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.
§ Image announced A Star Called the Sun, a new graphic novel in Simon Roy‘s Habitat and Griz Grobus universe. Due out in comics shops on February 11 (and bookstores February 24), the sci-fi book “charts a kaleidoscopic journey through the future of humanity and technology across [several] cosmic tales,” featuring “robotic clergy, post-human hive minds, immortal cyborgs, and the lingering impact of ancient alien civilizations.” It was originally crowdfunded on Kickstarter, and you can find out more about it here.
§ In his newsletter, writer Brian K. Vaughan teased he is scripting his first ongoing comics series since Paper Girls (which ended in 2019). Vaughan, 49, mentioned the mysterious new book while promoting the print release of Spectators, the supernatural romance he created with Niko Henrichon, which was originally serialized on Substack, and is set to be released in hardcover by Image tomorrow. The writer has also been busy in the meantime with his other major series, Saga, which began in 2012, and has been on hiatus since March; for more on what he has lined up, head to his official Image page.
§ Via ICv2, AMP Comics will publish a series based on The Greatest American Hero, with the involvement of lead actor William Katt, and Tawnia McKiernan, the daughter of late series creator Stephen J. Cannell. A comedy-drama that aired on ABC from 1981 to 1983, Greatest American Hero followed a high school teacher who gained superpowers from a suit gifted to him by aliens. AMP CEO Don Handfield will write the first arc of the series, which will begin in 2026. Katt previously wrote and self-published a comic based on the show in 2008, while AMP was founded in 2024.
§ The winners of the 77th annual Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards were announced, with The Penguin, Andor, and The Boys respectively picking up eight, four, and three prizes in the technical categories on the first night. For the full list of winners and nominees from night one, click here, and here for night two’s winners (which include Music by John Williams). And in further Hollywood awards news, Alice Oseman won a Humanitas Prize in the Children’s Teleplay category for Heartstopper season 3, episode 4, “Journey.”
§ Via Entertainment Weekly, Ryan Reynolds has confessed to being the one who leaked the Deadpool movie’s test footage in 2014. During a talk at the Toronto International Film Festival, he admitted, “Yes, I cheated a little, but I think I was onto something that people would be interested in,” before adding, “I’m grateful that I did the wrong thing in that moment.” The leak spurred 20th Century Fox to finally greenlight the 2016 movie, which had been in development hell for at least five years by that point, and ultimately culminated in last year’s Deadpool & Wolverine (now currently the second highest-grossing film in Marvel’s Multiverse Saga).
§ Via Deadline, voice actor Greg Cipes alleges he was fired from the role of Beast Boy on Teen Titans Go! after disclosing he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. A source for the site claims the role was being recast because of creative differences, and that Cipes, 45, was offered a different role, for which he has already recorded, but he and Warner Bros. did not respond to a request for comment. Cipes, who publicly revealed he has Parkinson’s in March, first voiced Beast Boy on the 2003-06 Teen Titans cartoon, and reprised the role in countless other projects, including Young Justice.
§ Finally, The Brussels Times reports Belgian author and Tintin expert Philippe Goddin died on Monday, September 8, following an undisclosed illness. He was 81 years old. Originally an art teacher, Goddin befriended Tintin creator Hergé towards the end of the cartoonist’s life, and wrote several biographies of him, as well as prefaces for reprints of the series. He also served as secretary general of the Hergé Foundation from 1989 to 1999, and as a consultant on the animated Tintin series. Hergé’s estate paid tribute to him, saying, “His clear and erudite writing has contributed to Hergé’s recognition not only as a master of comic strip books, but also as a major creator of the 20th century.”
