The Mistress of Magnetism: LORNA DANE POLARIS Appreciation

[Siena Blaze]

Very pretty! I agree, Heroine Addict.

[Heroine Addict]

Very pretty! I agree, Heroine Addict.

[jmc247]

Thank you, Luckystar., for bringin' this over. I'm eXcited, no doubt, but with a range of miXed emotions. I'm tryin' real hard to believe in Bunn, 'cause I know what he's capable of in regards to her (SW:HoM & DP&tM4$, come to mind), but at the same time... Malice & repossession... Havok, and whatever... I'm worried. I know he's promised real BIG, possibly status quo changing things, and that he'd leave her (?) in a real good & interesting place with his planned developments for her, that her fans would be VERY happy with. And I've thought of some ways how it could all turn into a pretty positive turn of events, with her emerging better than ever before, as in stronger, more determined, & more self-assured... with a clear set of goals, and motivation to reach them. Having this spur her--and Mags?!--into say, wanting to rebuild Genosha or another, aptly named Mutant sanctuary, would be the DREAM of all dreams for her character. Something of that nature, has always been what I wanted, anyway. Not opposed to her leading a team, or being on a main X one w/some real cool others either, of course.

Lorna in the 616 universe has had nothing motivating her, no real ideas or vision, no solid voice and her basic philosophical views have been all over the map and not in a good way for a very long time. There are some good ideas to be had with the return of a political role with Lorna can be involved in high politics or global politics which can give her some higher purpose again.

Blue is still on my pull list, but I have been the most vocal person here as you well know over the years Heroine against reusing the Malice plot device and I see maybe one road that can make it at all worth it for me, but its a narrow one. I don't care one way or the other that Havok is included and I hope he is redeemed as I want the character to succeed, but as to Havolaris it should be consigned to the dustbin period.

Blue #16 with only one page of Lorna managed to make her competent, interesting and snarky at the same time which is why I am buying Blue right now even with Lorna not appearing. As for her being on the X-Men again. She is not going to be respected as a mainline X-Men. She is supposed to be one now last I checked, but it doesn't mean much really and Phoenix Resurrection which I am buying of her best friends return is case and point of that. She is better off doing her own thing and actually accomplishing something.

[LoganAlpha30X33]

In your opinion they don't, well yours and others here, but imho they did work very well together and she could be all that you want her to be and still be in a relationship with Alex, it's not the characters themselves dragging the pairing down to me but the writers and such, I could say that a close relationship with Magneto for Lorna has left her as little more than a copy of him, where his ideals and wishes and dreams have now become hers, where she doesn't have a thought that he hasn't given her or that she didn't come up with as anything more than a way to make him happy, now many here can't seem to think of Lorna without Magneto being involved very heavily, that she's nothing without him. Right now I don't see where one ends and the other begins, not saying that I think that Bunn is going to get them back together or anything just that it'll happen someday in the future...I think the closer that Lorna gets to Magneto the more she gets isolated from the rest of the X-universe...

As for being one of the mainline X-Men she could easily be one of them but then she'd have to leave Magneto's side and might not view him as favorably as many here want, even with Alex not on the team...

[Heroine Addict]

... but I have been the most vocal person here as you well know over the years Heroine against reusing the Malice plot device and I see maybe one road that can make it at all worth it for me, but its a narrow one.

I don't care one way or the other that Havok is included and I hope he is redeemed as I want the character to succeed, but as to Havolaris. It should be consigned to the dustbin of history. ...

... She is better off doing her own thing to try to change the world at this point.

TBH, I'm actually scared shitless about the Malice thing. Quick question tho, I know Psylocke was responsible for ending the possession first time around, but the 90's revisit... did Lorna defeat her/it on her own, or was Alex involved, wherein he aided her?

Speaking of Havok, like you not opposed to him appearing & gettin' on the road to recovery, just not at her eXpense. And I certainly don't want them joined at the hip again, afterward. Nope, they need to part amicably, but permanently. The Summers boys, have done Lorna & Jean no favors over these last 5 decades, and they need to GTFO! Polaris & PhoeniX need to be independent, and FREE, of their stranglehold ONCE & FOR ALL!!

And YES, THIS, SO MUCH!!!

[salarta]

That's the start of the Malice/Cry Havok arc, so although he'll be putting a lot of focus on Lorna, I'm not sold on the direction of the story. I'm still hoping that he'll prove me wrong, but even being promised a heavy focus on Lorna doesn't do much to sway me, especially with her being possessed for some of those issues.

Yeah, it all depends on what happens. If it's all Malice possessed with no or little sign of actual Lorna in there, then that's not seeing a lot of Lorna, that's seeing a lot of Malice.

Thank you, Bunn. I can't wait for my eyes to bleed every shade of green when you close the chapter on Havolaris once and for all.

This might be the only way I'd be fine with them interacting much in this. If it's done to keep Havok away for Lorna for real this time, instead of how Marvel's pretended they were doing it when in reality they meant Havok's in everything of hers and she's in none of the stuff that puts him in the spotlight.

The iron seems too clunky & awkward lookin', and kinda masculine honestly (1st pic, esp.), IMO. I really like the design he did with it at the top of her boots tho, and the clip or whatever he added just under her neck, in the 2nd pic.

I like the grey metal making the look more 'masculine', in that I think she already looks really feminine. And that doesn't mean "I want Lorna to be extremely masculine." The so-called "second powers" Claremont tried to force on her and how they changed her body were awful. But a touch of "masculinity" can still be quite good, IMO.

[LoganAlpha30X33]

No writer, including Bunn, can ever close the chapter on any pairing once and for all...last time Malice showed up it/she messed with Alex and Lorna in Hawaii before if memory serves Sinister stepped in and just took the choker and that stopped Malice, as Malice had possessed both Alex and Lorna and they both tried to free the other...I don't see Lorna being attached to Magneto at the hip as her being independent...she'll never be truly independent as long as she's on the same team with Magneto and I never saw any evidence that Alex ever kept her down or from making new friends...we've already seen her apart from Alex and all that was promised that she'd be able to do once away from him hasn't happened in now approaching 10 years...showing that the pairing was never the reason, but the writers and such at Marvel that didn't let her grow...

[jmc247]

TBH, I'm actually scared shitless about the Malice thing.

The Malice possession if it is as described in the solicits worst case would be more nuisance then something to be scared about. Just like her original possession was a nuisance just one that lasted a very long time and allowed the writer to further alot of other characters stories with it.

Quick question tho, I know Psylocke was responsible for ending the possession first time around

No, Zaladane as part of her plan to take her powers ended the Malice plot device. Psylocke ended the Shadow King possession by stabbing her. Oh and she was controlled by Legion and beaten and tortured by him inbetween those two possessions.

but the 90's revisit... did Lorna defeat her/it on her own, or was Alex involved, wherein he aided her?

The 90s revisit was thematically about the idea exorcising the demon from their relationship and Mr. Sinister helped in that to purge it. The 80s Malice possession was a Havok story, the 90s one was a Havolaris story.

Speaking of Havok, like you not opposed to him appearing & gettin' on the road to recovery, just not at her eXpense.

Some things worked for a time, but got played out and some just never worked period. Its not very hard to guess where I view Havolaris in that.

[JasonEsta]

No writer, including Bunn, can ever close the chapter on any pairing once and for all...last time Malice showed up it/she messed with Alex and Lorna in Hawaii before if memory serves Sinister stepped in and just took the choker and that stopped Malice, as Malice had possessed both Alex and Lorna and they both tried to free the other...I don't see Lorna being attached to Magneto at the hip as her being independent...she'll never be truly independent as long as she's on the same team with Magneto and I never saw any evidence that Alex ever kept her down or from making new friends...we've already seen her apart from Alex and all that was promised that she'd be able to do once away from him hasn't happened in now approaching 10 years...showing that the pairing was never the reason, but the writers and such at Marvel that didn't let her grow...

You must of missed the entire All New X Factor series because Alex Summers was in full stalker/manipulator mode.

[LoganAlpha30X33]

I don't remember him doing either of those, he left the team totally and had Pietro call him if the you know what hit the fan...so how was he manipulating anything about that version of X-Factor, as for manipulating people that's more Magneto's game than Alex's...

[JasonEsta]

Nope. He had Pietro spying on her because he was too scared to confront her directly.

[LoganAlpha30X33]

He had Pietro watch out for her and if the you know what hit the fan then call him, what secrets did Pietro ever tell to Alex, what plans or missions did Pietro sabotage at Alex's request...oh yeah Alex didn't want either of those things, just for Pietro to watch out for Lorna and to call him when things went south...not the best idea but not stalking or manipulating Lorna or Pietro...

[Heroine Addict]

The Malice possession if it is as described in the solicits worst case would be more nuisance then something to be scared about. Just like her original possession was a nuisance just one that lasted a very long time and allowed the writer to further alot of other characters stories with it.

No, Zaladane as part of her plan to take her powers ended the Malice plot device. Psylocke ended the Shadow King possession by stabbing her. Oh and she was controlled by Legion and beaten and tortured by him inbetween those two possessions.

The 90s revisit was thematically about the idea exorcising the demon from their relationship and Mr. Sinister helped in that to purge it. The 80s Malice possession was a Havok story, the 90s one was a Havolaris story. ...

Scared in the sense of it bein' character damaging, so less about the story beats themselves, and more about its after effects on her status quo.

And OMG, forgive me, that's RIGHT - my bad! All of it, even the 90's follow-up, was before my time. I didn't get into Factor 'til after AoA, and Lorna more towards the latter half/end of it, 'round the time of... "The 12", I think? She only ascended from there tho, and became a top favorite within a decade or so, and my #1 shortly thereafter. Dazz followed a similar trajectory, almost in unison, more or less. I bought back issues of Uncanny goin' back to the early 200's IIRC, but have vaguely familiarized myself more with the SK/Legion period, probably 'cause it's more recent... and somewhat more interesting, I guess (to me), than Malice's full-on body robbing.

I truly hope this upcoming Blue rehash will DEFINITIVELY put an end to this type of thing tho, with a HEAVY dose of cathartic cleansing in the process, and an emphasis on LIBERATING FINALITY!!... NO... MORE... POSSESSIONS/MIND-CONTROL!!!... For Polaris - PLEASE!

[Heroine Addict]

... we've already seen her apart from Alex... now approaching 10 years...

How do ya figure that?

Since 2008?!... SMH, just don't know 'bout you, LA30X33... *HEAVY sigh*

[jmc247]

Scared in the sense of it bein' character damaging, so less about the story beats themselves, and more about its after effects on her status quo.

And OMG, forgive me, that's RIGHT - my bad! All of it, even the 90's follow-up, was before my time. I didn't get into Factor 'til after AoA, and Lorna more towards the latter half/end of it, 'round the time of... "The 12", I think? She only ascended from there tho, and became a top favorite within a decade or so, and my #1 shortly thereafter. Dazz followed a similar trajectory, almost in unison, more or less. I bought back issues of Uncanny goin' back to the early 200's IIRC, but have vaguely familiarized myself more with the SK/Legion period, probably 'cause it's more recent... and somewhat more interesting, I guess (to me), than Malice's full-on body robbing.

The early The Twelve Saga and lead in were tough with Lorna's major breakdown after Havok's disappearance into the Mutant X universe, but it lead in time into Lorna deciding to help develop a mutant homeland which is actually doing something for others after various steps so good did come out of it.

truly hope this upcoming Blue rehash will DEFINITIVELY put an end to this type of thing tho, with a HEAVY dose of cathartic cleansing in the process, and an emphasis on LIBERATING FINALITY!!... NO... MORE... POSSESSIONS/MIND-CONTROL!!!... For Polaris - PLEASE!

While as you know I have long been no fan of possessions or mind controllings, perhaps the Malice one most of all as at least for some of the others like Erik the Red and the recent alien space bug mind controllings you learned a few things about Lorna in the course of them even if one couldn't trust everything she said wasn't warped as it tended to be. Lorna is going to get mind controlled in the future, its just part of the comics and something that once a character has been pegged under that in the past (see Scarlet Witch) it will get repeated.

In the case of Malice well Lorna was just plain gone except a brief period where Malice lost her hold after Sinister's death and before Lorna's depowering ended her. If a writer wants to use a possession or mind controlling as a plot device for a couple issues with Lorna as Mike Carey did in FMSOTSU its not that big a deal, but the bigger deal is comic Lorna is missing a sort of clear life mission that surmounts her current circumstance.

If she has that then being say possessed on occasion doesn't define her as long as she has something she wants to accomplish.