The Mistress of Magnetism: LORNA DANE POLARIS Appreciation

[juan678]

http://www.cbr.com/x-men-fan-casting-photoshops/

[Soulsword323]

I did appreciate Lorna reminding Magneto of the task at hand, and was it was nice to see her worried about the O5, but with this whole premise being a trip down memory lane/the X-Men's greatest hits, I would have liked Lorna to make a remark about this era for her. I understand that Polaris has gotten the opportunity to hold Malice accountable for what she did during JM's run, but this should still be a sore point for her, much like Rachel and her Hound costume and the DOFP timeline. We got to see Rachel comment about it, so I would have just liked a remark about it form Lorna. I didn't really want Bunn to dive deep into it, but with so much about this event being about reliving the past and commenting on it, I still think it would have been a nice moment for Lorna as she faced off against the simulation, especially since Bunn did make a point to express Lorna's disdain of the Marauders in the tail end of his Magneto series. It just seemed like a missed opportunity to not build off that.

I know that Malice/Polaris didn't play a part in the Marauders until after the Mutant Massacre, but they shouldn't change her overall feelings towards Malice and the Marauders.

[Weather]

I did appreciate Lorna reminding Magneto of the task at hand, and was it was nice to see her worried about the O5, but with this whole premise being a trip down memory lane/the X-Men's greatest hits, I would have liked Lorna to make a remark about this era for her. I understand that Polaris has gotten the opportunity to hold Malice accountable for what's she did during JM's run, but this should still be a sore point for her, much like Rachel and her Hound costume and the DOFP timeline. We got to see Rachel comment about it, so I would have just liked a remark about it form Lorna. I didn't really want Bunn to dive deep into it, but with so much about this event being about reliving the past and commenting on it, I still think it would have been a nice moment for Lorna as she faced off against the simulation, especially since Bunn did make a point to express Lorna's disdain of the Marauders in the tail end of his Magneto series. It just seemed like a missed opportunity to not build off that.

I know that Malice/Polaris didn't play a part in the Marauders until after the Mutant Massacre, but they shouldn't change her overall feelings towards Malice and the Marauders.

I agree with you. It'd be nice to see her state of mind nowadays about Malice. But if she comments about her time as a horseman or something like that, I will be pleased.

[jmc247]

I did appreciate Lorna reminding Magneto of the task at hand, and was it was nice to see her worried about the O5, but with this whole premise being a trip down memory lane/the X-Men's greatest hits, I would have liked Lorna to make a remark about this era for her. I understand that Polaris has gotten the opportunity to hold Malice accountable for what's she did during JM's run, but this should still be a sore point for her, much like Rachel and her Hound costume and the DOFP timeline. We got to see Rachel comment about it, so I would have just liked a remark about it form Lorna. I didn't really want Bunn to dive deep into it, but with so much about this event being about reliving the past and commenting on it, I still think it would have been a nice moment for Lorna as she faced off against the simulation, especially since Bunn did make a point to express Lorna's disdain of the Marauders in the tail end of his Magneto series. It just seemed like a missed opportunity to not build off that.

As you said we did see her express her disdain for the Marauders in a previous comic Bunn wrote. Outside of say mentioning how much she hates these guys again which yes would have been good, though to me not a big issue at all I have no problem with her saving her disdain for the next villain they are going to face which also mind controlled her.

Obviously, the whole story line they fell into came pre-Lorna as Malice, but my view on it has long been solid that it wasn't a respectful story line to Lorna it was the antithesis of it so I have no desire for writers to try to rehabilitate it as something worthwhile or that helped Lorna become who she is today as many traumas were, but this one didn't.

Lorna has been through alot of traumas some designed to develop the character and further her. Some of them botched or cut short like the Poccy storyline and then cut short by her being forced into others storyline. The Malice story line was not one of them.

The next storyline they deal with I expect to have more emotional resonance to Lorna and we will probably get at least one more after that. The Malice arc was not Lorna's DoFP outside of being a painful experience and Lorna has alot of those. The Malice arc was a one note long story arc designed to tear down the character and right after get rid of her as Polaris the Mistress of Magnetism.

Her Horseman storyline I don't see as her DoFP either, but it was at least a much more respectful storyline to the character. My feeling that the Malice story line was nothing more then an attempt for the creative staff at the time to beat the tar out of the character before undoing her as the Mistress of Magnetism colors my view in this regard, but creators had a lot of time to try to redeem that seaming pile for the character and never could even with several issues devoted to trying to do so.

Lorna was mind controlled four times in the 70s and 80s, but her Malice arc had the least respect given to the character in the course of it and the most effort by future writers to rehabilitate it (two full comic issues with pages of first run PAD X-Factor oh and alot of time with Claremont's X-Men Forever trying to do so) with no real effect because there is nothing to salvage or for her to rise above.

The era was so popular of the X-Men and the storyline so bad for her I do understand those who want to find some good to be made from it or that could be made out of it and writers have attempted to make good out of it moreso then any brainwashing trauma she had. It just hasn't worked because the storyline didn't build a new better Lorna like her recent trauma in The Gifted is doing or the Genosha genocide did, the Malice arc was an open ended deconstruction story line with no goal of making things better for the Mistress of Magnetism in the distant future.

Thus well meaning attempts by PAD and JM in the 90s to make lemonade out of lemons in regard to the Malice arc failed.

[Soulsword323]

I agree with you. It'd be nice to see her state of mind nowadays about Malice. But if she comments about her time as a horseman or something like that, I will be pleased.

Well, with them going up against Apocalypse next, a comment about her being a horsemen could very well be made.

As you said we did see her express her disdain for the Marauders in a previous comic Bunn wrote. Outside of say mentioning how much she hates these guys again which yes would have been good, though to me not a big issue at all I have no problem with her saving her disdain for the next villain they are going to face.

Obviously, the whole story line they fell into came pre-Lorna as Malice, but my view on it has long been solid that it wasn't a respectful story line to Lorna it was the antithesis of it so I have no desire for writers to pay homage to it and try to rehabilitate it as something worthwhile or that helped Lorna become who she is today as it wasn't.

Lorna has been through alot of traumas some designed to develop the character and further her. Some of them botched or cut short like the Poccy storyline and then cut short by her being forced into others storyline. The Malice story line was not one of them.

The next storyline they deal with I expect to have more emotional resonance to Lorna and we will probably get at least one more after that.

The Malice arc was not Lorna's DoFP. The Malice arc was a steaming pile designed to tear down the character and right after get rid of her as Polaris the Mistress of Magnetism.

Her Horseman storyline I don't see as her DoFP either, but it was at least a much more respectful storyline to the character. My feeling that the Malice story line was nothing more then an attempt for the creative staff at the time to beat the tar out of the character before undoing her as the Mistress of Magnetism colors my view in this regard, but creators had a lot of time to try to redeem that seaming pile for the character and never could even with several issues devoted to trying to do so.

Lorna was mind controlled four times in the 70s and 80s, but her Malice arc had the least respect given to the character in the course of it and the most effort by future writers to rehabilitate it (two full comic issues with pages of first run PAD X-Factor oh and alot of time with Claremont's X-Men Forever trying to do so) with no real effect because there is nothing to salvage or for her to rise above.

The era was so popular of the X-Men and the storyline so bad for her I do understand those who want to find some good to be made from it or that could be made out of it and writers have attempted to make good out of it moreso then any brainwashing trauma she had. It just hasn't worked because the storyline didn't build a new better Lorna like her recent trauma in The Gifted is doing or the Genosha genocide did, the Malice arc was an open ended destruction story line with no goal of making things better for the Mistress of Magnetism in the distant future.

Thus well meaning attempts by PAD and JM in the 90s to make lemonade out of lemons in regard to the Malice arc failed.

I understand you don't like the Malice era, and neither do I, but I was just commenting that I think it was a missed opportunity to have Lorna make an offhand remark about Malice and the Marauders. With them going through these simulations of their past history, I thought it would have been nice for Bunn to build off that brief moment Polaris had with Riptide, that's all. Not really looking for a case study on that time or anything. I also agree that Malice isn't Lorna's DOFP, I was just making the remark that Rachel got to comment on something that played a part in her history, and I would have like a small moment like that for Lorna.

[jmc247]

understand you don't like the Malice era, and neither do I, but I was just commenting that I think it was a missed opportunity to have Lorna make an offhand remark about Malice and the Marauders. With them going through these simulations of their past history, I thought it would have been nice for Bunn to build off that brief moment Polaris had with Riptide, that's all. Not really looking for a case study on that time or anything. I also agree that Malice isn't Lorna's DOFP, I was just making the remark that Rachel got to comment on something that played a part in her history, and I would have like a small moment like that for Lorna.

And, I agreed with you that a comment about say how much she hates a certain oversized cat or the team would have been good.

For all the attempts to use the Malice arc and turn it to Lorna’s DoFP and redeem the story and make something out of it good for Lorna, they have all failed, because as a trauma it was intended to set her on the path of no longer being Polaris... it was pure deconstruction no chaser and in the end was trying to make lemonade out of lemons.

The Malice arc followed by her depowering in the next arc of course was supposed to cap off the storyline and lead to the end of the Mistress of Magnetism and a whole new concept of the character with a whole new code name and powers and I am thankful that it failed.

[salarta]

I also wish that Lorna would have commented on about being dressed as Malice, and facing against the spoilers:

Marauders

end of spoilers, as that was a traumatic part of her history much like Rachel being dressed as a Hound again, and we got a bit of Rachel's feelings about that in a previous issue.

And this is part of why I dropped X-Men Blue. It's all either visual or very very very thinly implied callbacks to her own actual character history, and that's all it amounts to. No truly acknowledging and using that history in any way. No thought whatsoever toward how Lorna would actually think and feel and act in these situations. The only thing of her character actually acknowledged at all in general but especially lately has been this attitude that she's only good enough to be a supporting character for the men that have been in her life.

Which is why I'd rather her be off the book if that's how things roll. If "supporting character for the stories of Better And More Important Men (TM)" is all she's going to be on X-Men Blue, then she shouldn't be on it. Hinting at her history and not actually using it in any way is jerkish teasing. I get enough of that as is. I would be incredibly stupid to spend money on more frustration when I can put that money toward things that I enjoy.

With the trend of X-Men Blue's treatment of her, I half expect that if she showed up in the middle of the Genoshan genocide, she'd be written as looking around and saying something like "Oh my, how horrible, these millions of deaths must have really taken a toll on my father Magneto."


That said, as I said, I'm not reading it anymore. So maybe there's panels that surprisingly manage to acknowledge she has real worth in her own right. I'm going by what people post online at this point.

[jmc247]

That said, as I said, I'm not reading it anymore. So maybe there's panels that surprisingly manage to acknowledge she has real worth in her own right. I'm going by what people post online at this point.

There are, her comments to Magneto about him focusing on the mission and not getting side tacked by the simulation were good and reminded me of Secret War HoM which Bunn wrote in part.

One could say the Mutant Massacre should mean more to Lorna, but she wasn't Malice or an X-Man then and the villain that just appeared in her way a simulation of Apocalypse at the end. I have the feeling this might side track Lorna a bit or another simulation that might appear.

You have some legitimate grievances that Lorna under Bunn and her history isn't respected. I certainly also feel that way in areas even though I am still buying the issues, but not in this area as he had her mention being part of the Mauraders and Malice already writing her and she wasn't part of this massacre happened and was never in the tunnels where the massacre happened. Magneto was and didn't get there in time and really was shown to be angry about it for a number of issues in the 80s.

We will see if she is as composed with simulated Poccy or the other simulations to come. I think one of the simulations will set Lorna off and the preview art kind of hints at that, but I don't know which one coming up.

[salarta]

There are, the comments to Magneto about him focusing on the mission and not getting side tacked by the simulation were good and reminded me of Secret War HoM which Bunn wrote in part.

Is there other stuff? Because that can also easily be categorized as "Lorna only has value as a supporting character for the men in her life." It may allow her to not be a doormat, which is good, but it's also not acknowledging she has actual worth in her own right. Only worth as this other character's daughter.

One could say the Mutant Massacre should mean more to Lorna, but she wasn't Malice or an X-Man then and the villain that just appeared in her way a simulation of Poccy. I have the feeling this might side track Lorna a bit or another simulation that might appear.

You have some legitimate grievances that Lorna under Bunn and her history isn't respected. I certainly also feel that way in areas even though I am still buying the issues, but not in this area as he had her mention being part of the Mauraders and Malice already writing her and she wasn't part of this massacre happened and was never in the tunnels where the massacre happened. Magneto was and didn't get there in time and really was shown to be angry about it.

I have to go to something, but here's the thing. I'm still really ticked off by X-Men Blue #8 and #9 reducing her to just the men in her life and ignoring everything else about her, and I've seen nothing at all to reverse course, only things that seem to confirm what I've said. I especially keep in mind how Bunn went so far as twisting the use of her title, Mistress of Magnetism, into being nothing more than something she gets from her daddy - "daddy's little mistress of magnetism." That is my impression of him and his writing right now. He has yet to prove that impression wrong.

[jmc247]

Is there other stuff? Because that can also easily be categorized as "Lorna only has value as a supporting character for the men in her life." It may allow her to not be a doormat, which is good, but it's also not acknowledging she has actual worth in her own right. Only worth as this other character's daughter.

I have to go to something, but here's the thing. I'm still really ticked off by X-Men Blue #8 and #9 reducing her to just the men in her life and ignoring everything else about her, and I've seen nothing at all to reverse course, only things that seem to confirm what I've said. I especially keep in mind how Bunn went so far as twisting the use of her title, Mistress of Magnetism, into being nothing more than something she gets from her daddy - "daddy's little mistress of magnetism." That is my impression of him and his writing right now. He has yet to prove that impression wrong.

I know you are ticked off and still enraged those issues went too far in introducing her to fans using Magneto and Havok as proxies to understand Lorna. Frankly I think they meant well something I can’t say for Lorna’s Malice arc, but could have used a more tactful and just didn’t see it through the prospective of having all her worth from being someone’s girlfriend or daughter and we both know they did call her the Mistress of Magnetism as well.

The showrunners of The Gifted and the actress have used she is Magneto’s daughter as a short hand for understanding her as well, though I do understand your rational for giving them more the benefit of the doubt because Bunn hasn’t developed Lorna much in Last Days and to date in the 616 and some of the things in Last Days were certainly foil territory that I couldn’t see Lorna shocked by since well the 80s.

But, that isn’t a problem here.

spoilers:

She just asks what the hell happened to her outfit, danger says it’s a simulation, Magneto knows what it’s a simulation of, they fight the holograms and Magneto is enjoying retribution for not saving the Mutants in that storyline a bit too much and Lorna calls him on it and tells him to get back on mission and then another simulated big bad who turned Lorna into a Horseman appears.

end of spoilers

I still feel still certainly hasn’t been given the intellectual or philosophical heft of her own major life experiences in over a decade, the Mutant Massacre not being one of them, but a far worse mutant massacre being among them. This was a live action hologram of an event she never experienced.

[jmc247]

https://mobile.twitter.com/EmmaDumon...97572688576515

[salarta]

The showrunners of The Gifted and the actress have used she is Magneto’s daughter as a short hand for understanding her as well, though I do understand your rational for giving them more the benefit of the doubt because Bunn hasn’t developed Lorna much in Last Days and to date in the 616 and some of the things in Last Days were certainly foil territory that I couldn’t see Lorna shocked by since well the 80s.

It's not even benefit of doubt. I can remove that benefit of doubt from the equation entirely and still say what I'm saying.

The showrunners and actress have made the Magneto comparison - BUT - they didn't make that her be-all end-all or even a big focus for her introduction and episodes up to now.

Here's Gifted. Polaris is a co-founder of at least the Atlanta portion of Mutant Underground, alongside Thunderbird. She's respected and loved enough for people like Dreamer and Eclipse to sacrifice things of themselves to rescue her. We see that her ability to be tough and fight through obstacles extends to overcoming the mutant collar she's given to defend herself and try to break out. This is all in these five episodes.

Here's X-Men Blue. Polaris beat up her ex-boyfriend because her daddy wanted her to do it. We're told (not really shown) she's a teacher, but she's only a teacher cause daddy asked her to be there.

That's everything X-Men Blue has done. Gifted gives us a tough as nails leader who fights for what she believes in, is written with the initiative to do things she wants to do without prompting, and has a lot of personal inner struggles to face, that has drawn respect out of it. X-Men Blue gives us a faux-dominant but really submissive hanger-on who has no value if her father isn't there.

Peter David was better than this even in the cases where I was raging mad about his handling of her. He may have written her terribly OOC in ANXF #4, but at least the OOCness was attempting to say Lorna had an actual character of her own. Bunn isn't even doing that. His OOCness is attempting to say how cool and super awesome he thinks Magneto is even if it screws Lorna over and robs her of a chance to show who she is.

The only reason I'm not as volatile now as I was in 2014 comes down to Gifted. It's giving me what the comics should be doing but won't, and it's doing it on a much larger scale.

spoilers:

She just asks what the hell happened to her outfit, danger says it’s a simulation, Magneto knows what it’s a simulation of, they fight the holograms and Magneto is enjoying retribution for not saving the Mutants in that storyline a bit too much and Lorna calls him on it and tells him to get back on mission and then another simulated big bad who turned Lorna into a Horseman appears.

end of spoilers

I still feel still certainly hasn’t been given the intellectual or philosophical heft of her own major life experiences in over a decade, the Mutant Massacre not being one of them, but a far worse mutant massacre being among them. This was a live action hologram of an event she never experienced.

I fully expect that Lorna's own actual experiences won't come up at all for what's in the spoiler tags. Bunn's given me no reason to expect he cares about Lorna anywhere near enough to bother. It'll focus on Magneto, because Magneto's the only character in this equation he cares about.

[jmc247]

I am not saying X-Men Blue did a good job with her to date, but issue 14 was semi respectable. I argued for a year she needed to be given the intellectual and philosophical heft of her own life experiences and yes she hasn’t gotten that to date.

Yes, Lorna in the comics is missing a ton that The Gifted Lorna has or that comic Lorna had in the comics in 2004. Lorna in the comics has felt hollow for quite sometime though issue 14 she felt like she had a tiny bit of depth.

I want her to get that depth again and yes I do believe Bunn turned Blue 9 into a boyfriend vs father issue which was a huge mistake and didn’t add to her that I don’t want repeated, but that said all that being said I still think Bunn is trying to do well by the character.

If one doesn’t buy she has the philosophical heft to have a one on one discussion of issues with Magneto with her speaking though her world view not as a foil or voice of the narrator then no I don’t think that person should be writing her, but I am still giving him another chance.

[salarta]

I want her to get that and yes I do believe Bunn turned Blue 9 into a boyfriend vs father issue which was a huge mistake and didn’t add to her that I don’t want repeated, but that said all that being said I still think Bunn is trying to do well by the character.

My feeling is this. I've been burned by Marvel repeatedly already. Polaris was in forced limbo for two years, which built up massive anticipation and expectations for her return. I already gave Bunn the benefit of doubt within that time frame and across Magneto solo, Uncanny X-Men, Deadpool and the Mercs for Money, and initially going into X-Men Blue.

I could accept him screwing up #8 and #9 if it was his first rodeo with Lorna and I saw signs he cared enough to want to do better in the future. Hell, I might even be able to if I saw signs he cared in general. Neither is the case. I laid off on my complaints concerning Peter David and ANXF when he started doing better with Lorna in ANXF #7. Same applies here.

If one doesn’t buy she has the philosophical heft to have a one on one discussion of issues with Magneto with her speaking though her world view not as a foil or voice of the narrator then no I don’t think that person should be writing her, but I am still giving him another chance.

If you want to do so, that's great. Maybe, hopefully, it'll push him to do better. I'm the opposite. I've gone through enough across 8 years that my initial optimism toward Marvel has turned to pessimism. I've been burned enough to need something that shows me I'm not going to get burned again.


Also, I just want to clarify that none of these posts are meant to be an attack on you. I apologize if any of it reads that way and I don't see it. I'm just very emotionally invested in what I'm talking about right now, so it comes off in strong language.

[jmc247]

If you want to do so, that's great. Maybe, hopefully, it'll push him to do better. I'm the opposite. I've gone through enough across 8 years that my initial optimism toward Marvel has turned to pessimism. I've been burned enough to need something that shows me I'm not going to get burned again.

Issue 14 was better, not great, but an improvement which is all I have been holding out for and hope we see more improvements.

I am a Magneto fan not just a Lorna fan and no it’s not hearts and flowers for him either as he is pretty low energy at the moment for him. It’s not a very edgy title of the kind either Lorna or Magneto thrive in. This one at least was dealing with some slightly darker themes from the past as will next one with Poccy.