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.
§ Marvel will publish Star Wars: Shadow of Maul, a five-issue prequel to the upcoming Disney+ cartoon Maul – Shadow Lord, by Benjamin Percy and Madibek Musabekov. Set after The Clone Wars, the comic follows Captain Brander Lawson, and his droid Two Boots, on a planet not occupied by the Empire, where they must contend with Maul rebuilding his crime syndicate. Issue #1 will be released on March 4, while Maul – Shadow Lord (which will bridge the gap to the conclusion of the former Sith’s story in Rebels) will premiere sometime next year.
§ Via IGN, Oni Press revealed their Free Comic Book Day issue will feature two stories for both of Matt Kindt‘s upcoming series, Mind MGMT: New and Improved and Fort Psycho. The special will be released on Saturday, May 2, and the series will respectively follow in June and August. It’ll become the first release at the publisher from Kindt’s imprint Flux House, which will depart Dark Horse with Knight City early next year.
§ Mad Cave announced two Matthew Dow Smith books. The first, from children’s imprint Papercutz, is Amelia Shadows and the New Head Ghost, a spooky graphic novel starring the daughter of the world’s most powerful dark magician, who lives with ghosts, monsters, and dangerous magic artifacts. When her father appoints a bossy new ghost to run the household, Amelia teams up with an unlikely ally to oust them. It will be released on April 7.
The second book, releasing from YA imprint Maverick on May 26, is (appropriately enough) The October Girl Vol. 2. The next installment of Smith’s series, which began earlier this year, continues the story of Autumn Ackerman, who discovered her grandfather is the king of the mythical Night Folk. This time, “her life is turned upside down yet again when her ordinary, human father — who she hasn’t seen in five years — suddenly returns, exhibiting terrifying new powers… powers that threaten everything Autumn holds dear!”
§ Wizards of the Coast dropped a first look at Magic: The Gathering | Marvel Super Heroes, the expansion of the card game that’ll bring in the characters who’ve been waiting for their turn after this year’s Spider-Man collaboration. Click the link to check out all-new artwork of various Fantastic Four, Thunderbolts, and Avengers heroes and villains, as well as cards featuring classic comics art by the likes of Jack Kirby, John Buscema, and more. The decks will debut on June 26.
§ Meanwhile, Marvel unveiled the cover for Truth to Power: A Luke Cage Marvel Crime Novel by S.A. Cosby. The prose release sees Luke head to Virginia to investigate the death of his cousin, who had been helping him track down arms dealers selling advanced cybernetics. It marks the third in Hyperion Avenue’s Marvel Crime series, following Lisa Jewell‘s Jessica Jones novel Breaking the Dark, and Alex Segura‘s Daredevil book Enemy of My Enemy, and will be released on July 28, 2026.
§ Furthermore, Wonder Man‘s marketing campaign, featuring Ben Kingsley as Trevor Slattery, continued with a skit where an interview with the actor by Ben Mankiewicz goes off the rails, after the TCM host dares to ask him about his role in Iron Man 3. The show premieres on Disney+ on Tuesday, January 27, at 9pm ET, and will consist of eight half-hour episodes.
§ Variety reports a live-action series based on Crestar and the Knight Stallion is being developed by Saudi director Hamzah Jamjoom (Rupture) at Detroit-based production company Exxodus Pictures. The source material, created by Darick Robertson, Ajmal Zaheer Ahmad, and Abdallah Jasim (in collaboration with Paul Allor and Garrie Gastonny) in 2023, follows a mismatched Muslim superhero duo from Detroit. Ahmad and Jasim will play the respective title characters. It was also stated Robertson will write a second volume of the comic, Devil’s Night.
§ Per Anime News Network, Crunchyroll has announced it will end free, ad-supported streaming on its service on December 31. The number of free-to-watch shows on the anime and manga platform had been steadily declining since 2022, the year after it was bought out by Sony. Insert your own joke about the beauty and power of the free market here, really.
§ Finally, Deadline reports Daytime Emmy Award-winning voice actor Jim Ward died on Wednesday, December 10, following complications from advanced Alzheimer’s. He was 66 years old. Perhaps best known for his roles on The Fairly OddParents, and for co-hosting The Stephanie Miller Show on radio, Ward’s work also included Herr Kleiser in the Ultimate Avengers movies; Professor X in various media, including Wolverine and the X-Men; Baron Strucker on The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes; and Commissioner Gordon in the animated Batman ’66 films. He is survived by his wife.
