Hey there folks! Emerald City Comic Con has come and gone, and spring it (literally) just around the corner. Which means it time for another comics-look ahead! This month we've got a new Spider-Man series, the return of Jeff Lemire to DC comics, the return of Head-Lopper, and more waiting for you to read about. So keep reading and find out what we picked for our April Comics Look Aheads!

Save the Date - FREE COMIC BOOK DAY 2026!

Mark your calendars folks! FCBD 2026 is just a month and change away! We'll be hosting our Free Comic Book Day / Comic Book Giveaway Day / Store Birthday event all day Saturday, May 2nd. We're in the process of reaching out to this year's guests, but we're really excited with who we have in store for you this year and we'll post event details on or around April 1st. 

Reviews and Recommendations

Before we hop right into the reviews and recommendations portion of things, a note on formatting - we're moving the links to all the catalogs down to the bottom of the post just to make sure that folks can dive right into the meat of the article.

Quick reminder: If you see something you want you can always reach out to us and ask us about ordering it or setting it aside for you, or head over to our subscription page and add it to your pull! Anything in these look aheads are ready for you to order.

Head Lopper

Image Comics

By Andrew MacLean (writer and artist)

Yo, how the fuck did I miss this one before? (Please excuse my use of the f-word.) Head Lopper went on hiatus just before I started at the shop, so I have some excuse, but this seems like something I need to have gone back and read. For a decade now, Andrew MacLean has been writing weird sword and sorcery action comics that evoke at once Conan the Barbarian, Mike Mignola, and Adventure Time. It’s easy to lose my interest with action scenes in comics, but Head Lopper’s take center stage and are kinetic, playful, and fun, while also maintaining just enough heavy metal sensibilities to keep them from getting unreasonably silly. They also have that fun, retro-fantasy vibe that has been increasingly popular these days. They’re a joy to look at and read, and something I wish I knew existed much sooner. 

Head Lopper is episodic, and this new series is self contained – going back and reading the original series might give you a little extra context but its certainly not required. Basically there’s a guy named Norgal. He’s a swordsman and his signature move is lopping people’s heads off. His “sidekick” is Agatha, who is the talking disembodied head of a witch. They don’t get along. That’s kind of all you need to know – the plot’s simple, mostly you’re reading this for the head loppings and other fun moments. This is the kind of book you read for the vibes, and this book’s vibes remind me of just how much I love the medium of comics.

- Sloane

Amazing Spider-Man: Spider-Versity

Marvel

By Jordan Morris and Joe Kelly (writers) and Pete Perez (artist)

Spinning out of the constant soap-opera drama that is Amazing Spider-Man, Spider-Versity stars five of our newer spider-people - Miles Morales, Ghost Spider AKA Spider-Gwen, Silk, Araña and Spider-Boy. This limited five-issue series sees these relatively new heroes (I mean, c’mon Miles and Gwen have been headlining their own series for a while now, and Silk and Araña have both been around since the early 2000’s), put threw the wringer by former Green Goblin / resolute Spider-Man Norman Osborne and Jessica Drew (the original Spider-Woman and recipient of some truly awful memes back a few years ago). 

I’m always down for a team book, and the fact that it’s just a 5-issue limited series on top of that tells me it’s something the Spider-Fans out there are gonna want to be reading. Odds are this ties back into Kelly’s current run on Amazing Spider-Man before it’s all said and done. And hey, if it out performs expectations, I could definitely see myself loving a fun little Spider-Team book if it turns into an ongoing.

- Nick

Royals

Image Comics

By Derek Kirk Kim (writer) and Jacob Perez (artist)

Sometimes you’re going through previews and solicitations and you find a book you don’t know anything about but you can’t help but get super excited about? That’s how I felt when I found the first issue of Royals in the April Image catalogue. It’s a heist book set in Seoul about two twins with a psychic connection who use it to cheat at high stakes poker – when they run their hustle against the leader of South Korea’s largest crime syndicate, they suddenly find themselves in debt to the mob. The only way they can pay it off? Staging an elaborate heist, obviously.

It’s a fun enough concept, but what really drew me to this book were its preview pages. Seoul itself is beautifully rendered and awash in rain and the light from neon signs. The casions are dimly lit and dramatic. The art is stylized and cartoony, but expressive and oozing with character. It really feels like a heist movie – which, given that writer Derek Kirk Kim has done storyboards for animation before, the cinematic feel makes sense. It don’t always read crime books, but getting the little sneak peeks that we have has me so excited for this one.

- Sloane

The Fury of Firestorm

DC Comics

By Jeff Lemire (writer) and Rafael De La Torre (artist)

Okay, weird book here that the more I find out about this, the more intrigued I am? Jeff Lemire is returning to DC after a few years away from the publisher to bring us The Fury of Firestorm. The book is set in a small colorado town, featuring Firestorm as the antagonist, maybe? For those of you not familiar with the character - Firestorm is a pair of people sharing one body. Pairings have varied over the years, but the primary pairing (the one Jeff appears to be using here) is Ronnie Raymond, college jock, and his professor Martin Stein. Ronnie pilots the body while Martin provides the scientific knowledge needed to use his powers, which include molecular and atomic manipulation. 

Having said all that - there’s lots of room here for this to be a kinda Vertigo-adjacent horror comic. If that’s where this book is going, I’m kinda down for it. Rafael De La Torre does great work in making this book look good too. There’s a mix here between flashback 60’s and 70’s style panels in some of the preview pages next to more his more contemporary art style. It’s enough that me, a person who does not normally go in for Jeff’s art / writing combinations, is interested in giving this book a try. 

- Nick

One-Shots & Graphic Novels

Batman Volume 1: Daylight

DC Comics

By Matt Fraction (writer) and Jorge Jimenez (artist)

I’ve talked a few times about how much I’m enjoying Matt Fraction’s Batman run so I’m excited to finally be able to put the first six issues in people’s hands. There are a lot of things I really enjoyed in this first arc. It features the perspectives of some normal people just living in Gotham and how their proximity to crime and chaos can endanger them and embolden them to do the right thing. It shows Bruce being a normal dad and teaching his kids important lessons and trying to do some good outside of his altar ego. I loved the date night issues and the complications of having to be Bruce Wayne and not Batman in front of someone who could really use Batman. I also really love that the new villain who was introduced, The Minotaur, doesn’t seem to give a f— about Batman? He’s more concerned with controlling the other criminals in town than engaging with the Dark Knight.

Overall I’m enjoying this series so much, it’s one of the books I look forward to the most every month (shockingly). I don’t have much else to say that wouldn’t be repeating myself from when I discussed this in our Best of 2025 roundup but just trust me this is absolutely worth the read. Matt Fraction and Jorge Jimenez are killing it and I can’t wait to see where this book goes next. 

- Elise

Punk’n Heads

Top Shelf Productions

By Dave Baker (writer) and Nicole Goux (artist)

Dave Baker and Nicole Goux are back together making comics again! This alone should be enough to get you to read this book. I’ve enjoyed the work they’ve done separately over the last few years well enough. Dave Baker’s weird part-comic, part-alternate-reality-essay Mary Tyler Moorehawk was fun in a sort of post-modern, what-is-even-happening kind of way. Nicole Goux’s Pet Peeves (which she also wrote) and This Place Kills Me with Mariko Tamaki were both enjoyable enough. But I feel like neither of these frequent collaborators work quite as well apart as they do together. Their 2021 book Everyone is Tulip made some Best Graphic Novel lists that year, and Fuck Off Squad, which is one of their earlier works, if one of my favorite books in the store.

So when I found out that they were not only doing another book together, but writing about messy young people again, I was so excited. Punk’n Heads is about art school dropout Hannah who breaks up with her girlfriend, moves into a flop house, and joins a horrorpunk band with her highschool crush (who she’s maybe also hooking up with?). We’ve all been there, right? Part of what I loved so much about Fuck Off Squad was the way that both Baker’s writing and Goux’s art matched the tone of the subject matter so well. The dialogue and character choices all felt true to things young people would say and do, and Goux’s art is stylized in a way that was simple but messy and expressive, which again felt perfectly matched to a book about idiot teens making bad choices. Punk’n Heads feels like it’s continuing in the same milieu. I’m so excited to read about the young people in this book making mistakes, figuring themselves out, and facing the music.

- Sloane

Let’s Make Cocktails

Ten Speed Press

By Sarah Becan (writer and artist)

The newest in the “Let’s Make” series, Let’s Make Cocktails features over 60 cocktails with detailed instructions for making them alongside cute hand-drawn illustrations of said cocktails. I’m a big fan of this series; Let’s Make Bread and the Comic Book Guide to Growing Food were a couple of my favorite go-to’s for comic guides in the last few years. The latter is actually why my backyard has a raised bed or two in it right now, honestly. These guides are instructional and well researched, so if you are one of those people who likes themselves an occasional mixed-drink, but maybe doesn’t want to have to go to a bar to do that anymore, this book sounds like it might be up your alley. Or as someone who recently found out they liked bourbon might suggest (thank you recent trip to a retailer conference) Let’s Make Cocktails could be a fun way to expand your pallet and find new drinks you might enjoy!

- Nick

PS - For those of you sober folks out there, you’re doing great! Keep it up!

Justice League Intergalactic Special

DC Comics

By Nicole Maines and Jadzia Axelrod (writer) and Travis Moore (artist)

Queer space adventures? Sign me up! Justice League Intergalactic is a new One-Shot featuring Galaxy, Dreamer, Star Sapphire, Green Arrow (Oliver Queen), and Adam Strange. It will follow these characters (Dreamer is there so I can’t necessarily say “heroes”) as they fight to free the planet Naltor and its inhabitants from the evil hive mind of the Witch Queen. Honestly, I’m not a huge Justice League reader but if they’re going to put Galaxy and Dreamer together on a team, I’m in. Galaxy and Dreamer are both trans characters who have been introduced to the DC comics universe in the last few years and although they got interact a bit in Dreamer’s YA graphing novel Bad Dreams we haven’t gotten to see them interact as adults and I can’t wait to see it. 

Although Dreamer is currently wanted by the Justice League and doesn’t seem to have too high of an opinion of them herself, she gets to join the adventure because she is smuggled onto Adam’s ship by none other than Galaxy herself. Her presence could prove invaluable as Naltor is her home planet. It should also be fun to have Oliver here because, as everyone knows, Oliver Queen Loves Space (apparently Oliver Queen does not love space and Nick had to explain to me Oliver’s long and unfortunate history with space)! Either way this looks like a fun adventure and I hope it is emblematic of Galaxy and Dreamer’s continued presence in more mainline DC books.

- Elise

Upcoming Comic Catalogs

Wondering where we find all of these books? We go through a number of upcoming comic book catalogs, which you can find below. If you want to do some digging for something we might have missed, please have a look! If you find anything you want, just head over to our subscription page to place a preorder or update your subscription.

(Quick word of caution - the Next Phase catalogs are very large and may take a while to download!)

February Comic Catalogs (April Releases)

DC | Marvel | Image | Dark Horse | IDW | Boom | Titan | PRH Panels | Next Phase

March Comic Catalogs (May Releases)

DC | Marvel | Image | Dark Horse | IDW | Boom | Titan | PRH Panels | Next Phase

Final Order Cutoff Note

If you're a subscriber and especially if you're a subscriber that uses our online subscription page to update your sub and preorder list, this next little bit of text is for you. If this isn't you, please just skip on down to the reviews and enjoy the rest of the post!

We've been running into some intermittent issues with really late / last minute preorders coming in either late Sunday or Monday, and we need your help to avoid that. To that end, please make sure you submit preorders and updates to your subscriptions by 12 PM on Sundays every week. Orders placed after that time run the risk of being delayed or not ordered. This applies only to items on the FOC / Last call list on our subscription page. Anything further out than that is unaffected (and kudos to you for ordering earlier than that). 

As one of the two people who process these orders, Sloane and I would really appreciate your help on this! Thank you so much in advance for making our jobs just a stitch easier!

-Nick

And that’s a wrap for April! Next month - Store Anniversary and Free Comic Book Day / Comic Giveaway Day details (in a separate post) plus MORE COMICS! In the meantime, if you saw something you wanted, please reach out to us and ask us about ordering it or setting it aside for you, or head over to our subscription page and add it to your pull!