Polaris: The Mistress of Magnetism Appreciation 2022

[Havok83]

Most X-Men characters aren’t solo characters (can only think of a few), but I think Lorna could hold her own in a mini.

A miniseries establishing her own storylines followed by cameos and other books further establishing that would be fantastic! I think it could turn into an ongoing with the right creative team and sales. The only way I would ever like to see her go back to Xfactor is if she leads it and it is a stealth solo for her, but I’m also not a fan of team books that are actually stealth solos. She has a fan base and major Marvel connections which should be used to move her into a bigger status quo than her 90s “X-Factor/Side team” status.

Well anyone can hold a mini bc there are no real sales expectations. The most obcure characters can and have recieved one for that reason

[UncannyLZ]

Lorna isn't unique enough to have a solo ongoing. Maybe a mini-series with a good concept, but I don't even know if mini-series still exist. Realistically, very very few characters can maintain a successful ongoing. That said, a stellar creative team could probably keep a Polaris title on the shelves, but I still see it as a short-term venture -- not long-term.

Miniseries definitely exist. X-Terminators is coming soon and it’s a mini. I’m not sure if you follow the comic book market, but stealth minis have recently become the norm. For example, She-Hulk was announced as a mini series but sales have pushed it beyond to an ongoing. That has become the new test for comics. Also, there have been so many random characters who’ve gotten a miniseries that Lorna could have one. If Wanda can have a solo, why can’t Lorna?

[salarta]

Lorna isn't unique enough to have a solo ongoing. Maybe a mini-series with a good concept, but I don't even know if mini-series still exist. Realistically, very very few characters can maintain a successful ongoing. That said, a stellar creative team could probably keep a Polaris title on the shelves, but I still see it as a short-term venture -- not long-term.

She's only not "unique enough" if going by how Marvel chooses to see and treat her. If Marvel took some time to actually understand her, there's so much possible for her that a solo ongoing for her would be a huge sell.

There is a LOT of ingrained bias against the character, built up over decades of misuse, that has led to a perception by various people that vastly undervalues her. If you ask a typical person on the street what they think of Polaris, they'd say "Polaris who?" That's not a weakness, that's a strength. It means the vast majority of people are so unaware of her that they would be open-minded to a solo focused on her if Marvel treated Lorna right and actually promoted it.

People at Marvel look at Lorna's past history of poor treatment and instead of opportunity, they see what they think is a character set in stone to be what their nostalgia dictates. They think everyone has already made up their minds and anyone new who got to know her would think exactly the same way they do. And they're wrong. The X-Men vote proved they're wrong. Duggan said Lorna winning the vote was a revelation, but it shouldn't have been, because being properly tapped into public perception would've told them she had a good shot at winning. If they were wrong about Lorna's chances in the vote, they can just as easily be wrong about how well a solo ongoing for her would perform (if done right and not sabotaged).

And in case it's not obvious, any time someone claims Lorna isn't "unique enough" or "not interesting enough" for any kind of opportunity immediately rubs me the wrong way. To me, that's someone deciding past bad work has forever defined her as a lost cause who can never have her true potential realized. Not seeing what I see in her, and what led to her breaking out on Gifted or winning the X-men vote. If we went by that thinking, Supergirl wouldn't have had a TV show because she was considered in the 80s to be worthless to the "Superman mythos" and got killed off. Batgirl wouldn't have received multiple solo books because she was perceived in the 80s as perfectly fine to use as a plot device for the men in Killing Joke.

The problem Lorna faces isn't lack of uniqueness or potential. It's lack of imagination by people who work at Marvel. They can't imagine a Lorna who can be amazing, and they've decided their failure is fact.

Miniseries definitely exist. X-Terminators is coming soon and it’s a mini. I’m not sure if you follow the comic book market, but stealth minis have recently become the norm. For example, She-Hulk was announced as a mini series but sales have pushed it beyond to an ongoing. That has become the new test for comics. Also, there have been so many random characters who’ve gotten a miniseries that Lorna could have one. If Wanda can have a solo, why can’t Lorna?

I don't think Wanda getting a solo is the best comparison point. Wanda was a prominent Avenger for many years, had a major Marvel-wide storyline focused on her, and has been in a lot of MCU. I think the best case for argument is all the characters more obscure and with less history than her who have received minis and solos.

Marrow had a oneshot. Strong Guy had a oneshot. Lorna beat both of them in last year's vote. Last we saw, Strong Guy was in last place. Why did those characters deserve oneshots, but Lorna doesn't? In addition to all the other solos and minis I mentioned in a prior post.

[PolarIceFire]

Just some random things I found...

MegoMuseum.com/Custom/Posterity



DeviantArt.com/MarkMorales/GalactusVsEveryone

... a commission i inked over ron lim's pencils. i really dug some of ron's old silver surfer stuff and his work on the infinity gauntlet, so this was a fun one to ink...

and/or thought about, recently.

[PolarIceFire]

X-Men '21 Monthly Sales, per Comichron

#1 - 248,800 7/7/21 https://www.comichron.com/monthlycom...07Diamond.html
#2 - 95,227 8/4/21
#3 - 72,875 9/22/21
#4 - 69,800* 10/13/21 *est. https://www.comichron.com/monthlycom...1/2021-10.html
#5 - 61,232* 11/24/21

#6 - 59,019* 1/5/22 https://www.comichron.com/monthlycom...2/2022-01.html
#7 - 56,380* 1/26/22
#8 - 63,100* 2/16/22
#9 - 61,450* 3/2/22
#10 - 53,441* 4/13/22


Of note, Destiny of X's highwater mark so far has been:

Immortal X-Men #1 @ 90,138* on 3/30/22 https://www.comichron.com/monthlycom...2/2022-03.html, with...
Knights of X #1 @ 54,043* on 4/27/22, being the lowest of the debuts.

[jmc247]

The Queen of Mutants by Brandon Peterson

[juan678]

X-Men #50 recreation by Jae Lee colored and dressed by Ron Lim.

https://twitter.com/RPHutch1975/stat...87780567666688

[kcekada]

That cover -- and the original by Steranko -- has a 'Carrie at the prom' vibe -- but this was several years before the Sissy Spacek film. Lorna looked kinda stoned -- and since Mesmero may have played a part in her accepting robot Magneto's claim of being her father, the look may be intentional. And, of course it was the beginning of her falling victim to mental attacks from Erik the Red, Malice -- and whoever else came along.

[jmc247]

Polaris cosplay.

Lorna in her first storyline was supposed to be straddling the fence between her heart and head, heroism and militancy, her fathers way and the X-Men’s. Of course it’s the Silver Age so when you are bad you are also crazy which Lorna was depicted as mildly crazy at times though not as full blown crazy as they depicted Magneto.

Unfortunately some shoddy writing obscured the message at times, but no this was not Claremont’s later vision of Lorna as an easily possessed weakling.





The closest replay of her original story was three decades later on Genosha. Her original story was not Claremont’s later possessed slave Lorna dreck. Later looks at her original story tended to use the Claremont filter for understanding her original story which is the wrong one to use.

Part of the problem also is I am fairly convinced the idea she was not Magneto’s daughter was not an idea at the start of the creative process. My bet has long been editorial got cold feet along the way about having the daughter of a villain as a future X-Man.

[UncannyLZ]

I agree JMC are re: changing Magneto into a robot even though Polaris was introduced as his daughter because they did not want to have her be related to a villain. That would mean she would always be “evil” and couldn’t be with the X-Men according to Golden age standards. I’m glad they’ve moved beyond that since

[jmc247]

Lorna had agency in her first storyline so much so she flipped sides no less then then four times in the story. From being with the X-Men to being against them, to turning on Mesmero, to joining Magneto, to turning on both. She spent much of her run during the Claremont years an antagonist too, but the worst kind of antagonist the one with no agency.





The best form of antagonist is one with simply a different prospective that if times had been different they wouldn’t even be an antagonist. That was not Silver Age Magneto. Magneto evolved into that and then finally a full protagonist with a little edge to him.

Ironically Lorna’s parentage was returned to her in part because Morrison read Jim Steranko's three issues with Lorna (he left at X-Men 52 over creative differences) in trade and decided on a 60s homage in the ruins of Genosha.



The 20th anniversary of that issue is this September 11th.

[PolarIceFire]

I like this development of a faint...



dynamic, between Anna & Lorna.

... the Princess/royalty feel...

[WallStreeter]

Lorna had agency in her first storyline so much so she flipped sides no less then then four times in the story. From being with the X-Men to being against them, to turning on Mesmero, to joining Magneto, to turning on both. She spent much of her run during the Claremont years an antagonist too, but the worst kind of antagonist the one with no agency.





The best form of antagonist is one with simply a different prospective that if times had been different they wouldn’t even be an antagonist. That was not Silver Age Magneto. Magneto evolved into that and then finally a full protagonist with a little edge to him.

Ironically Lorna’s parentage was returned to her in part because Morrison read Jim Steranko's three issues with Lorna (he left at X-Men 52 over creative differences) in trade and decided on a 60s homage in the ruins of Genosha.



The 20th anniversary of that issue is this September 11th.

And Magneto saving Genoshans on tape was kind of like a precursor to them being saved on cerebro.

Morrison restored her parentage, but Chuck Austen was the one who really had it placed into continuity, with a DNA test. Later on when the Starjammers return you see Magneto and Polaris acknowledge each other as father and daughter.

[kcekada]

'Shakari told me he learned of you from Polaris -- though he refused to say how he learned of her.'

Unfortunately, Claremont never followed up on this revelation because he never used Erik the Red again. That narration was Lilandra attempting to explain why Erik the Red attacked the X-Men, but it wasn't a very good explanation.

Was Claremont saying that Erik the Red had prior knowledge of Polaris -- and so when he had to find/capture/kill Xavier on Earth -- he went to Lorna first? And it was a coincidence that she was a former X-Men? Or was there someone else who pointed him toward Lorna. For the longest time, I thought Claremont was setting up Shakari (Erik the Red) as Lorna's birth father. There was already a Shi'ar/Earth connection with the Summers family, so it wasn't a big stretch to think that Shakari hooked up with an Earth woman in the past with Lorna being the result. Whatever Claremont had planned (if anything), is probably lost even to him.

Has there ever been an in depth discussion of Lorna's origins in a fanzine? Back Issue is great at including comments by creators -- but unless Roy Thomas or Steranko were around when Lorna was created by Arnold Drake for X-men 49-52, there may be no way of knowing if the original intent was different from the story we got. From my perspective, I thought the original story made perfect sense -- and so had some trouble believing she was Magneto's daughter years later. But in hindsight, could that reveal had been part of why Sterango left? That would be odd, because I didn't think he was involved with the plots in X-Men, but I could be mistaken.

[jmc247]

There has never been an indepth discussion of the background of Lorna's classic story. Steranko has said he helped co-plot the story left over creative differences and made clear he wasn't happy with the story saying that it undercut his creative vision, but he never fully elaborated in any interview. I would imagine now would be a good time to ask him as he is still doing cons and probably doesn't have a lot of years left on the circuit.

Steranko was the only Marvel creator to celebrate Lorna's 50th anniversary.



Had the reversal not have happened even with Lorna not on the X-Men in the 70s and 80s I suspect those decades would have still been very good for her not very bad. Lorna was left the worst kind of antagonist in those years one with no agency whereas Magneto moved from rat bastard into being one of the best antagonists ever in fiction to that date.