2026 marks a major milestone for the Zelda Awards as it was the inaugural year for the organization. With more than 150 nominations across a range of categories in comics and manga, the Zelda Awards received 9,000 total votes across all recipients and categories.

Comics have been a part of Xenon’s life since they were a child, and that has only bloomed throughout their young adulthood. With a strong love of comic art, bright colors, and overall busy artwork, Xenon has made a name for themselves as an Editor at Crucial Comics.

Jimmy Gaspero is no stranger to comics nor has he followed the typical comic creator path. An Attorney by profession and host of the Comic Book Yeti Creator Cryptid Corner with Bryan O’Neil, comics have been part of Gaspero’s life but only recently from the creative side.

What once revolved around stories and characters has, in some ways, shifted toward the chase for collectibles: variant covers, exclusive editions, and blind bags that often end up stored away, unread.