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.
§ Deadline reports season two of Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles will be its last. The Paramount+ series, which takes place after the events of the 2024 movie TMNT: Mutant Mayhem, premiered last year, and will return for its final season in December. While the move was reportedly part of a programming shift in the wake of the Paramount-Skydance merger, it’s also likely the result of the creators not having much room to maneuver in before the untitled sequel, which’ll reimagine the turtles’ first battle with Shredder, arrives in theaters on September 17, 2027.
§ Variety reported on two more pieces of VisionQuest casting: Lauren Morais (The Crow Girl) will play Lisa Molinari, a friend of Thomas Shepherd (Ruaridh Mollica), while Diane Morgan (Cunk on Britain) is portraying an associate of mercenary Paladin (Todd Stashwick). Morgan’s casting might come as a surprise to British comedy fans, but the series was shot in the UK, and will also feature The Goes Wrong Show creators Henry Lewis and Jonathan Sayer as Tony Stark’s old robots D.U.M.-E and U. It will premiere on Disney+ later next year.
§ In gaming news, Marvel Rivals season five is launching today, with Gambit and Rogue being added as playable characters respectively now and later. Further additions include a non-combat Times Square map for players who just want to hang out. Meanwhile, fighting game Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls will receive a closed beta on PlayStation 5, starting Friday, December 5, at midnight PT, and ending Sunday, December 7, at 11:59 pm. For more details, click here.
On the non-video games front, James Tynion IV, Michael Walsh et al.’s action horror series Exquisite Corpses will be turned into a card game. Set to launch on Kickstarter in Spring 2026, the game allows 4-12 players to pick their favorite killer from the series, “and proceed to attack, bluff, and barter with their fellow killers until just one remains.” You can find out more, and sign up to be informed of when it launches at the official website. The comic, which has already allowed fans to build a deck with cards available in the Cover C polybag variants, will wrap up with issue #12 next year.
§ Via Comic Book Club, Oni Press revealed Cullen Bunn and Christopher Mitten will reunite on The Autumn Kingdom: Through the Blight. A sequel to the pair’s horror fantasy series from 2024, the comic will continue the story of sisters Sommer and Winter, as they search for their missing parents in the titular Swedish otherworld of “goblins, trolls, and corrupted human souls,” while armed with a cursed, bloodthirsty sword they recovered. Issue #1 (of 4) releases February 4, 2026.
§ Over at Daily Dead, comiXology announced Devil’s Luck: A Hailstone Story, a spin-off of Rafael Scavone and Rafael de Latorre‘s 2021 horror western. Created by Scavone with Eduardo Ferigato (Radiant Black), the book will follow a dentist in Hailstone during the Great Depression, who winds up participating “in a sinister plot to profit from the golden teeth of a mysterious patient.” Issue #1 (of 5) will be released on the platform on Tuesday, December 9.
§ The Bookseller reports Eoin Colfer, Andrew Donkin, and Giovanni Rigano (Illegal, Global) will reunite on War, a children’s graphic novel about the impact of the titular subject. Set in an unnamed country, it follows a 14-year old girl trying to rescue her father after he is detained by an invading force, and a young male soldier who might become her unlikely ally. It will be released by Hachette on August 13, 2026.
§ WinterIsComing.net revealed The Final Architecture: Salvation’s Child will feature the likeness of actress Sophie Aldred as the clone army the Partheni. The graphic novel, which is a prequel to Adrian Tchaikovsky‘s sci-fi series, was created with artist Mike Collins, and will be released by Cosmic Lighthouse Comics on comiXology sometime next year. Aldred, 63, is no stranger to Tchaikovsky or Collins, having narrated the Final Architecture audiobooks, and been drawn frequently by Collins as her Doctor Who character, Ace, in the show’s magazine strip.
§ Finally, file under unexpected: IGN reports legendary video game developer Hideo Kojima (Metal Gear Solid, Death Stranding) has issued a statement distancing himself from Italian cartoonist Zerocalcare (real name Michele Rech, Tear Along the Dotted Line). A backlash occurred after the pair took a photo together at the Lucca Comics & Games event, as some of Rech’s books were considered sympathetic towards the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, which has used child soldiers.
Kojima’s statement partially reads, “There is no personal or professional relationship between the two individuals. The photo was taken briefly at the Lucca Comics & Games venue after a short introduction through an acquaintance. Neither Mr. Kojima nor Kojima Productions had any prior knowledge or understanding of Mr. Zerocalcare’s works or political positions, and there was no intention to express agreement with, or support for, any particular stance or opinion.” Rech himself had noted the controversy beforehand, saying “Of course, for the Turk[ish], [the YPG are] all [officially considered] terrorists, and now they’re harassing poor Kojima.”
