The Comics Industry Celebrates the 2024 Ringo Awards

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND - September 22, 2024 - Comic creative professionals, publishers, retailers, and fans came together Saturday night, September 21, 2024 to experience the comic book industry celebrating recognition of their peers, co-workers, and competitors at the 2024 Mike Wieringo Comic Book Industry Awards.

This year's Ringo Awards was sponsored by Cards, Comics & Collectibles, the Baltimore Comic-Con, as well as Act 4 Publishing, A Wave Blue World, Bad Idea, Big Lick Entertainment, BOOM! Studios, Comix Well Spring, Hard Rock Cafe, IDW Publishing, Image Comics, Kickstarter, Mad Cave Studios, Oni Press, Prana: Direct Market Solutions, Rocketship Entertainment, Scholastic/Graphix, and SHP Comics.

Filip Sablik, a publishing industry executive with nearly 25 years experience in distribution, editorial, marketing, sales, business development, and operations as well as occasional comic writer and artist, honored the Ringo Awards as the 2024 keynote presenter at the event. With prior stints at Diamond Comic Distributors and Top Cow, Sablik was most recently BOOM! Studios’ President of Publishing and Marketing for 12 years. Sablik was a central member of the leadership team that grew BOOM! Studios to one of the preeminent publishers in the space leading up to its acquisition by Random House Publishing Group, quadrupling the publisher’s annual revenue and tripling its market share during his tenure. Sablik was also instrumental in building multiple comic book franchises including BRZRKR, Something Is Killing The Children, and Lumberjanes; developing and overseeing the company’s direct-to-consumer BOOM! Direct Reserve program; and developing and running the company’s industry-leading and award-winning retail partner support programs.

A very special thanks go to the sponsors who donated items to the 2022 Ringo Awards Gift Bags, including A Wave Blue World, Abrams Books, AHOY Comics, Archie Comics, AWA Studios, Bad Idea, BOOM! Studios, Dark Horse Comics, Diamond Comic Distributors,Gemstone Publishing, Ghost Machine, Hero Tomorrow Comics, IDW Publishing Image Comics, Legends Kids Publishing, Mad Cave Studios, Oni Press, Rocketship Entertainment, Scholastic/Graphix, SHP Comics, TopShelfComic.Com, WEBTOON Unscrolled, and Z2 Comics.

Winners of the 2024 Mike Wieringo Comic Book Industry Awards are:

• Sponsored by Rocketship Entertainment:
• Favorite Villain: Montresor - Nevermore (WEBTOONS)
• Favorite New Series: City of Blank (WEBTOON)
• Favorite New Talent: Danny Earls
• Favorite Publisher: Image Comics
• Favorite Hero: Lenore - Nevermore (WEBTOON)

• Sponsored by Scholastic/Graphix:
• Best Original Graphic Novel: Monica, Fantagraphics

• Sponsored by BOOM! Studios:
• Best Letterer: Stan Sakai

• Sponsored by Rocketship Entertainment:
• Best Humor Webcomic: Blue Chair, WEBTOON (https://www.webtoons.com/en/slice-of-life/bluechair/ep-907-best-self-worst-self/viewer?title_no=199&episode_no=1079)

• Sponsored by Bad Idea:
• Best Artist or Penciller/Inker Team: Elsa Charretier

• Sponsored by Bad Idea:
• Best Writer: Mariko Tamaki

• Sponsored by Scholastic/Graphix:
• Best Kids Comic or Graphic Novel: 

• Sponsored by SHP Comics:
• Best Colorist: Tamra Bonvillain

• Sponsored by Kickstarter:
• Best Presentation in Design: Richard Stark's Parker: The Complete Collection, IDW Publishing

• Sponsored by Oni Press:
• Best Cartoonist (Writer/Artist): Jeff Smith

• Sponsored by Rocketship Entertainment:
• Best Webcomic: Lore Olympus, WEBTOON (https://www.webtoons.com/en/romance/lore-olympus/list?title_no=1320&page=5)

• Sponsored by A Wave Blue World:
• Best Series: Geiger: Ground Zero, Image Comics

• Sponsored by Big Lick Entertainment:
• Best Anthology: The Rocketeer One-Shot, IDW

• Sponsored by IDW Publishing:
• Best Humor Comic: Bone: More Tall Tales, Scholastic

• Sponsored by Act 4 Publishing:
• Best Cover Artist: Chris Samnee

• Sponsored by BOOM! Studios:
• Best Non-fiction Comic Work: Miles Davis and the Search for the Sound, Z2 Comics

• Sponsored by Image Comics:
• Best Single Issue or Story: Animal Pound #1, BOOM! Studios

• Mike Wieringo Spirit Award: The Hunger and the Dusk, IDW Publishing

• Dick Giordano Humanitarian of the Year Award: Tom Brevoort
• Hero Initiative Lifetime Achievement Award: Klaus Janson

Brogan Fidelity Award:

• Tom Raney

In addition, the Baltimore Comic-Con would like to thank those individuals who presented at this year's award ceremony, including: Keynote speaker Filip Sablik; Emma Kubert and Amy Reeder, Michael Finn, Gene Ha and Dinesh Shamdasani, Fabian Nicieza, Karl Kesel and Terry Moore, Todd Dezago, Craig Rousseau, and Matt Wieringo, Tom Akel and Sanford Greene, Tom Brevoort, and Joëlle Jones and Sam Maggs. We would also like to thank Rich Woodall and Dan Hills from Comix Wellspring for their contributions to our awards ceremony program and presentation, as well as Joe Carabeo for audio/video support.

Please join us next year for the eighth annual Mike Wieringo Comic Book Industry Awards taking place at the 26th annual Baltimore Comic-Con on October 18, 2025, and keep an eye on our website and social media accounts below for 2025 ballot information.

About the Ringo Awards

The Mike Wieringo Comic Book Industry Awards is an annual celebration of the creativity, skill and fun of comics. The Ringo Awards recognize outstanding achievements in over 20 categories, and are the only industry awards nominated by fans and pros alike, with final voting by the comic professional community. Launched in 2017, the awards ceremony is held annually at the Baltimore Comic-Con. Further details are available at www.ringoawards.com.

About The Baltimore Comic-Con

The Baltimore Comic-Con is celebrating its 25th year of bringing the comic book industry to the Baltimore and Washington D.C. area. For more information, please visit www.baltimorecomiccon.com.