Lorna Dane: Polaris Appreciation 2020

[Will Evans]

Question for Lorna and Rachel experts.

In Rachel’s original timeline, did Lorna marry Alex and become Rachel’s aunt?

[Havok83]

Question for Lorna and Rachel experts.

In Rachel’s original timeline, did Lorna marry Alex and become Rachel’s aunt?

theres no mention of them in that timeline so they presumably died

[Havok83]

She might not be a woman of color, but ain’t she Jewish?

that definitely wasnt even a thing back in the 60s for Magneto, so it would have no bearing on her

[houndsofluv]

she wasn't raised by Magneto so I don't think she identifies as Jewish at all, even if she technically could be ethnically speaking. I don't even know if Magneto's ethnically Jewish..

Lorna's biological family seems WASP but that's just a vibe since her dad could afford a plane loll

[Lucyinthesky]

They were part of the Ashkenazi Jewish community on Germany and his father was a veteran from WWI but I would say they were middle class not rich

[houndsofluv]

huh interesting, thanks! I've never been brave enough to dig super deep into Magneto's history, there's just so much content there

[Lucyinthesky]

That´s from Magneto Testament a relatively recent series by Greg Pak, I agree Magneto has much appareances but his origin is curiously told in just a couple of comics, a good thing because then it would be harder to read the entire story. Claremont also did most of the work about his early story, he did the Magda/Anya story.

[salarta]

Lorna being considered one of the original X-men when Cyclops was dead



Marvel dropped the ball by not doing anything with these 5 the most recent time Scott was dead

This is something I haven't seen before (again, my pre-2009 reading is sporadic). Very glad to see this page. Particularly because by Lorna being the fifth X-Men member, it acknowledges that a) she's been around since nearly the beginning, and b) she was introduced before Havok. Marvel of late has a tendency to act like Havok was created first and Lorna didn't exist until the 90s.

I'm sympathetic to people viewing Lorna as unnecessary or a relic in that sense, like "do we really need yet another white woman" type question. In the late 60s, Lorna functioning as the other female mutant besides Jean was enough to make bold feminist themes, but ever since the 70s and Giant Size bringing ethnic diversity much more into the lore, that's been a roadblock for Lorna I feel like. That's where I stand on the whole idea of "she is functionally part of the original team" like lots of fans actually dislike the original team and feel it's outdated so it's not necessarily such a plus to try to add Lorna into that.

It's the exact reason Claremont preferred New Mutants over X-Men West (with Lorna and Iceman), and while it may have been bad for Lorna it was surely a much better idea of a series to go with New Mutants for a variety of reasons

I feel like the winding twists of fate which denied Lorna a prominent place as a mainstream X-Man ultimately give her the opportunity to be something different, something more than just that. It's a blessing in disguise for her

One option is always to make Lorna into a woman of color. There's plenty of interest in that direction via fanart and cosplay.

I don't think Claremont's interest in New Mutants over X-Men West was for diversity. I think he didn't like those characters, or at the very least Lorna, and knew throwing in a different concept and getting it accepted would kill those plans.

I do agree that the awful history Lorna's gone through technically presents an opportunity to go a different path. Same as how wildly different characterizations can feed into a read of her as bipolar, which was pursued with Gifted.

[Thirteen]

Question for Lorna and Rachel experts.

In Rachel’s original timeline, did Lorna marry Alex and become Rachel’s aunt?

theres no mention of them in that timeline so they presumably died

On the original Days of Future Past story cover (if we are to consider that Rachel's origin timeline), Havok and Polaris can be glimpsed obscured on the status posters behind Logan and Kate. Bottom row next to Banshee Havok seems to be marked as "Apprehended"...PolaRIS isn't visible...

[Havok83]

This is something I haven't seen before (again, my pre-2009 reading is sporadic). Very glad to see this page. Particularly because by Lorna being the fifth X-Men member, it acknowledges that a) she's been around since nearly the beginning, and b) she was introduced before Havok. Marvel of late has a tendency to act like Havok was created first and Lorna didn't exist until the 90s.
.

It was Dead Sun, written by Claremont. Havok would have been an obvious replacement for Scott in this story but he himself was presumed dead at he time (he was in the Mutant X timeline at the time). Polaris was next in line to make the O5 concept work

[salarta]

PolaRIS isn't visible...

That feels like such a metaphor.

Though "isn't visible" reminds me of the idea raised at times that Lorna could make herself invisible if she wanted. Manipulation of the electromagnetic spectrum allows for influencing visible light as well as typical methods of detection.

And now I'm imagining Lorna pulling a Batman on everyone.

It was Dead Sun, written by Claremont. Havok would have been an obvious replacement for Scott in this story but he himself was presumed dead at he time (he was in the Mutant X timeline at the time). Polaris was next in line to make the O5 concept work

I'm honestly surprised that Claremont went for Lorna under those conditions instead of some other character like Toad or someone introduced in Giant-Size X-Men. Doesn't really fit what I know of him from his treatment of her elsewhere.

[jmc247]

I feel like the winding twists of fate which denied Lorna a prominent place as a mainstream X-Man ultimately give her the opportunity to be something different, something more than just that. It's a blessing in disguise for her

Only if they use it and to date they have been afraid to get out of their comfy zone and do so.

As for Claremont, yes, he had a hand in the middle of her Genosha run. She was brought there under Alan Davis' pen in the end of 90s/very start of 00s in a storyline that was a pretty obvious call back to her original. Fabian Nicieza decided in the Summer of 2000 to retcon her reasons for being on the island and try to bring her home with Pietro. The X-Men Black Sun minis story came at the end of 2000 and was by Chris Claremont, but a lot of the scripting was by Roy Thomas who was one of Lorna's late 1960s writers. It was certainly a collaborative story and included old and new names.





What was it motivated by? Over on the Mutant X universe written by Lorna's last major 90s x-Factor writer Howard Makie had a Lorna that had her 1968 relationship to Magneto interacting with Havok and it seemed fresh as in much fresher then the recycled Scott and Jean stories we had been seeing for years on X-Factor. It produced something that Lorna really didn't have in the 90s with her ex and that was built in tension that didn't have to be forced through love triangles.



Mutant X was selling better then late 90s X-Factor so the eyes at Marvel were on what was going right there... that is why Lorna's story died and was reborn at the end of the 90s and the start of the new century.

Claremont had a hand in the rebirth of her storyline in keeping her on Genosha basically ignoring the end of Dark Seduction. Mind you his 2000 run was criticized by reviewers that said he lost his magic pen from 20-30 years earlier and it was another writer who wrote Magneto's defeat on the island in 2001 and also kept Lorna there for vague reasons. None of Lorna's Genosha arc other then after its destruction in issues like New X-Men 132, UXM 431, and 443 was high quality emotional and memorable stuff, but it was Lorna's longest single collaborative story which intermixed some of Lorna's oldest writers and her writers when she re-entered Uncanny in the 2000s.

Was Claremont's role in her Genoshan arc core to its success? No, but he it did play a small role and it was his best story with her since the start of the 80s. Here is something that is important to realize though. Magneto was the top villain of Marvel and certainly the X-Men in that era. Lorna getting on well with him and working with his plans produced conflict with Bobby in the 616 and Havok in the Mutant X universe by itself. Magneto over the past 15 years has become a solid anti-hero with much more in-depth relationships with Lorna's once friends then she has ever built. That opened up obvious problems for her as no longer does her relationship with Magneto on its own create any kind of tension.

That is a problem I think only resolved by a return to her views that did create tension between Lorna and some of her friends and I think Hickman may be on the right path there. The worth of her Genoshan storyline is from its potential in shaking up her existing relationships with the X-Men and more militant mutants to something with built in tension that actually interests writers in writing her. I appreciated Claremont's writing of Lorna on Genosha, but I will also say I wish he took a step back and realized ideas from her first storyline were a winner two decades earlier.

BTW, X-Men Empyre is a collaborative story as well including Hickman, Vita Ayala, and Leah Williams among others. That its on Genosha is no small deal and in some way closes the loop started over twenty years ago.

[Phoenixx9]

It was Dead Sun, written by Claremont. Havok would have been an obvious replacement for Scott in this story but he himself was presumed dead at he time (he was in the Mutant X timeline at the time). Polaris was next in line to make the O5 concept work

Is Dead Sun collected edition? I would like to read it!

[kcekada]

On the original Days of Future Past story cover (if we are to consider that Rachel's origin timeline), Havok and Polaris can be glimpsed obscured on the status posters behind Logan and Kate. Bottom row next to Banshee Havok seems to be marked as "Apprehended"...PolaRIS isn't visible...

They had both perished by the time 'Days of Future Past' was printed. On the cover, it appears that Havok has only been apprehended, but a letters page revealed that the wanted poster was out of date. You can barely see Polaris's name below her poster, but I believe she was slain as well. Pretty much any X-Men still alive were part of Rachel's small group in X-Men 141.

[Will Evans]

They had both perished by the time 'Days of Future Past' was printed. On the cover, it appears that Havok has only been apprehended, but a letters page revealed that the wanted poster was out of date. You can barely see Polaris's name below her poster, but I believe she was slain as well. Pretty much any X-Men still alive were part of Rachel's small group in X-Men 141.

Originally.


But didn’t a later Warren Ellis Excalibur issue later reveal in that timeline that Brian, Betsy, Meggan, Karma, Wolfsbane and Tangerine were alive in Europe.

Then there was a Wolverine issue that revealed Jubilee and Synch were alive.