The 2020 Mike Wieringo Comic Book Industry Awards were presented during a virtual event on the evening of Saturday, October 24, 2020.
Mike Wieringo Spirit Award
Fan Favorite Winners
- Favorite Hero: Clove from SubZero (WEBTOON)
- Favorite Villain: John from unOrdinary (WEBTOON)
- Favorite New Series: Fangs
- Favorite New Talent: Sinran
- Favorite Publisher: Tapas
Best Cartoonist (Writer/Artist)
- Sarah Andersen
- Eleanor Davis
- Jaime Hernandez
- Kevin Huizenga
- Junepurr
- Stan Sakai – Winner
- Raina Telgemeier
- David Jesus Vignolli
Best Writer
- Drew Edwards
- Jeff Lemire
- Mark Russell
- Erica Schultz
- Mariko Tamaki – Winner
Best Artist or Penciller
- Chris Campana
- Colleen Doran
- Sanford Greene – Winner
- Rosemary Valero-O’Connell
- Marianna Pescosta
Best Inker
- Keith Champagne
- Marika Cresta
- Sandra Hope – Winner
- Maria Llovet
- Dan Mora
- Hyeondo Park
Best Letterer
- Deron Bennett
- Jim Campbell
- Clayton Cowles
- Jared K. Fletcher
- HdE
- Nate Piekos – Winner
- Cardinal Rae
Best Colorist
- Jordie Bellaire – Winner
- Alessandro de Fornasari
- Edson Ferreira
- Laura Martin
- Dave Stewart
Best Cover Artist
- Fabio Alves
- Natasha Alterici
- Stephanie Hans
- Sana Takeda – Winner
- Christian Ward
Best Series
- Banjax, Danger Zone (Action Lab Entertainment)
- Bitter Root, Image Comics – Winner
- Black Hammer: Age of Doom, Dark Horse Comics
- Forgotten Home, Vices Press/comiXology Originals
- Something is Killing the Children, BOOM! Studios
Best Single Issue or Story
- Bitter Root Red Summer Special, Image Comics
- “Hot Comb” in Hot Comb, Drawn & Quarterly
- Second Coming #1, AHOY Comics
- Spencer & Locke 2 #1, Danger Zone (Action Lab Entertainment)
- Tales of the Night Watchman: The Steam Banshee, So What? Press
- Usagi Yojimbo #6, IDW Publishing – Winner
Best Original Graphic Novel
- The Adventures of Parker Reef – To Save a Soul, Chris Campana
- BTTM FDRS, Fantagraphics
- Dog Man: For Whom the Ball Rolls, Graphix/Scholastic
- The Hard Tomorrow, Drawn & Quarterly
- Hot Comb, Drawn & Quarterly
- New World, BOOM! Studios
- Penny Nichols, Top Shelf Productions (IDW Publishing)
- Simon Says, Image Comics
- Snow, Glass, Apples, Dark Horse Comics – Winner
Best Anthology
- Dead Beats, A Wave Blue World
- Drawing Power, Abrams ComicArts
- Jim Henson’s The Storyteller: Sirens, Archaia (BOOM! Studios) – Winner
- Strange Tails, Vices Press
- Thought Bubble 2019, Image Comics
Best Humor Comic
- Fangs, Tapas
- The Handbook to Lazy Parenting, Drawn & Quarterly
- Rick & Morty vs. Dungeons & Dragons, IDW Publishing
- Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen, DC Comics – Winner
- Twiztid: Haunted High-Ons, Source Point Press
- Wonder Twins, DC Comics
Best Comic Strip or Panel
- The Middle Age, Steve Conley, Andrews McMeel Universal
- Nancy, Olivia Jaimes, Andrews McMeel Universal – Winner
- The Nib Editorial Cartoons by Pia Guerra, thenib.com
- Rhymes With Orange, Hilary Price, King Features Syndicate
- Sarah’s Scribbles, Sarah Andersen, Andrews McMeel Universal
- Wawawiwa, Andres J. Colmenares
Best Webcomic
- The Croaking, echorise (https://www.webtoons.com/en/fantasy/the-croaking/list?title_no=1494)
- Lore Olympus, Rachel Smythe (https://www.webtoons.com/en/romance/lore-olympus/list?title_no=1320)
- Fried Rice, Erica Eng (https://friedricecomic.com/) – Winner
- Penny Arcade, Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins, (https://www.penny-arcade.com/)
- Rocío Diestra, Rocío Diestra (https://www.instagram.com/rociodiestra/)
- Stand Still, Stay Silent, Minna Sundberg (http://www.sssscomic.com/)
- SubZero, Junepurr (https://www.webtoons.com/en/romance/subzero/list?title_no=1468&page=1)
Best Non-fiction Comic Work
- Coin-Op Carnival, coinopcarnival.com
- Grass, Drawn & Quarterly
- In Waves, Nobrow/Flying Eye Books
- They Called Us Enemy, Top Shelf (IDW Publishing) – Winner
- The Twilight Man, Humanoids
Best Kids Comic or Graphic Novel
- Dog Man: For Whom the Ball Rolls, Graphix/Scholastic
- Guts, Graphix/Scholastic – Winner
- New Kid, Harper Collins
- Science! The Elements of Dark Energy, Bedside Press
- The Underfoot: The Mighty Deep, Lion Forge (Oni Press)
Best Presentation in Design
- Going to the Chapel, Danger Zone (Action Lab Entertainment)
- Making Comics, Drawn & Quarterly
- Marvel Masterwork Pin-Ups, Yoe Books (IDW Publishing)
- Moomin: The Deluxe Lars Jansson Edition, Drawn & Quarterly
- New World, BOOM! Studios
- Snow White Zombie Apocalypse, Scout Comics
- Stan Sakai’s Usagi Yojimbo: The Complete Grasscutter Artist Select, IDW Publishing – Winner
- 3D Sweeties, Fantagraphics
The 2020 Ringo Awards Professional Jury...
JOAN HILTY
Directs comics and graphic novel licensed publishing at Nickelodeon, and is a founder and consulting editor-in-chief of the book producer Pageturner. Former senior editor at DC Comics/Vertigo and a syndicated cartoonist.
JAMES KUHORIC
Multi-award-winning author, editor, and publisher. President of American Mythology Comics. Vice President at Dynamite Entertainment. Former Managing Editor at Avatar Press, and Director of Purchasing at Diamond Comic Distributors.
JILL THOMPSON
A ten-time Eisner Award-winning comic book creator best known for her creations The Scary Godmother and Magic Trixie, her award-winning graphic novel Wonder Woman: The True Amazon, as well as her collaborations with Neil Gaiman on The Sandman, Grant Morrison on The Invisibles, Will Pfeifer on Finals, Evan Dorkin on Beasts of Burden, Mick Foley on Tales From Wrescal Lane, and many more.
CAROL TILLEY
Associate professor in the School of Information Sciences at University of Illinois. Currently she is working on a cultural history of how young readers read, used, and subverted comics in the mid-20th century US to create a vibrant popular print culture. Tilley is a past president of the Comics Studies Society.
GENE LUEN YANG
Writer and artist of American Born Chinese, a National Book Award finalist, and winner of the Printz Award and Eisner Award. His Boxers & Saints won the L.A. Times Book Prize and was a National Book Award Finalist. His other works include Secret Coders (with Mike Holmes), The Shadow Hero (with Sonny Liew), Superman from DC Comics (with various artists), and Avatar: The Last Airbender from Dark Horse Comics (with Gurihiru). In 2016, he was named a MacArthur Foundation Fellow.
Kevin Smith to Introduces Geoff Johns as 2020 Ringo Awards Keynote Speaker
The Ringo Awards Committee is proud to announce the addition of comics industry veteran Geoff Johns to the 2020 Mike Wieringo Comic Book Industry Awards ceremony as the Keynote Address speaker!
Film and comics legend, Kevin Smith will open the show and introduce his friend, Geoff, as the keynote speaker.
After graduating Michigan State University, Geoff moved to Los Angeles and began assisting legendary Superman director Richard Donner. While filming on set in New York, Geoff started his comic book career with Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. for DC Comics. A New York Times best-selling author, Geoff has written some of the most recognized and highly-acclaimed superhero stories of the modern era, the most recent being the critically-acclaimed Watchmen sequel entitled Doomsday Clock with longtime collaborator, illustrator Gary Frank.
Under his Mad Ghost Productions banner, Geoff currently serves as an Executive Producer and Showrunner on Warner Bros. Television series Stargirl, which he created for The CW, among other various film and television projects.
Geoff was proudly born in Detroit. He currently resides in Los Angeles.
“Geoff and Mike Wieringo were friends,” said Marc Nathan, Baltimore Comic-Con promoter. “Mike actually did the original Stargirl sketch for Geoff, which he has to this day. It is an honor to have him with us this year, and we’re really looking forward to his speech.”