Professor X’s depressed 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 were true underdogs – and frankly, their return to beleaguered status has given the line a lot of energy. It’s nice to be four years into the Krakoan era and still come across things that amaze me, like Charles Xavier’s horrible beard.

Outside of the comics, the X-Men world was rocked this weekend 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 himselfthe switch won’t happen for at least a year, not until he puts a 2024 Avengers crossover event to bed and White’s team completes his current storyline, which has only really just begun with Fall of X.

What does this mean for the future of mutants and Krakoa? We do not know! Brevoort has said his plans “will stem directly from” what White’s team is doing now. 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 definitely be Cocoa Puffs for Marvel Comics to make “movie-motivated” changes to the X-Men now. Currently, Marvel Studios’ X-Men-less movies stretch out to 2027, with the looming specter of delays and cancellations associated with Hollywood’s twin onslaught. At this point, I’d be surprised if an X-Men movie hits theaters before the year 2030. And that’s fine, because comic books rule.

So let’s all sit back and enjoy Professor X’s horrible depressing 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 our comics editor liked last week. It’s part society pages about superhero lives, part reading advice, part “check out 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 latest edition, read this.)

Other things to enjoy: Myth-fascinated pun master Kieron Gillen reaches a new height of self-actualization by putting the mutant named Exodus in charge of…wait for it…who leads 99% of all mutants out of the mysterious wasteland the bad guys she teleported to. Bless his heart.

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

I may 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 entry could also be in the form of Lois correcting a raging supervillain’s petty complaint? This is ideal for me.

Image: Zeb Wells, David Lopez/Marvel Comics

At the risk of repeating myself, I haven’t been the biggest fan of how Ms. Marvel’s death was handled in Awesome Spider-Man. But I’m only human, too, and this brief scene where she catches up to Spider-Man after her resurrection and finds out he’s Peter Parker, the boss of her stage, is really cute.