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.
§ Lion Forge Entertainment released the teaser trailer for Iyanu season two, premiering on Cartoon Network and HBO Max sometime this spring. The new season will consist of ten episodes, and see the titular young heroine face off against Queen Adura “and the mysterious People of the Deep, rising from the kingdom’s ancient past.” Based on the graphic novels from YouNeek Studios and Dark Horse Comics, Iyanu debuted early last year, and was nominated for three NAACP Image Awards, the results for which will be announced on Saturday, February 28. A feature-length prequel, The Age of Wonders, has also been released, and another is set to follow season two.
§ Mad Cave will release Planet Atmos: Exordium, a nine-issue series based on Planet Atmos’s upcoming racing game ExoGP. Created by writers D.R. Bushnell, Rob McEveety, and Tommy Lee Edwards with artist Andrea Cucchi, the book follows three ExoGP racers rising to glory on the dystopian world of Atmos, where they become “entangled in a web of political intrigue and conspiracy [after] a dangerous secret emerges that threatens the fragile balance of power [on the planet].” It should be noted ExoGP is a blockchain game, and that the comic was initially published online. Issue #1 hits stores April 22.
§ Syfy Wire revealed IDW Publishing’s new Twilight Zone comic has been extended by five issues. Issue #6, “Growth,” by Nicole Goux, will be released on April 8, and follows a woman who becomes the mother of a baby-like vegetable. Subsequent issues will feature Tony Fleecs & Andy Price (whose story is titled “The Taxidermist”), Gabriel Hardman, Juni Ba, and Charles & Rosemary Soule. Ba will also provide connecting covers for the second volume. In the meantime, issues #4 and #5 will be released respectively on February 4, and March 4.
§ Via AIPT, Magnetic and Oni Press announced Infantoms, a surreal YA graphic novel by French cartoonist Jim Bishop (Lost Letters, My Dear Pierrot). Set in a dystopian world, where parents are allowed to kill children who don’t meet expectations, the book follows two rebellious teenagers when parents begin mutating into monsters. It will be released on April 21. The book was Magnetic and Oni’s second announcement of the week, following the Chinese graphic novel Twin Lotuses.
§ UploadVR reports a sequel to VR game Batman: Arkham Shadow was in development at Sanzaru Games (Asgard’s Wrath), before being shut down when Meta closed the studio. Sanzaru was one of three developers owned by Meta that were laid off entirely last week, along with Twisted Pixel (Deadpool VR) and Armature Studio (Resident Evil 4 VR). Camouflaj, which developed the first Arkham Shadow, also suffered significant job losses. The New York Times states the lay offs resulted from the conglomerate’s decision to waste more money on AI instead.
§ “Cow tools” was one of the most infamous cartoons in Gary Larson‘s The Far Side, and now it may have become a reality. Scientific American reports Veronika, a Swiss Brown cow owned as a pet by a farming family in Austria, has been observed picking up sticks and a deck brush with her mouth, and then using them to scratch herself. Cows had been previously reported to use tools in South Asia, but only anecdotally. Researchers from Vienna’s University of Veterinary Medicine attributed Veronika’s intelligence to her idyllic home and upbringing, complete with her owners providing the necessary tools.
§ Finally, Disney Renaissance era filmmaker Roger Allers died on Saturday, January 17, following a short illness. He was 76. Best known for co-directing The Lion King (1994), and for co-writing its Broadway adaptation, Allers also worked in the storyboard department on Oliver & Company, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and Lilo & Stitch. He also directed The Little Matchgirl and 2014’s The Prophet, co-directed Open Season, and worked uncredited on Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland, providing character designs, story development, preliminary animation, and animation training. He survived by his husband, an ex-wife, and two children.
