Carlos Morales
Maverick, the beloved young adult imprint of Mad Cave Studios, levels up with BEAT EVERY 1-UP, the heart-on-its-sleeve graphic novel from writer Lan Pitts (WWE, Beast Heart! Strikers) and artist Joe Hunter (Lower Your Sights). With letters by Frank Cvetkovic (The Airless Year), this 184-page beat-em-up rom-com invites readers to press start on a riotously queer adventure about self-discovery, friendship, and most of all, first love.
Listen up! This is the fisticuff-filled tale of Princess Helia of Terrager! A natural-born fighter since childhood, Helia must head out into the wider world when her soon-to-be-husband is groom-napped on their wedding day by the atrocious ape and would-be world conqueror, Gogo. But what does a sheltered princess know of the other realms? Turns out, not a whole lot.
Luckily, Helia is joined by her (only) friend and bodyguard, the ice witch Sidra. Together, the pair will brave the deserts of Flaterra, the blizzards of Frosterra…uh, you get the idea…until they’ve rescued the wayward prince, thwarted Gogo, and punched every henchman they can find. And maybe, by the end of their journey, Helia and Sidra will realize their connection goes beyond mere friendship…
“If Beat Every 1-Up had dropped when I was a kid, it would’ve rewired my brain,” said Lan Pitts. “I would’ve drawn these characters in the margins of every notebook and tried to recreate the fight scenes in my backyard. It’s fists, feels, and first love—the kind of story I didn’t know I needed back then, and the one I’m proud to help bring into the world now.”
“I’m extremely proud to be working with Lan on a book that is both funny and bursting with queerness,” said Joe Hunter. “Young readers deserve to see themselves in characters like Helia and Sidra, and I can’t wait for them to learn what it means to embrace the things you love (and that compulsory heteronormativity is a prison)!”
If you love Scott Pilgrim, Chef’s Kiss, or Everyday Hero Machine Boy, this one’s for you. Part She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, part Double Dragon, and 100 percent heart, Beat Every 1-Up mixes magical-girl aesthetics with video-game-style storytelling and a glitchy sense of humor for fans of arcade cabinets, fighting games, and queer rom-coms alike.
Beat Every 1-Up is available wherever books are sold on March 17, 2026, and in comic shops on March 18, 2026. Preorders are available now through comic shops, bookstores, digital retailers, and directly from Maverick!
