After many months of anticipation, the X-Men are finally throwing their big super-powered party slash diplomatic summit slash fashion showcase event, and the Hellfire Gala is the hottest ticket around.
From the Fantastic Four to Doctor Doom, and Russian dignitaries to Shiar alien ones, truly a comic book event has never been more perfectly calibrated to bring you the Monday Funnies promise of the “society pages of superhero lives,” from the numerous real-world celebrities that Marvel artists snuck into the Gala crowds to the small moments of crossover fun between Marvel Comics umbrellas.
Except Deadpool.
What else is happening in the pages of our favorite comics? We’ll tell you. Welcome to Monday Funnies, Polygon’s weekly list of the books that our comics editor enjoyed this past week. It’s part society pages of superhero lives, part reading recommendations, part “look at this cool art.” There may be some spoilers. There may not be enough context. But there will be great comics. (And if you missed the last edition, read this.)
X-Force #20
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Wade you are not dressed nearly fashionably enough, put those floaties back on at least.
Marauders #21
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The Gala proper kicked off in an issue of Marauders, with Emma Frost as the hostess for the entire Marvel universe, and it’s got a lot of great little moments. Doctor Strange sighing in relief at not being the most overdressed person in the room, Ben Grimm finding the more disreputable mutants in their gambling corner, and then, also this.
Hellions #12
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And then there was this pure Venture Bros. moment in Hellions.
The Nice House on the Lake #1
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Am I good to talk about the twist at the end of James Tynion’s The Nice House on the Lake #1 now? If not, keep scrolling.
A group of acquaintances united by their one nice but weird buddy are all invited to a weekend at a lake house to celebrate Vaccine Summer 2021, only for their buddy to reveal that he’s the vanguard of an alien invasion that’s just set the apocalypse in motion but he liked them all too much to let them die so he made this perfect house and now if they would all just quarantine themselves there and pretend everything is fine while the world burns around them, he’d love that and I swear this is literally a nightmare I had last week.
War of the Bounty Hunters #1
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Marvel’s Star Wars comics kicked off their own crossover this week with a shocking twist: The whole thing is about a major character from Solo: A Star Wars Story.
Crush & Lobo #1
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Race representation can be tricky when it comes to aliens characters raised on Earth, like Crush, an abandoned alien baby who was raised in the US by Latino parents. But when a super-strong girl is standing around, biceps bulging out of the tee she clearly ripped the sleeves off of herself, brewing herself a moka pot and griping about how her girlfriend broke up with her, I have only one thing to say: Crush is Latinx representation and also does she want my number?
Immortal Hulk #47
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There are only three more issues of Immortal Hulk left and boy howdy am I going to miss Joe Bennett’s page spreads.
Justice League #62
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Props to Ram V for writing this exposition-filled gag, but extra props to Xermanico for rendering it in a way that made me choke laughing.