Polaris: Lorna Dane Appreciation 2019

[jmc247]

Jean and Storm are BFF’s who agree on most things and the audience is emotionally attached to that. It’s not going to be supplanted period. Jean and Emma are rivals in the personal sphere and the ideological sphere. That creates a window for Lorna and Jean as friends in the personal sphere, but rivals in the ideological sphere.

I also see the potential for Lorna and Emma as well as characters who agree on many things on the ideological side, but personally don’t particularly like one another.

A most adept summation, with MUCH nuance, that could be milked for the foreseeable future.

If anything could and and would get Lorna’s character restarted, provide drama to as you say milk and tie her into the mythos much better you are right. I gave Bunn credit for instance for having Lorna and Emma interact, but their relationship outline for Cry Havok fell too broadly into territory already carved out by Jean/Emma that with adult Jean back I had the feeling there wouldn’t be much interest in following up on it.

I will say to be fair to The Gifted before I return to my sabbatical one of the best things The Gifted did at least for season one and a few parts of the half of season two is it highlighted how well Lorna as character does work as an ideologically complex character and how much it facilitates interesting relationships between Lorna and other characters without being redundant or ending up Lorna getting simply written to accentuate their story.

In terms of the comics though Lorna hasn’t been written with any real philosophical complexity since slightly before HoM (and I am not talking AU stories like HoM and it’s minis in there).

Prisoner of X has nice pictures and covers, but in the end Lorna is being written as a minor support character in the story whose theme simply works far better for other characters not Lorna.

[Heroine Addict]

The idea of Polaris being neither like Emma or Storm & Jean, but somewhere in between (both ideologically AND in persona), is certainly the way I've come to see her. And I've FULLY embraced & proudly promoted that ever since, for some time now (with likely varying vigor though, admittedly). Her straddling that line & not being so easily defined--boXed in, as it were--is one of the many reasons I find her character SO... provocative, upon initial (and APPROPRIATE) eXposure, and sustainably compelling thereafter.

[Soulsword323]

I assumed she and Jean are part of the same thingie jiggie.



Feast, my Heroine Addict. Feast and grow stronger.

Love Jen's work. The colors are wonderful and vibrant. Thanks for sharing!

[jmc247]

The idea of Polaris being neither like Emma or Storm & Jean, but somewhere in between (both ideologically AND in persona), is certainly the way I've come to see her. And I've FULLY embraced & proudly promoted that ever since, for some time now (with likely varying vigor though, admittedly). Her straddling that line & not being so easily defined--boXed in, as it were--is one of the many reasons I find her character SO... provocative, upon initial (and APPROPRIATE) eXposure, and sustainably compelling thereafter.

I know that Heroine.

I think Marvel will figure it out eventually. If future writers wants a model for writing Lorna and don’t know much about her season one of The Gifted only more politically astute and less street level is the way to go. As for season two I would say skip it.

Emma Dumont will continue representing for Lorna with the public and will be at Colorado Springs Comic Con in August.

[MichelleDiMera]

The thing is Lorna and Jean have never had to argue and yes..Jean gets very angry at Magneto at times but even when she thought he was Xorneto, she still tried to comfort him and didnt really want to fight him in the end. She was tortured over her and Xavier invading Magneto's mind in the issues that followed the classic X Men #25 Fatal Attractions finale.

I cant recall Jean ever arguing with Lorna..theyve always gotten along and teamed up but the Lorna of today is different, besides Rogue, she doesnt want to go out of her way to go against Magneto without hearing from him first on why he's doing the things others would disagree with.

[Heroine Addict]

More than ever IMO, Lorna nowadays seems to operate in that middle ground sweet spot, between Jean/Storm/Kitty/(modern)Rogue & the likes of an Emma. The closest comparison would maybe be Psylocke, probably, BEFORE being separated from Kwannon tho. I think currently, others who possibly inhabit that same (gray) area as Polaris might be Magik, Dani Moonstar, Domino, and Dazzler, just to name a few. All independent minded & somewhat anti-authoritarian wild cards, pretty much, to say the least.

[jmc247]

I cant recall Jean ever arguing with Lorna..theyve always gotten along and teamed up

Which is why their relationship is virtually unknown today. No disagreements on anything leads to no real fan interest even by the writers and editors without enormous pushing the way Jean and Storm have had. I will just say a more aggressive and ideologically driven version of Lorna in 2002 and 2003 then anything we have seen in modern times didn’t have any disagreements with Jean at that time.

Then again they kept their politics separate at the time. I will just say 2004 Lorna was the last version I felt was driven and opinionated enough in the mutant rights field that I could see actually have a disagreement with Jean about politics.



https://www.instagram.com/p/Bw0GyzVBOhq/

More than ever IMO, Lorna nowadays seems to operate in that middle ground sweet spot, between Jean/Storm/Kitty/(modern)Rogue & the likes of an Emma. The closest comparison would maybe be Psylocke, probably, BEFORE being separated from Kwannon tho. I think currently, others who possibly inhabit that same (gray) area as Polaris might be Magik, Dani Moonstar, Domino, and Dazzler, just to name a few. All independent minded & somewhat anti-authoritarian wild cards, pretty much, to say the least.

That is the public image of her coming out of season one of The Gifted. But, I don’t detect much at all in the way of agreement on what her baseline views should be about Mutant rights or using lethal force from the comics over the past several years.

The problem for writers is they lack a centering guide for what motivates her and drives her thinking the way her father has. The only event to ever gave her a powerful and useful centering event was Genosha and the death of the population on the island.

Magneto had the Holocaust. Jean had the Phoenix Saga. Lorna had Genosha. If Marvel restored it to a central place in her pathos I would have much more hope for her future then them using her being possessed endlessly as a substitute for something that helps the writer and the reader understand Lorna and what motivates her.

[MichelleDiMera]

Which is why their relationship is virtually unknown today. No disagreements on anything leads to no real fan interest even by the writers and editors without enormous pushing the way Jean and Storm have had. I will just say a more aggressive and ideologically driven version of Lorna in 2002 and 2003 then anything we have seen in modern times didn’t have any disagreements with Jean at that time.

Then again they kept their politics separate at the time. I will just say 2004 Lorna was the last version I felt was driven and opinionated enough in the mutant rights field that I could see actually have a disagreement with Jean about politics.



https://www.instagram.com/p/Bw0GyzVBOhq/



That is the public image of her coming out of season one of The Gifted. But, I don’t detect much at all in the way of agreement on what her baseline views should be about Mutant rights or using lethal force from the comics over the past several years.

The problem for writers is they lack a centering guide for what motivates her and drives her thinking the way her father has. The only event to ever gave her a powerful and useful centering event was Genosha and the death of the population on the island.

Magneto had the Holocaust. Jean had the Phoenix Saga. Lorna had Genosha. If Marvel restored it to a central place in her pathos I would have much more hope for her future then them using her being possessed endlessly as a substitute for something that helps the writer and the reader understand Lorna and what motivates her.

Yes..the events of Genosha have been understated and used for silly reasons. The Necrosha storyline was limited..when Magneto returned there in his series? That was cool. They dont let Lorna Harper on it though. Odd considering what she had to do to survive.

[Havok83]

One of the many great Lorna panel from today

[Soulsword323]

One of the many great Lorna panel from today

Such a great page. Nice to see some of Lorna's memories of this world, and going up against Bishop and the other X-Men that's been alluded to. The artist really draws a wonderful Lorna. Also nice to see Polaris' more aggressive, violent side come out to play today.

[darewithpeace]

what comic is that? , lorna was named on uncanny

[salarta]

I'm going to assume that picture on the left of the Prisoner X splash page is a false memory implanted into her brain to try to trick her into being soft and complying.

In above page, nice to see Lorna listed surrounded by Jean and Ororo. Doesn't change criticism for the rest of the issue. But this specific element is good.

[Soulsword323]

what comic is that? , lorna was named on uncanny

It's from Prisoner X #3. Nice to see Lorna mentioned with everyone else in Uncanny. Thanks for sharing that.

[juan678]

Emma Dumont now in Instagram


I will always love you Lorna Dane. You have a will of iron and a heart of gold. I have watched you fight with all your strength, persevere when everything was against you, battle your demons, have your heart broken, understand forgiveness, become a mother, lose yourself, find yourself, face the ugliest parts of your past, demand equal rights, be the bravest person in the room, secretly be the most scared person in the room, fall back in love, learn to compromise and learn the true meaning of friendship. You are an inspiration to me daily and I will never forget what you have taught me.
Thank you to everyone who supported me on this journey. We all wanted to do right by these characters, the original mythology and all of you. I so appreciate all of your support. Love you all. 💚✖💚 "To bend but not to break. To yield but not capitulate. To have pride but also humility."

[juan678]

hayleylovitt
Love that this show came into your life and into mine as well. You were a phenomenal Polaris, no one could have played her better.