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.
Charley’s War Apex Edition cover art by Joe Colquhoun§ Rebellion announced Charley’s War Apex Edition, a hardcover rerelease of Pat Mills and Joe Colquhoun‘s acclaimed World War I comic, presenting Colquhoun’s original art as accurately as possible. As the comic originally ran in Battle Picture Weekly from 1979 to 1986, it’ll mark the first Apex Edition of a non-2000 AD strip. It will be released on April 29. Additionally, the publisher revealed their titles will be available on DSTLRY’s new reading platform Neon Ichiban, which is now currently in beta.
§ Dark Horse revealed Library Editions of Stranger Things and Dungeons & Dragons and From the World of Minor Threats, due out respectively on May 26 and June 2 (or the following days for comic book stores). Stranger Things will collect both crossover series by Jody Houser, Jim Zub, Eric Campbell, and Diego Galindo from 2020 and 2025, while World of Minor Threats reprints The Alternates (2023) by Tim Seeley, Christopher Mitten, and Tess Fowler, and Barfly (2024) by Kyle Starks and Ryan Browne. Issue #1 of the final main Minor Threats series, The Last Devil Left Alive, and Archie vs Minor Threats #3 (of 4), are available in the meantime now.
Speaking of Stranger Things, Netflix released a second trailer for the fifth and final season, releasing in three volumes in the evenings of November 26, December 25, and December 31.
§ Papercutz will launch The Secret S.T.E.A.M. Society, an educational middle-grade graphic novel series in February. Created by editor Adam Wallenta, the books follow the STE(A)M students of an academy in New London, Connecticut, whose numbers include an alien exchange student. The first volume, Horses (by Trevor Mueller and Gabriel Mayorga), releases February 10, and will be followed by Music (by Mueller and Christian Colbert) on April 21, and Spaceflight (by Paul Kupperberg and Bill Walko) later in 2026. Each book will feature a foreword by the verification specialist of each subject.
Last Call to Leave Earth by Cassio RibeiroMeanwhile, Papercutz’s sister imprint Nakama announced Last Call to Leave Earth, a young adult OGN by Cassio Ribeiro. Out March 24, the book follows a photographer who seemingly took a picture of an alien as a child, as she returns to her hometown “to discover the truth behind that fateful day and its effects on [her friends’] lives.” While the book’s art is heavily manga-inspired, Nakama adjusts their usual mission statement of releasing East Asian comics in the press release, to one of “bringing global voices to English-speaking audiences,” presumably because Ribeiro is Brazilian.
§ Deadline reports director Sam Hargrave (Extraction, The Last Frontier) is developing a film version of Last Flight Out for Apple. The original sci-fi comic, by Marc Guggenheim and Eduardo Ferigato, was published by Dark Horse Comics from 2021 to 2022, and revolved around the evacuation of an uninhabitable Earth. In particular, it followed a scientist’s search for his missing daughter, 24 hours before the last ark is meant to leave. Guggenheim will adapt his own script, while the co-producers will include Dark Horse and Peter Chernin.
Detail of the cover for Famous Funnies #210 (1954) by Frank Frazetta, featuring Buck Rogers§ The Wrap states Zeb Wells will write a Buck Rogers movie for Legendary, based directly on Armageddon 2419 A.D., the 1928 novella the character (created by Philip Francis Nowlan) originated from. Unlike his more familiar comics counterpart, who debuted in 1929, the novella centered on a World War I veteran and coal mine inspector who wakes up to find himself in a future America ruled by the Hans (ie. the Han Chinese). The project emerges shortly after Buck Rogers entered the public domain, and if produced, would become the first film version since the theatrical release of the TV pilot starring Gil Gerard in 1979.
§ Marvel and Penguin Random House unveiled Agatha Harkness: Fall of the Coven, a young adult prose novel by Sara Shepard (Pretty Little Liars). Due out May 5, 2026, the book sees a young Agatha, a rival Salem witch named Martha, and the Darkhold get transported to a present day high school. “Armed with just her smarts and her spells, Agatha embarks on a quest to recover the Darkhold and an incognito Martha. Along the way, she encounters a meddlesome crow, a potential first crush, and a new coven. She almost starts to feel like she’s found her home, until Martha returns from the shadows — this time with dire consequences.”
§ Finally, Swedish actor, model and musician Björn Andrésen died on Saturday, October 25, following a battle with cancer. He was 70. Perhaps best known to current audiences for playing Dan in Midsommar, Andresen rose to fame as a boy playing a composer’s muse in 1971’s Death in Venice. The role caused him to become a sensation in Japan, inspiring numerous bishōnen manga creators’ character designs, but Andresen later commented he felt he’d been sexualized by the film. His life was chronicled in the 2021 documentary The Most Beautiful Boy in the World. He is survived by his daughter, two granddaughters, and a sister, as well as his ex-wife.
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