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

[jmc247]

Same. I've never been a fan of this stale plotline. They did it with Jean in the Dark Phoenix movie as well where her powers accidentally kill her mother in a car accident. I'm surprised they haven't revealed that one of the dozen sets of parents that Wanda and Pietro have had over the years weren't killed by Wanda's powers.

It's not a useful plotline to explain how Lorna views herself or the world. That I will very much agree with.

I hope this doesn’t disrespect the amazing artist, but I wanted to see it with a recolor. I think non-green clothes makes a world of difference for her.

I have long believed Lorna's natural green hair contrasts well with blue, purple, red, and black. The core design has managed to get more attention and talk attached to it than anything Marvel has done for Lorna in two years. Take no risks and get no rewards.

[whitecrown]

It's not a useful plotline to explain how Lorna views herself or the world. That I will very much agree with.

I have long believed Lorna's natural green hair contrasts well with blue, purple, red, and black. The core design has managed to get more attention and talk attached to it than anything Marvel has done for Lorna in two years. Take no risks and get no rewards.

Agreed. It feels regressive and fails to account for the fact that Lorna's trauma came from Genosha, not from a childhood incident.

If you look at some of the most popular looks now, they always started off as a severe departure from the classic look. Storm's mohawk, Iron Man in the Silver Centurion armor, Spider-Man in black, Wolverine in brown, etc. These costume changes were all considered shocking at the time but now have become about as equally iconic as their classic looks. I think Lorna would benefit from a new costume that isn't even remotely green.

Especially since I've noticed a trend where some of her merchandise is literally just Scarlet Witch but repainted green.

[Soulsword323]

Leonard Kirk's xXx-FACTOR (Madrox detective era) costume for Lorna never got its due after a spectacularly lackluster introductory panel. Liking Lorna with a high pony.

https://cafans.b-cdn.net/images/Category_16711/subcat_32382/Leonard%20Krik%20Polaris%202013.jpg
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/...1000_QL80_.jpg

Yeah, I've really grown to appreciate this design more and more. It's very well done, and feels very contemporary.

Particularly love the trench coat, and how it invokes the feeling of cape without being one. Also, really don't mind Lorna in a ponytail. Appreciate that they referenced the tiara too, even if it isn't as good as what's come before.

[salarta]

Hey, I'm here again after being ludicrously busy lately.

I hope this doesn’t disrespect the amazing artist, but I wanted to see it with a recolor. I think non-green clothes makes a world of difference for her.

The work itself is good, but I'm not keen on the colors implying Magneto, or on the headgear not being mostly green. Both aspects move too far away from her own identity.

https://twitter.com/RPHutch1975/stat...01883529396435

This is a good variant cover. I recognize its theme means important stuff like Genosha couldn't be on this one.

For anyone wondering, the Krakoan says "X-Factor or X-Men?" which gets to the heart of Lorna's problem when it comes to potential and respect. X-Men comics office nostalgia for the 90s and lack of respect for Lorna due to past poor treatment have forced this question into a binary. Is she an X-Factor character or an X-Men character? Does 90s nostalgia mean she should be relegated only to books titled X-Factor, and treated like she has almost nothing to do with the X-Men franchise as a whole despite her history? We've seen the X-Men comics office mostly treat her like an X-Factor only character for the past decade, not even given the respect of leading the last team she was put on named X-Factor, until Lorna winning the X-Men vote while on the 2020 X-Factor team made it very clear how readers want more for her than "supporting character on a distant satellite book where all her history is treated like it never happened."

Under the most ideal circumstances, this shouldn't be an "or" situation. Lorna's history with both should matter (sans 2020 X-Factor cause it had zero respect for her existing identity and history) and play into future possibilities for her. Sadly, the obsession with and forced usage of 90s nostalgia to the exclusion of everything about Lorna that actually matters has forced fandom hands to have to be against the X-Factor parts. When I'm being forced to choose between Lorna who was the second woman to join the team, has existed since 1968, Jean's oldest female friend, Iceman's first "love interest," survived the Genoshan genocide... or Lorna who helped her boyfriend out a lot and didn't get to lead the team she was supposedly team leader of until fans complained enough, it shouldn't be too tough to guess which I'll choose. Hint: it's the choice with elements that actually matter for Lorna as her own character.

The X-Factor stuff has all been nostalgia for a status quo rather than nostalgia for good Lorna content, is what I'm saying. And I'll always point back to how Marvel never forces Havok back into that status quo nostalgia. Only the female character.

I generally like Peter David's character work with Lorna across all of the volumes that he wrote for her. I could have done without the "I caused the accident that killed my family when my mutant powers activated" tragedy cliche.

While I felt this was a good origin story for Lorna, it became evident afterward that 1) it doesn't actually matter (hasn't been touched on at all in a decade), and 2) it's become one of a string of attempts to distract from Genosha. Plus as I said in the post you linked (neat to see one of those linked!), the core concept of it got taken from Lorna and tacked onto the Dark Phoenix film's Jean only with a car instead of a plane. Very much not keen on when concepts that could be meaningful for Lorna when handled right are taken from her and given to other characters that some tool deems "more deserving" than her.

Agreed. It feels regressive and fails to account for the fact that Lorna's trauma came from Genosha, not from a childhood incident.

If you look at some of the most popular looks now, they always started off as a severe departure from the classic look. Storm's mohawk, Iron Man in the Silver Centurion armor, Spider-Man in black, Wolverine in brown, etc. These costume changes were all considered shocking at the time but now have become about as equally iconic as their classic looks. I think Lorna would benefit from a new costume that isn't even remotely green.

Especially since I've noticed a trend where some of her merchandise is literally just Scarlet Witch but repainted green.

Regarding Lorna's looks, I've said before that I'd be fine with Lorna having something other than her iconic look or a variant of it IF she has a huge spotlight at the same time.

The reason all those classic looks are so popular isn't only because they're severe departures, it's cause they're severe departures tied to major stories and huge promotions for each of them. If you check into NSFW circles, Sue Storm's costume with the number 4 boob window is extremely popular there not only because it's a boob window, but because it got her a huge spotlight by raising a lot of ire and controversy over her wearing it. There's two parts to the equation. Without the second part of a huge spotlight, the first part of a severe departure only hurts the character. It makes her harder for readers to recognize it's her. The current costume for her is bad (and I go back and forth on if it's deliberate) because she's easily mistaken for Brand while wearing it, but I don't complain about it much because she's been in the spotlight while wearing it.

tl;dr version of my post: if Lorna's gonna get such a costume change and a huge spotlight that does great things with her, then I'm fine with it. But if there's no spotlight, then I think her costume needs to be close to her iconic look so people can recognize it's her.


Also, I loathed the X-Factor costume with the ponytail. I said when it debuted that it made her look like a teenager, and I stand by that statement.

[juan678]

[salarta]

I'm going through my bookmarks on Twitter in preparation for shutting down my account there before the end of the month, due to Musk's BS.

In the process, I ran across this.



It's from The Comics Journal #67 in 1981. It shows how much disrespect existed toward Lorna back then. This depicts Emerald Empress from DC attacking Lorna. Not even a smidgen of an attempt to present Lorna as powerful in any way. Purely Lorna being acted upon. Good example outside of the comics of why the 80s were garbage for Lorna and nostalgia for that period regarding treatment of her is at best misguided.

[whitecrown]

I'm going through my bookmarks on Twitter in preparation for shutting down my account there before the end of the month, due to Musk's BS.

In the process, I ran across this.



It's from The Comics Journal #67 in 1981. It shows how much disrespect existed toward Lorna back then. This depicts Emerald Empress from DC attacking Lorna. Not even a smidgen of an attempt to present Lorna as powerful in any way. Purely Lorna being acted upon. Good example outside of the comics of why the 80s were garbage for Lorna and nostalgia for that period regarding treatment of her is at best misguided.

Goodness, how awful that this treatment was the norm even back then. I had hoped that What If #27 depicting Lorna as one of the three most powerful members of the X-Men alongside Cyclops and Havok meant that non-Claremont writers actually did appreciate her at Marvel but that's clearly not the case.

Something else I noted is this What If? issue cover where the Second Genesis X-Men and First Class X-Men all were killed. Guess who's missing on the cover's memorial? They have literally all the other X-Men, old and new, minus Lorna. Out of the thirteen X-Men, the one they decided to remove to keep things symmetrical was Lorna.

[Wiccan]

I don't know if this was talked about here before, but Scarlet Witch #8 acknowledged how Wanda and Lorna didn't talk about Magneto's death.

[salarta]

I don't know if this was talked about here before, but Scarlet Witch #8 acknowledged how Wanda and Lorna didn't talk about Magneto's death.

I'm not sure if it was this thread or another thread, but we did discuss it some when that came out. Where we discussed it, I said that it's probably the best that could've been done to address this after the fact short of dedicating another whole issue to it set during Lorna's visit. I might go back and read the issue where Lorna visited since Orlando's doing what he can after the fact.

[jmc247]

I suspect they were planning to leave the whole issue of Magneto's death confined to a small circle of characters who the death impacted on X-Men Red. At some they shifted perhaps after figuring out real damage was being done.

[SilverScarlet]

Going to be very interesting to see how involved Lorna, Wanda and Pietro are in “The Resurrection Of Magneto”...is it going to be X-Red centric, or will it involve the siblings?
(Personally, I hope it returns Wanda & Pietro to mutantdom, and all four to the House Of Lensherr!).

[salarta]

Going to be very interesting to see how involved Lorna, Wanda and Pietro are in “The Resurrection Of Magneto”...is it going to be X-Red centric, or will it involve the siblings?
(Personally, I hope it returns Wanda & Pietro to mutantdom, and all four to the House Of Lensherr!).

It would be good if Wanda and Pietro were restored as Magneto's kids. If they did it, and kept Lorna as his kid too, I would have a lot of MCU catching up to do. I said back when it happened in 2014 that I wasn't going to see anything MCU until they were restored, so with the sole exception of the first Black Panther film, I haven't seen anything MCU since either the second Thor film or the second Captain America film (can't remember which came out second).

[Cubbyboo]

It would be good if Wanda and Pietro were restored as Magneto's kids. If they did it, and kept Lorna as his kid too, I would have a lot of MCU catching up to do. I said back when it happened in 2014 that I wasn't going to see anything MCU until they were restored, so with the sole exception of the first Black Panther film, I haven't seen anything MCU since either the second Thor film or the second Captain America film (can't remember which came out second).

What I'd like definitely is to keep Wanda and Lorna close. Love how they view themselves as sisters, even if it isn't by blood. It's a good relationship and healing and healthy for both. It's also heart warming in a crazy and cold world.

[GoingGreen]

What I'd like definitely is to keep Wanda and Lorna close. Love how they view themselves as sisters, even if it isn't by blood. It's a good relationship and healing and healthy for both. It's also heart warming in a crazy and cold world.

It's ironic it took re-retconning them to be not-blood relatives before their relationship evolved into something much deeper than it was, and I love that these two "crazy women" actually have one of the healthiest sibling-type relationships the X-Men / Marvel has seen. I keep saying it, but the House of M feels like the Starks.

I suspect they were planning to leave the whole issue of Magneto's death confined to a small circle of characters who the death impacted on X-Men Red. At some they shifted perhaps after figuring out real damage was being done.

Yeah, that's how it seemed for me, too. There's always talk about Lorna getting the short end by being in self-contained titles in the 90s / 00s, and honestly, that's how X-Men Red feels, to me. It has so little impact anywhere else. I know the narrative is that Polaris, SW, and QS were left out of Magneto's death, but NO ONE addressed it outside of X-Men Red. So in a way... Magneto's death was left out of the House of M. Polaris was off with Captain Marvel, Quicksilver was doing whatever, Scarlet Witch had a title starting...

When Wanda died leading to the Trial of Magneto, the whole House of M, the X-Men, and the Quiet Council were all involved.

When Magneto died, Storm was involved.

It was a nice intimate moment, it was nice he was seeing Anya... but it didn't do anything. It had no impact.

So I'm hoping his return leads to an official ongoing House of M book.

[jmc247]

Yeah, that's how it seemed for me, too. There's always talk about Lorna getting the short end by being in self-contained titles in the 90s / 00s, and honestly, that's how X-Men Red feels, to me. It has so little impact anywhere else. I know the narrative is that Polaris, SW, and QS were left out of Magneto's death, but NO ONE addressed it outside of X-Men Red

I would have had more sympathy for not getting to the reactions of those close to him in a timely manner if his death occurred in Red. It didn’t. It was a company wide crossover event edited by Tom Brevoort. Even if Ewing didn’t want to include Lorna in his story and clearly didn’t it would have been nothing to have a death of Magneto one shot story attached to the crossover written by someone else.

Editorial did belatedly attach another writer to do a Storm and Wanda deal with Magneto’s death addition story to Scarlet Witch #2. I feel Orlando was loathed to touch his death in the next issue between Wanda and Lorna because the x-books hadn’t and he clearly wasn’t given any kind of guidance on the matter.

In other matters.

It sounds like Marvel is moving towards planning out its X-Men films in the scripting phase. The two best options Lorna can hope for is Magneto dead or them going for a classic iteration replete with Magneto vs Xavier as the tent pole of the mutant experience. That would open up narrative space for Lorna in a way that tends not to exist when Magneto is on the same side of the X-Men as he is in X-Men 97.