Polaris: Queen of Mutants/Mistress of Magnetism Appreciation 2024

[Soulsword323]

So this has been out there for awhile...

Lorna's appearance at the end of Fall of the House of X.



Hands down Lorna's best costume to date IMO. Love how regal and menacing Polaris looks, and Werneck did a great job with it overall. I particularly love the gold bubble neckline.

While I love the return of the headpiece/tiara in the helmet, I do wish they went with the original tiara Lorna debuted with. It's more distinct than the Scarlet Witch points/horns. I also wish there was a skull somewhere on there as well.

[Master of Sound]

When did Lorna appear last before she resurfaced here? I totally forgot.

[LoganAlpha30X33]

Before the gala Lorna was in her room crying about Magneto and Jean brought Lorna her dress for the gala and comforted her a bit.

[Devaishwarya]

I don't like her new look at all...I was very much hoping for the Magneto cover version.

[Thirteen]

So this has been out there for awhile...

Lorna's appearance at the end of Fall of the House of X.



Hands down Lorna's best costume to date IMO. Love how regal and menacing Polaris looks, and Werneck did a great job with it overall. I particularly love the gold bubble neckline.

While I love the return of the headpiece/tiara in the helmet, I do wish they went with the original tiara Lorna debuted with. It's more distinct than the Scarlet Witch points/horns. I also wish there was a skull somewhere on there as well.

No coffee in sight!

[salarta]

When did Lorna appear last before she resurfaced here? I totally forgot.

Before now, she was at the treehouse crying due to her father Magneto's death, which took a year (real world time) after his death to happen on panel for some reason.

Within the story, saying this mainly for the casual lurkers, the treehouse was burned down shortly after this by Orchis, which led fans to wonder what might happen with her. Some speculation that maybe she died in that fire but we hadn't seen it, but there was also a scene teasing what's happening in Fall of the House of X now before that happened. So people also speculated things similar to what we're seeing now.


Starting with the more important stuff first, but under spoiler tags.

spoilers:

Throughout the issue, there's a few characters that Xavier directly contacts via telepathy asking them to leave an plan in action to break Cyclops out of Orchis' hold to take part in a different plan he has in mind that he says needs to be done right this moment. Lorna heads off to Knowhere before Kitty arrives to give her the go-ahead for pre-made plans. Now, where we're at right now with this first issue, we actually don't know what prompted Lorna to head to Knowhere. The running theme of characters running off for Xavier's plan suggests Lorna may be playing a part in it, but we have no actual confirmation one way or another. No scene showing Xavier reaching out to Lorna, no scene of Lorna saying or thinking that it's something Xavier asked her to do, etc. Maybe those things happened in the background after all and Duggan just didn't waste panel time on time. Or, it could be that Lorna is simply doing this of her own accord, using what she knows to hit Orchis hard. We'll have to see in future issues as they unfold. A second key and interesting detail is how Kitty goes to find Lorna on the island where Magneto originally operated the Brotherhood, Island M. As you can see from the wikia article, there's other interesting details (repurposing for Krakoa into Cradle Two, a history with the Ancients/Great Old Ones, etc), but I think the Magneto Brotherhood elements are the most interesting and most valuable for Lorna. We've spent the time since Magneto's death seeing Storm used as the focal character for just about everything regarding Magneto's death and legacy, including running the Brotherhood, while Lorna was shown with no reaction at all to her own father's death until the gala. So I think touches like this are a way to tell us in the gaps of the story that Lorna's been thinking about and dealing with these things in-universe even though the company wasn't properly addressing it until now. Kitty also finding Lorna's minidress ensemble is also a meaningful choice. They could've decided not to show that, but it's valuable for how it symbolically represents a change in attitude for her. From the laidback casual approach while on the X-Men book, to the warrior about to take on Orchis. Goes a long way to demonstrate Lorna as the multifaceted character she is.

end of spoilers

And now for the eternal costume discourse that'll take up 5 pages.

I agree this is the best costume she's had yet. You can distinctly tell that it's Lorna due to the headgear design within her helmet and the cape, as well (of course) with the all green. The varying shades of green do a great job of giving her some color variation while retaining her most well known color. The helmet here is also great as an evolution from her tiara; retaining it in her design but moving it forward. There's an implication of Magneto to it without sacrificing her own visual identity in the process. I do still wish it looked more like battle armor, but doesn't change that it looks amazing, provides meaningful evolution to her look without killing her identity in the process, and is the best she's had to date.

All in all, good showing for Lorna already even with it being just a few pages. Looking forward to the next issue, and I encourage people to buy and read this one.

[Thirteen]

Kitty also finding Lorna's minidress ensemble is also a meaningful choice. They could've decided not to show that, but it's valuable for how it symbolically represents a change in attitude for her. From the laidback casual approach while on the X-Men book, to the warrior about to take on Orchis. Goes a long way to demonstrate Lorna as the multifaceted character she is.[/spoil]

And now for the eternal costume discourse that'll take up 5 pages.

Disappointed that the Dauterman Hellfire Gala design wasn't adapted to war gear...

[Wiccan]

So this has been out there for awhile...

Lorna's appearance at the end of Fall of the House of X.



Hands down Lorna's best costume to date IMO. Love how regal and menacing Polaris looks, and Werneck did a great job with it overall. I particularly love the gold bubble neckline.

While I love the return of the headpiece/tiara in the helmet, I do wish they went with the original tiara Lorna debuted with. It's more distinct than the Scarlet Witch points/horns. I also wish there was a skull somewhere on there as well.

I love this look, so much better than the one on the cover that was more like a copy of Magneto's (and kinda ugly in general tbh).

[Dante Milton]

Disappointed that the Dauterman Hellfire Gala design wasn't adapted to war gear...

Exactly this. If you have a Dauterman design available it is very foolish to not use it at all. I even prefer the Larraz mini dress to the Werneck design, and I'm not a huge fan of that look.

[juan678]

https://twitter.com/amadcartoonist/s...58542010143221

[Factor]

Lorna was the only thing I liked about the issue. The new look is pretty good, IMO. Probably one of my favorites she’s had even if it could use some small tweaks (tiara etc). Still, much better than the skirt!

[kcekada]

She’s got two really cool new uniforms in 2024.

One is shown in the first post of the thread. What is the second uniform? Ah, never mind. I see it above.

It's okay. My biggest issue with it is that her tiara is too Scarlet Witch for my tastes.

[jmc247]

I started this thread with a discussion of seasons. With the last two words of the issue, we know what season/time it is for Lorna. A time for war. It was a good set up issue overall. We don't know much about Lorna's time or decisions from the gala to this issue, but we know where it led. spoilers:

I felt leaving her outfit behind was symbolically important. No coffee cup as others have noted thankfully. Also, looking for Lorna on Island M came with good symbolism in terms of the history. Also, Lorna has had the kid gloves on for many years now. It nice to see her look ready to remove them and take action.

end of spoilers I hope current events ushers in the start of a new era for Lorna and this story arc isn't just forgotten about in a year.

In terms of the outfit, it is very strong. The best she has had to date. In utilitarian terms Lorna has always been willing to wear heavy chunks of metal on her head over half or more of it. It never made sense to me why not go all the way and go for a helmet that offers telepathic protection and remove one of her largest weaknesses. Second, the entire visual look keeps much of her classic design while having aspects of her families.

There are issues I could quibble over. The body could have more aspects to her classic design, and it would be nice if skulls were somewhere, but its a strong outfit overall.

What I really like in terms of the headgear is that it comes down on the side of her face more like her Hidden Years classic variant. It really looks good on Lorna. I liked the Norse design on the top for the classic that the current outfit is lacking, but like I said the outfit is very strong. The best she has had to date, but not perfect.



A comparison to her X-Men Hidden Years look above. Similar. From the side.

[kcekada]

I see that it's more of a helmet than a tiara. The pic above makes it look like a tiara, but the Fall of the House of X thread shows it closeup -- and you see the Magneto influence. I hope she loses the helmet after this mini-series -- or streamlines it a great deal so that it is just a tiara. For this series, I think the helmet makes sense, but I'm not a fan.

As for the rest of the outfit -- it's fine -- kinda basic and utilitarian. If that is one's yardstick, then I can see why some think it's her best. I still put the Steranko and Cockrum outfits above it.

[Celestialbodies]

I love this look, so much better than the one on the cover that was more like a copy of Magneto's (and kinda ugly in general tbh).

Agreed!

I loved the imagery and strength the Mags costume invokes but I didn't like Lorna in that costume very much.

THIS costume, feels like the nature progression of where Lorna is in this moment while honoring everything about her. But my absolute favorite thing about the costume which is great is the helmet is again invokes imagery of her familial bonds while remaining unique to Lorna. This intention placed on honoring no celebrating her character in her design is lovely, also very reminiscent of why I loved the Bets Disamessbled design in that it incorporates various pieces or callbacks to other uniforms.