Lorna Dane: Polaris Appreciation 2021

[jmc247]

Lorna's very first storyline presented her as a huge potential threat to the X-Men if she had even half of Magneto's power. It's a far cry from how stories during Claremont's time treated her like just about anyone could beat her, and her powers could only be anywhere close to a threat if someone other than her got to use them. Storylines that follow the Claremont era are at best forgettable, at worst give people reason to be dismissive of her as a character and what she has to offer.

You just paraphrased Scott in her first storyline, but you are right.

Claremont's developments weren't all that great. Perhaps with time they would have gotten better, but I didn't care for what was presented. Zaladane stealing Lorna's powers, her subsequent development of super strength, and the Muir Island stuff, didn't really do much for Polaris IMO. A lot of it has been done away with, or never mentioned again.

Going from the pawn of Sinister/Malice to Shadow King/Legion wasn't that much of an upgrade.

No it wasn't much an upgrade and being a pawn of Sinister/Malice came on after being a pawn of Erik the Red/D'Ken. That gets to my point about Lorna and the issue of power. She was not the pawn of Mesmero in her first storyline even though he wanted her to be certainly.

This is from the Original X-Men run, maybe issue #65?

It’s the very end of the run yes. Anyway.

[salarta]

I heard that Claremont started developing Polaris, it was too late, unfortunately he left before it started, but I think Xfactor was one of the reasons, although she had very good times (especially when she became leader), she shouldn't have left the X-mens.

It's really better that what Claremont planned to do to Lorna never had much done with it. If it had, there's a good chance people would insist that all writing of her should follow what he did.

[jmc247]

It's really better that what Claremont planned to do to Lorna never had much done with it. If it had, there's a good chance people would insist that all writing of her should follow what he did.

That is probably true. Lorna's issue is she has some great writers that had some quite weak ideas for her. And, some less then critically acclaimed writers had some great ideas for her.

From what I have seen over the years fans have trouble separating their feeling for a run with their feeling for any single sets of ideas in it. Good runs have terrible ideas and terrible runs have good ideas. Lorna's problem is that the best ideas that ever existed for the character come from a widely panned run.

[Mercury]

Wait what? What issue?

Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner. Phoenixx9 was right. It's X-Men #65, i.e., the original run.

[Phoenixx9]

Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner. Phoenixx9 was right. It's X-Men #65, i.e., the original run.

I was going by memory. Glad I had it correct.

[Stormy]

Since we didn't have any news from Polaris this week, I decided to make a short list of moments when Lorna performs good deeds using her powers (not in order of preference)

Propel ship through space.
X-factor #99 (1986)
7357648-img_20200501_125741.jpg
It may sound a little silly, but I like this moment because it shows Lorna having a lot of willpower, allowing herself to push her conditioning to the limit.


Stops a satellite going through re-entry while also stopping the Emp waves.
X-factor #100 (1986)
7357650-img_20200501_130104 (1).jpg
I like these moments when Polaris goes beyond just using magnetism, I've always seen that the manipulation of electromagnetism is much more her face, I even venture to say that she has a better facility than Magneto in manipulating this aspect, this Xfactor Era, Lorna was at her peak, creatively displaying her powers and also having a strong personality.

Manipulating metals at the molecular level to seal a hole in a ship, along with Magneto.
X-men Legacy #256 (2008)
This feat is very good, it shows that Polaris can have the same level as Magneto in manipulating metals.


Polaris accessing one of the primordial forces in order to slow down the avalanche caused by Magneto
Dark Seduction (2000) #3
Another of the moments when you can see that Polaris is extremely powerful, I like this comics, because it explores one of the facets of Polaris' powers, one of which was the Electromagnetic Vision that the writers forgot it has.


Practicing an MRI, feeling all the metals present in the environment until you find Xorn's helmet.

X-men (1991) #160

I like this particular moment, because it shows a very fine precision of her using her powers, and it's out of the ordinary of what you always see "throwing metal pieces or energy attacks"

[Stormy]

Continuing ..

Polaris propels Krakoa Island into space.
Gigant Size
I couldn't forget this iconic moment, where she demonstrates for the first time a great display of power, not to mention her energy reaching to the very center of the earth.


Overloads Belasco Castle.
X-men Black Sun #4
RCO021_1488180716.jpg
Actually, in this arc, Polaris had some incredible good moments, but one of them that I found interesting was this one in particular.

Using all your energy, having a powerful form
X-factor (1996) #123

Super Saiyan Moment, lol, jokes aside, this is undoubtedly one of my favorite Polaris feats, where to defeat Hunter X, Polaris had to access all of his power, where the narration mentions that his power rivals Magneto's ! And for a moment I thought Lorna would take on an energetic form, no doubt my favorite.

Lol, Polaris has a lot of feats but I'll stop there, otherwise it would take hours and hours, she's an amazing character who has the potential to have a solo title.

What are your favorite moments using Polaris' electromagnetic powers??

[Stormy]

Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner. Phoenixx9 was right. It's X-Men #65, i.e., the original run.

This is from the Original X-Men run, maybe issue #65?

Oh Thanks! I think it's crazy Polaris to forward a telepathic wave from Xavier to Jean, although I think there's an explanation, something there is that Mental Waves are a kind of frequency in the spectrum of electromagnetism ??

[Stormy]

It's really better that what Claremont planned to do to Lorna never had much done with it. If it had, there's a good chance people would insist that all writing of her should follow what he did.

Lol, I think if Claremont were longer, he would work Polaris well as he rescued a lot of heroines, as well as having a certain understanding of how electromagnetic powers can work (*cough* Storm *cough* Magneto *cough*)

[juan678]

https://twitter.com/MarkBrooksArt/st...01924724461573

[Magnetic]

Did Lorna get trading cards in the first series back in the early 1990s - I think maybe it was 1990 when X-Factor was still the original 5 X-Men team? I can't find one. I think she wasn't on any team at the time (maybe she was still on Muir Island or still Malice?). I collect some cards from after that series and she's in those ones.

[jmc247]

Did Lorna get trading cards in the first series back in the early 1990s - I think maybe it was 1990 when X-Factor was still the original 5 X-Men team? I can't find one. I think she wasn't on any team at the time (maybe she was still on Muir Island or still Malice?). I collect some cards from after that series and she's in those ones.

She had one in 1989 in her Shi’ar warrior outfit.

[Stormy]

She had one in 1989 in her Shi’ar warrior outfit.

This uniform is very beautiful, she looks like a witch, an Electromagnetic Witch

[WallStreeter]

Claremont's developments weren't all that great. Perhaps with time they would have gotten better, but I didn't care for what was presented. Zaladane stealing Lorna's powers, her subsequent development of super strength, and the Muir Island stuff, didn't really do much for Polaris IMO. A lot of it has been done away with, or never mentioned again.

Going from the pawn of Sinister/Malice to Shadow King/Legion wasn't that much of an upgrade.

Agreed. Since Claremont was the X-writer until 1991 or so, it meant Polaris had no 80s stories that were worthwhile and the 90s has her sidelined in X-Factor. She got no good stories until the 21st century thanks to Claremont’s legacy of marginalizing her. Because of this, Polaris didn’t get on screen development until the Gifted. Despite Disney killing that after it took over Fix, it’s given
Polaris enough of a boost to be on the main X-Men team and we will see Polaris in the MCU.

So she has her bright future, in part due to her family relationships!

[Phoenixx9]

Yeah, I would LOVE to see a "Comics-true" as much as possible Lorna version in the New MCU with her own unque power signature, personality and great green costume.