As first mentioned last year, IDW has announced the fourth volume of my favorite superhero series, Love and Capes by Thom Zahler.

After getting married in 2010 (reprinted in Going to the Chapel) and then settling into life together, Abby and Mark, the Crusader, are now expecting a baby!

“I’m thrilled to be able to tell another chapter in Mark and Abby’s adventures. And there’s no greater adventure than parenthood,” said Zahler. “Except, of course, for a fight for existence itself against an all-consuming galactic threat, and this book isn’t about that. Well, probably not. Fifty-fifty, tops.”

Zahler does an excellent job blending traditional superhero comic adventures and expectations with touching romance and well-observed domestic comedy. Love and Capes always entertains me in inspiring ways.

This six-issue series launches in August ($3.99 for 32 color pages, available for order in next month’s Diamond Previews), but to promote What to Expect at the San Diego Comic-Con, IDW is pre-releasing the first issue with the “Baby Name” variant cover shown here. (Click for large verson.)

IDW will also be reprinting all three previous collections for resolicitation to comic shops in August.