Polaris: The Mistress of Magnetism Appreciation 2022

[UncannyLZ]

If this year is end of Duggan’s run with her it will be the first run in quite awhile that I am willing to call good though not great. With great runs the character has a clear motivation and goal built into the characters story.

I do not support her being on another ongoing title until a writer really wants to do it. Williams was really hesitant to write the character as she said and shouldn’t have been pushed into it. I do think she would have been far better off with more limited goals then the maximalist ones she went in with.

Anyway Heroclix Polaris figure.



Not a fan of the costume, but it’s a decent enough figure which I might pick up.

This is really bad! Her face, her hair…those hideous sandals?!

I hate to admit it, but it feels like Lorna’s X-Men vote win was very half assed. It almost feels like Marvel didn’t expect her to win, so they gave her just enough since she did win. Her new costume is great, but not great enough that it feels that it’ll be a a “definitive“ look for her like her all green or blue and yellow Xfactor. She’s had excellent moments on the team and clear showcases of her personality but not really given much motivation. Her hellfire gala dress is decent but nowhere near the level you think the character who won would have. She wasn’t even in included in many variant covers. I’ve been waiting on a comic run to really take Lorna seriously and it feels like this era, while great, doesn’t quite get there

[jwatson]

If this year is end of Duggan’s run with her it will be the first run in quite awhile that I am willing to call good though not great. With great runs the character has a clear motivation and goal built into the characters story.

I do not support her being on another ongoing title until a writer really wants to do it. Williams was really hesitant to write the character as she said and shouldn’t have been pushed into it. I do think she would have been far better off with more limited goals then the maximalist ones she went in with.

Anyway Heroclix Polaris figure.



Not a fan of the costume, but it’s a decent enough figure which I might pick up.

Oh my, the face looks rough on that lorna one. I think it's the palness of the coloring and the cheekbone shadow and one of her hands look like a claw. Lorna def deserves better than this. The x-23 face is rough too.

[jmc247]

Lord..........the hair. The sandals.

The hair is not usual for her, but by itself I have no issue with her trying a new look there. But, taken as a whole there is nothing there which feels like the character which is very reminiscent of the problem with that entire X-Factor run and I consider the outfit part of the run given when it debuted.

This is really bad! Her face, her hair…those hideous sandals?!

I hate to admit it, but it feels like Lorna’s X-Men vote win was very half assed. It almost feels like Marvel didn’t expect her to win, so they gave her just enough since she did win. Her new costume is great, but not great enough that it feels that it’ll be a a “definitive“ look for her like her all green or blue and yellow Xfactor. She’s had excellent moments on the team and clear showcases of her personality but not really given much motivation. Her hellfire gala dress is decent but nowhere near the level you think the character who won would have. She wasn’t even in included in many variant covers. I’ve been waiting on a comic run to really take Lorna seriously and it feels like this era, while great, doesn’t quite get there

I have a theory on that which is that her presence on the vote was at least in part to take pressure off Trial of Magneto and it moderately worked at that and she kind of disappeared shortly thereafter on X-Men. I am a fan of the House of M as a family, but I am not happy about the direction with Lorna and Mags.

The big issue you brought up comes down to the biggest problem of the Duggan run for Lorna. Motivation.

I could not call X-Men #5 a great issue for Lorna on par with X-Men 132 or Uncanny X-Men 443. I can label it a good issue, but not a great one as at her core the story didn't tell us what Lorna's bigger motivation or mutant rights views happen to be and it would have only taken a few panels. We haven't seen the end of his run with her yet and X-Men #11/12 and the Hellfire Gala might leave her retroactively with a motivation, but if she just leaves for the reasons in the note to Northstar and not for any deeper view on what she is doing and what she believes it will be a loss.

Lorna and her motivation question has been an abject mess for a very long time. House of X #5 did show Lorna's fear and distrust of humanity for the first time since Austen's run, but the story didn't explain why. The bait and switch regarding Lorna on Genosha in Empyre X-Men followed by X-Factor #4 turned into a disaster. It didn't have to be if X-Factor #4 made a modicum of effort in not depicting her as a new character experiencing death for the first time.

Has Lorna ever had a great comic run? Yes, but Marvel’s problem is it isn’t a popular name.



Ironically if the name Chris Claremont (who contributed to her Genosha story) or Grant Morrison who actually was the one to decide to have her on Genosha when it was destroyed name was seen as the progenitor of the story Marvel would love it. Instead the name is Austen and writers don't want to believe he absolutely kicked ass writing Lorna. But, he did and frankly had the last comic run for Lorna I am willing to call great... for her at least.

Also, one last irony. Lorna in Austen's run was very much building on Grant Morrison as I said. His original idea was to write her like 90s X-Factor (read write her like diet Jean) and marry her to Havok and drop her into limbo. The end. A great run can see when others ideas are better then their own. This interview from him many years back exemplifies how much he wasn't happy that Morrison came up with a better pathos then him for Lorna, but he went with it anyway.

Question: I really liked your work on Uncanny X-Men, especially with what you did with Polaris. You turned her from a character that was always in the background who I hardly ever noticed into one of my favorite characters and you managed to give her character a nice edge. One thing I was wondering is how the decision to make Polaris Magneto’s daughter again came down? Was that Morrison or your idea? Because, I know the storyline had its roots in Morrison’s New X-Men 132 back in September 2002.

Austen: I believe it was Grant’s. But the roots went much further back, though others can tell you specifically when and where, what issues, what the circumstances were, which page, what panels, what characters, the costumes they were wearing, who lettered it, and possibly even the type of printer it was printed on.

There was a storyline done years ago where she was ‘revealed’ to be Magneto’s daughter, but then it was undone, or proven not to be true, or only happened in one of Scarlet Witch’s continuity-scrubbing bubbles, or something. Maybe in the Neal Adams Roy Thomas run. I researched it at the time, but I’ve since forgotten. I needed to memorize someone’s phone number, and that’s the only brain space I had available.

Apparently Grant made a decision to go back to it, but I’m not sure whose actual idea it was: his, Marvel’s, or God’s acting through them both as a conduit—I assume his, because he was Grant Morrison, and he had the power, the power of Hoodoo—all I can tell you is that the germ of the idea wasn’t mine.

I had intended to use Polaris in my run from the beginning, keep her much as she’d been when I’d read about her in X-Factor and other places, then eventually marry her off to Alex, happily ever after—at least until some other writer came along and made them related to Satan. It was a surprise to me when she appeared in Grant’s X-Men—crazy, muttering to herself, and wandering in the radioactive mud. We’d just had coffee the previous day, and she seemed fine. Just shows how you can miss the little signs.

Once she’d appeared as Nutso Profundo I had to rewrite some of my scripts, and went with Lorna the edgier, more volatile and unpredictable Looney Tunes with a heart of gold. It made a certain amount of sense, and I agree with you, she became more interesting than she had been. CURSE YOU GRANT MORRISON AND YOUR GENIUS! He was always making me look bad for my lack of imagination. I think he did it on purpose.

If Lorna had been on Genosha when it was destroyed, that kind of devastation likley would have changed her, deeply, although I’m sure she still could have had kids, a marriage, and sold Tupperware in her spare time if only I had let her. I decided not to, because I’m a dick, that way.

So it wasn’t planned, it wasn’t actually my idea, but I ran with it and thought it was a good direction and an interesting one. And, tellingly, people both credit, and blame me for the change.

If you liked it, I did it. If not, it’s Grant’s fault.

See how easy that is?

[salarta]

I do not support her being on another ongoing title until a writer really wants to do it. Williams was really hesitant to write the character as she said and shouldn’t have been pushed into it. I do think she would have been far better off with more limited goals then the maximalist ones she went in with.

I've argued in the past that writers should be pushed into writing Lorna, citing how Austen and Nix (from Gifted) didn't really care for Lorna at first but eventually did great things with her. But a key component I hadn't factored into that argument is, the writer needs to be open-minded and considerate enough to make a strong effort at understanding the character and making the most of what she has to offer. Writers that have an incredibly negative opinion of her, or who just see her as some tool to be exploited or an empty shell to do whatever they want to, not only shouldn't be pushed to write her. They shouldn't write her even if they say they want her.

I also once thought that perhaps a big part of Lorna's problem was that she kept having male writers, and maybe a female writer would be more understanding and sympathetic. What I've learned since then is that Marvel culture supersedes gender of the writer. The only real difference may be that the problems persist, just with other female characters as the benefactors of Lorna mistreatment instead of male characters.

Anyway Heroclix Polaris figure.



Not a fan of the costume, but it’s a decent enough figure which I might pick up.

At first I was surprised to see they made a Heroclix of this after all. But then I realized it's not like they specially picked Lorna. They just did a Heroclix of everyone on the team. And more notably, that they didn't present her Heroclix up front and center as part of the package, which further proves my point about the dress being bad. If it was good, they would've been eager to heavily emphasize her in the package.

Lord..........the hair. The sandals.

Well at least she's included.

It's not Lorna, it's a vampire.

I hate to admit it, but it feels like Lorna’s X-Men vote win was very half assed. It almost feels like Marvel didn’t expect her to win, so they gave her just enough since she did win. Her new costume is great, but not great enough that it feels that it’ll be a a “definitive“ look for her like her all green or blue and yellow Xfactor. She’s had excellent moments on the team and clear showcases of her personality but not really given much motivation. Her hellfire gala dress is decent but nowhere near the level you think the character who won would have. She wasn’t even in included in many variant covers. I’ve been waiting on a comic run to really take Lorna seriously and it feels like this era, while great, doesn’t quite get there

I'm going to be frank. I think it's time I brought up something. Not going to name names though.

Years ago, I pushed to someone at Marvel for Lorna to get more of a showing, ideally a solo book. That person claimed she didn't have enough "star power" to warrant it. Part of their "metric" was that they didn't get tons of tweets sent directly to them about Lorna. Which if I wanted to be a smartass I could say "Hey let's pull together a fan campaign to bombard this person with tweets about her until Marvel relents," but that would've just ticked them off and missed the real point. They didn't have enough respect for Lorna to take her seriously. Probably still don't.

That's what we're dealing with at Marvel. People who don't believe she has the ability to be something other than what they think she is. Even when faced with incontrovertible proof of her potential and level of fan interest, they still don't think she should be afforded anywhere near the respect they would give to literally any of the other characters that were on the vote.

It's not something to get disheartened over though. Positive change doesn't happen overnight. It takes time. Especially in comics where change happens like molasses, and most diversity things you see from them are currently lip service. Keep pushing and eventually that change will come. More evidence and more fan work will keep the process going in spite of Marvel.

Despite their not doing enough for Lorna, we can still consider Duggan's writing of her thus far to be a win. It's been better than anything in the past decade.

I could not call X-Men #5 a great issue for Lorna on par with X-Men 132 or Uncanny X-Men 443. I can label it a good issue, but not a great one as at her core the story didn't tell us what Lorna's bigger motivation or mutant rights views happen to be and it would have only taken a few panels. We haven't seen the end of his run with her yet and X-Men #11/12 and the Hellfire Gala might leave her retroactively with a motivation, but if she just leaves for the reasons in the note to Northstar and not for any deeper view on what she is doing and what she believes it will be a loss.

I agree with this. X-Men #5 was good, but I'm not going to go around telling people they must add it to their Polaris reading lists. It has nice power usage, it has her fighting enemies singlehandedly, but it doesn't have anything that actually helps you understand who she is and where she's come from. X-Men #132 helps you understand how horrific the Genoshan genocide was. Uncanny X-men #431 lets you see it firsthand, and that Magneto's her father. Uncanny X-Men #443 shows you her philosophical perspective and struggles as a fighter for mutant rights. X-Factor #243 tells you her origin story, how she first got her green hair, and confirms her parentage. X-Men #5 does nothing similar. It's enjoyable, but forgettable in the grand tapestry of Lorna. A few panels of power use will come up in future arguments to show her power potential, but that's about it as far as long-term impact.

At present, I'd tell people to only read X-Men #1-5 of this run, because she's not in anything after 5 with significant enough presence or usage to warrant reading those issues. I actually stopped reading the book after #7 because I know there's nothing in it for me anymore.

[juan678]

[Soulsword323]

God bless Pepe for doing what he could with that dress. Despite it looking decent here, its all the more frustrating at how unimaginative and plain Lorna's gala look is compared to her peers. So much they could do with her power, and that's all they came up with.

[salarta]

God bless Pepe for doing what he could with that dress. Despite it looking decent here, its all the more frustrating at how unimaginative and plain Lorna's gala look is compared to her peers. So much they could do with her power, and that's all they came up with.

He's doing his best. His adjustments are definitely making it better at least. The earrings really help, and this may be a stretch but I think maybe the collar's been adjusted to look more reminiscent of her headgear.

Despite how bad the dress has been, I will say the one thing it did get right that comes through in this lineup is Lorna showing more skin compared to the others. She's not as conservative as other X-women in this regard.

Anyway, I think fandom itself has pretty much shown its frustration with the gala look by people making their own concepts. At one point I was actually going to commission a better gala look for her, but I didn't need to because so many fans did it on their own.

[jmc247]

God bless Pepe for doing what he could with that dress. Despite it looking decent here, its all the more frustrating at how unimaginative and plain Lorna's gala look is compared to her peers. So much they could do with her power, and that's all they came up with.

Pepe deserves all the kudos he can receive for trying to rehabilitate that outfit. The dress was the story of her previous X-Factor run to a T.

Despite their not doing enough for Lorna, we can still consider Duggan's writing of her thus far to be a win. It's been better than anything in the past decade.

I agree with this. X-Men #5 was good, but I'm not going to go around telling people they must add it to their Polaris reading lists. It has nice power usage, it has her fighting enemies singlehandedly, but it doesn't have anything that actually helps you understand who she is and where she's come from. X-Men #132 helps you understand how horrific the Genoshan genocide was. Uncanny X-men #431 lets you see it firsthand, and that Magneto's her father. Uncanny X-Men #443 shows you her philosophical perspective and struggles as a fighter for mutant rights. X-Factor #243 tells you her origin story, how she first got her green hair, and confirms her parentage. X-Men #5 does nothing similar. It's enjoyable, but forgettable in the grand tapestry of Lorna. A few panels of power use will come up in future arguments to show her power potential, but that's about it as far as long-term impact.

At present, I'd tell people to only read X-Men #1-5 of this run, because she's not in anything after 5 with significant enough presence or usage to warrant reading those issues. I actually stopped reading the book after #7 because I know there's nothing in it for me anymore.

It is worth repeating that Duggan's depiction of Lorna is better than anything the past decade. Frankly Duggan made clear Lorna wasn't his vote on the X-Men poll and he hasn't dug deep to look for a motivation, but he generally depicted her as a calm, competent and at times brutal bad ass.

Lorna on X-Men hasn't felt like a weak character, a novice, or a very lite version of Jean. All the typical traps runs have fallen into the past decade.

But, it was not a run which revolutionized or even solidly hammered down what Lorna herself cared about and believed in. There was a chance to do this when the controversy came up in regards to the reporter and the council, but she was AWOL. There may be one last chance in the few issues at the end of the series.

Jean overall did feel more of Xavier's school and Lorna of Magneto's school. But, there was a real level of playing coy about what Lorna believed and why. Hedging has never done the character a service. That said Duggan has three more issues to play his hand with her if the Gala is the end of the road for him.

[seccruz]

q4EVGBqB_1407211548541gpadd.jpg
Unpublished cover art for X-Men Forever 2 #16.
Bigger here: https://www.comicartfans.com/gallery...?piece=1742803

[Phoenixx9]

This is so sad, he was such a great artist

Yes, this is how I like Lorna to look!

[Phoenixx9]

Anyway Heroclix Polaris figure.



Not a fan of the costume, but it’s a decent enough figure which I might pick up.

LOL! This figure is so....fugly! Is this an official release?!?

The gown is captured but the color (no color) is all washed out. The hair is the style Lorna wore to the Gala.

But this figure is hideous! The face, the fingers, the pose, the knees, the sandals! Poor Lorna.

[juan678]

[Soulsword323]

Hate they colored Lorna's jacket wrong... it should be green not brown like Rogue's. Polaris' hair looks really great though.

Not expecting too much for XvE but hopefully we get some cool fight scenes.

[Havok83]

If this year is end of Duggan’s run with her it will be the first run in quite awhile that I am willing to call good though not great. With great runs the character has a clear motivation and goal built into the characters story.

I do not support her being on another ongoing title until a writer really wants to do it. Williams was really hesitant to write the character as she said and shouldn’t have been pushed into it. I do think she would have been far better off with more limited goals then the maximalist ones she went in with.

Anyway Heroclix Polaris figure.



Not a fan of the costume, but it’s a decent enough figure which I might pick up.

why is she wearing flip flops with her gala gown?

[salarta]

why is she wearing flip flops with her gala gown?

Be thankful it's not Crocs.