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.
Regicide #1 cover A, by Ludovic Lalliat
§ Image Comics announced Regicide, a dark, ongoing fantasy series by writer Patrick Kindlon (Tigress Island, Gehenna: Naked Aggression) and artist Ludovic Lalliat (Akutezoïde). Described as “Dracula meets Berserk,” the book follows a farm worker in Transylvania, whose village’s elders order him to “set out for the capital with a dangerous stranger. Their mission? Kill the murderous viceroy!” Kindlon indicates Dracula himself will show up, describing the violence as being, “Submit to the Impaler or die on a pike!” Issue #1 will be released on August 12.
§ Writer Si Spurrier and artist Mike Dowling will team up at Ignition Press on Minotaur, an ongoing sci-fi series starting July 15. The book takes place five years after a government supercomputer nearly caused a technological singularity. Before it was shut down, it unleashed a creature “indistinguishable from magic,” that continues to cause havoc around the world. Now, a photojournalist, military veteran, and reformed tech entrepreneur will band together to pursue it. A preview, Minotaur: The Cold Open, will be available on Comics Giveaway Day on Saturday, May 2.
Django/Zorro #1 cover A, by Jae Lee
§ Deadline reports a film version of Django/Zorro is being attempted again, with Brian Helgeland (L.A. Confidential) as screenwriter. The 2014-15 Dynamite and Vertigo series, by Quentin Tarantino, Matt Wagner, and the late Esteve Polls, was a sequel to Tarantino’s film Django Unchained, that saw Jamie Foxx‘s Django Freeman team up with an aged Zorro. Jerrod Carmichael was previously attached to pen the script in 2019. Helgeland’s take is expected to feature a younger Zorro, while Tarantino is said to be planning to only produce the movie, with his tenth and final film as director still yet to be confirmed.
§ On Threads, James Gunn confirmed The Authority movie is on the backburner. “The script wasn’t quite there,” he says, “but more importantly it didn’t work in terms of the larger DCU, both in terms of the story and practical concerns. Maybe some day. Not soon.” The film was announced as part of DC Studios’ initial slate in 2023, and one of the group’s members, Angela Spica/Engineer, was played by María Gabriela de Faría in Gunn’s Superman. Gunn also stated the Booster Gold series (overseen by David Jenkins) is still in development, while the Wonder Woman prequel show Paradise Lost is in “extreme development.”
§ Deadline also shared Franka Potente (The Bourne Identity) and Tracy Letts (A House of Dynamite) have joined the cast of Liminal, the upcoming Apple TV film based on J. Michael Straczynski, Steve Epting, and Brian Reber‘s AWA series Telepaths. The movie, directed by Louis Leterrier, imagines a world where a tenth of the human population gains telepathic abilities, and will also star Vanessa Kirby, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, and Tom Pelphrey.
§ Christian Ward launched a GoFundMe for Chris Hacker, co-host of the Oblivion Bar Podcast. Hacker has been battling stage 4 colon cancer, and while “his prognosis is hopeful,” he has burned through the money allowed for paid time off. Ward set up the fund so Hacker can attend San Diego Comic-Con (July 23-26). “He speaks often about how important this show is to him,” he says. “How important to his mental health. How, in this years battling cancer it has given him not a just a respite but recharged his emotional battery to keep going.” They have surpassed the initial $6000 goal, and have now raised $7,390 of the current $9000 target, that’ll go towards his ongoing treatment instead of his bills.
§ Finally, Britain’s London Film & Comic Con (LFCC) announced on Facebook that this year’s convention has been postponed until August 14-15, 2027. They said, “Unfolding global issues, increasing energy shortages and rising cost of living are going to impact all our lives this year. The massive rising costs on putting on a big comic con this year is just too much to be passed on to the fans when everyone is feeling the pinch and that’s just unfair, and we pride ourselves on fair pricing for autographs and photo ops. Unfortunately, the level of uncertainty and scale of additional costs mean this year’s large-scale event is no longer viable.” Other events run by organizer Showmasters will proceed as usual this year.
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