Fireborn Expands the Lost Fantasy Universe This April
13SHARESCurt Pires and Franklin Jonas are bringing something fresh to the Lost Fantasy universe. Fireborn #1 will be available at comic book shops on Wednesday, April 22, 2026 from Image Comics, with art by Patrick Mulholland. This is an ongoing series, not a limited run, which tells you Image is betting on this one.
The main character is Aaron Hillburg, a rich kid who’s basically avoiding his billionaire father and doing the whole rooftop-hopping thing in peace. Then a floating dragon egg bonds to him and unlocks some ancient magic lineage he didn’t know he had. Now every dangerous wizard, biker cultist, and supernatural warlord between New York City and The World Beneath wants that egg, and they’re willing to burn everything down to get it.
Franklin Jonas is a singer and songwriter who’s stepping into comics for the first time, and his love for the medium shows. He grew up reading Fraction and Aja’s Hawkeye and Hickman and Pitarra’s The Manhattan Projects, learning what comics could do with storytelling. When he discovered Lost Fantasy last year and started talking about it online, Pires reached out. The collaboration happened fast because they both have that same deep connection to comics. Jonas mentioned that Pires has been showing him how the industry works while they’ve been building these wild ideas that Mulholland is bringing to life.
Pires talked about how Lost Fantasy has been one of the most rewarding projects of his career, not just for the creative work but because of the community it’s built. Meeting Jonas was one of those moments where you can tell immediately that someone gets it. The result is Fireborn, which spins directly out of Lost Fantasy #9. Both books drop the same day, and Jonas co-wrote that Lost Fantasy issue, so there’s a direct connection between the two stories.
The pitch is fantasy meets superheroes at high speed. If you’re into Invincible, How To Train Your Dragon, or Absolute Batman, this hits that same energy. It’s taking everything Pires and Jonas love about comics and throwing it into an ongoing series that’s meant to be a ride from start to finish.
Patrick Mulholland’s art looks solid from the preview images. The covers show he can handle both the fantasy elements and the modern urban setting. Cover A is by Mulholland, and there’s a Cover B that’s an Invincible homage and a Cover C that’s an Absolute homage, both also by Mulholland. Cover D is a foil cover by Jae Lee. There’s also a blank sketch cover for anyone who wants to get original art on their copy. The incentive variants go deep with 1:15, 1:25, 1:50, 1:75, and 1:100 ratios featuring design variants, virgin covers, and a signed edition by Jonas and Pires. Tyler Kirkham did Cover K and a black and white blood virgin variant for Cover L.
The fact that this spins out of Lost Fantasy #9 matters for anyone already reading that series. Pires and his co-creators on Lost Fantasy have built a world that people care about, and now they’re expanding it instead of just ending it. This is step one in growing the universe, with more planned down the line. They’re committed to keeping the quality high and giving readers reasons to keep coming back to their local comic shops.
For new readers, you don’t need to have read Lost Fantasy to jump into Fireborn, but it probably helps to understand the world better. The core concept is strong enough to work on its own. Rich kid gets bonded to a dragon egg, unlocks magic, becomes a target. That’s a clean setup that works whether you know the larger universe or not.
Digital readers can grab it on Kindle, Apple Books, and Google Play when it drops April 22nd. But with twelve different covers on the first issue, shops are going to have options for physical collectors. If you’re planning to grab this, talk to your shop about which covers they’re ordering or if they can special order specific variants for you.
Pires knows how to build worlds that feel lived-in, and bringing Jonas into the fold adds a fresh perspective. This is Jonas’s first comic work, which means he’s coming in without the usual habits that sometimes make comics feel formulaic. Combine that with Mulholland’s art and you’ve got a book worth checking out when it lands in April.