Lorna Dane: Polaris Appreciation 2020

[AbnormallyNormal]

More details including a repeat of the marketing line.

Hmmm... could easily take this as a rejection of the character by Duggan

I remember trying to come up with headcanons and hype for a possible Lorna role on Marauders.... it was a bit tough but she did fit sort of "elemental" wise alongside Storm/Iceman/Pyro of course, and the idea was she would be sent there by the Council to keep tabs and oversee the operations, which would eventually produce some friction or conflicts. But she might get along better with Emma and NuKate (until her bizarre "demise" at least).

Well, we'll have to find out how it goes in XFactor. A very different book seems a lot more "sedate" than Marauders, lower profile for sure. But in a sense it gives Lorna a bigger chance to be the star... depends what they do with her. Again my preference is for her to run into some friction since she would be more "by the book" and there to ensure their missions go according to the will of the Council. Which I would imagine Prodigy and Eyeboy's investigative capacities would start to run awry of

[Thirteen]

Has Krakoa shown any reaction to Lorna being on the Island given her large role in jettisoning Krakoa 1.0 into space back in the day?
Would be a funny moment to have the Krakoan Gates initially try to keep her out ala Kitty Pryde. And then they Lorna and Krakoa 2.0 (?) could have a nice reconciliation...

[jmc247]

By Jaynornlin

Hmmm... could easily take this as a rejection of the character by Duggan

I remember trying to come up with headcanons and hype for a possible Lorna role on Marauders.... it was a bit tough but she did fit sort of "elemental" wise alongside Storm/Iceman/Pyro of course, and the idea was she would be sent there by the Council to keep tabs and oversee the operations, which would eventually produce some friction or conflicts. But she might get along better with Emma and NuKate (until her bizarre "demise" at least).

Who knows. I will say creators who lean heavily on the 70s-90s for ideas don't tend to have a good baseline for how Lorna might have an interesting relationship with her contemporaries. Even Leah who is a younger generation then most of her fellow creative staff admitted in her first interview she had real trouble understanding Lorna and reached out to others.

I do have hope there one day after Lorna is pitted against the All New X-Men cast (maybe 5, 10 or 20 years) Lorna's relationship with the core X-Men can finally go somewhere. Writers want either built in dynamics they can play off of or built in tension. Magneto has established relationships with the core X-Men and enough of a history of built in tension to be interesting for writers. Same for Emma, same for Mystique, same for a ton of other characters who aren't considered iconic X-Men.

Perhaps, Hickman and Leah have developed a way forward with her... time will tell.

[Havok83]

Has Krakoa shown any reaction to Lorna being on the Island given her large role in jettisoning Krakoa 1.0 into space back in the day?
Would be a funny moment to have the Krakoan Gates initially try to keep her out ala Kitty Pryde. And then they Lorna and Krakoa 2.0 (?) could have a nice reconciliation...

No and the island that they are on likely isnt even the same Krakoa that she got rid of

[AbnormallyNormal]

^ I would like all that stuff addressed eventually.

Like ... what is this thing? If it's not that

[jmc247]

We will get answers eventually for Krakoa, but it might not be any time soon. The issue in regards to Lorna and Krakoa is finding a way to have her views be true to the character and enable her future interactions with other characters. Lorna found herself in an interesting situation of 'we are all mutant separatists/nationalists now' among the X-Men so one of the few things that could have been used between her and other X-Men to create drama is gone. I think Hickman found a sweet spot of difference in regards to her feelings about humanity depending on what they do with it.

The last decade in the comics was a failure of imagination with the character. It wasn't the absence of a few good stories and characterizations. It was overall she had no center to the character and nothing interesting she was for that made writers interested in writing her with her contemporaries. Lorna wasn't the master of her own story last decade, she was by in large written around other characters. But, some arcs like Prisoner of X had good ideas

Any more art.





Bosslogic

[LordAllMIghty]

We will get answers eventually for Krakoa, but it might not be any time soon. The issue in regards to Lorna and Krakoa is finding a way to have her views be true to the character and enable her future interactions with other characters. Lorna found herself in an interesting situation of 'we are all mutant separatists/nationalists now' among the X-Men so one of the few things that could have been used between her and other X-Men to create drama is gone. I think Hickman found a sweet spot of difference in regards to her feelings about humanity depending on what they do with it.

The last decade in the comics was a failure of imagination with the character. It wasn't the absence of a few good stories and characterizations. It was overall she had no center to the character and nothing interesting she was for that made writers interested in writing her with her contemporaries. Lorna wasn't the master of her own story last decade, she was by in large written around other characters. But, some arcs like Prisoner of X had good ideas

Any more art.





Bosslogic

See, pics like this is the reason I need the whole Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver mess to be undone. So much potential.

[Havok83]

^ I would like all that stuff addressed eventually.

Like ... what is this thing? If it's not that

a Krakoa seedling? After Lorna blasted it into space, several fragments of it broke off and grew as smaller Krakoas. I just assumed the island they are on is one of those fragments that has grown immensely

[salarta]

This was by BD Mead on Twitter.



This one is by Kyle Scanlon, out of me requesting her in it. There are a few others out there too.

More to come later.



And then there's this result for the fanmade "Which member of the Maximoff family are you?" quiz.




I actually ended up getting Wanda.

There's a lot of pieces to this I could talk about, but I think what stands out for me most is the "but unfortunately Marvel hates you" part. This talk stands out more for me on account of how relatively quiet I've been lately with everything going on. People are very aware of how Marvel sees the character. A few nice sounding PR words and nice looking covers in the mix of business as usual doesn't mask what people see. Marvel's not doing anything with Lorna that actually means something or matters for her (except perhaps Empyre, but that's a ways off), and her placement has an air of "We don't really value her or what anyone sees in her but we gotta put her somewhere cause people like her for some odd reason."

There are stories to be told here that people want to see told, but Marvel isn't willing to tell. That void creates friction and awareness. Only real, tangible, continuous efforts to work with Lorna and do good things by her will resolve this feeling. It's in Marvel wishing they could instead throw a few crumbs out and call it a day where problems arise. They're hoping that decades worth of ignorance and missed opportunities can be settled with platitudes and nothing more.

[jmc247]

How to fix Lorna's core problem? Actually figure out what role she can fill in full time (not as a pitch hitter) that can make her an important character to the x-line long term as in she will have the core role in 5 or 10 years with some variation on it.

Hickman might have a good idea there in Empyre X-Men or not, but I don't blame him for not having clear narrative space for Lorna as yet given no writers outside her 60s creative staff and Austen tried with any real degree of effort to try to build a position for her among the mainline X-Men that the public cares about.

Using her as a replacement for another character doesn't actually build space for her as once the characters whose position she took returns it reverts as seen with Lorna one arc stint replacing Jean in X-Men Blue. Marvel cares about its bottom line and if there is space to be had for Lorna that is popular and sells merch for them they will jump at it... well at least they will now that they have the X-Men rights back.

But, it needs to be clearly articulated what Lorna actually stands for and what she represents.

Anyway art.



Link


Edited to add. On some level the new status quo with Krakoa has made things more difficult for Lorna. The whole we are all mutant separatists now/middle ground characters like Lorna of 20 years ago suddenly gets rid of an easy potential talking point between her and the rest of the X-Men. The status quo will eventually end, but it really doesn't matter the X-Men tried out a mutant homeland and mutant nationalism even if it fails.

That means new territory has to be mined for actual discussion between Lorna and the rest of the x-characters. Hickman and Leah might have found it, but we won't know for awhile. I can't disparage Hickman much here as every writer for the past decade and a half has refused to utilize the Genosha and its genocide to give Lorna something to actually talk about with the other X-Men outside of here is what I think of my boyfriend/ex. Hickman also resurrected her distrust of humanity which would have been a great potential discussion point between her and the other X-Men under different circumstances.

It was certainly utilized well in Uncanny X-Men 443 at least.

[danielsan52]

Anyone else think Lorna needs a long term BF (NOT ALEX!!)???

[Havok83]

It would be fine for her to have one but she definitely doesnt need one. I want to see them try her with Warren since Gambit is now off limits

[houndsofluv]

eh not just yet, I'm hoping x-factor fleshes out who Lorna is apart from a relationship (that said a Lorna/Jeanne-Marie moment would be everything but alas good character work first always)

[jmc247]

Anyone else think Lorna needs a long term BF (NOT ALEX!!)???

They need to answer what is her raison d'etre and what purpose does she serves for the line in a general sense beyond what she does on any specific mission, team or relationship.

She was the second x-woman in the 60s after her brief stint as the dark 'queen of mutants', well the position of second x-woman is long gone and you would probably have to have to have a portrait of the top 30 X-Men before Lorna might be included these days. When it comes to a portrait of cool X-Men antagonists and sometimes antagonists Lorna isn't included period even though many of her contemporaries from her father to Emma to Jean/Phoenix are there and Lorna has been in no shortage of antagonist teams. If she isn't an important protagonist and she isn't an important antagonist then what is she? If the answer is C list love interest character... well I don't accept that.

I think romance can only compliment the character when she already has some wider reason to exist as far as the x-line goes, but when its the only thing she has it hurts not helps her as writers stop thinking about what she might be able to do in a larger sense and write her whole character around the ship. Love interest character who gets possessed a lot was all that can be said for the character for several decades.

A lot of Polaris fans in the early to mid 2000s got excited at the idea of her being the middle ground character between Magneto and Xavier. That was a role that if Marvel came to it decades ago could have worked, but really doesn't work in the modern era as Magneto is a middle ground character already from the militant he was in the old days. Some Polaris fans as seen in that Magnus family quiz I think do have resentment toward new Magneto in part because he is in the space Lorna could fill, but what I would say to them is new Magneto is by in large here to stay. Almost all the other X-Men have moved into more of a 'middle ground' position already as well.

Then what is to be had for Lorna? Either she goes back to what she was in the 90s of generic love interest character with mental health and possession issues... or the character is allowed to mark out some territory of her old 60s queen of mutants role and have some overarching goal that defines the character and allows her to guest star on other titles and gives the character a central focus for years to come.

Hickman was the first writer since the early 00s to somewhat write her outside the role she was pigeonholed in decades ago. I just hope he has an overarching plan/theme up his sleeve. Magneto has an overarching theme. Jean has an overarching theme. Emma Frost has an overarching theme. Any successful character has an overarching theme beyond who they sleep with and who they are related to.

[Fokken]

These are excellent points, jmc247.
I'm really eager to see where Leah takes her in X-Factor.

Also, if anyone feels like humoring me:

WHO is Lorna close to? Who are her friends? Who does she confide in? Who, if anyone, do you think she has a grudge against or clashes with?