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.
(NB: an editorial on Paramount’s apparent victory in the bidding war for Warner Bros. will be published shortly.)
§ Dark Horse will release The Black Beetle Omnibus, a collection of Francesco Francavilla‘s throwback superhero series, on Tuesday, September 22. The Black Beetle follows the titular hero of Colt City, whose adventures include battling Nazis for magic artifacts in the Middle East and on his home turf. It originally debuted in the pages of Dark Horse Presents in 2012, before receiving its own series in 2013, and another DHP serial in 2016. The paperback book will feature a new cover by Francavilla, as well as concept art, character studies, lobby card-inspired promotional art, and more behind-the-scenes material from Francavilla’s sketchbook.
§ Drawn & Quarterly posted their Fall 2026 catalog (note: PDF link), which lists new books by Chris Ware and Keum Suk Gendry-Kim, among others. One of the books scheduled is I Can’t Stop Thinking About Horses and Sex, a collection of short comics by Lisa Hanawalt (Tuca & Bertie, BoJack Horseman). Out October 20, it is an “honest, silly, horny, and vulnerable” series of relections from “a horse girl, now in her forties and reflecting back on a lifetime of obsessions,” featuring many of Hanawalt’s signature talking animals. For more, click the links.
§ Via THR, Szymon Kudrański will co-produce a film based on his Image Comics series No Man’s Land. The book, which was published last year, is set in 1963, and follows an FBI and KGB agent being forced to work together after a woman’s body is discovered on the islands marking the border between the US and the USSR. Other producers involved are Jason Berman (Highest 2 Lowest), and Kudrański’s producing partner Jon Levin (Marshall). In the meantime, the trade paperback of the comic will be released on April 22.
§ Deadline reports Judd Winick‘s children’s graphic novel series Hilo is getting the animated movie treatment. The books, which debuted in 2015 and currently consists of eleven books, revolves around two kids who befriend a superpowered alien boy. Mediawan Kids & Family (Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood) and Sinking Ship Entertainment (Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie) will produce the movie, which does not have a writer or director attached yet.
§ HBO Max has acquired the rights to the live-action Japanese TV show Song of the Samurai. Based on the 2010-2023 manga Chiruran: Shinsengumi Requiem (by Shinya Umemura and Eiji Hashimoto), the series follows a street fighter who joins the Shinsengumi (the secret police) in Kyoto at the end of the Edo period (during the 1860s.) It will be released on the streamer on Saturday, May 9.
§ Limited Run Games revealed He-Man and the Masters of the Universe: Dragon Pearl of Destruction will be released digitally on the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and PC on Tuesday, April 28 (aka MOTU Day.) The retro, co-op beat-em-up game, developed by Bitmap Bureau (Terminator 2D: No Fate), allows gamers to play as He-Man, Man-At-Arms, and Teela, as well as She-Ra on future playthroughs.
§ In more video game news, Alopex has been added to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate in a new, paid DLC. She is the first playable female character for the game, which debuted on mobile platforms in 2023, and released on PC and consoles over the next two years. Alopex, who is a mutant arctic fox, was created by Kevin Eastman, Brian Lynch & Franco Urru, and first appeared in the 2011 comic TMNT: Micro-Series – Raphael.
§ Robert Downey Jr. has been appointed the godfather of Disney’s newest cruise ship, the Disney Adventure, meaning he’ll christen it when it embarks on its maiden voyage. The ship will feature several attractions from Downey’s stamping ground Marvel, including Tony Stark’s Ironcycle Test Run (the first roller coaster on any Disney cruise liner), the live stunt show Avengers Assemble!, and a W.E.B. Workshop. It will set sail for the first time from Singapore next month.
§ Finally, THR published a new interview with Andor creator Tony Gilroy, providing the chance to say what “he couldn’t during its release.” In it, he discusses how he worked with Disney’s request to avoid the terms “fascism” and “genocide” while promoting the show, and dismisses rumors Dave Filoni disliked it, saying, “It has never been anything but cordial and pleasant, ever, ever, ever, ever [between other filmmakers at Lucasfilm]. I don’t know anything that you don’t know. I really don’t.” Both seasons of Andor, which ran from 2022 to 2025, are available now on Disney+.
