We finally know what the X-Men do with their babies

The first law of the X-Men’s current sanctuary island Krakoa is “Make more mutants.” Mostly, however, Marvel’s X-Men comics have focused on the small team of mutants who are using their powers to resurrect every mutant who has ever died. But what about the rest of Krakoa’s mutants?

Presumably, they have to obey the law the old fashioned way, by getting pregnant and having babies. But that raises a lot of other questions, not least the ethics of compulsory reproduction and the unfair burden it places on childbearing mutants. And from the lack of baby-having in every X-Men book, it doesn’t seem like a rule that many of the most famous or powerful mutants are thinking about very much.

This might seem like a nitpick, but have you met comic book fans? The mysteries of Krakoan sexy-times, pregnancy, maternity, and childcare was left unexplored until this week’s issue of Way of X #3 introduced readers to the Bower, a sexy Krakoan playspace for mutant couples to get it on with or without contraception — that has accidentally also become the foundling baby drop off spot.

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.)

WAY OF X #3

It’s a nursery in more ways that one (get it? ‘cause of the flowers). The mutant babies keep getting dropped off, but fortunately the Bower has plenty of visitors who make sure they’re cared for. If this seems like the obvious and awkward consequence of ordering your population to breed without setting up any actual infrastructure for bearing or raising children — well, that’s the kind of societal nightmare Way of X is being crafted to explore.

SPAWN’S UNIVERSE #1

Gunslinger, an Old West version of Spawn, retrieves his tall hat with skulls around the brim and puts it on all cool-like in Spawn’s Unvierse #1 (2021).

There are several brand new Spawns on the block. One of them has a big hat.

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY #15

Rocket Raccoon goes on a sarcastic little tirade about how you can’t just compare things in space to things on Earth. “‘An inter-system trading alliance? Yeah, we got one of those too! It takes up one land mass on one planet! Exactly the same!” after Hercules compares the Galactic Rim Collective to the European Union in The Guardians of the Galaxy #15 (2021).

Look, I just like how PO-ed Rocket Raccoon gets about Earth superheroes and their perpetual desire to reduce things to Earth terms.

INFINITE FRONTIER #1

A man in a diner goes on an anti-superhero rant, claiming that the “multiverse” is an idea they made up despite many people remembering the last Crisis Event in Infinite Frontier #1 (2021).

In its first issue, Infinite Frontier is digging into an interesting facet of DC’s most recent reboot of the universe. Traditionally, most of DC’s reboots happen in such a way that almost nobody remembers what happened, so as to preserve at least a minimal sense of “universe next door” relatability to the setting. But this time, lots of ordinary people remember seeing evidence of the multiverse — and it’s causing a bit of familiar societal conflict.

HEROES RETURN #1

Speaking of multiverse, the conclusion of the Heroes Reborn event in Marvel’s Avengers umbrella leaves us with this delightful tease: 616 alternate universe Mephistos from around the multiverse are teaming up to cause havoc. Even what looks a lot like the Mephisto of the Spider-Ham universe.

FANTASTIC FOUR: LIFE STORY #2

In this week’s Fantastic Four: Life Story, a retelling of all of Fantastic Four continuity as if it took place in the real history that was happening while it was being published, the Invisible Woman got her copy of The Feminine Mystique signed by Betty Friedan, and I just think that’s neat. Friedan’s seminal feminist text has been criticized for ignoring the struggles of poor women, queer women, and women of color — but of course its focus on the liberation of the white middle class housewife with stunted ambitions would be the thing that galvanized the Sue Storm of the 1960s.