Lorna Dane: Polaris Appreciation 2020

[salarta]

kirbyscomicart by dikeruan

This is an excellent piece and I'm happy to have seen it, thanks for posting.

I see Lorna as a character that can and should be a major player that should have so much custom built drama to be tapped with other X-Men it has writers salivating at writing her not writer after writer being pushed to write her by editorial and without naming names many of her writers the past 15 years were basically told to write her. You want a core difference that should exist between Lorna and Magneto... she should be more of a firebrand and willing to break the rules then him the 96 year old established mutant authority. But, they should be part of the same overall faction of mutants.

If writers had that conception about the character in their heads instead of generic female x-character with daddy, boyfriend, and stability issues they would be begging to write her.

I think a writer being told to write Lorna may be necessary to some extent, because short of Marvel hiring someone specifically because they're a Lorna fan, the prevailing attitudes and culture mean writers refusing to put any thought into her until they're put in a position where they have to think about her. However, having other characters around that those writers like more, or who they believe will garner more readership, causes problems because those writers seem to decide that Lorna should be written in service to those characters. On this note, Austen didn't really pick Lorna, but he was open-minded enough to look at what Morrison did with New X-Men #132 and over time considered her POV more.

In short, whether or not a writer is willing to take a real and unbiased look at Lorna makes a difference. Someone who has a hate-on for the character or has a huge crush on another character and thinks she could be exploited to promote said other character isn't really thinking about her. They're thinking about damage they can do to her, or what a useful tool she can be.

LOL distinguished disaster....I'd say that's apt

Distinguished disaster lesbian is apt. Waiting to see it come into play with Lorna and Jean talking about all the teasing and flirting they did in the early days when they start dating.

Unsure whether Rachel would be the one to hook them up, or act embarrassed when they're doing PDA.

[juan678]

Comiket convention #46, August 1994, Tokyo Japan
Curiosity 1 pic with Polaris Manga x-factor 1994

https://twitter.com/LilFormers/statu...62012129554432

[juan678]

kirbyscomicart by dikeruan

awesome pic Thanks JMC247

[Will Evans]

This is an excellent piece and I'm happy to have seen it, thanks for posting.



I think a writer being told to write Lorna may be necessary to some extent, because short of Marvel hiring someone specifically because they're a Lorna fan, the prevailing attitudes and culture mean writers refusing to put any thought into her until they're put in a position where they have to think about her. However, having other characters around that those writers like more, or who they believe will garner more readership, causes problems because those writers seem to decide that Lorna should be written in service to those characters. On this note, Austen didn't really pick Lorna, but he was open-minded enough to look at what Morrison did with New X-Men #132 and over time considered her POV more.

In short, whether or not a writer is willing to take a real and unbiased look at Lorna makes a difference. Someone who has a hate-on for the character or has a huge crush on another character and thinks she could be exploited to promote said other character isn't really thinking about her. They're thinking about damage they can do to her, or what a useful tool she can be.



Distinguished disaster lesbian is apt. Waiting to see it come into play with Lorna and Jean talking about all the teasing and flirting they did in the early days when they start dating.

Unsure whether Rachel would be the one to hook them up, or act embarrassed when they're doing PDA.

Not sure where this Lorna/Jean shipping is coming from. Jean has barely interacted with Lorna since late 80s.
And while Lorna is definitely Jean’s friend, she’s not one of the characters she mostly interacts with.

[LoganAlpha30X33]

Some of it is coming from some fans that are so against Alex/Lorna that they'd rather have her with a woman, and Jean is a big name so...

[Will Evans]

Some of it is coming from some fans that are so against Alex/Lorna that they'd rather have her with a woman, and Jean is a big name so...

I mean.........Rachel is right there.

[Fokken]

I mean.........Rachel is right there.

Oh the compleXities of romance within the X-community.

I mean, if Lorna was(is?) gal pals with Jean and then opted to date her alterna-future-daughter -- is that a conversation you unpack with some of Logan's whiskey?

[Will Evans]

Oh the compleXities of romance within the X-community.

I mean, if Lorna was(is?) gal pals with Jean and then opted to date her alterna-future-daughter -- is that a conversation you unpack with some of Logan's whiskey?

I mean, this is the franchise where Logan and Bobby (and more) have been with Mystique.....both Kurt’s biological mother and Rogue’s adoptive mother.

At this point, what is there left to unpack.

[jmc247]

Jean has barely interacted with Lorna since late 80s.

They interacted some in the early '00s. Jean was her maid of honor in her abortive wedding, Rachel seemingly was one of the bridesmaids.

Oh the compleXities of romance within the X-community.

I mean, if Lorna was(is?) gal pals with Jean and then opted to date her alterna-future-daughter -- is that a conversation you unpack with some of Logan's whiskey?

You hit on the underlying issue at least from my vantage point which is related to the question of what generation an X-Man is she? Jean from Lorna's prospective is her best female friend, she made that pretty clear in her conversation with her adoptive mom talking about who to pick as the Maid of Honor.

The first generation of mutants leaders as I see it are broadly Xavier and Magneto.

The second generation is Jean, Rogue, Scott, Emma, Wolverine, Gambit.

The third generation is Daken, Rachel, Nate Grey, The Cuckoos.

It gets to the question of which generation Lorna is apart of? If one is going with somewhat manic hypersexual Lorna as she was for awhile after the Genoshan genocide then it doesn't matter if she is sleeping with Daken, Rachel or both it wouldn't damage her relationships with the second generation (Wolverine, Scott, and Jean) as its just sex. But, if you are trying to build a long term committed loving relationship for Lorna I would much prefer it be with a member of the second generation which I view Lorna as part of then the third.

Scott and Jean treating Lorna as a daughter in law? I loved Lorna and Scott's interaction in X-Men #1 as the second generation inheritors to the dreams of the respective X-Men founders talking and thinking about them and themselves. I can't see such interactions if Lorna is solidly made part of the third generation and her sort of father in law.

I wouldn't mind Lorna sleeping with Rachel and/or Daken as long as it isn't intended for true love or lasting commitment otherwise it could really screwing up her relationships that go back a long time.

[CRaymond]

The first generation of mutants leaders as I see it are broadly Xavier and Magneto.

The second generation is Jean, Rogue, Scott, Emma, Wolverine, Gambit.

The third generation is Daken, Rachel, Nate Grey, The Cuckoos.

[jmc247]

Depends on what you consider generations. For me its less about pure age and more about when you came into developmental being as well as (and this is important) your relationship to the previous generation.

Wolverine is way older then Magneto or Xavier and retcon's aside that he was the first X-Men he got his start as far as I am concerned fighting for mutant rights under Xavier in the 70s and 80s which makes him second generation. His son being third generation in my view got his start much later. As for the rest its my point of view and I am not going to fight or ague with fans on the topic that are obfuscating my point that I see Lorna as a contemporary with Jean, Scott, etc. and that is all I have to say on the matter.

I am not hostile to Lorna sleeping with just about any of her team and you are going to find quite a few that are. But, building a lasting romantic relationship would be a separate issue and with that I am done as I think some are looking to defend whatever Leah might do and we don't know the answer to that rather then give a fig about the central thesis of my point. Save your fire for those actually who would be hostile to Lorna sleeping with Rachel or anyone not named Havok and with that I am done.

[CRaymond]

I figured it was a forgone conclusion that Lorna was an O5 peer.

I understand your primary rationale. I honestly don’t place Gambit in any shape of leadership hierarchy. The third gen was everywhere. I couldn’t understand where you were going. Rachel is clearly legacy, Daken somewhat. Nate is a plot device and the Cuckoos are a Greek chorus. None of them belong on a leadership ladder. Relationship to leadership I can see, but then Emma never had a similar or even metaphoric relationship with level one.

[Will Evans]

The fact that you don’t have Storm and Nightcrawler on your list confounds me

[salarta]

Oh the compleXities of romance within the X-community.

I mean, if Lorna was(is?) gal pals with Jean and then opted to date her alterna-future-daughter -- is that a conversation you unpack with some of Logan's whiskey?

I wonder, would this be considered a modified Phaedra complex or an entirely new, as yet unnamed Freudian concept? Mayhaps Lorna could regale Rachel with how badly she wanted to make out with her mom between missions in the early days, or how Lorna looked forward to babysitting little Rachel for Jean one day.

I figured it was a forgone conclusion that Lorna was an O5 peer.

I understand your primary rationale. I honestly don’t place Gambit in any shape of leadership hierarchy. The third gen was everywhere. I couldn’t understand where you were going. Rachel is clearly legacy, Daken somewhat. Nate is a plot device and the Cuckoos are a Greek chorus. None of them belong on a leadership ladder. Relationship to leadership I can see, but then Emma never had a similar or even metaphoric relationship with level one.

Lorna being an O5 peer should be a foregone conclusion, but Marvel has a history of taking things away from Lorna, sometimes giving them to other characters, and then acting like Lorna has nothing to offer.

Lorna used to be Jean's best friend, then Storm got that. Lorna was the second woman to join the X-Men, Marvel acts like it doesn't matter. Lorna launched Krakoa into space, never came up anywhere in HoX/PoX/DoX. Ditto for Genosha, which Marvel stripped from Lorna when she got sent out into space to be Havok's helper girlfriend in the late 00s. And if you look back at the Claremont era, this "taking things away from Lorna, giving them to someone else and knocking Lorna down" angle led to her literally having her powers taken away from her with plans to take her codename too. Marvel's attitude toward her at present seems to be "She didn't exist until the 90s cause my nostalgia says so, and she's done nothing since then also cause my nostalgia says so."

It's hard not to be wary of what Marvel might do to Lorna in certain situations given Marvel's history with her.


Back to the generations matter, as jmc said, it does go to definitions. However, I would say Lorna should be part of the same generation as the O5 regardless of one's divisions for multiple reasons. Chronology-wise, she's very near when the X-Men as a team with the O5 started. Publication-wise, she's part of the same run that introduced the O5. Team comp wise, she was the second woman to join the team and one of the first set of female mutants for the franchise. By every measure, Lorna should be considered part of the same generation as the O5.

The only exception might perhaps be considering the time of Lorna's introduction to be a third generation, then the group of Storm and Wolverine and them considered a fourth generation.

I think I should also point out that most social media I've seen where people discuss introducing mutants to the MCU will say either "O5 then Lorna and Havok then everyone else," or "O5 + Lorna and Havok first followed by the rest." So there's definitely common consensus that Lorna's either part of the O5 or just one step removed with others like Wolverine being another step removed from that.

[CRaymond]

The fact that you don’t have Storm and Nightcrawler on your list confounds me

I'm sure it was just a spattering, otherwise we'd see heavy hitters like Cable or Mystique. A proper leadership/relationship diagram is probably a different thread entirely.

Back to Lorna, I really only saw her excel in positions of leadership in X-Factor's various non-school-based initiatives, both US Govt and Serval.