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.
Vampirella #1 (2026) cover A by Lucio Parrillo
§ For April, Dynamite announced a relaunch of Christopher Priest‘s Vampirella run. The new issue #1 (legacy: #688), featuring art by Davis Goetten, will see Vampi reunite with her sister Draculina, who’s struggling with being human again. The publisher also revealed Giant-Sized Savage Tales, featuring four stories all written by David Avallone, and respectively starring Gullivar Jones, Vampirella, Red Sonja, and Allan Quatermain, with art by Mariano Benitez-Chapo, Pasquale Qualano, and Sebastián Píriz.
§ Image will launch Derek Kirk Kim and Jacob Perez‘s Royals on April 1. A crime series, the six-issue comic follows twin brothers with a psychic connection that has allowed them to dominate the poker table. However, when their scam is exposed by Seoul’s most ruthless crime syndicate, the pair must overcome their differences to stage a daring heist. The book was originally announced back in 2024 as an original graphic novel, for a hardcover release in April 2025, which is now listed instead for November 11, 2026.
The publisher also had a few reveals in its April 2026 solicits, including Fireborn, a Lost Fantasy spin-off by Curt Pires, Franklin Jonas & Patrick Mulholland, and an ongoing revival of Head Lopper by Andrew MacLean, just in time for the series’ tenth anniversary. Both series will begin April 22. For more information, head to the links. (And in case you missed it, here are April’s solicits from Marvel and DC, featuring more announcements like Jeph Loeb and Jim Cheung‘s one-shot Batman/Wonder Woman: Truth.)
Pretty Hate Machine #1 cover A, by Todor Hristov
§ Mad Cave announced Pretty Hate Machine, a horror series that marks the comic book debut of actor Ryan O’Nan (Queen of the South). Created with Tim Seeley and Hank La Marca (The Christbearer), the book is something of a grunge teenage take on Hamlet, following Thomas, a young man grieving his father, who is visited “by a ghoulish kid named Luther with knives for hands and rows of teeth like an ancient shark,” who tells him “his father was murdered and that anything his mother and uncle tell him is a lie.” Issue #1 releases April 8.
§ Mike Maihack unveiled his next book, The Moonlit Spiral, due out from Candlewick Press on October 6. The OGN follows two friends from the world of Helix, who embark on a hunt for a treasure that can only be found once a decade. “Accompanied by a magical fox girl, the friends make their way through twisting caves, colorful forests, and mountainous spires, encountering a host of fascinating creatures along their way to a discovery so great, it will unlock the past, present, and future.” It marks Maihack’s first creator-owned comic since the conclusion of Cleopatra in Space in 2020.
§ The Marvel Multiverse Role-Playing Game will receive a Secret Wars Expansion on August 18, 2026. Based on the 2015 version of the event, the new rulebook is written by Matt Forbeck, Alex Irvine & Marty Forbeck, and illustrated by Ruairí Coleman, with cover art by Sean Izaakse. Copies with a variant cover by Francesco Manna will also be available at Gen Con on the weekend of July 30. It will arrive ahead of the release of Avengers: Doomsday on December 18, which will lead into the Secret Wars movie hitting theaters December 17, 2027.
§ Finally, Zoe Tunnell revealed she is writing the official prequel comic for Life is Strange: Reunion, the next entry in the video game series, releasing March 26. Created with longtime Life is Strange comic artist Claudia Leonardi, the book will be available with the game’s deluxe edition, which will cost $10 more than a regular copy at $49.99. Reunion, which will be released on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC, will see the return of Max Caulfield and Chloe Price, and is billed as the final entry in the characters’ saga. In the meantime, you can watch the trailer here, and the game’s reveal stream here.
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