VIZ Media is celebrating legendary manga creator Junji Ito, who was officially inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Awards Hall of Fame at San Diego Comic-Con 2025. This honor cements Ito’s status among the world’s greatest horror storytellers, whose unnerving, masterful works have captivated millions and redefined the boundaries of the genre.

With over 10 million books sold worldwide, Ito is one of the most successful and influential manga artists in the U.S. and beyond. Hailed as “the Stephen King of Japan,” his works frequently appear on The New York Times Best Sellers list and dominate BookScan’s top graphic novel rankings.

For more than four decades, Ito has conjured unnerving tales that transform the familiar into the grotesque, the cosmic, and the deeply unsettling. From his manga debut Tomie, the beautiful and regenerative girl whose presence drives those around her to madness and violence, Gyo, a nightmarish vision of a world overrun by reeking, walking fish corpses, to the inescapable spiral curse of Uzumaki—now adapted into an anime series available digitally via Amazon Prime Video, Google, Apple TV app (U.S. and Canada), and Fandango at Home (U.S.)—his stories have thrilled and haunted generations of readers.

Ito is a four-time Eisner Award winner and in 2022 became the first international creator to win Best Writer/Artist, for his chilling masterpiece Remina. Ito’s works are recognized for their signature slow-burn dread and deeply disturbing imagery. With this new Hall of Fame honor,  Junji Ito continues to expand the possibilities of horror, securing his place in the pantheon of comic book legends.