Lorna Dane: Polaris Appreciation 2021

[Devaishwarya]

A Lorna written as she was broadly written in House of X I believe could and should be able to have an interesting relationship with the X-Men that becomes imprinted on fans and future writers.

I totally agree.

I was pleasantly surprised by the few and far between moments, we got of her in this era so far and I want to see/read more of THAT Lorna...that could be an interesting and engaging dynamic, indeed. And that's why I won't wallow in despair an anxiety at least not until the writer thoroughly disappoints me.

[juan678]

https://www.cbr.com/x-men-x-force-es...acter-stories/

https://www.cbr.com/x-men-x-factor-e...oster-stories/

[salarta]

I just want to see her do hero-stuff, have feats, be beauty-fully illustrated and hope-fully well-written by HiX-Man. Which is what I wish for any of the books I buy and read.

I do not, cannot, and will not dwell on the "innumerable wrongs" done to her in the past under other writers (there are already experts here for that) because quite frankly, I don't care that much about any of that.

So with what I'm about to say, I'm not knocking your approach to things at all. It's a perfectly fine attitude to take. I'm just sharing where I'm coming from.

I agree that what really matters most is moving forward with good work for her, and that dwelling on things done wrong to her in the past in and of itself isn't productive. Development requires new building, not just criticizing old building.

However, there are three reasons I often bring up past wrongs.

First of all, part of progress is learning from past mistakes. Seeing and acknowledging what was done before provides an understanding of what doesn't work and might give some direction for the future based on what did work. Just as the invention of the light bulb required learning from many failures to eventually get it right. Second, the past wrongs are often perceived as if they were actually good or appropriate, especially where nostalgia is concerned. Addressing them with an eye toward what's wrong with them and why that matters also shows why it's important to not repeat them, and why nostalgia isn't a sufficient reason for repeating them. Third, those past wrongs have led to a lot of lost opportunities and wasted potential over the years as people have dismissed what she offers out of what they think she is as a result of past wrongs. As such, I think action should be taken to correct the balance of past wrongs. It doesn't mean Marvel has to openly say certain things the company's done before were wrong. But for example, they can privately recognize they've undervalued her as a meaningful X-woman and start including her in projects meant to highlight them alongside others like Jean, Storm, Emma, etc.

Again, not knocking your not wanting to talk about or focus on past wrongs. Just explaining why I do it, and why I think it's important. As you've said before, all characters have things done wrong with them, and no character is written to perfection 100% of the time. But I think she's worse off than most of her generation, and I think grappling with that is needed to reach a better future for her. Hopefully Marvel improves their treatment of her some day, so that I can feel comfortable leaving past wrongs purely in the past where they should belong.

https://www.cbr.com/x-men-x-force-es...acter-stories/

https://www.cbr.com/x-men-x-factor-e...oster-stories/

I could swear the second link of these is something I've seen before. Maybe CBR is doing a repost of the list because of the X-Men vote. First one looks new at least to me, but I see they messed up the URL because it says X-Force when the article is actually about X-Factor.

[Phoenixx9]

I disagree, to an extent.
Fans are ham-strung by their own overblown expectations of how they think their Favourite-above-all should be written...all the time! Even solo characters like Wolverine are never/have never been written to perfection 100% of the time. Far less for a character who is part of an ensemble cast.
I love Polaris, I want to see her shine in-story but...I'm not going to be reading the X-Men book only for her. I also love Scott and Jean and I want them to have their moments too, as individuals and as a team.
Yes, that's a very tall order given that today's writers aren't like yesterday's literary paragons...which is why usually I refrain from comparing one to the other. We are never going to get Claremont-type stories and I fully accept and embrace that fact.
That said, I intend to enjoy what's presented to me now, until I don't, for whatever reason.

Well, I am all for not comparing characters and/or writers and stories to others/past ones. Overall, I do think that is for the best.

But what I meant was, to me, in just a very, very general comparison, the stories today seem to have the characters just standing around a lot. The action seems to be........ not the same as long ago, and very much lacking.

But yes, we have to enjoy what we are presented with, 'cause, after all, that is all we have, lol!

[juan678]

[salarta]

It says a hell of a lot that it takes a campaign of people dedicated specifically to the end goal of making sure Polaris loses the poll and misses out on this opportunity, something none of the other characters on this poll have working against them, for her to drop.

[Soulsword323]

anyone who was worried about the direction of Lorna&Alex in X-Factor, Leah confirmed that they don't love each other anymore/promised that Lorna isn't hung up on him.

Thanks for the info. I'm glad Leah clarified where she stood with them, as it was ambiguous before. Where did she say this? I didn't see anything on her Twitter.

[Uncanny X-Man]

Polaris fans! What are we doing to help Lorna win the race? Today's the last day... please remember you can vote once on all your different devices (computer, tablet, phone, etc) and you don't need to register to do it, so feel free to ask all your friends/Twitter followers/etc to help out here

[salarta]

Polaris fans! What are we doing to help Lorna win the race? Today's the last day... please remember you can vote once on all your different devices (computer, tablet, phone, etc) and you don't need to register to do it, so feel free to ask all your friends/Twitter followers/etc to help out here

I only voted on one device because I believe Marvel's intent was each person vote only once, and I want to honor that principle even if I'm sure plenty of other people for all the characters aren't doing that.

Aside from that, I've been posting on Tumblr and Twitter about it. Last night I decided to exploit the hashtag to post art I've commissioned of Lorna, because if Lorna loses because of X-Factor fans going out of their way to keep her down for their book, I can at least wring out some good from the poll by hopefully making some people more aware of Lorna's worth through the hashtag.

[Havok83]

It looks like Future Fight is doing a mutant update in Feb, or at the very least a Deadpool one. I always get my hopes up but Im hoping that this is the month they finally add Lorna. She and Alex are the two X-characters that were most requested last year that still arent in it

[juan678]

https://www.cbr.com/x-men-polaris-mistreated-mutant/

[salarta]

https://www.cbr.com/x-men-polaris-mistreated-mutant/

Thanks for sharing. I'm glad they acknowledged the Genoshan genocide, but don't like X-Factor #4 included in this for the simple reason that Lorna's depiction in it was incredibly OOC and didn't take her development after the Genoshan genocide into account.

I realize the writer is just being comprehensive. I don't hold that against him. But that X-Factor #4 part is why I'm not sharing the article on other sites. At least not until Marvel retcons what happened in that issue into something far more respectful than it was.

Edit: Though arguably the events of X-Factor #4 don't actually merit inclusion here anyway from a comprehensiveness standpoint. Everything else in the article highlights traumatic things done directly to her, whereas Rockslide's death was a traumatic thing done to Rockslide that she witnessed.

[Mitteloss]

The election continues.

So glad I saw this in time. I've voted and encouraged others to do so too!

[jmc247]

So glad I saw this in time. I've voted and encouraged others to do so too!

Having Lorna involved directly in mutant politics for the first time in two decades would be a watershed moment for the character. I also think fans would be very happy with the result if its broadly in keeping with Hickman's Lorna of House of X #5.

[Soulsword323]

Not much to say about X-Factor today. Lorna doesn't do too much, but the mind control is dealt with. Really lackluster issue for Polaris tbh.

spoilers:

Lorna and some of the others are killed in the end though.

end of spoilers