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.
§ Cleveland, Ohio, has honored Superman’s creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, as well as Jerry’s wife Joanne Siegel, with a new plaza at the city’s Huntington Convention Center. The installation, commissioned by the Siegel & Shuster Society, and designed by David Deming, features bronze statues of the Siegels and Shuster, looking up at a stainless steel Superman as he flies out of a phone booth. Cleveland was the hometown of the three, and where they created the Last Son of Krypton. You can see more of the statues’ unveiling on Saturday, August 2, at Cleveland.com, and donate to the Society to help cover the cost of installing them.
§ In movie rerelease news, Tim Burton‘s Batman and Batman Returns are heading back to theaters for one night only in Dolby Cinema at AMC Theatres, on Monday, August 25. The event commemorates how Returns was the first feature film screened in Dolby Digital. Meanwhile, Lucasfilm announced Star Wars: A New Hope will mark its 50th anniversary by returning to theaters in time for Tuesday, May 4, 2027; more details will be announced closer to the time of release.
§ A new, unidentified variant of Venom, decked out in Spider-Man’s colors, will be introduced in November’s Battleworld #3. The new version, created by writer Jordan Morris (Youth Group) and artist Luciano Vecchio, will then star in a back-up by Morris and Jesús Saíz in December’s Venom #252; it was also announced Venom #252 will feature a story by Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz, who introduced the symbiote suit in 1984’s Amazing Spider-Man #252. Battleworld, a five-issue follow-up by Christos Gage and Marcus To to the 1984 Secret Wars (where Spidey got the suit) and 2015’s sequel, will begin in the meantime on September 24.
§ The Marvel Multiverse Role-Playing Game will receive a one-shot adventure based on Marvel Rivals in March, titled Marvel Rivals: Timestream Adventure. Written by Paul Allor and Marty Forbeck, the expansion will see players take on the role(s) of Psylocke, Emma Frost, Jeff the Land Shark, and more after they are captured by the Collector. It will also include a 10-page prequel comic, written by Allor with art by Ig Guara. In the meantime, the tabletop game’s next sourcebook, the Avengers Expansion, will be released on September 17.
§ Via Comic Watch, Papercutz announced a new installment of Damián and Àlex Fuentes‘s Lost in the Future, Lost in the Future 3: Save the Planet. Due out January 20, 2026, the latest entry in the middle-grade graphic novel series finds the young, time-traveling protagonists now in the near future, where an uprising against greedy energy companies is transpiring. You can preorder the book here. The first Lost in the Future was published in English in 2024, and the second followed suit in May.
§ In distribution news, Rebellion titles like 2000 AD are now available to order via Lunar Distribution. Retailers now have until September 1 to order October’s releases. Meanwhile, Diamond Distributors UK is set to be spun off into its own company, owned by its current management team. The decision will go forward based on the approval of a United States bankruptcy court. For the latest on Diamond’s bankruptcy and (mostly) sale to Ad Populum, head here.
§ Finally, Sailor Moon: The Super Live, the latest stage musical of the series, will be streamed on the franchise’s official YouTube channel this weekend (August 8-10). Super Live, performed in Japanese with English subtitles, was staged in the US and UK earlier this year, and retells the story of the original “Dark Kingdom” arc from the anime and manga by Naoko Takeuchi. It originally debuted in Japan in 2018, and was performed in the US the following year (making it the first American Sera Myu production as a result), although this version has significantly more dialogue and lyrics than the original.
