraordinary tale of her time away as the champion of a magical jungle land called Mayahuela.
Get your copy now! To find a comic shop near you, visit http://www.comicshoplocator.com or call 1-888-comicbook or digitally and online with the links below.
A hard rain is falling on Sieverville Correctional Prison for Women. As the river rises and its banks overflow, the same walls that are keeping the prisoners inside the fortress-like structure are failing to keep the water out.
With that water comes something else. Something deadly.
Get your copy now! To find a comic shop near you, visit http://www.comicshoplocator.com or call 1-888-comicbook or digitally and online with the links below.
In advance of America’s 250th anniversary, Marvel Comics pays tribute to the country’s founding this November in 1776, a five-issue limited series written by J. Michael Straczynski and drawn by Ron Lim and Sean Damien Hill.
Revealed to retailers last month at San Diego Comic-Con, the series presents a one-of-a-kind team-up as a band of Marvel super heroes travel to the dawn of the American Revolution where they join forces with the likes of George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and John Adams to stop history from being rewritten. In an inspirational saga that blends super hero storytelling with America’s revolutionary past, these heroes of yesterday and today must ensure pivotal moments remain intact to safeguard both America’s legacy and their own existence!
REVOLUTIONARY WARRIORS, ASSEMBLE!
Calamity strikes when a mysterious force dares to tamper with the sacred threads of history. Captain America and his formidable squad of Marvel heroes leap into action! Their mission? To safeguard the founding of the United States of America! The fate of the nation hangs in the balance at the dawn of the Revolution, as these valiant heroes must navigate the treacherous waters of the past to ensure a future that remains untarnished.
The series’ main covers will be drawn by Pete Woods and variant covers for the debut issue come from a slew of superstar talent including Joe Quesada, Paulo Siqueira, and Steve Rude. Plus, Phil Jimenez pays homage to Amazing Spider-Man #583, one of the best-selling comic books of the 2000s! Check out the covers and preorder 1776 #1 at your local comic shop today!
