Polaris: The Mistress of Magnetism Appreciation 2022

[UncannyLZ]

Does anyone think Polaris has a logo/symbol? If so, what and if not, any idea what it should be? Iceman recently got the blue X with a white I in the middle making it look like a snowflake, something I could see them use in other stuff like video games and it made me wonder what Lorna’s would or could be. I’d guess her headpiece but it was never consistent enough, so maybe something new is needed.

[salarta]

Does anyone think Polaris has a logo/symbol? If so, what and if not, any idea what it should be? Iceman recently got the blue X with a white I in the middle making it look like a snowflake, something I could see them use in other stuff like video games and it made me wonder what Lorna’s would or could be. I’d guess her headpiece but it was never consistent enough, so maybe something new is needed.

Her headgear. It's part of why I'm so adamant that she needs it. It was already used as a symbol for her in Marvel Puzzle Quest, and had a prominent appearance on Gifted before Wanda had hear headgear in the MCU. In fact, I honestly think Wanda got her headgear in the MCU because Lorna on Gifted paved the way for it to be accepted. Consistency doesn't really have an impact here either. In terms of how consistent it looks, it has a general style regardless of what shape it takes. For consistency of usage, I think the only reason Marvel decides not to use it at times is because of nostalgia for periods when she was drawn without it, especially 90s X-Factor. It says quite a lot that Marvel usually has Havok with his iconic look regardless of where he's appearing, but with Lorna they choose to ditch her iconic look whenever she's a mainstay on a team.

[WallStreeter]

Really doesn't surprise me that Lorna's off the team. As I've said before, it's in keeping with how Marvel doesn't really want her to gain traction. They're very invested in outdated ideas of who she is and where she "belongs."

It's still true that Duggan's run was the best treatment she's had in a decade. Some good things happened. She got to spend time with Jean. She had a spotlight for the first couple months of the run due to winning the poll (and no, I don't count X-Men #5; it didn't even have her on the cover). She had some good power uses, and the first issue of Devil's Reign actually did something with her as far as philosophy and perspective that fits her history. The new fancy dress was also a big upgrade from last year's Hellfire Gala look.

But generally speaking, it wasn't anywhere near enough. The book didn't touch on the most important things to happen to her. Didn't really delve into who she is and where she comes from. The bits of positive aren't going to matter even a month from now, let alone years from now, because not enough was done with Lorna for it to have any kind of lasting impact. I fully expect Marvel will go back to keeping Lorna and Jean far apart now that Lorna's off the team. Overall I have the feeling that people at Marvel felt Lorna even being on the team was "more than she deserves" and her presence and involvement was kept minimal both visually (most notably the covers) and story-wise.

And since Duggan's not writing her anymore, I think I can now just say this. I skimmed through issues 6 and 7 when they accidentally got released to Marvel Unlimited (which is a service I only joined due to the Lorna variant cover last year, and I'll be canceling since it never has anything worth the cost for me). I saw the lack of Lorna in my skimming, and that led to me not bothering to buy any more of the book after X-Men #5. It became clear to me after those two issues that she would be sidelined after #5, and that she effectively only had half a year on the team instead of the full year they implied she would get.

These past couple issues don't change my perspective; to me they're just Marvel putting a nice PR cap on giving the news of her no longer on the team. It's their typical playbook. Try to give a wrap up impression that they care before doing something they know people aren't going to like. The only question for me now is which poison they're handing out: Lorna in limbo, or Lorna treated poorly for the benefit of other characters on a different book.

And as I've said elsewhere, it also doesn't surprise me that the very next year after Lorna won the X-Men vote, Marvel starts talking about Havok having big things happening with him in the X-books. Even if people at Marvel don't say it or consciously realize it, it's clear to me that they're thinking "Well Lorna won and she's inferior to Havok in my eyes, so we need to have him one-up her next year in the franchise."

In short, Duggan's half of a year writing Lorna was good but not enough. Any positives of his run will be swiftly forgotten and ignored. Here's to hoping the next person to write her doesn't decide to drive her into a ditch to "rectify" what little progress she's made.

Duggan doesn't know how to write team books. I guess the issue on what do with Lorna is what genre do you see her as? XMen Red/Arrako is very Star Wars. Knights of X is sword and sorcery. Immortal XMen is about mutant politics. Marauders are adventurers. The main team of XMen is standard save the world superheroes.

So where do you think she fits into the picture? From what has been previously done with her, its either standard superheroics or an investigation team like XFactor but that got canceled. Maybe on an XForce, if it wasn't a joke from Percy.

[WallStreeter]

Someone suggested give Polaris a realm in OtherWord. Maybe EverForge.

[Phoenixx9]

Does anyone think Polaris has a logo/symbol? If so, what and if not, any idea what it should be? Iceman recently got the blue X with a white I in the middle making it look like a snowflake, something I could see them use in other stuff like video games and it made me wonder what Lorna’s would or could be. I’d guess her headpiece but it was never consistent enough, so maybe something new is needed.

Hmmn. Since I love Lorna's original costume soooo much, I think it is everything that together really works: the headdress, the cool wristbands and of course the long, billowing cape.

[juan678]

x-force 29 Polaris return (five) no in panel

[salarta]

Duggan doesn't know how to write team books. I guess the issue on what do with Lorna is what genre do you see her as? XMen Red/Arrako is very Star Wars. Knights of X is sword and sorcery. Immortal XMen is about mutant politics. Marauders are adventurers. The main team of XMen is standard save the world superheroes.

So where do you think she fits into the picture? From what has been previously done with her, its either standard superheroics or an investigation team like XFactor but that got canceled. Maybe on an XForce, if it wasn't a joke from Percy.

Based on your descriptions of books, and not digging very deep on who the creators are and team composition and all, I would say Immortal X-Men. Her history with Genosha would make her very interested in developing and using institutional power to effect positive change for mutants. She has that experience to drive her into that fight. I could see Lorna being someone to argue for Krakoa doing more for mutants that aren't within its borders, even fighting more with other nations. And I think Duggan did good setting Lorna up for this with Devil's Reign: X-Men. That Devil's Reign issue I felt vibed very well with how Austen wrote Lorna's argument with Xavier in Uncanny X-Men 443 - that she's willing to be very confrontational and sacrifice perception of her as a "good guy" to do what she thinks is best for mutants.

My next closest thought would be Marauders. But when I say that, it's more in a sense of "working with the options given" than anything. There are also possibilities for Lorna that don't fit the current set of books but would be excellent for her and do far more for the franchise as a whole.

I think going by what's most been done with her in the past is a mistake. That angle has an underlying assumption that her past usage on such teams was actually good and captured who she is as a character, when we know that's not true for most of her history. Especially with teams named X-Factor. The foundation of Lorna on 90s X-Factor boils down to "Havok's there so Lorna needs to be there too." Every case of Lorna on X-Factor since then boils down to "She was on X-Factor in the 90s so she should be on it again." None of the times she's been on X-Factor happened because she was considered a good match for the book in and of herself. Even All-New X-Factor, with Lorna leading the team, in the beginning seemed to only have her there because Peter David previously wrote her on X-Factor. It wasn't until ANXF #7 that her being there started to have a purpose, after things changed following fan feedback. Lorna on X-Factor has been very much a case of "We don't wanna think about who she is and where she fits, let's just follow our nostalgia and stick her on X-Factor again." Joining an investigative team even with a different name would still have the same problem. Plus I now see the X-Factor name as toxic for Lorna because it's become very clear how it leads to Marvel thinking she's exclusively X-Factor and has no worth to the franchise as a whole. It's completely divorced from her actual development and accomplishments as a character.

Marvel needs to stop thinking in runs and start thinking in character moments. A major moment for Lorna that fans love and care about shouldn't be ignored just because it happened in a run that most people hate. Likewise, poor writing of Lorna that fans widely revile shouldn't be treated like it's her guidepost just because it happened in a run that most people love.

[PolarIceFire]

CONTINUES?

[salarta]

One more thing I forgot to touch on in my last post is X-Men Red.

I don't think she would fit on that book, and I wouldn't want her there anyway. In terms of themes, it's too distant from ongoing mutant events on Earth, which is where Lorna really needs to be right now. Mars sort of works for Storm and Magneto because Marvel's done enough with them to a) be widely known and respected within X-Men and Marvel matters, and b) guarantee that time out there won't lead to them being completely ignored as an important part of the X-Men franchise. We have Lorna's time on Starjammers as solid evidence of how bad going into space is for her.

There's also not a whole lot for her to do with space in general. Marvel not considering her an Omega mutant (even though their own criteria says they should) means she wouldn't get to do anything of a planetary scale, especially with Magneto there. Her only background in space was to be a supporting character for Havok, most of which was bad, with the only bright spot being her time with Crystal and Luna as Pietro's sister - something Marvel wouldn't acknowledge and use if she was there. I've also already said how the writer doing so much with Magneto as it is reminds me too much of X-Men Blue, and that Brand already being on the book and the writer having a big vested interest in Brand already would very much undermine Lorna (especially while Marvel has Lorna and Brand looking like twins).

[UncannyLZ]

Duggan doesn't know how to write team books. I guess the issue on what do with Lorna is what genre do you see her as? XMen Red/Arrako is very Star Wars. Knights of X is sword and sorcery. Immortal XMen is about mutant politics. Marauders are adventurers. The main team of XMen is standard save the world superheroes.

So where do you think she fits into the picture? From what has been previously done with her, its either standard superheroics or an investigation team like XFactor but that got canceled. Maybe on an XForce, if it wasn't a joke from Percy.

Immortal X-Men wouldn’t be the best fit in my opinion because Lorna to me would want to get into mutant politics by being on the field, not in meetings on the quiet council. Marauders would be the best fit and she should lead the team but I’m not the biggest fan of the creative team, so I’d rather she not go there yet. I like her on X-Men! I think winning the X-Men vote and the first 12 issues of the current run really boosted Lorna‘s profile with readers which I think she needed. I think just being seen on the flagship for awhile gives Lorna a lot more than she’s use to getting and more of that is always welcome.

I don’t see her primary brand as X-Factor anymore. I think the last run was the “Put Polaris on X-Factor again” run and it didn’t work. I think she’s moved enough away from it now that X-Factor in terms of Lorna’s story is something she did in the past with her ex-boyfriend because she wanted to be more active with helping Mutants. But now she’s moved on to other things.

[Phoenixx9]

I wish we had a good new Handbook with very descriptive wording and a great power grid so that we could get a more accurate picture of all Lorna is now capable of doing. Something that is All-New and redesigned. It would also be good for a number of other characters as well, if not all of them.

[PolarIceFire]

POLARIS' ❎💚 interests R like a...

*REVERSE* CHARLIE'S ANGELS, lol, we could CALL 'EM...

LORNA'S li'l DEVILS!!!

+ FAM!😈...and FRIENDS!!!!!!



watXm/eXiles/ToM[agnus sisters]... prisonerX

the Xfaqtor of Xfactor

SOUNDofLIGHT

[UncannyLZ]

Lorna needs new relationships. I think she would really benefit from having a close female friend(s) in the X-Men franchise. The current X-Men run has been great for her regarding visibility and showcasing her personality, but it lacked in building any relationships (which based on the recent AIPT X-Men Monday interview with Gerry Duggan, that was intentional)

I would like to see her get closer with the Outback era X-Men women (Betsy, Dazzler, Storm and Rogue). Polaris was Malice at the time but I think they could use that to bring Lorna closer to them. “We’ve fought her as Malice but she’s our friend now” or something like that. By building on that, we’d get to see Polaris talk about her past and actually developing relationships which would move the character forward and boost her profile imo. Frenzy is another character I’d like to see Lorna become friends with but that’s my bias because I like Frenzy.

[PolarIceFire]

It doesn't have to be either/or, it can be both. Competent creators should be able to maintain current character connections, revisit & strengthen past ones that've proven worthy, AND forge & fortify new ones that can be mined for future use as well.

Also, looking back, I like how Duggan instilled this innate, sometimes almost *overwhelming* sense of... curiosity, and inquisitiveness, in Lorna. We saw this in #3 w/HE & Luminous' tech offering, her keen *observational* skills noting the team being monitored in #5, and of course her much assured *reading of the room*... as it were, in #11 & 12's 'Gameworld' finale. All of which plays in nicely, to this burgeoning science-y aspect, of Dr. Polaris' more poised persona.

[UncannyLZ]

It doesn't have to be either/or, it can be both. Competent creators should be able to maintain current character connections, revisit & strengthen past ones that've proven worthy, AND forge & fortify new ones that can be mined for future use as well.

Also, looking back, I like how Duggan instilled this innate, sometimes almost *overwhelming* sense of... curiosity, and inquisitiveness, in Lorna. We saw this in #3 w/HE & Luminous' tech offering, her keen *observational* skills noting the team being monitored in #5, and of course her much assured *reading of the room*... as it were, in #11 & 12's 'Gameworld' finale. All of which plays in nicely, to this burgeoning science-y aspect, of Dr. Polaris' more poised persona.

I didn’t mean it to be either or and it should be both. But Lorna doesn’t have many close relationships and barely any with A list female X-Men characters. A lot of her history, she was with Havok on teams where Lorna was 1/2 girls on the team. That’s fine as a part of her history, but she will never be seen as a bigger character and not a side character if she doesn’t have bigger relationships and connections that will elevate her.