Fans of Robert Kirkman (The Walking Dead) will be delighted to hear that the esteemed author’s new series, Fire Power, will be launching ahead of schedule and with extra content! The new series will hit stores Wednesday, April 29 with a full-length prequel graphic novel comprising nearly 8 issues of content. The run will continue with single-issue installments beginning the following  Saturday, May 2, which also just so happens to be…drum roll, please… Free Comic Book Day! That’s right, the first issue of Fire Power will be included as a gold title at Free Comic Book Days across North America!

The official synopsis of the prelude is as follows: Owen Johnson’s journey to China to learn about his birth parents eventually leads him to a mysterious Shaolin Temple. The students there study to rediscover the Fire Power, the lost art of throwing fireballs. A power they claim will be needed soon to save the world. Will Owen Johnson be the first person in a thousand years to wield the FIRE POWER?

For those keen readers who remember our previous coverage of the series that synopsis may seem a bit too familiar, and you’d be right. It seems like the prelude is going to cover story elements previously planned for the major run with the monthly releases following an older Owen Johnson, as mentioned on the preview page for Free Comic Book Day.  If you missed our prior coverage, you can find our initial announcement for the series here, as well as a sneak peek at the first issue of the series. I imagine based on this announcement that those previously released pages will be a part of the prelude rather than the official run, as they seem to sync up with this new set of preview pages provided by Skybound/Image Comics: