Polaris: The Mistress of Magnetism Appreciation 2022

[PolarIceFire]

Thats a good idea. Also I love ur avatar very elemental power!!

2nd THIS, and agree on the avy, Daedra! That's a good idea from U2, Gray Lensman!! ThanX to ALL of you, and to Juan678, for always posting all the cool piX!!!

BTW, looks like they did downgrade her energy power [just a li'l] recently, w/the new ratings assoc. w/RD's re-dos:

Oh, well, there's worse things.

[jmc247]

The Sound of Light early review with special thanks to Netgalley and Aconyte books.

What I think was done well was more thought was put into Wanda and Lorna's relationship based on their history together then Trial of Magneto. In order to get Lorna and Wanda over their issues from the fallout of House of M Trial of Magneto should have dealt with those issues rather than ignore them.

What I think was done not so well was to start off Lorna and Magneto's relationship doesn't fully make sense if one soft retcons their Genosha days together as many writers have including this book. Their relationship in the novel didn't feel as forced and OOC as some of the Trial of Magneto stuff, but it was certainly lacking. I also don't see Lorna is the kind of person who spends her days worrying about being in Magneto's shadow. Worrying some if she can be as powerful and skilled as the 'old man'? Sure.

The character as written here in a semi continuity-based period of time post AvX fell into the Williams X-Factor problem of being written too youthful. Writers should target her age-related voice at mid 20s at the youngest as Duggan typically did unless we are talking AU then her being a teenager is fine.

The biggest problem I had reading it was and I can say this without spoiling anything as its in the summary Magneto has been kidnapped and someone is planning the genocide of the mutant population. If one understands Lorna at all and even forgetting about Genosha (because TPTB has just for Lorna) that would be a moment the character were the kid gloves should come off for the character.

One of the most consistent aspects of Lorna's character throughout her history in the comics from her very first appearances in the 1960s to Duggan's run is that the character when it comes to using force is not on the side of Jean/Xavier.

That doesn't mean she takes the kid gloves off for every mission. But, for high stakes ones? Yes, she certainly does or would at least talk about it, and this is a facet of the character true in almost every run including even Claremont who I long felt failed Lorna the hardest. One can disagree with Lorna's ethics in a story and Banshee has while also recognizing that is Lorna's ethics it's not her trying to be her father or not being her father given its how she acted when she believed they weren't related.



If one wants a primer on Lorna and mutant rights views and ethics no issue is better than Uncanny X-Men 443.



Lorna should not reflect the views and beliefs of Xavier when it comes to force when the stakes are very high. Lorna was very OOC here when it came to her voice on mutant issues and use of force. The book felt it was just phoning in a generic heroine composite voice for her.

This book wanted to take the view that Scott, Emma, Magneto and yes even Dazzer are philosophically complicated middle ground characters with dark pasts, but Lorna is a generic composite Xavierite heroine without a dark past. I can't be generous about that aspect of the writing as it was no less then complete incontrovertible Grade A bullshit and by far and away the worst aspect of the book from the prospective of Lorna.

The final question remains should fans buy Sound of Light? If you have extra money to spare and you want to show the flag for Lorna? Yes. If money is tight for you then probably not.

[Havok83]

I think Lorna used her perception again near the end of the run, detecting a cloaked airship.

The easy way to put Polaris into a video game (at least a fighting game, anyways) is to copy Magneto's powers but shift the speed/power/toughness ratios. Much like Ryu and Ken in Street Fighter, the moves are the same, but Ryu is faster and Ken is stronger to differentiate the two.

They could change the visual effect. Have Magneto focus more on manipulating metals and Lorna more on elecotrmagnetism. Like Magneto's moveset would have him hurling metal spikes, cars, etc... and using metal to create shields and contain people. Lorna's would be more energy based and focused on manipulating magnetic fields

[PolarIceFire]

Looks like not everybody shares JMC's POV, completely...

My 3rd question's gonna revolve around there being any coordination with, and/or possible connections to... THIS?!

https://twitter.com/AconyteBooks/sta...46268190482432

https://www.netgalley.com/catalog/book/266411

Description

Dazzler, rock ‘n’ roll, and the children of Cyclops and Magneto launch into space and beyond in this electrifying trans-dimensional adventure from Marvel’s School of X

When rock star Dazzler walked out on S.H.I.E.L.D., she hoped she’d seen the last of the clandestine organization. But when a rogue agent drops in after a sold-out gig, she must decide whether to work with them again or stick to her solo career. The agent links Mutant Growth Hormone – a dangerous biochemical that wildly enhances mutant powers – with the disappearance of Magneto and Cyclops. Reluctantly, Dazzler takes the case and unfolds a mystery greater than she anticipated. In need of a new team, she recruits the extraordinary mutants Emma Frost, Polaris, and Rachel Grey on a mission to foil a plot to remove mutantkind forever, which blasts them from Earth into a whole new dimension.


A Note From the Publisher

This new School of X story features some well-known faces and fan favorites allowing us to appeal to an established fan base:
o Alison Blaire “Dazzler”: 70s disco queen, modernized for a current audience, creates her own all-female X-Men team to help S.H.I.E.L.D
o Lorna Dane “Polaris”: Winner of the 2021 X-Men Fan Vote, the mutant daughter of Magneto. Polaris lost her powers during M-Day, and we follow her as she regains them.
o Emma Frost “White Queen”: Head of the New Charles Xavier School
o James Howlett “Logan” / “Wolverine”: Cameo appearance
o Rachel (Summers) Grey: The mutant daughter of Scott Summers (Cyclops) and Jean Grey-Summers from an alternative timeline

AMANDA BRIDGEMAN has written eight volumes of the award-nominated Aurora series of near-future space thrillers, the SF police procedural The Subjugate (recently optioned for TV), and a Stephen King-esque mystery The Time of the Stripes. She’s also worked as a TV and film actress.


Advance Praise

“A compelling seat-of-the-pants murder mystery and a fascinating inquiry into good and evil and the possibility of redemption.”

The Guardian, on The Subjugate

“Convincing near-future forecasting with great characters and a police-procedural murder mystery achieves full page-turner status – all without sacrificing intelligence for thrills.”

Locus magazine, on The Subjugate

Advance [member] reviews: https://www.netgalley.com/book/266411/reviews

Kathryn M, Reviewer

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I'm a big X-Men fan and I found this team, a unique team but really worked really well together. I loved the premise and was fully invested in what was going on. It had the spirit of the X-Men that I enjoyed and I does what I was hoping for. The characters felt like the comic counterparts and I was glad I was able to read this. Amanda Bridgeman does what I was hoping for and I enjoyed the way she wrote this book. It worked in a entry in the Marvel: School of X series and I look forward to more.

"“Their security was next level,” Sage said. “I detected all sorts of scanning systems. Perhaps they picked up on abnormal brain activity in Rachel.” She placed her hands on her hips, shoulders softening a little in defeat. “They knew we were mutants before Polaris pushed that table against the door.”

Luke M, Reviewer

⭐⭐⭐⭐✰

It’s great to see a book with Dazzler in the lead- especially when she’s working with an all female team- Polaris, Sage, Rachel and Emma together make for great reading, and there’s a fun plot that includes some classic X-characters.
My only grumbles are from an editorial/continuity perspective- Sage is believed to be from Afghanistan, not Eastern Europe, and Cyclops definitely doesn’t fire lasers from his eyes- they’re beams of concussive force that do not give off heat. I was also a little puzzled about some choices that were made- most of the X-Men had never met Ali despite being a stalwart of the X-Men, and little things like Emma being in a white costume rather than a black one didn’t fit the time period of the book- although I won’t grumble as I much prefer her in white! All in all, a fun read- I’d have loved to see Mortis turn up!

IMAGINE THAT?!

ThanX for the heads-up, tho.

[Gray Lensman]

They could change the visual effect. Have Magneto focus more on manipulating metals and Lorna more on elecotrmagnetism. Like Magneto's moveset would have him hurling metal spikes, cars, etc... and using metal to create shields and contain people. Lorna's would be more energy based and focused on manipulating magnetic fields

The visual effect is another part of reskinning, although in fighting games they often don't do more than change the color.

But adding Polaris shouldn't be that difficult. Start with some stylistic changes to the Scarlet Witch skin if one is in game - Wanda typically has headgear and a cape like Lorna's most well known costume. Many of the poses can likewise be copied from the existing model - which probably also was used for more than one character already, so moves can be used from other female characters that fit the theme. Game effects would be mostly, but not entirely a faster version of Magneto's with an entirely new skin, and new looks for the powers, with a couple borrowed from 3rd and/or 4th characters to make her more than just a mere clone.

A not truly easy, but not difficult thing that could become DLC in an online game using mostly existing assets.

[salarta]

A common problem Lorna faces within broader X-Men fandom is fans of just the entire brand, or of characters that aren't Lorna, giving a pass on bad treatment of her and putting down good treatment of her because of how they feel about things that aren't Lorna.

Claremont and Austen eras are prime examples.

Lorna was treated horribly by Claremont. His writing of Lorna became increasingly spiteful as the years went on. He started with Lorna acting like some desperate damsel in distress begging for Havok to rescue her from Sabretooth before getting possessed. He ended off with having her powers taken from her, and replacing them with an incredibly generic power set paired with hate powers that served as a poor justification for other characters to treat her poorly whenever she's around (but conveniently, she also had invulnerability so they could use her as a punching bag forever if they wanted). An objective view of his treatment of Lorna would tell you it was loaded with all kinds of wrong... but people who love the broad picture of what he did, or love how he boosted up certain characters they personally love, will act like what he did to Lorna was perfection incarnate. Because to them, saying a single word otherwise is tantamount to X-Men heresy and could hurt what they personally like.

By contrast, Austen is so far the best 616 writer Lorna's had. Because despite him also having some problems in treatment of her, he actually respected her past experiences and considered how she would think and feel and act as a result of them. Most notably Genosha. He's the only 616 writer that's acknowledged Genosha, her experience of the genocide, and how all that trauma and how long it lasted would affect her. But on top of that, he also represented her as a tough, "I'm sick of being treated poorly and getting looked down on" type of character. She was allowed to be powerful, smart and skillful like she should've been treated for decades and wasn't because of nostalgia constantly getting in the way. He also restored her parentage more explicitly, and let her actually care about mutants. But if you talk to fans of the broader fandom, or of other characters (particularly ones Austen treated poorly), they'll act like absolutely everything Austen did was automatically bad and not take any time at all to think about Lorna in any real way.

In short, you may see a lot of praise or derision for a work as a whole work or for treatment of other characters, but that is an entirely different matter from whether or not it was good for Lorna. A critic giving something 5 stars doesn't automatically translate into making the best Lorna story ever. It could be the worst treatment Lorna's ever had and it could still get 5 stars if the critic doesn't give a damn about her.

I learned that quite vividly with 3rd Birthday from Squeenix when tons of critics gave it high marks cause they loved the gameplay while completely ignoring how much of a sexist, character-assassinating pile of garbage it was story-wise.

[jmc247]

A common problem Lorna faces within broader X-Men fandom is fans of just the entire brand, or of characters that aren't Lorna, giving a pass on bad treatment of her and putting down good treatment of her because of how they feel about things that aren't Lorna.

Claremont and Austen eras are prime examples.

Lorna was treated horribly by Claremont. His writing of Lorna became increasingly spiteful as the years went on. He started with Lorna acting like some desperate damsel in distress begging for Havok to rescue her from Sabretooth before getting possessed. He ended off with having her powers taken from her, and replacing them with an incredibly generic power set paired with hate powers that served as a poor justification for other characters to treat her poorly whenever she's around (but conveniently, she also had invulnerability so they could use her as a punching bag forever if they wanted). An objective view of his treatment of Lorna would tell you it was loaded with all kinds of wrong... but people who love the broad picture of what he did, or love how he boosted up certain characters they personally love, will act like what he did to Lorna was perfection incarnate. Because to them, saying a single word otherwise is tantamount to X-Men heresy and could hurt what they personally like.

By contrast, Austen is so far the best 616 writer Lorna's had. Because despite him also having some problems in treatment of her, he actually respected her past experiences and considered how she would think and feel and act as a result of them. Most notably Genosha. He's the only 616 writer that's acknowledged Genosha, her experience of the genocide, and how all that trauma and how long it lasted would affect her. But on top of that, he also represented her as a tough, "I'm sick of being treated poorly and getting looked down on" type of character. She was allowed to be powerful, smart and skillful like she should've been treated for decades and wasn't because of nostalgia constantly getting in the way. He also restored her parentage more explicitly, and let her actually care about mutants. But if you talk to fans of the broader fandom, or of other characters (particularly ones Austen treated poorly), they'll act like absolutely everything Austen did was automatically bad and not take any time at all to think about Lorna in any real way.

In short, you may see a lot of praise or derision for a work as a whole work or for treatment of other characters, but that is an entirely different matter from whether or not it was good for Lorna. A critic giving something 5 stars doesn't automatically translate into making the best Lorna story ever. It could be the worst treatment Lorna's ever had and it could still get 5 stars if the critic doesn't give a damn about her.

I learned that quite vividly with 3rd Birthday from Squeenix when tons of critics gave it high marks cause they loved the gameplay while completely ignoring how much of a sexist, character-assassinating pile of garbage it was story-wise.

My review focused on Lorna’s story where I can say the family stuff was better planned and executed then we have seen in Trial of Magneto, but that isn’t a high bar. With Wanda as I said the author factored in some of their history and I gave her points for that.

If I thought the book was terrible I wouldn’t have argued people buy it at period. Instead I argued to pick it up if you have throwing around money.

In terms of Lorna’s character though I did have to vent. Even pre-Genosha from Lorna’s early days thru the 90s Lorna became hyper aggressive when people she cared about were threatened as in gloves come off aggressive. Here you have that and mutants under threat from being wiped out and she is lecturing Dazzer on being too cynical, dark, etc.

This might not even be the authors fault, her editor might have pushed things in a sainted Lorna direction, but it is the books fault. Lorna being highly aggressive when someone she cares about is threatened is perhaps the most consistent character trait she has in the comics. The novel increased the threat to extinction level.

None of that I said means people shouldn’t pick it up, but I had to vent on the one area where Hickman, Duggan and even Williams did better.

[Daedra]

I always wondered if there’s any sort of connection between gamma rays (higher/most energetic form of Electromagnetic radiation) and Lorna’s green air, my second theory about her awesome hair color involves a secondary mutation-solar energy- chlorophyll.
Did lorna ever met Leonard Samson? I would love to see these 2 have a team up!

[PolarIceFire]

Havok83, Gray Lensman, & Daedra, you've each brought up some NEW & interesting topics, that I hope to address later tonight or at some point over the weekend. Pretty busy these days tying up loose ends, so to speak, and am already behind my self-imposed schedule.

As for others, any further attempts at oblivious mansplainin', or whatever the **** ya wanna call it...

will only elicit the following response, from me:

[IMG]https://c.tenor.com/wYBZgS51Gp4AAAAC/no-****-sherlock.gif[/IMG]

I mean, talking about objectivity, or the lack thereof...
not to mention presumptuously drawing conclusions...

OUT OF THIN AIR... WTF?!!!

[jmc247]

Link

Runs that don’t give a damn about Lorna will just write her as a metal bender with the occasional energy blast. Maybe the artist will add in shields or maybe not.

Runs that care even a little bit about Lorna like Duggan’s will find an innovative way or two for her to use her powers in battle and yes that includes pulling the fillings out of her foes teeth. There are actually innovative ways of depicting metal bending.

Runs with a writer who wants to champion the character can really go to town as Claremont did for Magneto, as did Bunn, and Ewing is starting to do for him now. Lorna had only one such writer and we all know who it was.

Back to Sound of Light. I think part of the problem was the book came at it from having three characters focus on their daddy issues though in writing them as such it veered into a teenage or young adult voice and thinking for not just Lorna, but Rachel and Dazzler too. If this was supposed to be an AU novel that wouldn't be a problem, but its not. The characters in question are at this point supposed to be full-fledged adults with Lorna already years before the novel having trained with Magneto. While adults sometimes act a bit like kids around their parents its not the same.

[Havok83]

I always wondered if there’s any sort of connection between gamma rays (higher/most energetic form of Electromagnetic radiation) and Lorna’s green air, my second theory about her awesome hair color involves a secondary mutation-solar energy- chlorophyll.
Did lorna ever met Leonard Samson? I would love to see these 2 have a team up!

Are you forgetting the classic X-Factor 87 therapy session?


She also appeared in his solo back in the 90s

[Daedra]

Are you forgetting the classic X-Factor 87 therapy session?


She also appeared in his solo back in the 90s

Omg yes, that’s why I kept thinking about these 2, it was like hidden in my subconscious, I totally forgot about it ……I remember now wanting Lorna to date him (I was young so did not consider the doctor patient inplications)

[salarta]

Marvel, where they think Lorna's good enough to be a supporting character for other characters they like, but never good enough to receive her own opportunities.

[Thirteen]

The whole point of that "secondary mutation" was for Claremont to play out his fetish for constantly degrading and belittling Lorna. Up to that point, he had already established a pattern of having Lorna acting weak and cowardly, and other characters hating her and finding joy in attacking and badmouthing her. It showed most clearly with that "secondary mutation," which was really just an excuse to have Lorna be invulnerable so other characters could shoot at her and try to stab her just for existing because of some nonsensical "her existence brings out the worst in everyone around her and makes people hate her specifically" power. That the hate power itself was later explained as coming from Shadow King doesn't change why the "secondary mutation" happened, both as a way to use her as more of a punching bag and as a way to try and pivot her away from her core power set and identity into something far more generic and forgettable.

Claremont made Lorna a physical powerhouse to show she's weak? Felt more like fulfilling his "fetish" for a superstrong female in the lineup and Rogue was unavailable.
BTW Would Lorna's period as a powerhouse be considered the first manifestation of a secondary mutation? Or is it disqualified because it was brought on by outside manipulation (which is odd because genetic tinkering is outside Shadow Kings usual wheelhouse).

Was the hate aura/growth spurts connection to the Shadow King something like Lorna being a tesseract for those negative energies that were then ultimately fed to SK? At the time I thought it would have linked back to her long term possession by Malice. Felt like a truncated plot to facilitate the relaunch of the line with Adjectiveless etc...

[Havok83]

yes that was a secondary mutation.