Any1 finds current Polaris characterization weird?

[emfrst]

B4 X-men relaunch Lorna was consistently portrayed as a level-headed woman, who is aware of her lineage & responsibility. She even led X-factor in multiple occasions. Very Jean-lite

Then Duggan gave her sunglasses, thigh high boots, & a miniskirt, then suddenly she is this carefree, emotional yenta. Not leadership material at all. Very Monet or Dazzler-lite.

Any1 finds this disconcerting ? Do u prefer old polaris or new polaris?

[Magnetic]

B4 X-men relaunch Lorna was consistently portrayed as a level-headed woman, who is aware of her lineage & responsibility. She even led X-factor in multiple occasions. Very Jean-lite

Then Duggan gave her sunglasses, thigh high boots, & a miniskirt, then suddenly she is this carefree, emotional yenta. Not leadership material at all. Very Monet or Dazzler-lite.

Any1 finds this disconcerting ? Do u prefer old polaris or new polaris?

She used to live for Havok - now she live for coffee.

Polaris trying too hard. Maybe Brand can be her new mentor.

[Exodus]

maybe this incoherence of character is a symptom of her bipolar disorder?

I only can say that I really miss the character in X-Men. I loved her during Duggan's run and wished she would return ASAP!

I think all characters the writer actually cared for and has developed in the last 2 years should be on the same team:

Jean, Scott, Synch, Polaris, X23.2, Magik, M...would make a great team.

[Nicoclaws]

As far as I know the character (early x-factor) she's been mainly depicted as unstable. Trying to be the mature one because of her heritage and putting too much pressure on herself, giving to moments of anger and bad control. The last X-factor run tried to reconcile the different versions of her. Duggan just played up the "mutant princess" aspect, which was fun although very superficial.

[Uncanny X-Man]

I think Duggan might have taken a page from Emma Dumont's wilder, sarcastic Lorna from The Gifted when writing the character.

Which would be great as that was a very interesting portrayal - however Duggan didn't spend nearly enough time writing Lorna before booting her off the team, resulting in a very superficial characterization. The coffee shtick is fun but hardly deep character work. The acknowledgement of Magneto's death on Polaris was a good and long overdue step but the character would probably need an ongoing writer to define her in more detail instead of sporadic appearances under different creators.

[jmc247]

I think Duggan might have taken a page from Emma Dumont's wilder, sarcastic Lorna from The Gifted when writing the character.

Which would be great as that was a very interesting portrayal - however Duggan didn't spend nearly enough time writing Lorna before booting her off the team, resulting in a very superficial characterization. The coffee shtick is fun but hardly deep character work. The acknowledgement of Magneto's death on Polaris was a good and long overdue step but the character would probably need an ongoing writer to define her in more detail instead of sporadic appearances under different creators.

For the first six months of his run, he was doing almost enough with her. The one thing he needed to do and didn't was to sort out what her background pathos and motivation was. Given what happened to her last mutant homeland it wouldn't have been a major chore to come up with something.

It didn't happen and her panel time disappeared after 2021 and she quickly became a straight up empty caricature brandishing a coffee cup who I have found increasingly difficult to read or follow. Lorna's lack of a raison d'être killed her story.

Austen should not be her best comic writer, but he is because he was willing to take an event (that happened under another writer) and develop a sense of what Lorna believed and wanted to do in a larger context of mutants. The Gifted Lorna in her first season at least was great because she had a reason to exist as a character outside her little world.

Lorna's comic runs since Austen have been at best mediocre with her. Some worse than that. Duggan's Lorna really had a chance to break out and was moving in that direction, but after January 2022 the ball was dropped hard. If Duggan or someone else eventually picks up the ball again remains to be seen.

[salarta]

Duggan's depiction of her has been probably the best 616 depiction of her in a decade... but, it's also accurate to say it's been mostly lacking the depth she should have.

A lot of this is because the X-Men comics office isn't acknowledging the most important details and experiences for her. They don't acknowledge that she survived the Genoshan genocide, they don't acknowledge that she was the second woman to join the X-Men, they don't acknowledge her history with Iceman (or really Jean either, even though they're finally interacting more), having thrown Krakoa into space in the 70s has been ignored aside from some extremely vague implications you'd never pick up on unless you were an extremely hardcore fan. I'm honestly not sure Lorna would've been shown with any reaction to Magneto's death like we just saw if fans hadn't pointed out how problematic ignoring that is for the past year.

At this point, I think fans have made it very clear that they voted for her in the first X-Men vote because they wanted more out of the X-Men comics for her besides standing in the background drinking coffee. The coffee thing got some steam because whether they knew it or not, readers thought it signified more thought and care being put into her that would lead to good stories making use of her potential. The longer that doesn't happen, the more the coffee will be viewed as a negative. Without positive change in this regard, it'll soon be seen as a bad thing indicating shallow characterization.

Also, I don't think Duggan's first year of X-Men actually honored the idea of Lorna being on the team for a year. She was only in half the issues. The issue supposedly focused on her didn't touch on anything that actually matters to her, and didn't even have her on the cover. And of the issues, she wasn't in ones that could've really done good things for her (e.g. the nightmare Halloween issue). I don't know who's responsible for how little Lorna was used, and how little writing of substance she had when she was used (with the exception of Devil's Reign), but she really didn't get what she should have out of it.

I hope what we recently saw of Lorna's reaction to Magneto's death is an indicator of meaningful work to come for her, rather than a quickie one-off page only there to quell complaints before ignoring her again.

[Rift]

You could reconcile all of these elements by having her date Hellion. He can remind her that she can be a mature, strategic and caring leader who worries about the plight of mutants. She's a powerful woman who won't take his crap if he starts getting rude to people she cares about. They're both sarcastic rich bitches.

They'd even be great in fights together. She could grab his metal hands and throw them at people.

[salarta]

You could reconcile all of these elements by having her date Hellion. He can remind her that she can be a mature, strategic and caring leader who worries about the plight of mutants. She's a powerful woman who won't take his crap if he starts getting rude to people she cares about. They're both sarcastic rich bitches.

They'd even be great in fights together. She could grab his metal hands and throw them at people.

I’m not keen on Lorna dating anyone right now, because the comics aren’t doing enough with Lorna herself. If she were to date another character, assuming the condition of using her well enough were covered, I’d prefer Jean, Emma, or someone roughly of or around her generation like Gambit. Specific to Hellion, I would not want her with him because he’s younger, newer, and I think there’s a good chance that the comics would treat Lorna like she’s his age or younger. They already have the problem of acting like Havok was created before her, and treated her like a teen on X-Factor, so there’s already recent problems in that vein.

[Rift]

I’m not keen on Lorna dating anyone right now, because the comics aren’t doing enough with Lorna herself. If she were to date another character, assuming the condition of using her well enough were covered, I’d prefer Jean, Emma, or someone roughly of or around her generation like Gambit. Specific to Hellion, I would not want her with him because he’s younger, newer, and I think there’s a good chance that the comics would treat Lorna like she’s his age or younger. They already have the problem of acting like Havok was created before her, and treated her like a teen on X-Factor, so there’s already recent problems in that vein.

Lorna can be a cougar, and Hellion can be the one who is there to give her focus and stories. Like Synch and Laura, except in reverse.

[davetvs]

B4 X-men relaunch Lorna was consistently portrayed as a level-headed woman

Which books were you reading? Polaris has been portrayed as mentally unstable for years. If anything Duggan revitalized her characterization and gave her something else to do besides go crazy, sit next to Magneto, or sit next to Havok.

[salarta]

Lorna can be a cougar, and Hellion can be the one who is there to give her focus and stories. Like Synch and Laura, except in reverse.

Lorna being a cougar is an idea, but one it's highly unlikely the comics would take. They already have too much difficulty treating Lorna like the adult she is when she's not dating someone.

[FluffyCyclopsRLZ]

Lorna went from Alex's mentally unstable Plus One to Jean's mentally stable child figure. Saddest thing is, one could make a legit case the latter is an improvement.

Hilariously disheartening wash pretty much sums it up, no?

[Nicoclaws]

Which books were you reading? Polaris has been portrayed as mentally unstable for years. If anything Duggan revitalized her characterization and gave her something else to do besides go crazy, sit next to Magneto, or sit next to Havok.

I would argue that Williams was doing really good with her but then she spent a good part of that run possessed by Morrigan.

[emfrst]

Which books were you reading? Polaris has been portrayed as mentally unstable for years. If anything Duggan revitalized her characterization and gave her something else to do besides go crazy, sit next to Magneto, or sit next to Havok.

Post house of M, she was doing some therapy w/ Havok, since then she was in Shi'ar stuff, then X-factor investigation, then finally Serval stuffs b4 her big show in Duggan's books.Since '04 - '21, she was consistently shown as level-headed, leadership material woman