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.
§ Spread creators Justin Jordan, John Bivens, and Felipe Sobreiro will reunite at Image on Malevolent, an action horror series beginning January 28. The book, which will be an ongoing, takes place 30 years after a science experiment opened a portal to Hell. “Humanity adapted, survived, even thrived in the shadow of demons. But now, mankind has made something new. Something dangerous. A weapon that can kill demons… if she doesn’t kill us first.” Jordan describes it as being “pure mayhem and monsters,” while Sobreiro says it’s “fun and full of possibilities.”
§ Via Bleeding Cool, AHOY revealed Babs: The Black Road South, a sequel to Garth Ennis and Jacen Burrows‘s 2024 Red Sonja parody. The pair will reunite on the six-issue series, which sees barbarians Babs and Izzy deal with “a strange, unfamiliar, bizarre situation: they actually have money! That’s good, right? Wrong — because it’s about to lead them down a dark, horrific road to the devastated wasteland of Mordynn.” Issue #1 releases January 14.
§ Via People magazine, Simon & Schuster unveiled the cover for a graphic novel of To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before, penned by Barbara Perez Marquez (The Cardboard Kingdom) with art by newcomers Akimaro and Li Lu. The original 2014 book, by Jenny Han, told the story of a girl whose secret love letters get inexplicably sent to the boys she likes. It and its sequels was adapted into a film trilogy on Netflix, as well as the spin-off series XO, Kitty. The graphic novelization will be released on May 5, 2026.
§ Mad Cave announced Astro Quantum, a five-part sci-fi saga by Arturo Fabra (Tempesta dal Nulla) and Andrea Mutti starting January 14. The book follows two alien exiles trying to survive the backwater world they’re stranded on, and join a legendary hunting party. It will mark the first English release for co-writer Fabra, 64, whose background is in fanzines, prose fiction, and non-fiction; he and Mutti previously worked together on the latter’s debut, the superhero comic DNAction, at Italy’s Xenia Edizioni in 1994.
§ In MCU news, The Fantastic Four: First Steps will hit Disney+ on Wednesday, November 5. It will be available with both the standard and IMAX aspect ratio. Meanwhile, Vogue shares that at this weekend’s annual Vogue World event, Angela Bassett and Danai Gurira indirectly reprised their Black Panther roles, wearing the costumes Ruth E. Carter designed for the films during a show celebrating Carter’s work and Afrofuturism; Gurira and Teyana Taylor also walked the runway dressed as Dora Milaje. For more from the event, click here.
§ Fantagraphics states they will reprint their hardcover collection of Peanuts in time for the holidays. The original strip by Charles M. Schulz, which ran for 50 years, turned 75 this month. Additionally, the publisher confirmed to Anime News Network they will release On Their Frontlines: The Lives of Japanese War Brides by Marina Lisa Komiya. The historical manga, out August 11, 2026, tells the story of two Japanese women who marry American soldiers in the wake of World War II.
§ Finally, at Animation Magazine, IDW announced SpongeBob SquarePants: The Art of an Undersea World, an official behind-the-scenes look at the Nickelodeon series by Tracey Miller-Zarneke, releasing February 17, 2026. The book belatedly marks the 25th anniversary of the show, created by the late Stephen Hillenburg in 1999, and the upcoming theatrical release The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants (due out December 19). Incidentally, IDW are the comics license holders for Nickelodeon’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, while Search for SquarePants will have the new TMNT short film Chrome Alone 2 attached to it.
