Canto has quietly built one of the more earnest followings in recent creator-owned comics, and now the tiny clockwork knight is back with a new ongoing chapter. Canto: The Clockwork Chronicles #1 launches November 18, 2026.
The series reunites original creators David M. Booher and Drew Zucker, joined by colorist Vittorio Astone and letterer AndWorld Design.
Set after the character's previous stories, this new arc sends Canto and his best friend Mico the Malorax across the Mechanical Sea to the Forgotten Isles, chasing the mystery of the Forgotten People.
Here is what is confirmed about the creative team, the publication history behind the character, and what makes this launch a genuine new ongoing rather than another miniseries.
Canto was created by Booher and Zucker and first launched in 2019 at IDW Publishing, where the character appeared across several miniseries built around his clockwork-knight world.
The property moved to Dark Horse in 2024, and The Clockwork Chronicles marks the first brand-new ongoing chapter published under that new home rather than a continuation of the IDW-era miniseries structure.
Canto's setting, Arcana, imagines a people who once had hearts but now carry mechanical clocks in their chests after centuries of enslavement, with love forbidden under the setting's oppressive rule.
Canto's core story has always been built around defying that rule, originally by seeking a true heart for a tin girl he fell in love with, giving the franchise a sincerity that stands out against grittier creator-owned comics.
This new arc picks up after Canto's earlier adventures, sending him and his companion Mico the Malorax sailing across the Mechanical Sea toward the Forgotten Isles in search of answers about the Forgotten People.
That setup signals an expansion of the established world rather than a retelling, giving longtime readers new territory to explore while still staying true to the character's established voice and the gentle, hopeful tone the series has always leaned on.
Booher and Zucker return as the core creative team, with Vittorio Astone on colors and AndWorld Design handling letters, the same creative pairing responsible for the character's earlier acclaim.
Issue #1 ships with covers from Zucker and Astone alongside Duncan Fegredo, Mr. Oz, and a collectible vintage-pulp incentive cover from Lukas Ketner, giving the launch a wider variant lineup than a typical creator-owned debut.
Dark Horse is positioning The Clockwork Chronicles as an ongoing series rather than another fixed-length arc, a meaningful shift from how Canto's earlier IDW-era stories were structured.
For collectors, that distinction matters the same way it does for any franchise moving from miniseries to ongoing format: a first issue of a continuing series tends to carry different long-term demand than a chapter everyone knows will wrap in a handful of issues.
Readers unfamiliar with the character's IDW-era run do not need to track down the earlier miniseries before picking up issue #1, since The Clockwork Chronicles is written to stand on its own as an entry point.
That said, collectors interested in the character's full publication history may still want to track down the original Canto and Canto II miniseries separately, since they remain the foundation the new ongoing builds from.
A new ongoing is also a good moment to start a dedicated longbox section rather than mixing it in with unrelated titles, and a rigid current-age backer board behind each issue keeps that new longbox section flat and easy to flip through as it grows.
Dark Horse's November 2026 slate leans heavily on ongoing titles rather than fixed-length minis, a pattern that extends beyond Canto into other launches that same month.
Betting on an ongoing format for a creator-owned property like Canto signals real confidence in the book's audience, since an ongoing requires sustained monthly sales to stay viable in a way a four or five-issue miniseries does not.
For collectors, that confidence is itself a signal worth noting, since a publisher rarely commits a creator-owned character to open-ended monthly production without real evidence that the existing fanbase will support it over the long term, issue after issue.
November 18, 2026.
David M. Booher and Drew Zucker, the character's original creators.
No, the new ongoing is written to stand on its own as an entry point.
IDW Publishing in 2019, before the character moved over to Dark Horse in 2024.
Starting a brand-new ongoing is the right time to start a dedicated section for it, with a current-age comic bag ready for issue #1 and every chapter after it.
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