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.
§ A teaser trailer for Ditko: A Documentary, directed by Zack Kruse (author of Mysterious Travelers: Steve Ditko and the Search for a New Liberal Identity), was released. Made in cooperation with Steve Ditko‘s family, the film features never-before-seen photographs and home movies of the reclusive Spider-Man co-creator, plus personal work documents, and some of his musings on philosophy and creativity. There’s currently no word on the film’s release date or a distributor, but in the meantime, you can watch the trailer above, and visit the official website.
§ Via ICv2, IDW Publishing announced Godzilla vs. Los Angeles has raised $40,000 in funds for the Binc Foundation, who’ll donate the money to comic book stores and bookstores affected by the Southern California wildfires at the start of the year. IDW declared all proceeds from the book would be donated to Binc earlier this year, saying “Godzilla has always been a symbol of unstoppable force, and today, we’re channeling that energy into something positive.” Godzilla vs. Los Angeles, which marks the second issue in the miniseries Godzilla vs. America, was released on April 30, and features stories by Gabriel Hardman, Jordan Morris & Nicole Goux, Dave Baker, and J. Gonzo.
§ The Wall Street Journal ran an article on the current state of Marvel Studios. While aimed at readers who missed events like Brad Winderbaum moving the Disney+ projects towards more standalone stories, the piece features interesting claims, like Kevin Feige struggling to provide timely feedback for many projects because of the increased number of them every year, and internal concerns that the MCU was becoming impenetrable to newcomers, with Feige himself purportedly opining catching up had begun to feel like homework. The studio’s latest movie, Thunderbolts*, has become its most well-reviewed since Spider-Man: No Way Home, and opened with a comfortable $162.1 mil worldwide.
§ Speaking of Thunderbolts*, the studio is going public with what the title’s mysterious asterisk means, inviting the cast and director Jake Schreier to unveil a new version of the film’s poster. Because the film has not even been out for a week yet, we will not be saying what that asterisk means here, but if you do know or don’t mind finding out, you can head to Marvel.com to see the new poster, and videos and photos of the cast (sadly embedded on X) revealing the true title. Thunderbolts* (no, we’re still not sharing what that means in a footnote) is currently playing at a theater near you.
§ Via Variety, Stan Lee‘s daughter, J.C. Lee, has settled a lawsuit against her father’s former longtime manager Max “Mac” Anderson. Lee filed the lawsuit against Anderson in 2019 (the year after he was fired, and her father died), accusing him of siphoning millions from Stan’s revenue from convention appearances and autographs, as well as stealing and storing items the writer owned at a comic book store he co-owns in Fullerton, California. The terms of the settlement were not disclosed; had that not been the case, the trial would’ve begun yesterday in Santa Monica. Anderson had previously pled guilty to committing tax fraud while selling memorabilia signed by Stan earlier this year.
§ Finally, Worldcon organizers have apologized after it emerged they used ChatGPT to vet applications for panelists. They initially explained the decision was made to save time, with “the sole purpose” being “using the LLM was to streamline the online search process used for program participant vetting, and rather than being accepted uncritically, the outputs were carefully analyzed by multiple members of our team for accuracy.”
The subsequent apology states they “regret releasing a statement that did not address the concerns of our community,” describing it as “incomplete, flawed, and miss[ing] the most crucial points,” and adds they will “develop a comprehensive response and fuller apology,” that should be released by next Thursday. The next Worldcon, and this year’s Hugo Awards, will be held in Seattle during the week of August 13–17, 2025.
