Polaris: The Mistress of Magnetism Appreciation 2022

[jmc247]

New York Comic Con 2022





Scozian: Sacrifice is just a pretty name for losing.

Some thoughts.

Will Marvel eventually get around to having Lorna respond to Judgement Day? Likely they will eventually. It might be in a month or it might be in many months with a blink and you’ll miss it discussion in Scarlet Witch or it might be in a year or two. The problem is the further they go from the event the more it simply becomes about her family relations and not the genocide in the room or her feelings about mutants and their preservation.

The power of her post New X-Men 132 arc was in the end it wasn’t simply a girl upset her father died. It had that, but it was far bigger than that. It was about a woman who tried to save her people, lost and all before her tuned to dust and memories ringing in her head. It was about a woman dealing with her ideological sea change in views and trying to find her place in the world and yes a girl dealing with the loss of her mentor and newly discovered father.

There has been two high points of the Krakoa era for her the first being her very briefly dealing with her feelings about humanity in House of X and second the resurrection of her princess tude. Bonus for her outfit in the second gala. Her interest in mutants has gone out the window post Hickman and Lorna feels very much disconnected from the struggle to build a mutant homeland in this era. It certainly hasn’t been Genosha 2.0 for her then again she can’t seem to remember the first version.

[salarta]

Actually, I think the longer Marvel goes without any response from Lorna to Magneto dying in Judgment Day, the more likely it is that there will never be a response.

Marvel decided to pretend the Genoshan genocide never happened to Lorna after Austen's run. At the current rate, it's looking like they never will. They've seen fit to have other characters who weren't even there bring it up or use it, like Jean and Storm, but not Lorna. And one of the arguments by Marvel apologists for not acknowledging Lorna as a genocide survivor has been "Well it's too long ago now so it shouldn't be brought up again."

There's also Lorna getting depowered by Wanda on M-Day. At the time, Wanda understood Lorna to be her sister. It doesn't matter whether you accept the Axis retcon or not, it was still Wanda's perception. Wanda took that into account and decided Lorna, who had just recently experienced the genocide and being left at the altar, should be depowered too. That depowering then led to Lorna suffering even more, from having a near-suicidal identity crisis to getting tortured by Apocalypse into becoming Pestilence to taking refuge in space and getting tortured there too. It took a decade for Lorna to finally interact with Wanda again. When it happened, in X-Factor #14, M-Day never came up. Lorna was outright excluded from the family dynamics in Avengers vs X-Men, where this matter could have easily come up and been dealt with. It wasn't covered in Trial of Magneto either.

There's also Lorna's history with Jean Grey and Iceman. Lorna finally interacted with Jean again on Duggan's X-Men, which was great to see, but it didn't acknowledge that they've known each other since the late 60s. The importance of Lorna as a past "love interest" for Iceman is also routinely ignored and downgraded, like in the Iceman book where she was just a single random name among people that texted him about his coming out.

Marvel's history has shown that they will very eagerly exclude Lorna from having any involvement or reaction to major events that any good writer or editor would realize she has a massive stake and needs to be included in. With recent events, it's become damningly clear that the entire reason Lorna has been written horribly OOC over the past few years in her relationship with her father was to justify not acknowledging and using her in the aftermath of Judgment Day. There is literally no other reason for Marvel to have completely flipped from one extreme in writing their relationship (defining her mainly by being his daughter, having him mansplain things to her that she already knows, etc) to the other end (acting like she hates everything about him and wants nothing to do with him) out of nowhere.

None of this is an accident or oversight. It's happening for a reason, and I know that reason. I'm going to bring it out in a month unless things change.

[UncannyLZ]

I think the problem for Polaris are the writers. She hasn’t had a writer who actually is a fan of hers, only writers who have had to write her because she was included on the team. They don’t pick her or see her as a favorite but they had no other choice but to use her. Currently, most writers are writing their favorite characters. Gillen is the one who gave sinister his sassy personality so he’s using him everywhere. To Ewing, magneto‘s first daughter is Anya and his second was Wanda with no attention given towards Lorna. What we as Polaris fans need is a writer who wants to write Lorna because they actually like her. I think that is why she is going to be in Captain Marvel since Kelly Thompson actually likes her.

[juan678]

This whole team - Captain Marvel, Spider-Woman, Hazmat, Polaris, Wolverine, Gambit, and Psylocke is together for the full arc-CAPTAIN MARVEL #43 - #49. (plus expect some appearances by Binary and Rogue and MAYBE some other guests...”

https://twitter.com/MagneticMstress/...62820966907904

[Romy134]

Does Polaris have any history with any of the other characters that will be starring in this run? I know she has some history with Wolverine, Gambit and Psylocke but how about the others? I have to say I cant wait for this run to start, I really trust KT as a writer hopefully he has a lot of freedom.

[DarkMagnus]

Does Polaris have any history with any of the other characters that will be starring in this run? I know she has some history with Wolverine, Gambit and Psylocke but how about the others? I have to say I cant wait for this run to start, I really trust KT as a writer hopefully he has a lot of freedom.

Polaris and Rogue are kinda Friends

Also Rogue almost become Lorna StepMomma. (Hope the HOM universe gets a mini about that) and she was very cool with that. Not Like Wanda that did a spectacle about that

[jmc247]

Polaris and Rogue are kinda Friends

Also Rogue almost become Lorna StepMomma. (Hope the HOM universe gets a mini about that) and she was very cool with that. Not Like Wanda that did a spectacle about that

The kinda there is deserved as calling them friends is stretching it. Writers don't take risks with Lorna's supposed friendship circle while they take all the risks on her relationships that should be much much more stable as such her core relations are garbage now.

Rogue has a well-developed and cool frienemey relationship with Captain Marvel because a writer once took a risk with them and from the look of the cover in January, they are still mining that and will be in this story arc.

Magneto has interesting, strong, and provocative relationships with all of the X-Men including Storm, Jean, and on and on. Why is that?

It's because among the mainline heroines (Rogue, Storm, Jean, etc.) their core relationships were set long ago, and writers are reluctant to take risks too far from what was previously established there. Among the anti-heroes/anti-villains like Magneto, Emma, Mystique, etc. writers are willing to take a degree of risks and have relations blow up and them improve and go this way and that.

Lorna didn't have any friends among the X-Men in the 80s or 90s. She was friendly with Jean and Scott, but that was really about it. She did fight them many times, but that was possessed so writers can say it doesn't count or impact Lorna's mainline heroine status. Having anti-hero moments isn't the same as anti-hero status. Alot of characters including Jean and Rogue have anti-hero moments. I am going to be frank Lorna's problem isn't Marvel hates her, it is editorial has designated her a mainline heroine and that doesn't work for her.

The last era to understand this was the early 00s and her militancy actually produced interesting relationships with other X-Men for a short time. That ended when Austen left. I very much like Rogue's character, but am I excited to see Rogue and Lorna interact in space? Is anyone here really?

I can only hope some risks are taken there otherwise much like the many years Rachel and Lorna were on the same teams in space and on X-Factor Rogue and Lorna will be entirely forgettable as all Lorna's other friendships are. By the same token forced drama doesn't move the ball forward. It has to come from real differences among the characters.

[Lucyinthesky]

I agree part of the problem for Lorna is writers trying to fit her into the "typical" superhero template when she´s a character with the potential of being someone in the middle just not like Scott or Storm have been in the middle, she has seen the insides of the the X-men, X-factor, Genosha, the US goverment, Corporations, in relation to the Mutant issue. She´s Magneto´s daughter but has lived her life among humanity and the X-men. She´s a survivor of Genosha and had her moments hating humanity for destroying the country in which she fought a civil war alongside her father but she also remembers she´s part of humanity, getting her doctor´s degree because that´s something she wanted for herself and it´s definitely more recognized in the human world than the mutant world.

All this means her pov "should" be more complicated than the usual X-men vs Brotherhood mentality so when writers forget this and just have her be Havok´s girlfriend, the good X-man or just Mags daughter who hates her Dad/does things to please him, its very dissapointing. Lorna has potential, relationships and story, writers just need to start noticing this instead of forgetting everything about her and forcing her into traditional roles like one more love interest or traditional heroince when she´s isnt that at all.

[jmc247]

I agree part of the problem for Lorna is writers trying to fit her into the "typical" superhero template when she´s a character with the potential of being someone in the middle just not like Scott or Storm have been in the middle, she has seen the insides of the the X-men, X-factor, Genosha, the US goverment, Corporations, in relation to the Mutant issue. She´s Magneto´s daughter but has lived her life among humanity and the X-men. She´s a survivor of Genosha and had her moments hating humanity for destroying the country in which she fought a civil war alongside her father but she also remembers she´s part of humanity, getting her doctor´s degree because that´s something she wanted for herself and it´s definitely more recognized in the human world than the mutant world.

All this means her pov "should" be more complicated than the usual X-men vs Brotherhood mentality so when writers forget this and just have her be Havok´s girlfriend, the good X-man or just Mags daughter who hates her Dad/does things to please him, its very dissapointing. Lorna has potential, relationships and story, writers just need to start noticing this instead of forgetting everything about her and forcing her into traditional roles like one more love interest or traditional heroince when she´s isnt that at all.

You are quite right that doing things to please dad and hating dad are two sides to the same coin both bad from Lorna's end as they are traditional heroine roles that don't work for Polaris. Taking Lorna away from any kind of behind-the-scenes political maneuvering with Magneto which Bunn started and Williams continued turned their relationship into paint by numbers garbage that isn't worth my time and certainly not my money.

They are making me regret they were ever related its been that abysmal.

At least in the House of M universe with those minis writers are forced to accept Lorna's antihero status so she has kept a much more interesting relationship with Magneto as an advisor or general and HoM Lorna has kept interesting relationships with full hero teams like the Avengers... certainly moreso then anything the 616 comics have allowed her to have since Austen left.

Lorna over the past five years in the comics has gotten a boost from The Gifted and her increased profile there. But, they learned no lessons from The Gifted which played especially in its first season in Austen's sandbox with the character. Lorna was a middle ground character there and it spiced up all her relationships. Lorna has been a mainline generic heroine in the comics outside of a few lines under Hickman and all her relationships and supposed friendships are useless or garbage at this point.

One wants to fix that they need to remember that period of time where Lorna was helping to lead a mutant homeland and saw it destroyed. That whole story was about getting Lorna back to her roots as a character in the 60s so forgetting about it and treating her roots as a 90s generic girlfriend heroine of X-Factor has been a disaster.

[Lucyinthesky]

You are quite right that doing things to please dad and hating dad are two sides to the same coin both bad from Lorna's end as they are traditional heroine roles that don't work for Polaris. Taking Lorna away from any kind of behind-the-scenes political maneuvering with Magneto which Bunn started and Williams continued turned their relationship into paint by numbers garbage that isn't worth my time and certainly not my money.

They are making me regret they were ever related its been that abysmal.

At least in the House of M universe with those minis writers are forced to accept Lorna's antihero status so she has kept a much more interesting relationship with Magneto as an advisor or general and HoM Lorna has kept interesting relationships with full hero teams like the Avengers... certainly moreso then anything the 616 comics have allowed her to have since Austen left.

Lorna over the past five years in the comics has gotten a boost from The Gifted and her increased profile there. But, they learned zero lessons from The Gifted which played especially in its first season in Austen's sandbox with the character. Lorna was a middle ground character there and it spiced up all her relationships. Lorna has been a mainline generic heroine in the comics outside of a few lines under Hickman and all her relationships and supposed friendships are useless or garbage at this point.

One wants to fix that they need to remember that period of time where Lorna was helping to lead a mutant homeland and saw it destroyed. That whole story was about getting Lorna back to her roots as a character in the 60s so forgetting about it and treating her roots as a 90s generic girlfriend heroine of X-Factor has been a disaster.

Agreed completely honestly, the only times I have enjoyed Lorna and Magneto relationship was during the Genosha issues , the HoM mini which was an AU and parts of Bunn´s run in which it looked like he was going to make them interact like they used to in Genosha. The main difference I see is that in the Genosha and HoM issues and others was that both characters were allowed to be themselves, to agree and disagree for reasons natural to their story, they didn´t get forced conflict and drama for the sake of making them fight neither Lorna was made into someone who needs Dad´s approval all the time or someone who doesn´t want anything to do with him out of the blue.

In one word, balance and remembering her backstory was essential, not just with Magneto but the other X-men. At this point instead of just being a friend of Jean I would like to see her develop new links to other X-characters and have her own stories, I have trust Kelly Thompson will be able to do something interesting, Captain Marvel is a comic that centers around women relationships in a super hero context, respectful to their story and building from there, she did this with Rogue, Emma and Amora so I think that´s what Lorna needs right now, her test will be how she handles Lorna´s reaction to Magneto´s death, if she handles it at all and she skips over the two extemes we have seen other writers falling into.

[jmc247]

Agreed completely honestly, the only times I have enjoyed Lorna and Magneto relationship was during the Genosha issues , the HoM mini which was an AU and parts of Bunn´s run in which it looked like he was going to make them interact like they used to in Genosha. The main difference I see is that in the Genosha and HoM issues and others was that both characters were allowed to be themselves, to agree and disagree for reasons natural to their story, they didn´t get forced conflict and drama for the sake of making them fight neither Lorna was made into someone who needs Dad´s approval all the time or someone who doesn´t want anything to do with him out of the blue.

In one word, balance and remembering her backstory was essential, not just with Magneto but the other X-men. At this point instead of just being a friend of Jean I would like to see her develop new links to other X-characters and have her own stories, I have trust Kelly Thompson will be able to do something interesting, Captain Marvel is a comic that centers around women relationships in a super hero context, respectful to their story and building from there, she did this with Rogue, Emma and Amora so I think that´s what Lorna needs right now, her test will be how she handles Lorna´s reaction to Magneto´s death, if she handles it at all and she skips over the two extemes we have seen other writers falling into.

Lorna's relationship with Jean has potential, but as yet it has failed to catch on or really be interesting in any way. I would actually say the same for all of Lorna's other X-Men friendships.

At its core writing Lorna a generic heroine with the only conflict with other characters happens to be due to mind control, manipulation or mental illness means she is friends with just about everyone, but all her relationships including with Jean are flat and forgettable.

It doesn't have to be that way. Austen's run showed Lorna can have friendships with other characters (including Rogue) and yet keep enough of a different point of view and antihero edge to be able to have real stakes and drama to her relationships.

Of late they have simply beaten her family relationships and before that romantic relations into oblivion to try to force drama because writers weren't getting it from Lorna's friendships because too many writers have been wedded to writing her a generic composite heroine.

[DarkMagnus]

The kinda there is deserved as calling them friends is stretching it. Writers don't take risks with Lorna's supposed friendship circle while they take all the risks on her relationships that should be much much more stable as such her core relations are garbage now.

Rogue has a well-developed and cool frienemey relationship with Captain Marvel because a writer once took a risk with them and from the look of the cover in January, they are still mining that and will be in this story arc.

Magneto has interesting, strong, and provocative relationships with all of the X-Men including Storm, Jean, and on and on. Why is that?

It's because among the mainline heroines (Rogue, Storm, Jean, etc.) their core relationships were set long ago, and writers are reluctant to take risks too far from what was previously established there. Among the anti-heroes/anti-villains like Magneto, Emma, Mystique, etc. writers are willing to take a degree of risks and have relations blow up and them improve and go this way and that.

Lorna didn't have any friends among the X-Men in the 80s or 90s. She was friendly with Jean and Scott, but that was really about it. She did fight them many times, but that was possessed so writers can say it doesn't count or impact Lorna's mainline heroine status. Having anti-hero moments isn't the same as anti-hero status. Alot of characters including Jean and Rogue have anti-hero moments. I am going to be frank Lorna's problem isn't Marvel hates her, it is editorial has designated her a mainline heroine and that doesn't work for her.

The last era to understand this was the early 00s and her militancy actually produced interesting relationships with other X-Men for a short time. That ended when Austen left. I very much like Rogue's character, but am I excited to see Rogue and Lorna interact in space? Is anyone here really?

I can only hope some risks are taken there otherwise much like the many years Rachel and Lorna were on the same teams in space and on X-Factor Rogue and Lorna will be entirely forgettable as all Lorna's other friendships are. By the same token forced drama doesn't move the ball forward. It has to come from real differences among the characters.

Yes is sad.

But Momma Rogue was friendly and a good fella of lil old Popo.

This team in Cap Marvel is a very interesting Uncanny Avengers Vol 6

[salarta]

I'm finally able to post after being busy with other stuff.

I think the problem for Polaris are the writers. She hasn’t had a writer who actually is a fan of hers, only writers who have had to write her because she was included on the team. They don’t pick her or see her as a favorite but they had no other choice but to use her. Currently, most writers are writing their favorite characters. Gillen is the one who gave sinister his sassy personality so he’s using him everywhere. To Ewing, magneto‘s first daughter is Anya and his second was Wanda with no attention given towards Lorna. What we as Polaris fans need is a writer who wants to write Lorna because they actually like her. I think that is why she is going to be in Captain Marvel since Kelly Thompson actually likes her.

The problem is bigger and higher than the writers. The current culture at Marvel leads both to no writers that would want to write Lorna getting hired, and any that might have an inkling of interest in her being dissuaded from doing anything meaningful for her.

I'm sure when Duggan said he would be open to writing Lorna when she was selected for the vote, he wasn't thinking "I'll just write a few scenes, write one issue that focuses on her but doesn't touch on anything important to her or even have her on the cover, then completely abandon her for half of my run."

Does Polaris have any history with any of the other characters that will be starring in this run? I know she has some history with Wolverine, Gambit and Psylocke but how about the others? I have to say I cant wait for this run to start, I really trust KT as a writer hopefully he has a lot of freedom.

Only the ones you mentioned plus Rogue. Lorna's had a mixed bag of dynamics with Rogue but they've been mostly good. Which means it's just a matter of time before someone at Marvel tries to ruin that relationship too.


I don't regret Lorna and Magneto being related specifically because I think the X-Men office is actively trying to ruin their relationship right now. Unlike with Havok, where the relationship being garbage was because they wanted to put Havok on a pedestal at Lorna's expense.

Kelly Thompson has been a good writer for Lorna when using her, but again, that's not where she's supposed to be. Sending Lorna off to space at the first sign of something happening in the comics that's too big to ignore her history for is, once again, damning. And shows at least the X-Men comics if not more than that don't deserve money or support in any fashion. There's no reason to support a company that has so little respect for its own fictional universe.

[juan678]

https://twitter.com/marshinson/statu...29623757889537

[juan678]

https://twitter.com/phillipsevy/stat...72367385665537