Final Order Cutoff for this week's order window closes tonight — Monday, August 24 at 8:00 PM ET. That's the last chance for your local shop to lock in copies of these books before print runs are set, so if any of the picks below are on your list, now's the time to get them on your shop's pre-order sheet. Here's what's generating the most buzz in the speculation market this week.
Absolute Cassandra Cain: The Shadow's Hand #1 (DC Comics)
A brand-new one-shot spinning directly out of Absolute Catwoman, written by Che Grayson with art by Matías Bergara. It's the origin story of the Absolute Universe's version of Cassandra Cain: years ago, the Joker trained with the League of Assassins, and when he'd learned all he could, he slaughtered them — and from that violence rose Lady Shiva and her daughter. First deep-dive origin issues for a new-continuity character are exactly the kind of book speculators circle, especially with a four-cover program that includes card-stock variants from Matías Bergara, InHyuk Lee, and Derrick Chew.
Avengers #1 (Marvel Comics)
Marvel's flagship team gets a full relaunch from Chip Zdarsky and Marco Checchetto in the wake of Avengers: Armageddon. The confirmed lineup — Spider-Man, Wolverine, Captain Marvel, Daredevil, and Luke Cage, plus one still-unrevealed new member — has to protect a world that's lost faith in heroes, and Zdarsky has promised the team comes in "angry as hell and ready to avenge." New #1s from a superstar creative team on Marvel's marquee franchise are a perennial FOC magnet, and this one's stacked with chase covers, a True Believers blind-bag edition, and a hand-drawn sketch variant.
Batman: Bad Seeds Double Feature — Catwoman #91 & Detective Comics #1113 (DC Comics)
DC's "Bad Seeds" event is tearing through the Bat-family books this month, and two tie-ins are on the order sheet together this week. In Catwoman #91, with the city in disarray, Selina Kyle decides to make the best of the chaos and do the one thing nobody else would dare: break into Vandal Savage's home. Over in Detective Comics #1113 — continuing directly out of Batman #13 — Tom Taylor and guest artist Jeff Spokes have Batman fighting a two-front war as Vandal Savage's TUCO squads collide with lumbering, city-swallowing floronic monsters. The Jim Lee "Building Bad" cover, spotlighting the winning villain design from DC's fan sweepstakes, has been one of the most-requested variants on this week's order sheet.
Creepshow Vol. 5 #1 (Image Comics / Skybound)
The Eisner-nominated horror anthology, based on Greg Nicotero's Shudder series, kicks off a new volume with two fresh stories: Tyler Boss and Francesca Ciregia's tale of a deadly rivalry between clowns, and Lorenzo De Felici's story of humanity's last astronaut racing to identify the cosmic object destroying Earth. Anthology minis with a rotating "all-star creative roster" tend to draw steady collector interest issue to issue, and this premiere carries a three-cover program to match.
Absolute Flash #19 (DC Comics)
Picking up right where last issue left off, and last issue left readers with a lot to talk about — Hunter Zolomon's debut as a DEO agent had the whole fandom asking the same question: does this version of him become Zoom? Wally West is caught between two threats terrorizing Central City, and this issue is the next chapter in a storyline that's been building serious momentum since Zolomon's introduction.
Absolute Green Arrow #5 of 6 (DC Comics)
This arc has been one of the hottest corners of the Absolute line since last issue's reveal of Absolute Solomon Grundy, and it's paying off: the series was just extended six additional issues past its original run. This chapter puts Black Canary and the Green Arrow Killer at the mercy of Hector Hammond, with the series' central mystery finally starting to unravel. Momentum from the Grundy debut has carried straight into this issue's order window.
51 #5 of 8 (Mad Cave Studios)
The indie sleeper hit of the summer keeps building steam. Curt Pires and artist Jok's Area 51 conspiracy comedy follows Harvey, the President's son, after he accidentally spills every secret the government's been sitting on — stolen alien tech, superpower formulas, experimental weapons, and the people willing to kill to get it all back. Creator-owned series that build word-of-mouth issue over issue are worth watching closely at FOC, before back issues get harder to find.
Sources
- Key Collector Comics — Trending 20
- Key Collector Comics — New Comics This Week
- Comics Heating Up
- State of Comics — Final Order Cutoff
- Comic Nation — This Week's FOC Comic Presales
- Bleeding Cool — DC Comics Announce Absolute Cassandra Cain
- CBR — Absolute Cassandra Cain: The Shadow's Hand Release Date Confirmed
- The Beat — DC Comics September 2026 Solicitations
- Marvel.com — Avengers #1 Assembles Earth's Mightiest Survivors
- AIPT — Zdarsky and Checchetto Launch New Avengers #1
- HorrorBuzz — Creepshow Vol. 5 Arrives September 2026
- Mad Cave Studios — 51