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.
§ Dynamite revealed several new titles for September, in addition to their Firefly reboot, and ThunderCats: Cheetara. These include The Nightmare Before Christmas: The Hour of the Pumpkin Queen, a graphic novel by Amanda Deibert, Alessio Petillo, and Sandra María Perea, based on Megan Shepherd‘s Sally-centric prose sequel of the same name; and Yours Cruelly, Becoming Elvira, a graphic novelization of Cassandra Peterson‘s autobiography, by David Avallone and Mariano Benitez-Chapo.
Other titles consist of Space Ghost vs. The Herculoids, a miniseries pitting the two Hanna-Barbera properties against each other by David Pepose and Jonathan Lau; Erica Schultz and Valentina Pinti‘s previously announced special Vampirella x Witchblade; and Supernatural: Wayward, a one-shot by Paulina Ganucheau and John Amor. For more, read the PDF catalog.
§ Popverse shares PUG-W will release Marvel Artist Archive: Jim Lee, an oversized, 300-page hardcover book showcasing the artist’s work for the House of Ideas. The book is being written by Stuart Moore, and will feature interviews in addition to Lee’s art for X-Men, Punisher, Fantastic Four, and more. Pre-orders will go live on Kickstarter on July 14, and you can sign up to be notified at the link, as well as to get a free copy of 1991’s X-Men #1 (“remastered in Pan-Dimensional 3D”).
§ Dark Horse unveiled Cyberpunk 2077: Jayk’s Case, a four-issue murder mystery by Jordan Thomas (Skin Police) and Nicola Izzo (Buffy: The Last Vampire Slayer), starting October 21. The book will follow a P.I. tasking with finding and helping the killer of a high-ranking corpo flee Night City. “Embroiled in a network of Militech agents, he’ll need to find the killer before they do, but what truth are they trying to silence?” Dark Horse’s latest series based on the hit sci-fi game, Chrome, will wrap up beforehand with issue #4 on July 15.
§ Amazon confirmed The Ghost in the Shell, the new anime series based on Masamune Shirow‘s original manga, will premiere worldwide on Prime Video on Tuesday, July 7. Each episode will become available every week at 23:30 Japan Standard Time (9:30 ET). In the meantime, you can watch the new trailer above, though be aware that is there is no English captioning for the video. The show is produced by Science Saru (Scott Pilgrim Takes Off), and retells the story of Major Motoko Kusanagi, a cybernetic law enforcement officer with a “full-body prosthesis”.
§ Deadline reports Dan Trachtenberg (Predator: Killer of Killers, Badlands) will direct an animated film version of Freddy the 13th for Paramount. A self-published comic by Yehudi Mercado, Freddy the 13th follows a man babysitting his niece and nephew, who becomes afflicted with a curse that’ll turn him permanently into a slasher movie villain, unless he finds a way to undo it in 13 days. Mercado will co-direct the feature, which is aiming for a PG rating.
§ Mad Cave will rerelease Sunder as a series this fall. Originally published last year, Sunder is a fantasy graphic novel about talking animals by Pierre-Alexandre Comtois, that tells the story of Zeek, a goat-like orphan living in a monastery on another world. He is never allowed out, “until one day, when a magical book appears in the library and attaches itself to him.” Issue #1 will be released with variant covers by Daniele Serra and Christian Ward on September 30.
§ Finally, Paul Allor announced they will be going by Pallie Paul Allor in future. The writer, who came out as non-binary in 2021, says, “You can call me Pallie or Pal (or Paul… but why?). Some credits will still say Paul Allor for a while, and that’s okay. Pallie is a very old-fashioned feminine name, often used — at its height in the 19th century — as short for Paloma or Paulina, as well as being its own name. So having Pallie and Paul next to each other fits my non-binary nature nicely, I think. And I try to be everyone’s pal, to boot.” Nice to meet you Pallie!
