Polaris: The Mistress of Magnetism Appreciation 2022

[PolarIceFire]

It's not like Lorna being an "explorer" or advocate for mutant... *expansion*... say, need to be mutually exclusive of each other. In fact, given the *pattern* of development(s) *w/her kind*... I... could say more, give more... *dots* 2 connect, BUT... believe making a concerted effort at being more cryptic with speculation from here on out, is something I'm obliged to do, from now on. So, without getting into specifics, I'll just add... *recent accomplishments & past, future revelations*... that's pretty broad & vague enough, I'd say. AND...

I LOVE THESE!!! The composition & sentiment of this 1st 1 of the 1st 3 X-Ladies is GLORIOUSly HEARTwarming!! So APPRECIATIVE that the artist did this,

and that Polaris was part of it!

https://mobile.twitter.com/gottabeca...65536824418309

THEN THIS for:

X-MEN #12
Written by GERRY DUGGAN
Art and Cover by PEPE LARRAZ
On Sale 6/1

X-Men

Gerry Duggan and Pepe Larraz present the grand climax to the Krakoan X-Men’s first year in X-MEN #12! On the eve of the Hellfire Gala, threats have closed in on the X-Men from all sides. The secret machinations of Doctor Stasis, the terror of Gameworld, even the threat of the X-Men’s own secrets getting out… it’s all led to this!

... AWESOME!!!!!!! Probably my favorite cover, I LOVE the Treehouse setting, it's just perfect & looks so "ALIEN CHIC" cool!!

how Polaris' (*updated*) pose & effect hark back to her 1st appearance in HoX #5, done by Pepe & Marte then too...



OF COURSE!! (Also, don't forget, could be said above... *dots*... sorta.)

Thank you BOTH, for posting them!! ;D

[jmc247]

You might notice that only 1 of the 6 paragraphs in my prior post talked about her relationship to Magneto. And that I said there are plenty of other extremely important things in her history that Marvel hasn't covered or explored.

But since we're on the subject, let's dig in a bit.

When Jane Foster became Thor, did that make her co-dependent with Thor? Does Clea taking on the Sorcerer Supreme mantle mean she's co-dependent with Doctor Strange? Is She-Hulk co-dependent with Bruce? If my dad has a business and I choose to be part of his business because I like that business and what it does, does that mean I'm co-dependent on my dad?

Having a relationship with someone and having similar perspectives to them isn't co-dependence. It's people being people. It's only co-dependence if, as the definition of co-dependence says, the two characters are needed by and need to be needed by each other. As in the characters are perceived as not being able to function at all without each other. That's not what's being proposed by anyone.

I strongly agree and have some thoughts about Lorna and Magneto's relationship.

First, I don't think they have done well together on a consistent basis since Genosha other than in House of M miniseries. They have had one or two nice scenes since then, but that doesn't make for a workable relationship.

Why House of M minis have worked in regard to Lorna and Magneto's relationship and the regular comics mostly failed is because for the House of M universe there is a clear agreement from writer to writer on what Lorna stands for and what she believes in. That helped to build a relationship were Lorna and Magneto's position visa via each other is broadly understood of being advisory and collaborative on political matters and at times conflicted on personal matters.

I wasn't as caustic towards Hickman as you as I think he came the closest to such a relationship of any post Genosha regular universe writer, but didn't quite manage it due to lack of time with Lorna and not really fleshing out what Lorna wanted to accomplish or what was motivating her as he did with Emma Frost. I agree with you Hickman didn't dig deep and I very badly wanted him to do it too as well.

When it came to X-Factor I am a fan of Rachel and felt like Williams did far better with her then Lorna simply by virtue or respecting that she had been a Hound which positively impacted other aspects of her characterization.

Lorna and Magneto's relationship has been bad for two years now and was generally weak even before that because the inability for Marvel's regular universe runs to set some very basic ground rules on what the basis of their relationship is.

[salarta]

Another dimension to HoM relationship between Lorna and Magneto being done better that needs to be said is that the HoM concept of her isn't held back by nostalgia for past poor treatment of Lorna.

And to clarify for people reading here, when I say nostalgia for past poor treatment, I'm not saying an editor or writer is necessarily looking at Lorna and going "I love garbage writing and think this character needs to suck hard." They have a status quo perception of the franchise, and teams, and characters, and a perceived pecking order of the various characters which all feed into thinking Lorna has to be depicted a certain way or can't run the risk of outshining other characters. It's a school of thought where she's a "side character" and "side characters" need to be kept on the sidelines, only rarely stepping out of them and then swiftly returning to the sidelines. Lorna's been treated a certain way in the 616, ergo "she must continue to be treated that way."

The HoM AU doesn't have this problem. Things from the 616 may inform HoM to an extent, but for the most part, the HoM AU means all the horrible past treatment can be ignored because it doesn't apply. That bad treatment never happened there. And if someone complains about her being too prominent? "It's an AU, it's a what-if, it's not the 616."

When Lorna is unleashed from nostalgia for past poor treatment, we get things like season 1 Gifted, House of M, Exiles, and partially the current X-Men run (I say partially because it hasn't touched on important things for her). When she's caged by nostalgia, we get her turned into a damsel and Lorna acting stupid so villains can exploit her while gloating about how stupid they think she is, or her hating on herself or in trouble so a big strong man can save her.

In short, those AU settings I cited are more Lorna than most 616 depictions of her.

[jmc247]

I will agree writers that make clean break from the 80s and 90s with Lorna tend to succeed. Writers that try to re-create 80s or 90s themes with Lorna their own way tend to fail. This is a hard issue for Marvel writers because those two decades were when the x-books were at their hottest so its often their go to for understanding characters.

I have to say in terms of Lorna repping for the House of M in the 616 it's an idea that Hickman developed that has in no way been done any justice to at this point. What worked about the House of M version for Lorna was that she was acting not primarily for Magneto, but for mutants. It genuinely hasn't felt that Lorna has cared about mutants as a faction or their protection and advancement since about 2004 in the regular universe comics.

On another topic if Lorna is leaving X-Men in a few months should she get a new costume? I will start by saying I like her current costume for the current mission of operating as a straight hero out of NYC. I don't think it works in any other context.

I also have noticed that Marvel has taken to using her generic space green outfit as the default bad assed outfit for Lorna and I strongly don't think it works for that both in terms of imagine and I don't mentally picture bad ass Lorna.

Magneto frankly has a better costume then her typical outfits that is useful for both bad ass militant activist wear and generic hero stuff. I would like to see a costume for Lorna that can effectively do both, but we haven't seen it yet. The closest would have been her classic, but it doesn't quite manage it. On that note.



Link



Link

[salarta]

Regarding Lorna's costume, I still think a modernized version of her most iconic look is the best way to go. I still like how Kris Anka's concept for a costume managed to mingle both royalty and warrior vibes, and implied her powers both in being metallic and in her secondary color. I didn't care as much for the "fuller form" concept as for the smaller sketch one because the "fuller form" one had the Magneto bubbles on it; and now that I think of it more, looked a bit too thin and soft. The concept moved a bit closer to Lorna looking more like a fighter than a runway model.

I've been okay with Lorna in the current costume on X-Men entirely because of her being on X-Men, and having a huge spotlight on her joining the team beforehand due to the vote. Under other circumstances, I would have complained due to fans not being able to recognize her as Lorna. But now as the year is almost up, I have two big problems with Lorna's current costume.

1. She's going to be off X-Men soon and very likely won't be featured anywhere meaningful afterward.
2. Her outfit and Brand's look too similar, which is an issue since Brand is getting more interaction with Magneto and meaningful story involvement than Lorna.

The cynical parts of me question if the latter is intentional. If Marvel is deliberately trying to create confusion between Lorna and Brand among casual readers with an end goal of best case scenario sidelining Lorna to make Brand a replacement of her for Magneto, worst case scenario setting up to retcon Lorna out of being Magneto's daughter.

I mean, look at their designs side by side, especially from the waist up. Both in black and green, both wearing sunglasses, both wearing jackets with raised collars and sleeves that stop at the elbows.



The visual differences are minor enough that a casual reader could easily think they're the same character. Maybe Lorna's wielding a gun this time cause her powers aren't working. Maybe Brand just decided she wanted to let her hair grow out.

Unless Marvel intends to keep Lorna as prominent (or more) as she got from winning the vote, one of their costumes needs to change. I'm in favor of Lorna's changing because I think Marvel could make a newer costume that captures who she is better.

[PolarIceFire]

Instead of Lorna the explorer, I'm now leanin' more towards POLARIS... the *PIONEER*!




AND, Master https://twitter.com/PepeLarraz/status/1502677686652649479 bestowed upon us the inks for #12:



LOVE this image of her MORE... every time I see it! Definitely inspiring, no... *compelling* me, to create a new Twitter header for the first time since late last summer. Just need a new, comparable & compatible one for Bobby, 'cause I already got a couple in mind for Shiro and perhaps... others, maybe. The sooner, the better, too... c'MON ICEman!! 🤞

[UncannyLZ]

I agree that Lorna needs a new costume. While she’s had a few during this Krakoa era, none have really “hit” to the point of feeling like it could be a base costume used outside of the book she’s in. I think that’s why so many artists go back to her classic look. I like her X-Men design but could do without the dress and I miss the headpiece. I’d like to see her get a big redesign once she lands into her Krakoa status quo after X-Men

[Phoenixx9]

I agree that Lorna needs a new costume. While she’s had a few during this Krakoa era, none have really “hit” to the point of feeling like it could be a base costume used outside of the book she’s in. I think that’s why so many artists go back to her classic look. I like her X-Men design but could do without the dress and I miss the headpiece. I’d like to see her get a big redesign once she lands into her Krakoa status quo after X-Men

I really loved Lorna's original costume, especially with the gold accents, including the tiara and large looped caped "wings" when flying. But I know Marvel wants something more modern so I would love to see a new design that incorporates some of these things.

[Soulsword323]

Really gonna miss Lorna on X-Men. Duggan did such a wonderful job approaching the character, the Mutant Princess angle was really exciting to read, and honestly was one of the best takes on the character in a long while. I keep hoping that Duggan will try to include Polaris in his other work, but I don't think he has anything else going on with the X-Office.

Worried about where Lorna is going to land post X-Men. Also can't help but be concerned that Williams might try writing the character again. After a so-so X-Factor, Trial was just too over the top and bad for me to want to see Williams touching the character again. I don't know what other writers are available but hopefully it'll be someone that follows Duggan's lead on the character.

[jmc247]

Judgement Day.

Really gonna miss Lorna on X-Men. Duggan did such a wonderful job approaching the character, the Mutant Princess angle was really exciting to read, and honestly was one of the best takes on the character in a long while. I keep hoping that Duggan will try to include Polaris in his other work, but I don't think he has anything else going on with the X-Office.

Agreed, the mutant princess angle has been done a few times in her past. But, its typically forgotten quickly with the character at the end of a run or crossover like War of Kings. Hopefully that doesn't happen now.

I was actually pretty hopeful before Duggan's run ever started because of two things. A comment that Scott made in Cable of a sub crew of humans being lucky that Magneto or Lorna didn't get there first showing the writer didn't regard Lorna as a Xavierite and the fact Jean and Lorna were on the same team so he had to think about how to write them differently. Lorna of the 90s had a few good moments, but she was way too much the replacement Jean of the title. X-Men Blue fell into the same hole with Lorna as has a few other runs.

Lorna on the more aggressive side of the x-divide and with more of a princess persona showed itself to be a winner. Hopefully she has at least one or two more good scenes under his pen before the end. Duggan talked on a podcast about perhaps another Marvel book or something else he was planning out, but it wasn't ready for prime time to talk about.

Worried about where Lorna is going to land post X-Men. Also can't help but be concerned that Williams might try writing the character again. After a so-so X-Factor, Trial was just too over the top and bad for me to want to see Williams touching the character again. I don't know what other writers are available but hopefully it'll be someone that follows Duggan's lead on the character.

Not doing due care with the execution of Lorna's really over the top emotional stuff in X-Factor #4 and Trial of Magneto #1 did real damage and this is coming from someone who doesn't mind if Lorna and Magneto fight brutally if in fact there is a good enough set up and execution to warrant it.

Anyway, I was rewatching the Badlands today. It was nice how they tied together New X-Men #132, UXM #443, and arguably a little of UXM #426 into one package.

[rhaenylis]

Nice to see Lorna on Jugment Day's promo

[PolarIceFire]

Nice to see Lorna on Jugment Day's promo

Sure is, BUT... they got her jacket colored wrong. Minor nitpick, tho.

And was thinking about Ev not being the only one who has a past w...

1 of the likely 2 election winners/new teammates.

JUST SAYIN'!!

[MechaJeanix]

Nice to see Lorna on Jugment Day's promo

I agree. I hope she remains on the main X-men team. It was nice to see Rogue in the promo as well. Of course that doesn't mean anything about the new X-lineup because Storm and Wolverine were also in the promo. A variety of X-characters will get drawn into the conflict (the QC, The X-men, and probably others).

[salarta]

Really gonna miss Lorna on X-Men. Duggan did such a wonderful job approaching the character, the Mutant Princess angle was really exciting to read, and honestly was one of the best takes on the character in a long while. I keep hoping that Duggan will try to include Polaris in his other work, but I don't think he has anything else going on with the X-Office.

Worried about where Lorna is going to land post X-Men. Also can't help but be concerned that Williams might try writing the character again. After a so-so X-Factor, Trial was just too over the top and bad for me to want to see Williams touching the character again. I don't know what other writers are available but hopefully it'll be someone that follows Duggan's lead on the character.

It's pretty rare to see just about everyone agree that a recent depiction of Lorna has been good. I'd hope that alone says something to Marvel in planning things for her in the future.

[PolarIceFire]

Judgement Day. ...

I really like how Lorna's standing w/Cyke & Wolverine, while her dad hovers w/Rogue & Jean, as well as who they're each *seemingly* facing off against.

And it's just nice to see her included (visually at least, so far), in the promotional material.