Aquaman’s having a baby, and everything else happening in the best new comics

There’s a new royal baby on the way, but there’s always something fishy in the state of Atlantis — and this time it’s Aquaman. Turns out, after Mera told him she was pregnant, he had an internal freakout about his own childhood abandonment, forgot to be excited, tried to leave, and she nearly killed him! And that’s why he washed up on a strange island with no memories!

And you know what, Mera? Justified.

But bad dads are a bit of a theme in this past week’s comics, as you’ll see. Welcome to a new Polygon experiment: part reading recommendations, part “look at this cool art,” part society pages recap of superhero lives. This is Monday Funnies (working title), where I share the comics I enjoyed this week.

There may be some spoilers. There may not be enough context. Let’s start the whirlwind tour!

Aquaman #49

Kelly Sue DeConnick, Viktor Bogdanovic/DC Comics

Arthur. Arthur.

Assassin Nation #4

Kyle Starks, Erica Henderson/Image Comics

If Kill Bill was just a movie where some of the assassins actually liked each other, and they fought the other assassins, it’d be Assassin Nation, but it wouldn’t be half as funny. Fuck Tarkington (the one with the shotgun) and Dave (the one with the sparkles) are my new broTP.

Invisible Kingdom #4

G. Willow Wilson, Christian Ward/Dark Horse Comics

Never turn down a space epic drawn by Christian Ward — or any book written by G. Willow Wilson.

Age of X-Man: Next Gen #5

Ed Brisson, Lucas Werneck/Marvel Comics

I’m prepared to say that Age of X-Man is the most underrated event of this summer, and its version of Next Gen perfectly paired dystopia with teen angst.

Daredevil #7

Chip Zdarsky, Lalit Kumar Sharma/Marvel Comics

Always here to see someone emotionally suplex Matthew Murdock.

Batman #73

Tom King, Mikel Janin/DC Comics

King and Janin bring Batman back to the desert, this time with his dad from an alternate universe, who has brought his mother’s corpse along so he can resurrect her in a Lazarus Pit. At this point the tone of Batman is “magical realism,” and I’m not strictly opposed to it.

Teen Titans #31

Adam Glass, Bernard Chang/DC Comics

Glass and Chang’s Teen Titans finally fired its Chekhov’s Gun this week. After introducing Crush, the courageous butt-kicking, take-no-shit daughter of the nefarious butt-kicking, take-no-shit interstellar bounty hunter, Lobo — Lobo’s finally arrived for a long-awaited confrontation with his abandoned daughter. Also, he unironically uses the phrase “sugar daddy,” which is correct characterization.

American Carnage #8

Bryan Hill, Leandro Fernandez/DC Comics

American Carnage is impossible to look away from, and the artistic team’s use of silhouette and color is part of why.

Lucifer #9

Dan Watters, Kelley Jones/DC Comics

I’m not the biggest fan of Kelley Jones, but here his style is used for its true calling: a good old-fashioned, one-issue, Tales From the Crypt-style horror story.

Justice League #26

James Tynion IV, Javier Fernandez/DC Comics

The League is preparing for war, and its writers are showing off their talent for plumbing the most far-out points of potential in superhero settings, like here, where in a throwaway line, it is established that the Martian Manhunter could teach the entire world Kung Fu if he wanted to.

Pearl #10

Brian Michael Bendis, Michael Gaydos/DC Comics

From the creative team that brought you Alias, Pearl started out as a story about a woman trying to extricate herself from her mother’s mafia legacy but has recently made a hard turn into one about her claiming it for her own. I’m here for it.

War of the Realms: War Scrolls #3

Charlie Jane Anders, Simone D’Armini/Marvel Comics

I don’t need to justify this image’s inclusion.

Guardians of the Galaxy #6

Donny Cates, Geoff Shaw/Marvel Comics

In this house we love and cherish Beta Ray Bill, newly minted Guardian of the Galaxy.