In this week’s wildest comics, Ms. Marvel’s mutant intro and a bee that lifts weights

Eight weeks ago, Ms. Marvel died. This week, her family was over it. That’s thanks to Emma Frost, who is on the run with the rest of the surviving X-Men after Orchis, the human supremacist mad science cabal, depopulated Krakoa and murdered many mutants. Lot going on in the world.

Why is Emma looking out for an Inhuman like Kamala? Well, in case you hadn’t heard, Kamala’s an Inhuman and a mutant now, as revealed in 2023’s X-Men: Hellfire Gala. And Emma, above all, protects mutant children. The only people who know that Kamala is a mutant are a scant handful of X-Men heavyweights, and with things so dire for mutants right now, Emma is determined to keep it that way for as long as possible.

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.)

Image: Gerry Duggan, Stefano Caselli/Marvel Comics

So, Emma kicks off Kamala’s entry into the world of the X-Men in classic Professor Xavier fashion: by just wiping the memory of a traumatic event from her family’s minds without asking. Plus, she arranges to have all physical evidence of Kamala’s death in Amazing Spider-Man #26 destroyed. And I get it: Kamala’s got an upcoming four-issue miniseries and if she had to come out to her family as alive, an Inhuman, and a mutant all at the same time, there would barely be any more room for a story in there.

But Marvel also published a whole “Funeral for a Friend” tribute issue about her death! It had a beautiful mourning service in her Jersey City mosque! I’ve got plotline whiplash.

Image: Kyle Starks, Steve Pugh/DC Comics

There are many good things in Peacemaker Tries Hard, but chief among them is the way writer Kyle Starks and artist Steve Pugh have reintroduced the Red Bee, a DC superhero so old he’s technically in the public domain. Their Red Bee is a truly caring supervillain parole officer who just wants to help his charges get back on the straight and narrow. He’s also a guy who fights crime in a very loud outfit with his trained bee, Michael.

Yes, you read that right. One bee. Named Michael. He keeps him in a little compartment on his belt.

Starks and Pugh are truly dining out on the Red Bee, and we are seeing the rewards. By which I mean: We are seeing a perfect flashback panel in which a bee does tiny weight training.

Image: Ryan North, Jonathan Hickman/Marvel Comics

Writer Ryan North and artist Leandro Fernandez’s Fantastic Four #10 is a great sci-fi throwback, a one-and-done alien ghost story where the Four are — you know what, I don’t want to spoil it. It’s got big Twilight Zone energy, big EC Comics energy, and it hits just right.