Lorna Dane: Polaris Appreciation 2021

[salarta]

Brevoort doesn’t own Marvel.

He doesn't own Marvel, but he's in a position of power at Marvel, and he's doubtless not the only person who thinks the way he does. Company culture encourages selections for hire that fit the culture.

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.

Power set isn't a real barrier unless people at Marvel choose to pretend it is. We have a billion different psychics because past writers acknowledged the power set doesn't require only one psychic character getting good use. It's not down to if they have the same powers. It's down to how they use those powers, and who they are as characters.

That said, I would complain if they suddenly introduced another mutant that can use electromagnetism. Because Lorna still needs a lot more from Marvel. Introducing such a character would come off to me as saying they have so little respect for Lorna that they want to replace her with this new character. Magneto wouldn't be hurt in such a situation because he's too iconic after decades of heavy promotion, and Marvel's proven their respect for him repeatedly. They haven't done the same for Lorna.

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.

No children is good because Marvel hasn't done enough for her without them yet. "Keeping a man" is a problem with Marvel, not the character. Not going off on her own is a problem with Marvel, not the character (and ironically she's gone on "journeys of self-discovery" a few times, but so far only for Marvel to throw her into limbo). She's led teams as a fill-in leader, and as ANXF's intended leader, but the lack of her doing more as an intended leader is again a problem with Marvel, not the character. I addressed power set above.

The premise of what I quoted is basically "Marvel's treated her bad and that's just the way it's always gotta be, may as well sit back and watch Marvel keep sucking." I don't buy that premise. I expect Marvel to do and be better than their past. They can't be perfect, but they can make a good well-intentioned effort based in respecting the character and what fans see in her. And by fans, I mean people that actually like Lorna, specifically, for her potential and everything she has to offer in and of herself. Not people who are fans of a certain writer or era, or fans of a different character that's benefited from misuse of her, or similar situations that boil down to being "fans" of how she can be used for ends other than what's actually good and fitting for her.

I shouldn't feel like I could do a better job of writing Lorna when I read a comic with her in it. I should be awed at Marvel doing amazing things with her I never imagined could happen, but which fit her perfectly. I should feel like they understand her essence and are taking me on an amazing journey through layers I didn't even know she had. The Kris Anka concept of a modernized costume for Lorna wowed me when I saw it because it did so many great things with her visually that I didn't think could be expressed visually (minus the Magneto bubbles). I want that from the writing. But the writing keeps missing, because it keeps refusing to make any real attempts at understanding who she is and what she's been through. It's like looking at the Obama presidency and stopping at "He wore a tan suit once, let's focus on the tan suit." Why should I give Marvel any money if I feel like I can do better?

I think Duggan's run so far is a good start at Marvel doing well by her. It's doing good things with her I wouldn't have considered, but which fit perfectly. Now they just need to do it regularly, instead of once every 20 years. Not that there isn't still plenty left that can and needs to be covered. But it's just getting started, and it needs to start from somewhere.

[Stormy]

I would like to understand why writers are like that about Polaris. The most underrated fan base is Lorna's without a doubt.

[Angleman70]

All the blame starts with Chris Claremont in 1975. His era is highly regarded as the best era of the X-men. That being said, he didn’t like Lorna Dane so he used her as a weak plot device over the decades during his run. Marvel and most other writers also didn’t care for her so they either put her in limbo until they need her for another weak plot device for a story. It’s sad because she is the second woman to join the X-men and all those years were a waste to fully develop Polaris into someone special.

[Soulsword323]

A lot of writers just don't make an attempt to try to understand the history of the character, and how those events have shaped Lorna. Claremont also plays a part as well, seeing as how he set the foundation as to how to writer a number of characters well, and never did so with Polaris. All CC ever really did was use Lorna for mind control, and as a punching bag. Unfortunately people still utilize those elements today. They don't see the evolution of the character.

Trial of Magneto honestly felt like two of Lorna's worst eras: Claremont and 90s. A punching bag for the story, and a random pivot in her relationship with Magneto that doesn't gel with what came before.

[juan678]

TerryDodsonArt Variant for #Xmen 2

[Stormy]

All the blame starts with Chris Claremont in 1975. His era is highly regarded as the best era of the X-men. That being said, he didn’t like Lorna Dane so he used her as a weak plot device over the decades during his run. Marvel and most other writers also didn’t care for her so they either put her in limbo until they need her for another weak plot device for a story. It’s sad because she is the second woman to join the X-men and all those years were a waste to fully develop Polaris into someone special.

A lot of writers just don't make an attempt to try to understand the history of the character, and how those events have shaped Lorna. Claremont also plays a part as well, seeing as how he set the foundation as to how to writer a number of characters well, and never did so with Polaris. All CC ever really did was use Lorna for mind control, and as a punching bag. Unfortunately people still utilize those elements today. They don't see the evolution of the character.

Trial of Magneto honestly felt like two of Lorna's worst eras: Claremont and 90s. A punching bag for the story, and a random pivot in her relationship with Magneto that doesn't gel with what came before.

At that time I understand, because women were much more stereotyped, like they had thoughts of wanting to build a family and all, and even more Polaris who decided to have a quiet life with Alex, than diving into adventures. One of the reasons the second team of X-mens has attracted more audiences, there are few writers who don't seem to be too lazy to write it, and don't sum up as "Magneto's daughter"

[salarta]

Nostalgia is a two-edged sword. When it's used well, over good things, it can be uplifting and serve as a great guidepost for future work. But the other side is how limiting it can be, how regressive it can be, when that nostalgia isn't properly questioned and corrected. It's really obvious when it needs correction in some cases - like when a sports team has a racist mascot, or a character that's supposed to be a good guy was written as a rampant misogynist a century ago. It's not in other cases. Usually when it's something that's been buried, devalued and misused for a long time. Lorna is one of those cases.

When you have a character that's been heavily promoted, like Sue Storm or Jean Grey, it's clear and present that certain problems need fixing. When a character hasn't received enough of that attention, though, it's very easy for someone loaded on nostalgia to believe all that bad treatment is representative of the character. It's much easier to just shrug, say a character is inherently bad and never fix anything, than to admit mistakes were made by predecessors and put in the work needed to do the right thing. Especially if those mistakes were made by a creator you idolize and want to think had absolutely no flaws throughout his entire existence on Earth.

Lorna struggles to get much out of Marvel because most people at Marvel don't want to face that history if they don't have to. The very act of questioning past treatment itself might be seen as a "waste of time." If you already have it in your head that a character is awful, has no potential, has no redeeming qualities except how they can be used to benefit "better" characters, then how likely are you to put even one second's worth of thought into whether or not your foundational presumptions about the character and their worth are wrong? And I mean sincere, open-minded effort. Not performative "effort" where you go into it of a mind that you already know the answer but you'll humor the idea enough to be able to say you did it.

Marvel keeps going at Lorna from a mix of "Depicting her the way she was with a certain era/writer I liked for reasons other than her is a good foundation" and "She's done and experienced absolutely nothing in 53 years, I can do whatever I want with her and act like I created her." Both angles are wrong and don't work. Gifted season 1 worked well because it took inspiration from key parts of her history - which are entirely different from the ones Marvel keeps trying to push.

[jmc247]

A lot of writers just don't make an attempt to try to understand the history of the character, and how those events have shaped Lorna. Claremont also plays a part as well, seeing as how he set the foundation as to how to writer a number of characters well, and never did so with Polaris. All CC ever really did was use Lorna for mind control, and as a punching bag. Unfortunately people still utilize those elements today. They don't see the evolution of the character.

Trial of Magneto honestly felt like two of Lorna's worst eras: Claremont and 90s. A punching bag for the story, and a random pivot in her relationship with Magneto that doesn't gel with what came before.

Agreed.

The lack of x-writers post HoM accepting her time as the power behind the throne of a nation fighting for mutants and the horror that became of it as a pivot point for Lorna's worldview has meant they have felt free to define her around whatever strikes their fancy be it mind control BS ripped from Claremont, what Lorna saw in space, the death of a mother she never knew, or whatever plot contrivance they have in mind. That makes for a messy and inconsistent character people find hard to understand or identify with.

House of M Lorna for instance has felt like a much more consistent character then the 616 version over the past 15 years because they kept her motivation at her core being the bad ass Mistress of Magnetism who at her core wants to further the power and interests of mutantkind and her family. HoM Lorna was in effect a continuation of Genosha Lorna's story if the nation had survived and the state had become the world's greatest power.

One of the best Lorna depictions of the past 15 years was War of Kings (at least when she wasn't around Havok) and it kept kept her in that core framework. She was the rogue princess in the word's of DnA attempting to manipulate the Inhuman/Kree Empire to her advantage and also promote her family by trying to push Crystal into giving Pietro a second look. Lorna doesn't need a writer to come in and reinvent the wheel with her. She needs a writer who will solidify for future writers what is the core basis for what motivates Lorna and how she views the world.

Marvel keeps going at Lorna from a mix of "Depicting her the way she was with a certain era/writer I liked for reasons other than her is a good foundation" and "She's done and experienced absolutely nothing in 53 years, I can do whatever I want with her and act like I created her." Both angles are wrong and don't work. Gifted season 1 worked well because it took inspiration from key parts of her history - which are entirely different from the ones Marvel keeps trying to push.

Correct.

[WallStreeter]

Lorna is supporting character, and if we’re honest we know there’s no sign of that changing. Trial of Magneto is Magneto and the Scarlet Witch’s story. At least both Polaris and Quicksilver are there are hopefully they get to talk to each other next issue or soon.

[Stormy]

Lorna is supporting character, and if we’re honest we know there’s no sign of that changing. Trial of Magneto is Magneto and the Scarlet Witch’s story. At least both Polaris and Quicksilver are there are hopefully they get to talk to each other next issue or soon.

She's a supporting character role because she treats her like, and Polaris has gained a lot of fans over time, she has brilliance, charisma, the problem is that writers don't let her evolve, grow...

Do you have that Polaris card that shows your power grid? Russell is updating the X-mens, wanted to see Lorna's old one.

[salarta]

Lorna is supporting character, and if we’re honest we know there’s no sign of that changing. Trial of Magneto is Magneto and the Scarlet Witch’s story. At least both Polaris and Quicksilver are there are hopefully they get to talk to each other next issue or soon.

Change doesn't happen without time and effort. If you asked me a decade ago what Lorna's chances were of being on the flagship X-Men book, I would've said slim to nil. Decades of destruction can't be fixed overnight. You're not just dealing with a need for future good writing, you also need to dismantle the footholds of past bad writing. That takes more work than working with a genuinely blank slate (and arguably could partly explain why some writers treat her that way; they may think they're taking the easy way out).

I will say Marvel has made progress this past decade. She started out the 2010s as a woman who may not even be a mutant anymore, of still shaky parentage, far from X-Men affairs, whose sole presence was to be a man's supporting character arm candy. Over the course of the past decade, she's had her origin story told, led a team, appeared in a lot of video games, was fully restored both as a mutant and as Magneto's daughter, and is now on the flagship title doing cool things with Jean. (I'd include Gifted here, but I don't think I can give those accolades to Marvel since it was really Fox pre-merger that gave us that Lorna). I feel most of these things should've happened decades ago, so to me it's really more along the lines of getting Lorna from a bad place to more of a neutral place. I wouldn't want to treat it like it's "enough" simply because I think doing that would encourage deliberately treating her poorly to later get accolades for returning to neutral. But it's still true that going from bad to neutral is progress.

[Stormy]

If the writers don't give her a chance, as she is now being well written by Duggan, the more damaging it will be to her, the more delays in her story.

[jmc247]

One thing I liked about the House of M concept and really thought worked in that House of M universe was the family could work together or disagree and fight, but at the end of the day the interests of the collective unit and its mission was always more important and overarching. The only writing that I think badly differed from that notion out of many comics was Pietro's actions in Secret War House of M which really should have stayed with the idea to Pietro starting a war because his father wanted one not because he had a hankering for the throne.

We are supposed to believe now the House of M has been resurrected on Krakoa, but it doesn't feel like it even with its members down to two (which might or might not rise) because we don't even know what their struggle is, what they represent, nor what they want to accomplish.

Marvel needs to build the concept of what the 616 HoM is and what it represents before trying to sell the concept. Perhaps this mini will do that or perhaps not, but at this point the 616 HoM is a concept without any definition.

[WallStreeter]

She's a supporting character role because she treats her like, and Polaris has gained a lot of fans over time, she has brilliance, charisma, the problem is that writers don't let her evolve, grow...

Do you have that Polaris card that shows your power grid? Russell is updating the X-mens, wanted to see Lorna's old one.

I do not. I can say I hope she has a decent role in the Trial of Magneto.

[WallStreeter]

Maybe Polaris needs to do more stuff outside the X-Men. I’m happy for the first time she made the main team of X-Men.

But particularly when they restore the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver to being Magneto’s children Polaris should be ambassador to the Kree/Skrulls Alliance, as her nephew married the Emperor. If the Inhumans are still a thing have her as ambassador to the Inhumans. I liked her friendship with Crystal and her niece Luna. She had her own interactions with them had nothing to to her brother Quicksilver directly. So that’s what I mean. Give Lorna her own unique job within the X-Men like the protagonist characters do.