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.
§ Dark Horse and Albatross Funnybooks unveiled a new, four-issue volume of MegaGhost, beginning March 25. Gabe Soria and Gideon Kendall will reunite on the second series starring young occultist Martin Magus and his giant undead robot MegaGhost, which’ll see the pair face off against the necromancer Ultraghoul, and the evil Nethergods. MegaGhost debuted at Albatross in 2018, and was reprinted by Dark Horse at the start of the year. Soria notes, “We’ve been dying to unleash this new MegaGhost story arc for ages, and we’re psyched that creature kids of all ages can finally get their hands on it.”
Additionally, via IGN, Dark Horse revealed the new miniseries Masters of the Universe: The Sword of Flaws will become an ongoing monthly, simply titled He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, with issue #5 in March. Tim Seeley will continue to write, while Reilly Brown will take over from Freddie E. Williams II on art for the second arc, titled “The Battle of Snake Mountain.” If we had to guess, the decision might have something to do with the new live-action film (starring Jared Leto), releasing June 5, 2026. Issue #2 of the series is out now.
§ Via Fangoria, Skybound announced their next Universal Monsters comic will be The Phantom of the Opera, based on the 1943 film version starring Claude Rains and Susanna Foster. Created by Tyler Boss (4 Kids Walk into a Bank) and Martin Simmonds (Universal Monsters: Dracula), the four-issue series will begin on February 25. In the meantime, the Universal Monsters adaptation of The Invisible Man (which also starred Claude Rains) will conclude with issue #4 on November 26.
Speaking of Image, at IGN, the publisher unveiled White Sky, a Last of Us-esque comic by William Harms (Mafia III, Eternal) and newcomer Jean-Paul Mavinga. The post-apocalyptic ghost story follows a father and daughter making their way to San Francisco five yeas after the sky literally turned white. Issue #1 releases February 18. The book marks the first comic by Harms, who primarily works as a video game narrative designer, since the conclusion of Eternal at BOOM! Studios in 2015.
§ Papercutz revealed Leo da Vinci: Renaissance Kid, a middle-grade graphic novel by Richard Ashley Hamilton and Marco Matrone (Tectiv Noirtopia) reimagining the Italian genius’s childhood. “When his long-lost dad drags Leo to an apprenticeship far away, our boy genius soon finds himself out of his depth… and in a city on the brink of war!,” cries the synopsis. There, he and his friends will stop a conspiracy “with elaborate pranks that harness the true power of art to open eyes and change minds.” It will be released on April 14, the day before the real Leonardo’s birthday.
§ BOOM! Studios will release Hello Darkness: Good Bones and Other Tales, a special for the horror anthology, on February 11. The book will showcase previous stories from the series by Steve Orlando, as well as a new comic, “Good Bones,” illustrated by newcomer Dillon Snook. Hello Darkness launched in June 2024, and has already received a number of spin-offs, like last month’s special Hello Halloween, and The War by Garth Ennis and Becky Cloonan (which’ll be collected in paperback on February 24).
§ In news about previously announced comics, Erik Burnham and Bill Galvan will helm Dynamite’s Archie x The Army of Darkness crossover, kicking off this February… and Titan revealed Gun Honey Doubles Down will begin in June 2026, as well as a chilly cover by Stanley “Artgerm” Lau. The upcoming fourth entry of Charles Ardai and Ang Hor Kheng‘s sexy action series will find Joanna Tan on the trail of a failed assassin with two body doubles, respectively hiding in Siberia, Finland, and by the Black Sea.
§ Crunchyroll shares Drops of God is getting an anime adaptation, which’ll premiere early next year. It’ll mark the first animated version of Tadashi Agi and Shu Okimoto‘s sommelier manga, which has been previously adapted into live-action shows from South Korea, Japan, and Apple TV. Kazuya Kamenashi, who played Shizuku Kanzaki on the 2009 Japanese TV show, will reprise the role on the anime. In the meantime, the Apple TV version, starring Tomohisa Yamashita and Fleur Geffrier, will return for its second season on January 21.
§ Finally, Chadwick Boseman was posthumously honored yesterday with a long-overdue star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Ryan Coogler, Letitia Wright, Michael B. Jordan, Viola Davis, and Kevin Feige were among those in attendence at the ceremony commemorating the late Black Panther star, who died of cancer, aged just 43, in 2020. Boseman’s widow, Simone Ledward-Boseman, accepted the star on his behalf. You can browse a series of photos from the event at USA Today, and watch the full ceremony here.
