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  1. #1

    Default Polaris/Lorna Dane: Queen of Mutants/Mistress of Magnetism Appreciation 2023

    All hail Polaris/Lorna Dane, Queen of Mutants and Mistress of Magnetism!






    I'm going to occupy the first few posts of this thread.


    Previous threads:

    2022
    2021
    2020
    2019
    2018
    2014
    I can also be reached on BlueSky and Tumblr. Avatar by kahlart.

    Ghosts of Genosha minicomic focused on Polaris, written by me and drawn by Fin_NoMore.

    Polaris 50th anniversary minicomic written by me and drawn by Mlad!

    Gallery of Polaris commissions (without NSFW or minicomics)

  2. #2

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    This post is for recent developments regarding Lorna up to when this thread is made.

    Comics

    In the comics in 2021, she won the first official poll for fans to choose which out of 8 characters would join the X-Men team. She had great feats, finally got to spend time with Jean Grey and Cyclops for the first time in decades (she was the second woman to join the team, and was introduced back in 1968), and as a whole was written better in the comics personality-wise than any time in the past decade.

    ... But, she was only in half of the run, she never got a big focus on any of the covers besides variants (not even the issue focused on her), and the issue focused on her didn't cover anything about her or her character history that matters. In talking about the vote, a couple people in the X-Men office said Lorna winning was a surprise, and one of those people decided after the fact that Lorna must've won purely because people recognized the name from Emma Dumont's portrayal of her on Gifted. Also noteworthy that Polaris did not get an X-Men Annual oneshot focused on her (and Marvel has never given her a oneshot to date), but Firestar, the winner for 2022's vote, got one.

    At the 2021 Hellfire Gala, the event where the team was unveiled, there was unanimous complaint over the design for Lorna's dress and aesthetic compared to other characters. Since then, multiple artists at Marvel have tried their hands at their own fancy dresses for Lorna and all of them. All of these new designs so far have been excellent and very fitting for the character.

    Unfortunately, the Trial of Magneto event in 2021 had Polaris and Magneto acting horribly out of character compared to their actual history. It's become increasingly clear over the course of 2022 that the goal behind this OOC depiction was to force a rift between them to justify the X-Men office later completely ignoring Lorna while addressing Magneto's death in X-Men Red.

    Editorial trash. Gotta "love" it.

    As of this writing, Marvel has Lorna off in space yet again. Marvel would claim it's for her to take part in a big event, but it's really just to keep her away from anything that actually matters. To be clear, this poor behavior is not on Kelly Thompson, it's on editorial.

    Games

    Video games have been MUCH, MUCH BETTER to Lorna in the past few years.

    The most recent development on this front is Marvel Future Fight. After nearly a decade, Lorna was finally added to the game. To my knowledge, she's considered a really powerful unit in the game. She's wearing the same costume as from her time on 2021 X-Men - which, when considering the rest of the roster, I believe was chosen because Enchantress is already in the game but Abigail Brand is not. Enchantress and Polaris look similar in their iconic costumes, so the X-Men run look makes Lorna more visually distinct in the game. She's in leader and support categories in this game.

    Her other new game appearance in 2022 is in Marvel Snap. This is a card mobile game. She has multiple versions - regular, chibi, X-Men 2021 run, pixelated, anime style, and Pestilence. A special font was made for her by the dev team since Marvel has never given Polaris a solo, mini or oneshot where characters typically have one created for them.

    She was also added to Marvel Strike Force in 2021 but... frankly that take on her is the worst in games. It associates her with X-Factor but not X-Men, didn't give any background to her besides "she's Magneto's daughter," and from what I can tell she's primarily a support character.

    Marvel Puzzle Quest in 2020 was the first place in a long time to treat Lorna, Wanda and Pietro as siblings instead of sticking with the Axis retcon on the twins. The story intro event for Lorna had one big hiccup in not only bringing up Havok, but having you play as him... in Lorna's event... to beat her. However, the rest of the nodes for her story event were good, even if that one node almost tanked the whole thing. Gameplay-wise, last I checked she's still considered a powerhouse.

    But, the best game depiction of Lorna so far is Marvel Super War. Her powers, dialogue, costumes, all of them fully exude who Lorna is, and she was one of the first set of characters introduced in the game. Unfortunately, this game is only "legally" available in the east, and it takes a lot of steps to make it playable outside of there (I couldn't pull it off).
    I can also be reached on BlueSky and Tumblr. Avatar by kahlart.

    Ghosts of Genosha minicomic focused on Polaris, written by me and drawn by Fin_NoMore.

    Polaris 50th anniversary minicomic written by me and drawn by Mlad!

    Gallery of Polaris commissions (without NSFW or minicomics)

  3. #3

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    Now we get to the final post in my set, the current outlook for Polaris in 2023. From available information, it's... not good.

    What we know right now is that a) Lorna's in space dealing with the Brood on Captain Marvel, and b) she's going to appear in a single issue of the Scarlet Witch solo book.

    Under normal circumstances, each of these things would be good. Lorna being more involved in the wider Marvel universe, and spending more time with her sister, are things we've wanted as fans for a quite a while.

    These are not normal circumstances. Magneto just died stopping another attempted genocide. The X-Men office has shown they're going to cover Genosha and the genocide that happened there. Right now, Lorna should be heavily involved in both matters. Especially since she was not only a survivor of the Genoshan genocide, but was considered their sovereign princess at the time it happened and she relived the horror of the Genoshan genocide for weeks before the X-Men pulled her out of the ruins.






    The Genoshan genocide is the biggest thing to ever happen to Lorna. Her closest relationship (actual relationship, not "let's use her as a supporting character for a blonde white guy and throw her away when she's not serving his story") is her father, Magneto. She should be an objectively essential presence for both matters. No matter what you think of Lorna, or her fans, these are matters as core to her as Uncle Ben and his death are for Peter Parker.

    That the X-Men office is excluding her from these matters while letting other characters with much less of a stake cover them does not bode well. Not just for Lorna herself, but for the entire X-Men comics franchise. If they can't honor these things about Lorna, despite how glaringly obvious it is that they really need to, then can you really expect them to make much of anything of real worth?

    The trajectory of the X-Men office for the past half decade has been to treat Lorna like a washed up minor supporting character from 90s X-Factor that was only valuable for being Havok's girlfriend and has nothing to offer without him. It's nowhere near who Lorna actually is as a character, particularly how she's developed since, then. Nor is it anywhere near what fans actually want out of Marvel.

    This post is not meant to dispirit anyone. It's meant to make people aware of the problems that need addressing so they can speak about it and call it out. If they do, those problems will get fixed eventually. I can't say they would be fixed right away, but they would be fixed.

    The only way to fix a problem is to recognize it as a problem and call attention to it. Problems aren't fixed by pretending they're not problems or don't exist.
    I can also be reached on BlueSky and Tumblr. Avatar by kahlart.

    Ghosts of Genosha minicomic focused on Polaris, written by me and drawn by Fin_NoMore.

    Polaris 50th anniversary minicomic written by me and drawn by Mlad!

    Gallery of Polaris commissions (without NSFW or minicomics)

  4. #4
    Ultimate Member Phoenixx9's Avatar
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    Happy New Year Lorna Dane Polaris Queen of Mutants fans!
    [Quote Originally Posted by Thor-El 10-15-2020 12:32 PM]

    "Jason Aaron should know there is already a winner of the Phoenix Force and his name is Phoenixx9."


    Like a Red Dragon, The Phoenix shall Soar in 2024!

  5. #5
    Incredible Member rhaenylis's Avatar
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    Happy New Year!

    Kelly Thompson writes a strong, capable and assertive Lorna, a pretty good characterization that would be fun to read in "normal" times but it's bittersweet when the X-office couldn't care less about using Lorna in storylines that strongly concern her (genosha/the genocide of a mutant nation/the death of Magneto)

    However the blame does not rest with Kelly who writes a very good Lorna


    As a Rogue fan, I was also disappointed to see my other favorite X-lady being ousted from a plot that directly concerned her (Inferno) but while the X-office is "fixing" their mistakes with the new Rogue & Gambit mini I don't have much hope for Lorna

  6. #6
    Moderator Frontier's Avatar
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    Happy New Year to Lorna and fans !

  7. #7

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    Gonna post straight in here the minicomic I commissioned from Mlad back in 2018 for Polaris' 50th anniversary. I wrote the script for it, Mlad drew it.



    I can also be reached on BlueSky and Tumblr. Avatar by kahlart.

    Ghosts of Genosha minicomic focused on Polaris, written by me and drawn by Fin_NoMore.

    Polaris 50th anniversary minicomic written by me and drawn by Mlad!

    Gallery of Polaris commissions (without NSFW or minicomics)

  8. #8

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    Remaining pages. When I commissioned this, it was meant to focus on the highlights of her history and give an ending inspiring toward a better future.



    I can also be reached on BlueSky and Tumblr. Avatar by kahlart.

    Ghosts of Genosha minicomic focused on Polaris, written by me and drawn by Fin_NoMore.

    Polaris 50th anniversary minicomic written by me and drawn by Mlad!

    Gallery of Polaris commissions (without NSFW or minicomics)

  9. #9
    Ultimate Member Phoenixx9's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by salarta View Post
    Gonna post straight in here the minicomic I commissioned from Mlad back in 2018 for Polaris' 50th anniversary. I wrote the script for it, Mlad drew it.

    I just love the cake and gifts!
    [Quote Originally Posted by Thor-El 10-15-2020 12:32 PM]

    "Jason Aaron should know there is already a winner of the Phoenix Force and his name is Phoenixx9."


    Like a Red Dragon, The Phoenix shall Soar in 2024!

  10. #10
    Astonishing Member Lucyinthesky's Avatar
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    Happy New Year Polaris fans
    "To the X-men then, who donīt die the old fashioned way and no matter how hard we try, none of us die forever" Uncanny X-Men #270, Jean and Ororo

    Magneto: The master of magnetism Appreciation 2022
    Polaris: The Mistress of Magnetism Appreciation 2022
    House of M Appreciation 2022

  11. #11
    Invincible Member juan678's Avatar
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    Happy New Year Polaris fans

  12. #12

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    It’s the 20th anniversary of Austen’s run with Lorna this winter.

    A good way to deal with inconvenient events that are too big to ignore is to make lemonade out of lemons. He didn't plan much of what he ended up doing with her. But, what Morrison did he read in 2002 and found was too big and life changing to ignore and he decided to integrate what Morrison did into his pre-planned out story and damn did it work.

    Thankfully he did a few interviews this Fall explaining his run and his choices with her starting at 1:03:15.



    Needless to say, most of Lorna's problems in the comics the past decade have come from publishing wanting to focus exclusively on grounding her and getting her back to generic Xavierite themes without respecting her greatest story arc which actually gave a real level of understanding to the character and her worldview and frankly made her relatable in a way nothing had before and certainly nothing since.

    Quote Originally Posted by Lucyinthesky View Post
    Happy New Year Polaris fans
    Happy New Year! What is your take now about Lorna’s story in terms of her X-Men run, Judgement Day, and missing philosophical edge?
    Last edited by jmc247; 01-03-2023 at 07:31 AM.

  13. #13
    Extraordinary Member
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    I wish to see her knowledge of Geophysics used more

  14. #14
    Ultimate Member Fokken's Avatar
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    2023 needs to be the RETURN of Lorna's CURLS



  15. #15

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    Quote Originally Posted by Phoenixx9 View Post
    I just love the cake and gifts!
    Thanks! As an anniversary cover, I wanted it to capture not just how long she's been around, but also her history per decade and and her closest relationships (or at least, what SHOULD be her closest relationships). Mlad did a great job here. Though looking at the cake, in retrospect, that the layer for the 90s has no green in it at all really does show how little of Lorna's individuality existed in that era. It's the only layer with absolutely no green to be found.

    Quote Originally Posted by Will Evans View Post
    I wish to see her knowledge of Geophysics used more
    I agree, it should really stand out more. She has that educational background. You would expect her to learn from existing and evolving research that she can use her powers in ways that other people who aren't reading the literature would never consider. There's a lot of possibilities that have never been touched, or rarely so.
    I can also be reached on BlueSky and Tumblr. Avatar by kahlart.

    Ghosts of Genosha minicomic focused on Polaris, written by me and drawn by Fin_NoMore.

    Polaris 50th anniversary minicomic written by me and drawn by Mlad!

    Gallery of Polaris commissions (without NSFW or minicomics)

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