The front page probably does not have the needed data available.
You could check what data the issue handler is sending to the archive template here: https://github.com/pkp/ojs/blob/master/pages/issue/IssueHandler.inc.php#L119
And then follow the instructions here and send that data to the frontpage template: https://pkp.gitbooks.io/pkp-theming-guide/content/en/advanced-custom-data.html