Lorna Dane: Polaris Appreciation 2021

[Lucyinthesky]

Duggan interview.

The interviewer highly compliments Lorna's personality and Duggan talks about its background and Pepe's influence starting at time 47:10.



That has been a major bane to Lorna's character over several of her recent runs and it undermined stories that should have been slam dunks. Duggan's X-Men run has been able to come up with a workable persona for Lorna. The longer term success though will be if it successfully standardized her motivational ethos again into something that allows the audience to know where she stands and what motivates her (outside of expresso).

Thank for the interview, I will look it over.

I guess Duggen will explain Lorna´s reasons for wanting to join the X-men in the issue dedicated to her like he did with Sunfire. I think we will see more of his take on her on that issue. He will tackle her reasons for wanting to be an hero for Krakoa and the world, so I am hoping he also addresses the Genosha issue.

[Devaishwarya]

PAD's All New X-Factor was really fun and I loved his Lorna in that series, as well.

[jmc247]

Frank Cho Sketch
https://www.instagram.com/p/CTsntRQFx_5/

Nah, she certainly has fans. Not nearly as many as she should if her story decades ago hadn't been botched.

Jean and Lorna for instance were friends going way back to the 60s. Well, friends and not always friends.



They took her away her militant M2 (Magneto the Second) queen of mutants persona and replaced it with one of being a lite version of Jean by the 70s. The X-Men already had a Jean so she became green haired Jean of the B/C list and was handed possession pathos which didn't serve the character at all though it made life easier for writers to pretend she could be bad ass if someone else was in charge of her mind and body. The words plot device and punching bag come to mind.

The early 2000s illuminated a path forward for her. A way for the character to fit into the line without being X-Factor's Jean or stepping on the toes of Storm and Jean's relationship. Call it a return to a more original conception of Lorna and her relationship to Magneto and mutant activist views. That gave her a contrast to Jean who had Xavier as her guide and mentor and Lorna who had another.

The concept was dashed on the rocks for a few reasons.

1. Lorna writers post Austen hard played down her interest in mutant affairs. Nostalgia for the 80s and 90s replaced moving the character's stories forward.

2. Magneto's position on the X-Men changed from ideological foil to somewhat morally ambiguous mentor for Revolutionary Scott and Emma.

3. X-Factor was restarted so Marvel saw it as an out to dealing with Lorna to shift her back there and try to pretend she is a new character developed in the 90s instead of one with a deep history with the X-Men developed in the 60s.

All that being said I think Lorna might be on the right track to developing a place on the X-Men again that is both unique and doesn't step on the toes of other characters relationships and places including Storm or Emma.

[juan678]

Link

Thanks Jmc247

[Soulsword323]

One of the incentives of getting the Marvel Unlimited Annual Plus option is an exclusive X-Men #1 cover featuring Polaris by Peach Momoko. I wish there was a better shot, but it looks amazing.

(The Annual plus is $99....)

[jmc247]

One of the incentives of getting the Marvel Unlimited Annual Plus option is an exclusive X-Men #1 cover featuring Polaris by Peach Momoko. I wish there was a better shot, but it looks amazing.

(The Annual plus is $99....)

Cute.



I like they used her actual classic costume on the shirt not the weak generic space version. Toning down her costume was a good metaphor for why Lorna had trouble as a character since the space era.

[salarta]

I have mixed feelings regarding the cover.

On the one hand, it's an excellent cover, and it's great to see Lorna is considered an incentive for getting the annual membership. It also kind of puts a notch in the belt of special covers for her as compared to how she hasn't had many yet. On the other hand, the phrase "welcome to the X-Men, Polaris" irks me a little as it's used more because the more it's used, the more it implies she's never been part of the X-Men until now. In turn implying the late 60s never happened, Austen run never happened, etc.

Overall, I think the pros outweigh the cons, and I'll probably get the subscription to get the cover.

I get definite Gifted and Emma Dumont vibes from it.

[jmc247]

I get definite Gifted and Emma Dumont vibes from it.

Yes, its amazing how well Emma Dumont's Polaris has held up in terms of popularity.

It was successful to have a Lorna who cared deeply about something bigger then herself and was willing to fight (with brass knuckles) to attain it. The versions of Lorna who cared about nothing more then her own little life never took over the way those who care about something greater did.

[Leirus]

I have mixed feelings regarding the cover.

On the one hand, it's an excellent cover, and it's great to see Lorna is considered an incentive for getting the annual membership. It also kind of puts a notch in the belt of special covers for her as compared to how she hasn't had many yet. On the other hand, the phrase "welcome to the X-Men, Polaris" irks me a little as it's used more because the more it's used, the more it implies she's never been part of the X-Men until now. In turn implying the late 60s never happened, Austen run never happened, etc.

Overall, I think the pros outweigh the cons, and I'll probably get the subscription to get the cover.

I get definite Gifted and Emma Dumont vibes from it.

The phrase is in a retro shirt with her sixties costume. Even the lettering on it is reminiscent to the old one used around the original Krakoan adventure. I think it is more calling back to that time that trying to deny it, so I quite like it.

[Devaishwarya]

Yes. It's a rather cool homage to that era.

[salarta]

The phrase is in a retro shirt with her sixties costume. Even the lettering on it is reminiscent to the old one used around the original Krakoan adventure. I think it is more calling back to that time that trying to deny it, so I quite like it.

At this exact moment, I think it's all fine. But I can see it shifted toward being a bad thing if used too much and in the wrong way. With the right approach, the phrase can be a nice little nod to the tagline and how Lorna's finally getting to do more on the team after so long since she got to do so. But it's also possible to take the bad approach I mentioned. Just something to be mindful of.

[Devaishwarya]

Why and how would they use it "too much" and in the "wrong way"? ...considering it's an oft-repeated very well-known and appreciated X-Men idiom.

[Mercury]

Lorna has some good moments in ToM #2. Her friendship with Jean is also solidifying in the present comics, it seems.

[jmc247]

Lorna has some good moments in ToM #2. Her friendship with Jean is also solidifying in the present comics, it seems.

There is a narrow window for Jean and Lorna to actually work and be an iconic X-Men relationship and not hand me down Jean and Storm or Jean and Emma. They might be onto it or might not be I don’t know yet. The little dispute between them says maybe. Lorna's lines in that scene actually did feel like Lorna.

Anyway TOM #2.

spoilers:

The plotting and storytelling of the second issue was more compact then X-Factor and there is a mystery feel to the story that was missing from the run on X-Factor. There is an Easter egg that Lorna did complete her PhD she started back in the 70s. Magneto and Polaris are at this point a fully one note toxic relationship. The only positive there is at least they were not way over the top emotionally overwrought like TOM #1.

end of spoilers

Leah has definitely read up on Dark Seduction was far from my favorite Magneto family mini series. She kind of took the rebellious daughter (she actually wasn’t officially his daughter again yet in Dark Seduction) and disappointed father angle/routine that existed below the surface in that mini and revved it up to the max and then some.

[Soulsword323]

While this issue was a marginal step-up for Lorna, it doesn't undue how bad the first issue was for her, and in fact kinda doubles down on the contrived drama.

The PhD was nice, and I thoroughly enjoyed seeing Polaris interacting with Jean. But I hate the moments between Lorna and Magneto. Williams is doing a lot of damage to their relationship and I don't care for that. It's unneeded, and badly executed.