X-Men’s best throwaway character returns to destroy mutant government

Marvel’s Sins of Sinister was always meant to call back to small details of House of X/Forces of X, the founder of the modern X-Men line. And yes, technically Rasputin, a great genetic experiment that looks like a cross between Colossus and his sister Magik, was a “throwaway character” destined to live only in limited glimpses of a possible future timeline. But it’s not a blow. Characters aren’t necessarily any less cool just because they don’t stick – and Rasputin is a great example of the strengths of brevity.

HoX/PoX was a story where alternate futures and timelines rose and fell so often that writer Jonathan Hickman and his collaborators immediately gave the reader a map to keep track of them. Made what HoX/PoX work was a dedication to making those timelines extremely memorable. We may not have spent much time in them, but we’d definitely know they were cool.

So while Rasputin, with her crystal clear visual design, may have had a smaller role than expected, it was a good time. That’s why I’m so happy to see her back for another finite storyline in the alternate future Sins of Sinister. I’m getting more Rasputin, a badass gene splitter with five different mutant abilities – but there’s no chance she’ll surpass her welcome as a completely overpowered and bizarre character with five different mutant gifts.

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.)

Also, Kieron Gillen laces Rasputin’s storyline with Star Trek references, as if it was made just for me.

I’ll always at least give a Greg Rucka book a shot, and his new series with artists Eric Trautmann and Mike Henderson is space-y and sexy and mech-y and weird, weird, weird. Massive Warhammer and Dune vibes, featuring an intergalactic quasi-religious empire with genetically engineered mecha attack teams and sex oracles – plus an all-female main cast who gets hugely buff, a central mystery, and beautiful colors from Nolan Woodard. I am very interested to see more.

Priest’s writing can be hit and miss for me, but if there’s one thing I love about him, it’s that he lets moments breathe. All over the field Superman: Lost is that Superman loses 20 years of time on a strange adventure when no time passes on Earth – for Priest and artist Carlo Pagulayan to still devote four pages to the weight of that realization is a flex, a very dramatic and eerie one.

Congratulations Hank McCoy for joining the ranks of Marvel Comics characters who are such massive assholes that the only people who can bear to be around them are other versions of themselves. It is an exclusive club with Kang, Reed Richards and Mephisto. I hope you’re really happy, Hank.