Professor X’s depression beard makes him look like Steve Jobs

Marvel’s mutants may be in a pretty bad place right now, but it’s been a while since the X-Men have been true underdogs — and frankly, their return to beleaguered status has given the line a lot of energy. It’s fun to be four years into the Krakoan era and still encounter things that surprise me, like Charles Xavier’s horrible beard.

Outside of the comics, the X-Men world was rocked this weekend by the announcement that Tom Brevoort — one of Marvel Comics’ longest-serving and highest-ranking editors — is leaving his longtime post at the Avengers office to take over the X-Men line from Krakoa-era editor Jordan White. But according to Brevoort himself, the changeover won’t happen for at least a year, not until he puts a 2024 Avengers crossover event to bed and White’s team completes its current storyline, which has only really just kicked off with Fall of X.

What this mean for the future of mutants and Krakoa? We don’t know! Brevoort has said that his plans will “grow directly out of” what White’s team is doing now. But still, the question of whether the changes to the X-Men have anything to do with their conspicuous absence from the Marvel Cinematic Universe hangs eternally over Marvel’s X-Men office.

But you know what? It would be absolutely Cocoa Puffs for Marvel Comics to start making “movie-motivated” changes to the X-Men right now. Currently, Marvel Studios’ X-Men-less movie slate reaches out to 2027, with the looming specter of delays and cancellations related to Hollywood’s double strike. At this point, I’d be surprised to see an X-Men movie in theaters before the year 2030. And that’s just fine, because comic books rule.

So let’s all sit back and enjoy Professor X’s awful depression beard while we have it.

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: Kieron Gillen, Lucas Werneck/Marvel Comics

Other things to enjoy: Myth-fascinated pun-master writer Kieron Gillen reaching a new apex of self-actualization by putting the mutant called Exodus in charge of… wait for it… leading 99% of all mutants out of the mysterious wasteland the bad guys teleported them to. Bless his heart.

Image: Joshua Williamson, Mahmud Asrar, Edwin Galmon, Caitlin Yarsky, Max Raynor, Jack Herbert/DC Comics

I might be biased, but I love any mention of the cold fact that Lois Lane and Clark Kent aren’t just reporters — they’re the foremost investigative journalists of their time. If that mention can also be in the form of Lois correcting the petty complaint of a rampaging supervillain? This is ideal for me.

Image: Zeb Wells, David López/Marvel Comics

At the risk of repeating myself, I haven’t been the biggest fan of how Ms. Marvel’s death was handled in Amazing Spider-Man. But I’m also only human, and this short scene of her catching up with Spider-Man after her resurrection and finding out that he’s Peter Parker, the boss of her internship, is very cute.