Black Adam gets a DC Comics shake up from The Rock just in time for the movie

How works Black Adam, the Warner Bros. film starring Dwayne Johnson, plan to bring the modern aspect of the character into a film that focuses primarily on his origin story? The answer is unclear. But as for DCs Black Adam In a miniseries timed to coincide with the film, writer Priest and artist Rafa Sandoval show they’ll do whatever they want in the first issue. It’s an attitude Adam himself would be proud of.

trailer for Black Adam seem to focus on Adam’s release from his old prison and initial…well, shall we say “adventures” in the modern world clashing with the Justice Society of America. But for anyone who’s read comics for the last few decades, Black Adam isn’t some villainous anti-hero – he’s the supreme god-king of a fictional Middle Eastern country who occasionally deigns to irritably collaborate with the Justice League. A sort of genuinely neutral Doctor Doom that paternalistically defends his people’s borders while being worshiped as a deity.

This version of the character, which plays with ideas of total power and deadly justice, is the one introduced by Priest and Sandoval Black Adam #1. And they also introduce Malik White, the Washington DC doctor, Adam’s descendant who seems to inherit his power.

What else is happening on the pages of our favorite comics? We’ll tell you. Welcome to Monday Funnies, Polygon’s weekly list of books our comics editor has enjoyed over the past week. It’s part society pages about the lives of superheroes, part recommended reading, and 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 issue, read this.)

US senators grill Teth-Adam/Black Adam relaxing in his mortal form in a chair wearing a suit.

A creator who’s bounced around in and around superhero comics since the ’70s, Priest is a writer with, shall we say, a distinctive style. Sometimes it works for me, sometimes not. But he always has something to say, and he doesn’t seem to resist saying it, which can still make his books fascinating reads.

Magneto offers a grey-skinned, red-eyed mutant the challenge of a life-and-death struggle in a huge arena. In the stands, Sunspot slyly says to the colorfully dressed mutant next to him,

I joked that the last five pages of X Men Red #3 might be better than sex, and well that’s an exaggeration, but then again… Writer Al Ewing and artist Stefano Caselli pull one of those tricks that makes it seem like they’re just playing in the sandbox until You realize it. You’ve had a bat and a ball and a tee shot the whole time here, and that’s exactly when the bat pops.

Writer Chip Zdarsky and Artist Jacob Phillips’ new fire concludes its first arc with the promise of more, and I’m glad to know it’s found enough audience to continue. The eight issues captivated me with the elevator pitch of The Mafia’s Private Detective and kept me interested even as the story casually meandered through a series of almost anthologized, disjointed stories. Of course, it turned out that all that wandering led somewhere, and that somewhere were all the great crime stand-bys of crooked cops, shady deals, dark favors, and whatever it took to protect your own.

Steve Rogers/Captain America sits in a life drawing class while the young students around him politely advise him on using a drawing tablet and warn him not to use his superpowers to push the pen through in Captain America: Sentinel of Freedom #1 (2022 ).

Honestly, I don’t know why every Captain America comic doesn’t let him at least chill a little with regular people. That’s lovely.

A shocked teenage girl watches as an old man walks down a dingy hallway, holding a cigar box in one hand and a huge black sword in the other.

I didn’t know anything about The Lonesome Hunters going in. It turned out to be “young hero refuses the call to adventure, grows old, has to fight demons as a lonely old man”, plus a young partner. Creator Tyler Crook’s colors really sell that dirty urban fantasy vibe and I look forward to more.

A young girl cries as her wrestler mother is carried out of the ring on a stretcher and wearing a neck brace. Across a television screen, a man wearing roller-blind glasses watches it unfold and grins maniacally in Do a Powerbomb #1 (2022).

With Beta Ray Bill and Jurassic LeagueWriter and artist Daniel Warren Johnson bought a lot of money with me, so of course I was ready for his Make a power bomb, a comic born from his experience of throwing himself headlong into the professional wrestling fandom. From the real world of kayfabe and performative wrestling, the daughter of a champion who was fatally injured in the ring gets caught up in a real-life supernatural wrestling tournament in a castle run by a necromancer who promised to bring back her dead mother . Yes, please.