Just in time for The Rock’s movie, DC Comics gives Black Adam a big shakeup

polygon.com:

How does Black Adam, the Warner Bros. movie starring Dwayne Johnson, plan to bring the character’s modern aspect to a movie mostly about his origin story? The answer is unclear. But as for DC’s Black Adam miniseries, timed to coincide with the movie, writer Priest and artist Rafa Sandoval show they’re doing whatever the heck they want to right in the first issue. It’s a stance Adam himself would be proud of.

Trailers for Black Adam seem to focus on Adam’s release from his ancient prison and initial… well, let’s say “adventures” in the modern world, clashing with the Justice Society of America. But to anyone who’s been reading comics for the last couple decades, Black Adam isn’t a rogue antihero — he’s the supreme god-king of a made-up Middle Eastern country who occasionally deigns to testily collaborate with the Justice League. A kind of true-neutral Doctor Doom, paternalistically defending his people’s borders as he is worshipped as a deity.

That version of the character, the one playing with ideas of total power and lethal justice, is the one Priest and Sandoval introduce in Black Adam #1. And they also introduce Washington D.C. medical resident Malik White, Adam’s descendant, who seems about to inherit his power.

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.)

Priest, a creator who’s been bouncing in and out of and around superhero comics