JUNJI ITO INDUCTED INTO THE WILL EISNER COMIC AWARDS HALL OF FAME AT SAN DIEGO COMIC-CON 2025
San Francisco, CA — VIZ Media proudly celebrates legendary manga creator Junji Ito, who today 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.
Coming this fall, Moan: Junji Ito Story Collection (October 7, 2025), features six eerie new tales that reinforce his legacy as one of horror’s most inventive voices.
Praise for Junji Ito’s Work:
“Junji Ito is visually arresting and insanely scary.” — The New York Times
“Gruesome and unexpected.” — The Washington Post
“Genius.” — NPR Here and Now
“Beautiful but terrifying.” — TeenVOGUE
“Equal parts gruesome and gorgeous.” – Otaku USA
About Junji Ito:
Junji Ito made his professional manga debut in 1987, and he is now recognized as one of the greatest contemporary artists in the horror genre. His long-form masterpieces include Gyo, No Longer Human, Tomie, and Uzumaki, and his short stories have been collected into volumes such as Alley, Deserter, Shiver, Smashed, The Liminal Zone, and several more, all available from VIZ Media. Ito’s professional memoir, Uncanny: The Origins of Fear, details the influences and experiences that led to his becoming a horror manga artist.
He is a four-time Eisner Award winner. In 2019 his collection Frankenstein won in the “Best Adaptation from Another Medium” category, and in 2021 he was awarded “Best Writer/Artist,” while Remina received the award for “Best U.S. Edition of International Material (Asia).” Lovesickness won “Best U.S. Edition” in 2022.
His titles have been adapted into live-action films and anime. The Netflix series Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre is based on his short stories, and Uzumaki has inspired an anime miniseries.
Junji Ito portrait credit: © Asahi Shimbun Publications Inc.
Personal message from Junji Ito: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uH2rE0NTdkI
About VIZ Media:
Wherever manga and anime fans are, we are! VIZ Media is No. 1 in Japanese pop culture, introducing fans to what’s now, new, and next. Home to the world’s most influential and groundbreaking storytellers and artists, who today drive multiple industries from publishing and animation to film and gaming. If it’s big in Japan, you can find it at VIZ.
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