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.
§ Ignition Press has announced their launch titles will include Arcadia, a post-apocalyptic sci-fi series by Roy and Inaki Miranda (We Live). Set in a world where humans have disappeared, the series follows the adventures of one of the new lifeforms that have emerged in our wake. A Cold Open issue #0 will be crowdfunded on Kickstarter in August, and you can sign up to be notified of when it launches here.
Meanwhile, Ignition revealed writer Tim Seeley and artist Stefano Simeone will collaborate at the new publisher on No Place, a horror series described as being equal parts inspired by The Wizard of Oz and the Cthulhu Mythos. The comic follows a teenager from Chicago, who returns home after several years adventuring in a magical jungle world, only to face a hostile and skeptical reunion. That’s when a secret organization reaches out, asking for her help saving our world.
Furthermore, Ignition will publish a new arc of The Beauty. Creators Jeremy Haun (who is Ignition’s creative director) and Jason A. Hurley will be joined by Ema Lupacchino for the new arc of the horror series, which originally ran at Image from 2015 to 2021. The first volume of a three-part reprint of the previous issues will be released in time for Local Comic Shop Day on September 27. Readers attending San Diego Comic-Con will be able to obtain Cold Open #0s for No Place and The Beauty at the Ignition Press Room in the Gaslamp District (643 G Street), as well as merchandise for every Ignition series announced so far.
§ BOOM! Studios will publish Mary Sue, a supernatural tale by writer Meghan Fitzmartin (Tim Drake: Robin) and artist Lisa Sterle (Witchblood). The book, which marks Fitzmartin’s first creator-owned comic, follows a teenage writer, who is humiliated at school when her former best friend reads some of her fan fiction out loud. “Cassie thinks things can’t get anymore humiliating, until her very own Mary Sue pops right out of her fan fic to save the day — or make it much, much worse.” Paulina Ganucheau and Tula Lotay will provide variant cover art for the series, which starts October 1.
§ In other BOOM! news, Prime Video released the trailer for Butterfly, the six-part espionage series based on the publisher’s comic by Arash Amel, Marguerite Bennett, Antonio Fuso, and Stefano Simeone, releasing Wednesday, August 13. Executive produced by and starring Daniel Dae Kim, alongside Reina Hardesty and Piper Perabo, follows an unexpected reunion between a retired American spy living in South Korea, and his daughter.
§ Via Boing Boing, AHOY will release Thanksgiving, a one-shot horror comedy by Mark Russell and Alain Mauricet (Howl). Releasing October 22, the 48-page comic sees a dysfunctional family’s gathering get interrupted by a killer called Turkeyneck. Mauricet will provide three covers: the main cover, a “Blood for Dinner” variant, and a “Turkey Death” cover.
§ On his blog, Si Spurrier confirmed September’s The Flash #25 will be his final issue. Spurrier relaunched the series with Mike Deodato Jr. in 2023, with what he describes as an aim towards “unexpected, unconventional stories in narrative terrains utterly different from the usual, well-trodden suburb of Standard Spandexery.” The 25th issue, drawn by Vasco Georgiev, will mark the final part of the “Bad Moon Rising” arc, where the Flash Family has been battling Eclipso and his plot to weaponize the Moon. It will be released on September 24.
§ James Gunn‘s Superman opened this weekend with $125 million domestically, which combined with $95 million overseas, gave the movie a global start of $220 million. It marks the biggest opening weekend of all time for a Superman film, plus the second biggest of Gunn’s career (after Guardians Vol. 2), and the third biggest for a movie this year, after A Minecraft Movie and the Lilo & Stitch remake. Gunn thanked fans on Threads, while commenting that the film “resonates so powerfully with so many people across the world is in itself a hopeful testament to the kindness and quality of human beings.”
In the meantime, The Wall Street Journal published an overview of what’s ahead for DC Studios, revealing Gunn is mulling TV spin-offs for the scene-stealing Mr. Terrific (Edi Gathegi) and Jimmy Olsen (Skyler Gisondo), as well as an eventual Justice League reboot. More dispiritingly, the article claims Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav killed the Black Superman project that was in development from Ta-Nehisi Coates and J.J. Abrams, because he deemed it “too woke”; however, sources say Gunn and Peter Safran could still greenlight the film in future.
§ Speaking of green lights, Nathan Fillion confirmed HBO’s Lanterns will be TV-MA, telling Entertainment Weekly, “I’ve dropped more F-bombs in that project than I have in, I think, my entire career put together.” Fillion will reprise the role of Green Lantern Guy Gardner beforehand in the similarly mature Peacemaker season two (premiering on HBO Max on Thursday, August 21), before appearing on Lanterns (starring Kyle Chandler and Aaron Pierre as Hal Jordan and John Stewart) next year.
