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.
§ Via People magazine, Z2 Comics revealed they are rereleasing 1976’s autobiographical comic Hello, I’m Johnny Cash. The new edition of the book, originally created for Spire Christian Comics by the Man in Black, evangelical leader Billy Zeoli, and Archie artist Al Hartley, will have an interview with Cash’s son John Carter Cash, a behind-the-scenes feature from Alex Segura, and variant covers by Chip Kidd and Tim Bradstreet. It’ll be released on September 23, ahead of that Saturday’s Local Comic Store Day, and can be ordered now from Z2’s website.
§ Eidos-Montréal’s Guardians of the Galaxy game is getting an Encore Edition, releasing exclusively on the Nintendo Switch 2 on November 5. The new release will add an additional set of glam rock outfits for the characters. The game, which takes place in its own universe, underperformed when it was released in 2021, which partly prompted publisher Square Enix to sell Eidos-Montréal to Embracer Group, but it received critical acclaim, and went on to win the Game Award for Best Narrative.
In more Marvel Games news, Marvel Rivals Season 10: Butcher’s Blasphemy is launching today, and adding Gorr the God Butcher as a playable character. The Thor villain, who was created by Jason Aaron and Esad Ribic in 2012, was previously hinted at as killing the game’s version of Apocalypse, and his addition has seen Loki become unplayable for similar reasons. He will be the only addition to the game’s roster for this season, although the developers assure us this won’t become the new norm going forward.
§ Warner Bros. dropped another trailer for the new Cat in the Hat movie starring Bill Hader, which grants us an insight into the surprisingly poignant backstory of human leads Gabby and Sebastian (Xochitl Gomez and Tiago Martinez), who see the Cat as a way of not dealing with having to move homes. The film, which also stars America Ferrera as the kids’ mother, will be released in theaters on November 6.
§ Neon released a teaser for The Unknown, the French thriller starring Léa Seydoux, adapted by director Arthur Harari (Anatomy of a Fall) from the graphic novel The Case of David Zimmerman (which he created with his brother Lucas Harari). The film, which premiered at Cannes earlier this year, follows a photographer (Niels Schneider) who swaps bodies with a woman after sleeping with her. It does not have a US release date yet, but will be screened at film festivals in Toronto, New York, and London in the coming weeks.
§ Lucasfilm announcedStar Wars: Starfighter, and the 50th anniversary rerelease of A New Hope will be screened in 70mm IMAX format next year. While Starfighter was shot with IMAX cameras, A New Hope will require upscaling, as it was shot on 35mm. The restored A New Hope, sans subtitle and other later additions by George Lucas, will hit IMAX and regular theaters on February 19, and Starfighter will follow on May 28, 2027, a few days after the actual anniversary of the original film.
§ Finally, Anime News Network reports voice actor and director Mike McFarland died following a battle with brain cancer on Wednesday, September 9. He was 56. McFarland worked primarily on anime for Funimation, and provided the English voices for Master Roshi and Yajirobe across the Dragon Ball franchise (including video games), Jean Kirstein on Attack on Titan, and Buggy the Clown on One Piece, among others. Funimation owner Crunchyroll paid tribute, calling him “an incredible talent, [and] a good friend to so many of us, [who] will be sorely, sorely missed.”
