Lorna Dane: Polaris Appreciation 2021

[salarta]

Lorna has changed, but usually it is editorial, not the writer making these sorts of changes. As The Trial of Magneto is a major X-Men book, I wonder if this is a new direction decided by editorial.

It could be that editorial is trying to force a split between Lorna and her father, possibly in advance of planning to retcon her parentage, due to plans to restore the twins as his kids. It wouldn’t surprise me. Also possible misrepresentation of their relationship is deliberate to try to get fans to join them in future retcon plans.

[CoCoBandz]

Marvel Editorial: Let's have Magneto try to shrapnel his daughter to show how serious he is.

Hmm

[WallStreeter]

It could be that editorial is trying to force a split between Lorna and her father, possibly in advance of planning to retcon her parentage, due to plans to restore the twins as his kids. It wouldn’t surprise me. Also possible misrepresentation of their relationship is deliberate to try to get fans to join them in future retcon plans.

It’s possible for someone to have children with more than one person.

An argument between parent and child is not a permanent split.

[WallStreeter]

Marvel Editorial: Let's have Magneto try to shrapnel his daughter to show how serious he is.

Hmm

Who wasn’t killed and if so could be resurrected. Magneto felt betrayed by Krakoans, and that Lorna sided with everyone over him made him lose it.

[salarta]

It’s possible for someone to have children with more than one person.

An argument between parent and child is not a permanent split.

This is true, but I don’t think Marvel agrees.

In the early to mid 2010s, a certain editor was insistent that Lorna couldn’t be Magneto’s daughter. He didn’t stop at having that opinion though. Everything made under him went out of the way to remove and exclude Lorna from the family, including having a portrait from House of M redrawn to replace Lorna with a random character.

There seems to be an attitude at Marvel just in general that there can be multiple men in the same family role (both Thor and Loki being Odin’s sons, the three Summers brothers, etc) but there can be only one woman in any given family role. And in some cases, an attitude that Lorna doesn’t “deserve” to be Magneto’s daughter.

[Lucyinthesky]

Its obvious there are some out there who see things through a binary lens of good or evil and a character is slotted into one side or the other for life. Therefore the X-Men having no faith that Magneto didn't kill his daughter enough to talk to him are justified in doing so because he is evil and will always be evil.

The X-men having no faith in Magneto even after all the years of cooperation during crisis or individual missions is so ironic given they acted pretty much the opposite the first time he joined them when they had way more reason to be suspicious of him but times were different back then,Claremont wanted to tell a nuanced story and now the binary lens are way more present than in the past in most stories but I am not sure this is all on the writers or editorial and marvel offices also have a hand there. I recently read an interview by Jordan White in which he talked about the issue of Magneto and mentioned most of the X-writers agree he can or already is a good guy even if he can get into grey territory most of the time but he personally still sees him as the X-men biggest adversary, so I guess perception plays a hand there.

Leah talked about her wanting this story to be about healing and catharsis and I hope it ends this way but it wasn´t neccesary to open new wounds while she was trying to close the ones still left open. Magneto didn´t need to attack Lorna or say those things to her and neither did she need to because it goes agaist how they acted just the night before and I hope marvel doesn´t believe they had to break their family bonds just to make room for Wanda and Pietro getting back in the X-side.

Bunn's Magneto and Genosha Magneto had his powers broken most of the time so it made sense we weren't seeing what I would term the force of nature Magneto.

Yes it was a long running theme there Bunn wanted to show Magneto was still very skillful and powerful even without his full powers and he did well exploring this on Magneto´s solo and in the case of Genosha is was also a subplot of making things difficult for Magneto so he would develop other skills.

For Lorna its simply most writers other then Austen prefer not to write her as a force of nature. Though I certainly do see them as Magnetic North and South as The Twelve put it and representing one of the fundamental forces in the universe. They are at their best in battle when presented as such.

Agreed completely and just in the case of Magneto, Lorna is also being affected by nostalgia because while she has been a member of the X-men since before the All New all different team, she often played the trope of damsel in distress without much or any exploration of how all this would affect her as a person so a lot of writers still see her this way and this is why they don´t or can´t see her being powerful in her own right.

That said I like Duggan is exploring her powers right now, in a way that comes naturally to her and that she´s getting the interaction with other main X-men she´s lacked for years like Jean, Scott or Rogue and I hope he keeps this work and that her characterization on ToM doesn´t hurt her character in X-men.

[WallStreeter]

This is true, but I don’t think Marvel agrees.

In the early to mid 2010s, a certain editor was insistent that Lorna couldn’t be Magneto’s daughter. He didn’t stop at having that opinion though. Everything made under him went out of the way to remove and exclude Lorna from the family, including having a portrait from House of M redrawn to replace Lorna with a random character.

There seems to be an attitude at Marvel just in general that there can be multiple men in the same family role (both Thor and Loki being Odin’s sons, the three Summers brothers, etc) but there can be only one woman in any given family role. And in some cases, an attitude that Lorna doesn’t “deserve” to be Magneto’s daughter.

Brevoort doesn’t own Marvel.

Characters who have the same powers as their parents often find it difficult to get out of that shadow. The Scarlet Witch has a very different power set than Magneto, meaning her power set and characterization will never be tied to him. She’s her own character.

Poor Lorna with the same powers as her father was never able to take off. Just like Rachel, with the same powers as Jean never took off. Cable, the son of Jean, only took off becybjs usage of weapons and fighting skills is very unJean like.

Wolverine has kids by different mothers too and Mystique has kids ny different fathers. It happens even in Marvel…

[jmc247]

Leah talked about her wanting this story to be about healing and catharsis and I hope it ends this way but it wasn´t neccesary to open new wounds while she was trying to close the ones still left open. Magneto didn´t need to attack Lorna or say those things to her and neither did she need to because it goes agaist how they acted just the night before and I hope marvel doesn´t believe they had to break their family bonds just to make room for Wanda and Pietro getting back in the X-side.

Lorna has long had identity issues when it came to Magneto which were entirely of her own making and those around her not him because she was always compared with him back to her first issues down to her first code name M2 and throughout the long period they weren't related.

She also had a legitimate beef and anger in regards to him that he hasn't been there for her for the vast majority of her life. On that score Bunn was on target in regards to her thinking. Magneto attempting to force her to be his perfect daughter though is not something at all backed up by anything other then two X-Factor panels before the trial.

Poor Lorna with the same powers as her father was never able to take off. Just like Rachel, with the same powers as Jean never took off. Cable, the son of Jean, only took off becybjs usage of weapons and fighting skills is very unJean like.

Wolverine has kids by different mothers too and Mystique has kids ny different fathers. It happens even in Marvel…

I would say Laura has done quite well as a second generation character in the comics with the same powers as her dad.

With Lorna Marvel writers have had a hell of a time finding a voice and set of views for her. Though most of it was failures of their own making. Austen rightfully gets hammered for many of the things he wrote, but he still is Lorna's best comic writer as he managed to merge some of the more popular concepts that make people like and respect her father with the character, while making her character very much her own woman with her own motivations at the same time.

I haven't really believed any comic depiction of Lorna post Austen in the 616 has given a single damn about mutants and their rights for instance. Lorna went through the horror of a mass genocide and it can't be recalled by her for a decade and a half though her endless list of stupid mind control plots can because at the end of the day writers including Bunn haven't wanted Lorna to share any of the themes that absolutely work with her father. Even if they can very well retool the themes to work differently with her.

Duggan's run may turn out to be a winner for her. I like his start and his urban princess protector attitude for Lorna, but its been only two issues.

[WallStreeter]

Laura has not only a separate life from Logan, we see Laura act as a big sister/mother to Gabby.

Polaris suffered in the 80s as Claremont had little interest in her and nobody wanted else wanted her.

Meanwhile people like Beast, Angel, and Iceman got lots of development.

Lorna has no children, she cannot keep a man, she doesn’t go off on her own, she’s not a leader, her power set is not unique, so all she can do is be a random team member unless someone decides to actually make a a protagonist instead of a supporting character.

[Stormy]

I found this site saved in a folder here where it talks about the Polaris psyche, I found it very interesting..

https://comfortfoodcomics.com/2021/0...katie-liggera/

[juan678]

https://comicbook.com/marvel/news/th...magneto-x-men/


At The Gifted, we were actually doing some kind of branching, right, ”Nix recalls. Originally, the whole thing for that series was, 'You have to stay out of the movies. You are not allowed to touch the movies. '
I was just the guy who came up with the best idea to stay out of the movies, which was, 'Hey, do you remember in Days of Future Past how they go back in time and then there's an anti-mutant dystopia in the future and then this time? , does it resemble our time? '

Just give me the years in between, and then my series will be erased, never mind, ”Nix explains. It does not touch the timeline of your movie, because it is the timeline that you deleted. So give me that, and then I will, and I'll more or less show how mutants came to be oppressed, and then I can stay out of the movies.

And then they said, 'Okay, that sounds good. You can't say the word Magneto. ' And I said, 'But, look, Magneto's daughter is in the series…'. And they said, 'That's right. Don't say anything that rhymes with Magneto '.

Nix concluded with some appreciation for the way the Marvel Cinematic Universe has maintained its properties by playing with each other. And so, that was a very different task, that was like a very different world to the current world of Marvel, which is all about integrating with the movies. I think that's much better, I think it's a better way of being ”.

[cam18]

Her portrayal in this trial of Magneto is a bit curious....her and Wanda weren't exactly close like that.

[Soulsword323]

Lorna is a leader. She was the co-lead in the Starjammer era, took over leadership when Jamie wasn't there in X-Factor Investigations, lead her own version of X-Factor, and lead a squad in X-Men Blue. I'm fairly certain she has more leadership experience than Jean, and if not more, exactly the same (not a knock, just something to compare). So those qualities are there.

Duggan is doing a wonderful job writing Polaris with a persona that helps to differentiate her from Magneto. I'm hoping other writers take notice and follow suite.

[Angleman70]

Her portrayal in this trial of Magneto is a bit curious....her and Wanda weren't exactly close like that.

Exactly! It’s bad characterization writing from Leah Williams and the editor. They didn’t do their homework on Lorna’s history. The only hope would be that both Lorna and Magneto (included with the rest of the Krakoan population) are under the influence of Onslaught. Even if that’s the the reason or not, it’s a lazy way to explain it.

[jmc247]

Laura has not only a separate life from Logan, we see Laura act as a big sister/mother to Gabby.

Polaris suffered in the 80s as Claremont had little interest in her and nobody wanted else wanted her.

Meanwhile people like Beast, Angel, and Iceman got lots of development.

Lorna has no children, she cannot keep a man, she doesn’t go off on her own, she’s not a leader, her power set is not unique, so all she can do is be a random team member unless someone decides to actually make a a protagonist instead of a supporting character.

What Lorna really needs is a more activist arc that sets her apart from the other X-Men down the road post Duggan. This doesn't necessarily mean Acolytes 2.0, though she needs to reunite with many of the Acolytes running around in time. It at least should mean a return to the kind of gloves off style missions we haven't seen in a very long time.

And then they said, 'Okay, that sounds good. You can't say the word Magneto. ' And I said, 'But, look, Magneto's daughter is in the series…'. And they said, 'That's right. Don't say anything that rhymes with Magneto '.
.

Thanks for the link juan and yes I figured at the time it was reasons like that they couldn't talk about Magneto. The comics at the time under Bunn I felt wanted to make up for that hence them overusing the term 'daughter of Magneto' for her.