Lorna Dane: Polaris Appreciation 2021

[Stormy]

Protecting mutants and not agreeing with Xavier’s ideology sums up Lorna but some reason the X books before she won the X-Men vote and joined the team rarely let her do or show that.

I think it's a Polaris differential, you know, some here might not agree with me, but Lorna would be a mix of Magneto, having that grit, and determination to protect mutants, courage, even if the paths are wrong, but she's also a Xavier, in the sense of having a more heroic and hopeful heart, I can see her as an anti-hero (not a real villain, except when she is possessed by a mutant ghost, lol)

idk if I’m in the minority here, but I really liked Lorna in space. The fall of the Shi’ar and war of kings are some of my favorite x stories and arguably some of the best Polaris content. I’d love to see Po become cemented as a Marvel space character as one of the protectors sol on a team. Ideally it would be sword if that team/book had more of that direction. I’d love to see her established in the greater marvel universe the way Magik is in the magic corner or Dust with the champions.

I agree with you, in addition to working very well on more diverse teams, it would be very interesting to see your powers behaving in a galactic environment, where it can work better than on Earth.

[Bunch of Coconuts]

From what I’ve learned of Lorna (I’m m not her biggest fan, so I realize mine might be a wild take) is that she recognizes that sometimes brute force is needed (hence older Magneto influence), but she always opts for a peaceful resolution (hence her Xavier-esque influence).

She doesn’t ever feel as if she’s wrong when she needs to be forceful, although she can be helped to understand a “better” (less violent) path might have been possible. She may, at times, be conflicted in which is the best resolution, even as she would normally asses the situation independently, but isn’t above seeking guidance of those she trusts (versus acting abruptly in either a violent [Magneto-centric] or passive [Xavier-centric] manner).

Essentially, to me, Lorna is the perfect character to represent the middle ground of the “Malcolm X vs. MLK” tropes of “Magneto vs. Xavier” ideologies of mutantdom. She’s experienced both, and has equal claim to qualifying what works and what doesn’t.

[jmc247]

The idea of Lorna existing in a middle ground between Magneto and Xavier/the X-Men was a workable idea in 1968 with Lorna who was willing to kill which the X-Men weren't, but she was not in love with the reign of blood and terror Silver Age Magneto was big on. The problem is Magneto isn't that guy anymore and hasn't been for a long time. Today for Magneto its much more lets kill the absolute minimum number of people possible to keep from antagonizing the humans which was a policy the X-Men moved to well before the Krakoa era.

Xavier and the X-Men meanwhile are not at all the mutant/human integration fans they once were. They have all the way back to the Utopia era embraced several of the core themes of Magneto's plank such as mutants need their own homeland. I do understand what some are saying. Magneto- ends always justify the means. Xavier- ends never justify the means. So Lorna can fill in ends sometime justify the means.

But, that theme doesn't recognize that Magneto and Xavier are dynamic characters and rarely occupy such spaces so what happens when you have a situation like exists in the upcoming X-Men animated series where Magneto is now headmaster of Xavier's school? Is Lorna supposed to become more Xavier then Xavier to be on the more saintly side Magneto's new ideological spectrum? That doesn't seem a workable situation. This was the situation that occurred with Lorna in X-Men Blue. The run shifted the Overton window with her in a ridiculous direction to compensate for Magneto's mostly heroic middle ground status.

My take is they have alot of room to maneuver if they remember some core features of Lorna's character including her history on Genosha and its destruction, but they shouldn't pigeonhole her as being on the more saintly side of dad as that only works if dad is in a fixed position like the north star which he is not.

This is a timely discussion in that I think we may get in X-Men #5 out next week get a clue where Duggan sees her.

[juan678]

Gwen Polaris cover variant

[jmc247]

Gwen Polaris cover variant

Cute.

Leah's run has two issues left. I hope it ends well with Lorna. I do expect at least a band aid on the damage to Magneto and Lorna's relationship though I don't expect major repairs. I do think in terms of Lorna she was supposed to be in a bit of antihero direction in the run though it wasn't very apparent without reading closely. I do kind of wonder what she is planning in terms of Wanda and Lorna in issue #4/5 as I think that might be more important then readily apparent.

If I would have a run down of her other major writers the past decade. Hickman's Lorna was philosophically complex in an open way though we had only really two issues of it and some small cameos. Bunn's Lorna was very generic hero with a bit of temper. PAD's second run Lorna was a somewhat antihero direction in that she was willing to pull the trigger on foes and not feel particularly bad about it after. Sometimes you get runs where she is an antihero in terms of the use of force, but not on mutant issues and vice versa. On rare occasion like a few issues of JM's run and Austen its both.

In terms of TAS I am going to keep an open mind and hope for the best. It was a great series with the mutant metaphor and well written though Lorna didn't have much going for her when the series ended.

[juan678]

[Askani's Flame]

Look at our girl blood bending (aka using the iron in Laura's blood to move her).

[Stormy]

This issue will be hers, I'm very excited!!

[Mercury]

Me reading X-Men #5 and witnessing Lorna kick as next week...

[JB]

I simply cannot wait to see Lorna unleash on those fools.

[Devaishwarya]

LOL at the fact that her second thought after regaining consciousness was "where's her coffee" not Jean...and her utter dismay that it's all gone. Forget putting down the X-Men...Lorna is going to slay them all for dumping her coffee.

[JB]

LOL at the fact that her second thought after regaining consciousness was "where's her coffee" not Jean...and her utter dismay that it's all gone. Forget putting down the X-Men...Lorna is going to slay them all for dumping her coffee.

Haha exactly. I love that she's rocking the glasses broken anyway.

[Devaishwarya]

Is becau she bad like dat! LOL

[AZPolaris]

IMG_7509.jpg

Trial of Magneto #5 variant!

[jmc247]

Jordan White: “Wait until you read next weeks issue of X-Men it’s very much centered on Polaris. He is having a blast writing Polaris”

interviewer- “and we are having a blast reading her.”

Podcast Minute 17

LOL at the fact that her second thought after regaining consciousness was "where's her coffee" not Jean...and her utter dismay that it's all gone. Forget putting down the X-Men...Lorna is going to slay them all for dumping her coffee.

I am not going to prejudge the issue ahead of time. But, I will say Duggan might be on a good track with the character. The character whose story was working in 2004 went off the rails post M-Day with Milligan deciding to make her just loony for no good reason oh I mean she saw something in space. Then Bru decided to default the character back to a very 70s conception.

Ultimately at least in the preview Duggan manages to combine her wanting to do what she views as good, but in such a way it could come off bad to many other X-Men which is a winning formula when she is on a protagonist team.