Lorna Dane: Polaris Appreciation 2018

[salarta]

No. Grant Morrison's New X-men with Jean, Wolverine, Cyclops, Emma and Beast was without a doubt, the flagship of that era. Claremont's X-treme was second billing and Austen's Uncanny was the bottom of the pack

Thanks for explaining. Pre-2009 and even slightly around 2009 is less known to me because I didn't pay much attention to Marvel's comics until I discovered Lorna.

So, for a character that's been around 50 years and was the second woman to join the X-Men, she never really had a role of this level before in all that time. Much like how it took until 2012 to get her origin story. It goes along with what I've said about how, while all of this work is good and deserves kudos, it's also catching up on things that should've happened decades ago.

Not really. The Havok/Lorna stuff was set up in her first appearance in the book, months before Venomized or Mothervine. Bunn had Lorna interacting with Alex in those issues trying to reach out to him, not teen Scott. Lorna was the one set up from the start to save Alex. It was her only role in Blue

It was her main role, but in the very beginning I think her secondary role was to promote Magneto. That's why we had Lorna introduced as "Daughter of Magneto" with no other descriptors, why she was written as taken by surprise by an attack on headquarters so Magneto could "correct" her, etc. Those earlier problems don't stand out as much in hindsight because Bunn actually course corrected on them around Blue #15. Hence why I've regularly seen fans use this panel out of all in Blue that had dialogue.



The problems tied to Havok are easily remembered because they were heavily pronounced, Havok got a multi-issue story as the focal character, and problems persisted for the whole run. There was no point among them where someone could say "Yeah it started off bad, but it got better."


And having said this, I want to make a note that I'm glad Marvel is continuing to work on Lorna's relationship with her dad, and putting in real effort to find the right approach that respects both characters instead of just one or the other. Now's the exact right time for them to try to work this out. Make sure we don't end up with decades of misuse that require extensive clean-up to make it viable again.

[LoganAlpha30X33]

Or you could say that she's only in Uncanny because Magneto is one of the horsemen...nah Magneto just completely ignored her for decades...it'd make sense that Lorna would try to reach out to Alex back in Blue, just like Jean would to Scott, Rogue would to Gambit and such...no shock or anything like that...

[Heroine Addict]

No. Grant Morrison's New X-men with Jean, Wolverine, Cyclops, Emma and Beast was without a doubt, the flagship of that era. Claremont's X-treme was second billing and Austen's Uncanny was the bottom of the pack

Pretty sure going by sales alone, X-Treme was at the bottom of the pack, and by a fairly significant margin.

[AbnormallyNormal]

I definitely consider Lorna's role in Austen's Uncanny to be her on a "main" X-team

It evolved more organically too, but certainly by the time the likes of Wolvie and Iceman was around come on folks that's a main squad

So what I get from you guys is in UXM5 Lorna meets her dad but basically there is no real discussion between them of any emotional importance? Pretty sad if so

It's just "i got to put you down you are a baddie" type stuff? Hmm yeah I might keep passing on Uncanny

Waiting for Prisoner X and *hoping* it is good

Also hoping they put Lorna into Emma Frost's squad for a potential book

[juan678]

Lorna cameo in rogue/gambit 6

[AbnormallyNormal]

Interesting they look like teens there

But at least she is dressed casually and shown interacting Ill take it

[jmc247]

Very nice to see Jean and Lorna together.

So what I get from you guys is in UXM5 Lorna meets her dad but basically there is no real discussion between them of any emotional importance? Pretty sad if so

It's just "i got to put you down you are a baddie" type stuff? Hmm yeah I might keep passing on Uncanny

Waiting for Prisoner X and *hoping* it is good

It might make some Polaris fans happy who are not Magneto fans or just kind of pretend to be as long as it exclusively advances one of the twos interests, but I suspect more of the same from Prisoner of X and Lorna I have the feeling will likely turn out to be the one that put out Age of X-Man Magneto’s eye who still seems to be in X-Man's control and not know reality has been warped by him.

Her getting fed up and provoking him was a great moment for the character, but the early half their conversation was something Storm or Jean might have said to him word for word while just erasing the term father.

[Soulsword323]

Lorna's been present since Uncanny X-Men #1 and is being used because she's an active X-Man. She rescued the New X-Men with Nightcrawler and X-23, and was part of the team that dealt with Multiple Man. Polaris didn't just pop up in #5 to battle Magneto. No one on the X-Men was aware of Magneto's involvement until issue 3, and saying she is just being used because of Magneto, when she's done other things, and interacted with other characters, is false.

Austen's run wasn't the flagship title. Morrison's New X-Men was, and that's what people were talking about, not that Uncanny wasn't an important title.

Lorna cameo in rogue/gambit 6

This is super cute!

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

Uncanny X-Men #51 Dec 1968
"The Devil Had a Daughter!"
Fighting to free Lorna Dane from Mesmero and his Demi-Men in the Mutant City,
the X-Men are confronted with the fact that their old foe Magneto is alive and well.
Magneto reveals that Lorna is his daughter and offers Lorna and the X-Men the chance to join his army of mutants in taking over the world.
The X-Men, Iceman in particular due to his romantic interest in Lorna, decline the offer and strike out at Magneto.
As Magneto orders Mesmero and the Demi-Men to counter attack, Iceman grabs Lorna and makes a run for it.

Ordering Iceman to help them out, the X-Men are outnumbered by the attacking Magneto, Mesmero and Demi-Men, who overpower the X-Men.
Eventually, the X-Men fight off their attackers and turn their attention to Magneto;

however he is saved, much to the shock of Iceman, by Lorna herself.

The X-Men are forced to flee and retreat with Magneto bellowing after them that his minions will kill them all.

Returning to Hank and Bobby's apartment, Scott orders Bobby to sit the coming battle out due to his emotions toward Lorna.
Furious at being ordered to do so, Bobby angrily storms out of the room. Scott tells the team not to worry about Bobby
as he believes the young love struck man will eventually cool down, and they begin planning their next move.

Several days later, the outer defenses of the Mutant City are attacked by a new evil mutant calling himself Erik the Red.
Frightening off the guards, Erik orders them to go and collect their master Magneto, as he would like to join his mutant militia.

Script by Arnold Drake, pencils by Jim Steranko, inks by John Tartaglione

[jmc247]

pencils by Jim Steranko

It was Jim’s last issue on the title before he left for creative differences and unhappiness about storyline decisions it seems from his comments this year, but the quality of the art shown through in spades.



Thanks for the retrospective review for an issue that came out 50 years ago this month.

[jmc247]

The Gifted 2×10 eneMy of My enemy

THE STRUCKERS REUNITE ON THE ALL-NEW WINTER PREMIERE OF “THE GIFTED” TUESDAY, JANUARY 1, ON FOX

The Mutant Underground wrestles with the idea of recruiting the Inner Circle to assist them. Andy considers reconnecting with his family when he learns about his father’s powers, but Lauren may not be as willing to have him back as their parents. Find out if the Mutant Underground and Inner Circle will be able to put their differences aside in order to save John from the Purifiers in the all-new “eneMy of My eneMy” winter premiere episode of THE GIFTED airing Tuesday, Jan. 1 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX.

http://tvcomicsseries.com/the-gifted...ase-and-promo/

Summary for TG episode 10.

[Soulsword323]

We need more Polaris and Iceman! Its a crime they haven't had much interaction in years.

[jmc247]

We need more Polaris and Iceman! Its a crime they haven't had much interaction in years.

The early champion of the gay revel was Austen, but editoral at the time wouldn’t let him pull the trigger, but he still played it as such in his interactions with Annie and Lorna.



I said a few years back when it happened that it will take quite some time before Marvel comes to grips with how to deal with Bobby’s first non-sexual, but still semi romantic relationship on the x-books post revel and that has proved to be the case.

[salarta]

Lorna cameo in rogue/gambit 6

Thanks for sharing! Based on this image, I think I'll buy and read the digital copy later today. I consider the fact she's actually finally talking to Jean to be enough to warrant a buy and read in this case.

An aside, that's some really cool civilian attire for Lorna. I can't even remember any previous times where I saw her wearing a skirt. The leggings are an interesting touch too; definitely not what I would expect from "ordinary civilian" attire. I've got headcanons from that. Like maybe her time in space led to changing up her thoughts on everyday wear. Or maybe she's ready for a date with some lucky person.

Lorna's been present since Uncanny X-Men #1 and is being used because she's an active X-Man. She rescued the New X-Men with Nightcrawler and X-23, and was part of the team that dealt with Multiple Man. Polaris didn't just pop up in #5 to battle Magneto. No one on the X-Men was aware of Magneto's involvement until issue 3, and saying she is just being used because of Magneto, when she's done other things, and interacted with other characters, is false.

I think the "complaints" in this regard are a person seeing legit complaints about how Lorna was treated with Havok and either missing or intentionally obscuring the actual substance. They're seeing how Havok anywhere near Lorna right now is instantly a bad thing, and trying to pretend the same applies to Lorna around Magneto. They're leaving out important contextual and historical details behind why it's currently bad with Havok but not with Magneto. With Havok, there's decades of misuse with examples as current as this past Spring. With Magneto, there's been hardly any use of the two together, and bad examples are relatively rare.

We need more Polaris and Iceman! Its a crime they haven't had much interaction in years.

Things we still need more of (that I can think of right now):

• More interaction with Jean
• More interaction with Iceman
• History with Genosha acknowledged and used
• Things done to acknowledge meaningful details often ignored (been around 50 years, second female member to join, etc)
• Some kind of real use (e.g. a solo book, leading a team, etc) that actually gets promotion and support from Marvel
• Some kind of love interest that isn't Havok for the first time in 50 years

I'm on the fence for if "more involvement in events" needs to be on the above list given the level of use for this Uncanny X-Men event. On the one hand, Marvel is actually including her now. On the other hand, I don't want to say "it's been satisfied" only to watch Marvel go another 10-20 years not using her in any events to at least the level we've seen for this Uncanny X-Men event.

There are all sorts of other things I think Marvel should be doing too, like exploring more uses for her powers, putting her Masters in Geophysics to use, restoring the twins as also Magneto's kids and let Lorna interact with them again, etc. But they're not things I feel like Marvel "needs" to do with Lorna.

I'm even still iffy on the love interest point, but I feel part of fixing damage done to her around Havok is showing she has enough autonomy to be with someone that isn't him for a change. Personally, I'd like to see her dating women, but that's entirely personal and there's nothing wrong with her being straight rather than bi. Though I will say I've seen quite a few fans that already consider Lorna to be bi and wouldn't accept if Marvel said she's straight. I even remember one tweet of someone playfully saying she's a bi character being "held captive" as cis. It's another, but this time good, example of fans deciding who Lorna is in the absence of Marvel writing things to tell fans who she is.

[juan678]