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.
§ Ether creators Matt Kindt and David Rubín will reunite at Dark Horse for satirical sci-fi adventure Space Scouts. A three-part series, the comic follows a girl competing in an intergalactic reality show to be crowned the next Space Scout. Unfortunately, she discovers “what [seems like] a teenage drama turns into a deadly war at the edge of the universe, as the ‘winning’ recruits are sent into a clandestine, interminable battle that they most likely won’t survive.” Each issue will be oversized, with issue #1 retailing for $7.99 when it releases on November 5.
Additionally, Dark Horse announced Devil on My Shoulder, a dark, four-part horror series by Kyle Starks and Piotr Kowalski, also debuting November 5. The book follows a woman seeking revenge on five men who tortured her for 40 days and left her for dead — “an event that takes her on a strange and violent supernatural path of payback through bizarre encounters with ex-hitmen, sadistic art enthusiasts, and literal devils.” It marks Starks’s third collaboration with Kowalski, after both volumes of Where Monsters Lie.
§ Image had several announcements, including two new series for October: The Author Immortal, an ongoing, metafictional fantasy tale by writer Frank J. Barbiere and Morgan Beem, and Hector Plasm: Hunt the Bigfoot, a three-parter by Benito Cereno and Derek Hunter, starring the monster hunter Cereno originally created for Invincible‘s back-ups with Nate Bellegarde. They also revealed Rob Liefeld‘s previously announced Youngblood relaunch, which he’ll write and draw, will launch on November 5.
Additionally, Good Devils: Don’t Play Fair with Evil, a special collecting three past collaborations from various other titles by David Brothers and Nick Dragotta, will be released on October 1; a superhero-themed Super Creepshow Special will arrive on October 8; and Medieval Spawn will crossover into the Massive-Verse’s Rogue Sun #30 (by Ryan Parrott, Nick Cotton, and Abel) on October 22.
§ Dynamite will relaunch The Terminator as The Terminator: Metal in October. Writer Declan Shalvey and artist Lorenzo Re will be joined by co-writer Rory McConville (Time Before Time) on the new series, which will continue the previous volume’s approach of standalone stories exploring the Terminator universe, albeit now focusing on the Future War instead of time-travel incidents. It marks Dynamite’s second new Terminator title since regaining the rights last year, and Shalvey’s second as writer. Shalvey’s first Terminator series will wrap up in the meantime with issue #9 on July 30.
§ BOOM! Studios revealed the first Halloween specials for two series. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Halloween Special, out October 22, will feature stories by Sina Grace, Meghan Camarena, Danny Lore, Nick Marino, Zachary Sterling, Jodi Nishijima, and Arielle Jovellanos, including a framing device where villains capture a schoolbus with some of the Rangers onboard, meaning they “must swap scary stories from their most harrowing missions to keep hope alive.” The second, Hello Halloween (also out Oct. 22), is for horror anthology Hello Darkness, and will feature a new Graveyard Club story by R.L. Stine and Carola Borelli, a new installment of Robert Hack‘s “I Can’t Take You Anywhere,” and more by Megan Hutchison, Shawn Patrick Boyd, and Elijah Henry.
§ Mad Cave unveiled a Halloween special of their own, the Dick Tracy Halloween Special, out October 29. Written by Alex Segura and Michael Moreci with creative consultant Chantelle Aimée Osman, and featuring art by Craig Cermak, the comic will find Tracy, Pat, Sam, and Tess on the trail of a killer, as other villains reemerge; it will also introduce Mad Cave’s version of the Kid from the movie. It marks Segura and Moreci’s second collaboration with Osman (a true crime editor) and Cermak on the series, following this year’s Dick Tracy Valentine’s Day Special.
Furthermore, Mad Cave revealed Gunpowder Prophets, a ’70s-inspired action horror series by Justin Jordan and Patrick Piazzalunga, starting October 1. The five-part comic follows a pair of monster fighters, as they embark on a mission to rescue a little girl from a cult. The publisher also announced their quarterly anthology series Speed Racer: Tales from the Road will begin on October 22, with a Racer X story written by Mark London (in his licensed comics debut) & David Pepose, and drawn by Sebastián Píriz. Mad Cave’s main Speed Racer series, by Pepose and Davide Tinto, will begin beforehand on July 30, while Racer X will also star in a solo series by Mark Russell & Nuno Plati, starting September 10.
§ Marvel marked Disability Pride Month with a two-part story in Avengers Academy: Marvel’s Voices Infinity Comic, by writer Elsa Sjunneson (Jessica Jones: Playing with Fire) and artist Alti Firmansyah (X-Men ’92). The comic sees Rogue, Daredevil, Hawkeye, Silhouette, and more disabled heroes band together with a group of teens fighting Roxxon. It marks the third comic by Sjunneson, a deafblind Hugo-winning writer, editor, and and public speaker, after 2021’s Women of Marvel special, and 2023’s Daredevil #8. Part one (issue #51 of the series) is available now on Marvel Unlimited, and part two will follow tomorrow Wednesday.
§ 20th Century Studios released a second trailer for Predator: Badlands (out in theaters November 7), emphasizing the Alien vs. Predator connection:
§ In DC Studios news, Deadline reports Ana Nogueira, who penned the upcoming Supergirl and Teen Titans films, is writing the Wonder Woman reboot. Meanwhile, James Gunn disclosed on the Happy Sad Confused podcast that Luca Guadagnino will no longer direct the Sgt. Rock movie. Guadagnino was set to roll cameras on the WWII adventure, starring Colin Farrell, next month, until script and location issues caused filming to be pushed back to next year. Regardless, Gunn expressed hope the movie will still happen in the near future. You can watch the full, 52-min interview below:
§ Ahead of The Fantastic Four: First Steps‘s release this Friday, Kevin Feige conducted a roundtable interview with several outlets, discussing everything from audience misapprehension over the MCU feeling like homework (including praising Gunn’s Superman for “just jump[ing] right into it”), bigotry towards more diverse casting, bringing down budgets, the future of the many characters introduced after Avengers: Endgame who’ve not returned yet, and potentially scaling back to one live-action show a year. You can read a long overview of the discussion at Variety, and click the following links for his specific thoughts on the future of the Blade reboot, and recasting the X-Men (as well as more characters).
§ THR reports the leads of the Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me movie have been cast. Sam Morelos (That ’90s Show) will play protagonist Freddie Riley, while Ava Phillippe (Doctor Odyssey, also known for being the daughter of Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe) will play Laura, the girl she’s in a toxic relationship with. It is unclear when the picture, directed by Tommy Dorfman (13 Reasons Why) and based on the graphic novel by Mariko Tamaki & Rosemary Valero-O’Connell, will begin filming.
§ Finally, via LinkedIn, SKTCHD and Off Panel creator David Harper shared he was laid off from his day job last week. “It’s unfortunately timed, as I am still paying off bills and dealing with the ramifications of a recent heart attack and other heart related things,” he says. “Because of that, I’m doing a big sale + push on the work I do […] to help offset that and keep what I’m doing going.” You can find out more details on the deals at the link. In the meantime, we wish Harper all the best.
