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.
§ Following recent AI-related convention incidents, GalaxyCon has announced a sweeping ban of “all AI-generated art from its shows, effective immediately.” Mike Broder, founder and President of GalaxyCon, says they have “a long, proud history of supporting artists and their creativity, and we will continue to do so as the fight against unethical AI continues.” GalaxyCon organizes multiple conventions in the States, including the anime-themed Animate! Raleigh.
§ NetEase Games revealed Marvel Rivals season four, Heart of the Dragon, will begin on Friday, September 12. The new season will add Iron Fist’s homeland, K’un-Lun: Heart of Heaven, as a map, and Angela as a playable character, as well as Daredevil in later weeks, reimagined here as the ruler of the Eighth Heavenly City, Dizang, “who sacrificed everything in the war between gods and demons to cleanse the souls of the lost and give humanity a fighting chance.” For more additions, head to the full press release.
In other assorted Marvel news, the publisher released Avengers: The Only Certainty is Change, a free motion comic created in collaboration with NordVPN, featuring the Super-Adaptoid; Godzilla Destroys the Marvel Universe #1 dropped ahead of schedule on Unlimited, just in time for an interview with writer Gerry Duggan on The Official Marvel Podcast; and hot on the heels of the first trailer for the show (premiering September 24), ten Marvel Zombies variant covers were revealed for October.
§ Tatsuki Fujimoto 17-26, an anime anthology based on the Chainsaw Man and Look Back creator’s other manga, will premiere on Prime Video on Friday, November 7. As the title implies, the series features eight stories based on comics Fujimoto created between the ages of 17 and 26, which were previously showcased in the series Tatsuki Fujimoto Short Stories. It will arrive shortly after the release of Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc, due out in theaters in the United States on October 29. You can watch a trailer (without English subtitles) below:
§ Dark Horse will publish the Webtoon series Trailer Park Warlock in print next year. The comic, by Matthew J. Rainwater (Plants vs. Zombies, Garage Raja), follows “working-class warlock” Jake Baker as he carries out various odd jobs that require the use of his magic powers. Vol. 1, collecting the first 26 (of 154) when the 360-page (6.625×10.1875”) chapters, will be released in paperback in bookstores and comics shops respectively on April 7 and 8, 2026.
§ Via Popverse, Papercutz will release The Sword in the Stone: Arthur’s Magical Kingdom, a sequel to the 1963 Disney film (based in turn on the T.H. White novel), written by Michael Snow & Gabriel Valentin (Digital Lizards of Doom) with art by Lorenzo Colangeli (Becstar). Due out January 27, 2026, the book follows the newly crowned King Arthur and Merlin as they contend with the return of the witch Madam Mim, her “new and powerful allies,” and “an evil spell [that] threatens to rewrite history and destroy Camelot as we know it.”
§ Image will release Spawn: Greg Capullo Vault Edition, a deluxe compilation of the artist’s Spawn pencils in comics shops on January 7, and bookstores on January 20. It will feature interiors and covers from Spawn #16-20, issues #35-37, #39, and #50 (1993-96). For more press releases from Image this week (showcasing much of what you may’ve missed from solicits), click here.
§ C21Media reports the production arm of legendary Canadian animation company Nelvana has been shut down by its parent company, Corus Entertainment. A spokesperson said, “While we have paused new studio productions at this time, Nelvana will continue, focusing on distribution, merchandising and managing existing properties.” Founded in 1971, Nelvana’s TV series included Star Wars: Ewoks and Droids, The Adventures of Tintin, Rupert, Tales from the Cryptkeeper, Wild C.A.T.s, and countless more.
§ “The Dead Dance,” Lady Gaga‘s original song for Wednesday, is out now, complete with a video helmed by series director Tim Burton. Both parts of Wednesday season two, featuring Gaga as Rosaline Rotwood, are available now on Netflix.
§ Finally, legendary fashion designer Giorgio Armani died on Thursday, September 4. He was 91 years old. Famed for his namesake fashion and leisure empire, which he co-founded in 1975, the Milan-based Armani also worked as a costume designer on films as varied as Goodfellas, and Christopher Nolan‘s latter two Dark Knight films, which you can read a 2012 Vogue article for a statement from him about. He is survived by a sister, and three niblings, including former actress Roberta Armani, who was considered his heir apparent.
As someone who is taking a pragmatic approach to AI and how it has changed my workflows, these banning of AI at events like these seem like they will age like milk.
Speaking to anyone who has even been to one of these conventions, the art booths are full of human artists painting and profiting off of intellectual property to which they have no rights, but these conventions turn a blind eye.
Now we virtue signal that AI is bad because it takes jobs or steals IP… but most of the artists at these conventions are doing exactly that.
Mate, if you asked me to draw you a picture of Optimus Prime, I would damn well like to be compensated for my time and energy.
It would not be reasonable if I asked you for money if I used the plagiarism machine.
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