Absolute Batman Vol. 1: The Zoo by Scott Snyder and Nick Dragotta won Book of the Year at the 2026 Harvey Awards, the top prize at a ceremony held Friday night, October 9, at the Javits Center during New York Comic Con. ComicsBeat published the full winners list that night, and the Harvey Awards’ own X account confirmed every category winner, and nearly all of the Hall of Fame class, as it covered the show live.
“Sans wealth and cave, it’s the Absolute Dark Knight like you’ve never seen him before,” the Harvey Awards posted when it announced the DC collection as the winner. The Zoo beat a ten-book field that included DC’s own Absolute Martian Manhunter Vol. 1: Martian Vision by Deniz Camp and Javier Rodriguez, Joe Sacco’s The Once and Future Riot, and Ben Passmore’s Black Arms to Hold You Up: A History of Black Resistance.
It’s another trophy for the series and its writer. Absolute Batman took Best Series at the Ringo Awards in Baltimore last month, capping a dominant year for Snyder on the sales charts.
The other 2026 Harvey winners
- Digital Book of the Year: The Lycan by Mike Carey, Thomas Jane, David James Kelly, and Diego Yapur (Comixology Originals)
- Best Children’s Book: Inbetweens by Faith Erin Hicks (First Second)
- Best Young Adult Book: This Place Kills Me by Mariko Tamaki and Nicole Goux (Abrams Fanfare)
- Best Manga: Billy Bat by Naoki Urasawa and Takashi Nagasaki, translated by Kristi Iwashiro (Kana/Abrams ComicArts)
- Best International Book: Nocturnos by Laura Perez, translated by Andrea Rosenberg (Fantagraphics)
- Best Adaptation from Comic Book/Graphic Novel: Spider-Noir (Prime Video/MGM+), based on Spider-Man Noir by David Hine, Fabrice Sapolsky, and Carmine Di Giandomenico
The Spider-Noir win landed the same weekend Marvel revealed a new Spider-Man Noir comic series at the same convention.
Frank Miller leads the Hall of Fame class
Four living inductees joined the Harvey Awards Hall of Fame: Frank Miller; Klaus Janson, the inker on Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns; David Mazzucchelli, the artist of Daredevil: Born Again and Batman: Year One; and Jenette Kahn, who became DC Comics’ publisher in 1976 and its president in 1981.
The posthumous class leans heavily on Batman history. ComicsBeat lists Jerry Robinson, Dick Sprang, Carmine Infantino, Frank Robbins, Denny O’Neil, Dick Giordano, Jim Aparo, Marshall Rogers, and Tim Sale, and the Harvey Awards spotlighted most of them in its own posts on X. Robinson co-created Robin and the Joker in the 1940s, and the Harvey Awards called Sale’s moody, noir-inspired Batman, drawn during his frequent collaborations with Jeph Loeb, a major influence on recent movie adaptations.
