Welcome back to The Beat Digest, a twice-weekly round-up of the biggest comics-related news stories we’ve missed every Tuesday and Friday. Is there a story out there you think we should cover? Be sure to let us know in the comments.
§ BOOM! Studios are launching a Kickstarter today for Hellraiser: Leviathan’s Vault, a hardcover collection of the publisher’s out-of-print comics based on the horror series. Timed to coincide with the 40th anniversary of The Hellbound Heart, the novella by Clive Barker that formed the basis for the films, the rerelease will collect all five of the Hellraiser comics BOOM! released from 2011 to 2015, as well as select stories from Marvel’s Epic Comics imprint (which published the comics from 1989 to 1994.) The Hellraiser films, which center around the demonic priest known as Pinhead, debuted in 1987, and spawned nine sequels and a reboot, as well as other comics and prose releases. A video game, Hellraiser: Revival, is set to be released sometime this year.
§ Speaking of Kickstarter, pre-orders for the Weird Tales graphic novel went live yesterday, and it has already exceeded its $1923 goal with well over $45,000 at the time of writing. Published by Monstrous Books, the anthology marks the first graphic novel for the legendary pulp magazine (which debuted in 1923), and features original stories, as well as ones based on classic Weird Tales contributions by the likes of Ray Bradbury, Robert E. Howard, and H.P. Lovecraft. Contributors include Jonathan Maberry (the magazine’s editor), Steve Niles, Rodney Barnes, Blake Northcott, Nancy A. Collins, Robert Hack, and David Avallone (the latter two of whom’s contribution you can learn more about here.) It is expected to ship in December.
§ Animation World Network reports Oni Press will release Murder Drones: Home, a 40-page special by series writer Wyatt Kennedy, and guest artist Soo Lee. The comic will adapt the fifth episode of the cartoon, “Home,” which revealed how the disassembly drones became the titular monsters plaguing the worker bots on Copper 9. It will be released on May 13, after the third issue of the main, six-part series by Kennedy and Jo Mi-Gyeong, which will begin in the meantime next week on February 25. It will have three covers, respectively provided by main series cover artist Alessio Zonno, Mi-Gyeong, and Lee.
§ Via TVLine, the series finale of Good Omens will be released on Prime Video on Wednesday, May 13. The episode was originally intended as a full season, before the allegations of sexual misconduct about co-creator and showrunner Neil Gaiman led to his departure, and the scripts were truncated into a 90-minute special. The show, based on the novel by Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, premiered in 2019 before returning for a second season in 2023, and stars Michael Sheen and David Tennant as the angel Aziraphale and the demon Crowley, who’ll finally have to confront the end of the world in the finale.
§ In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter to promote the newly released GOAT, Sony Pictures Animation presidents Kristine Belson and Damien de Froberville revealed cinematographer Alice Brooks (Wicked, In the Heights) has been brought on board Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse. “She’s been directing camera in a way that we hadn’t done on Spider-Verse before,” they say. The movie is now in production for a release on June 18, 2027. The pair also indicated reports that the KPop Demon Hunters sequel will be released in 2029 may’ve been premature, while saying directors Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans will give it its full attention once awards season is over.
§ Speaking of Sony Animation, Variety reports Matt Braly (Amphibia, Family Force V) and Rebecca Sugar had a movie in the works from the studio from 2023 to 2025, that was canceled after it was not deemed commercial enough. Braly shared the untitled film was a semi-autobiographical story about a boy “traveling to the world of Thai spirits, in order to cure himself just before undergoing a very scary & life altering operation necessary to live.” He responded to “kind messages” he received about it by revealing his next project, an independent animated series called Clara and the Below, that he described as a gothic horror take on The Nutcracker. It will begin crowdfunding on Kickstarter on Friday, March 13.
§ In more news about canceled animation projects, Variety also reports Terminator Zero was officially terminated (sorry) by Netflix after one season. Creator Mattson Tomlin confirmed the news on X, saying “at the end of the day not nearly enough people watched it.” The anime series premiered on the streamer during the 40th anniversary of the original movie in 2024. Tomlin, who elaborated he plotted out five seasons, said, “The series finale was special and it was part of my pitch to get the job. I’ve written all of the season two scripts and outlined pretty much all of season three… Maybe I will return to that world in a different form.”
§ Finally, Cord Cutters News shares Tubi has announced a host of classic Warner Bros. cartoons are coming to the ad-based streamer in March. They include many DC series, like The Batman, The Brave and the Bold, Beware the Batman, Justice League, Justice League Action, Krypto the Superdog, Legion of Super Heroes, Static Shock!, Super Friends, and Teen Titans, as well as various Looney Tunes, Hanna-Barbera, and Cartoon Network shows. The full list of arrivals also has some more random and forgotten gems, like the 1967 Aquaman cartoon, 1968’s Adventures of Batman, 1979’s Plastic Man Comedy Adventure Show, 1980’s The Heathcliff and Dingbat Show, and 1995’s animated series of The Mask.
