The Mistress of Magnetism: LORNA DANE POLARIS Appreciation

[jmc247]

Fabian Nicieza- His run with her reintroduces her to Quicksilver for the first time in many years. It also introduced her to Wanda and vice versa. The mini was that it was basically a Magnus family story a half decade before House of M or even her parentage was officially restored, but it laid the groundwork.

[Soulsword323]

Question: if Lorna's motivation to join Magneto was due to her despair about Alex being presumed permanently gone

Then why when Alex returns to the island, does she stay with Mags anyway? And why does she seem so enthralled with it all?

Could we speculate it was a "Power Rush" from working with Magneto and getting to use her powers in new ways?

Maybe this is part of who she always was... or it's a rebellion against her life as a superhero, after all she constantly tells other X-Men hers is a more quiet domestic life , a normal life, she never wanted to be an adventuress. So perhaps it is easier for her to jump into what is possibly considered villainy, because in her mind it is just another kind of "Experiment" or "Journey" in her life?

That wasn't Alex, that was Bobby. Alex comes back from Mutant X in a coma when the X-Men find him.

[LoganAlpha30X33]

Well I know that at least twice Alex and Lorna did try or at least want to try just leaving the X-world behind, as long as they were together they'd be happy, but it never came to be...Alex must not remember Mutant X otherwise he'd be very confused by Bloodstorm not being the Bloodstorm that he knew in Mutant X...

As for Lorna and Wanda and Pietro, I almost wonder if they'll be siblings again once Marvel gets all of the X-rights back...then again if they reboot the movies it could push Magneto back to being a baddie again...

[AbnormallyNormal]

That wasn't Alex, that was Bobby. Alex comes back from Mutant X in a coma when the X-Men find him.

Oh yeah. Haha. Nevermind, it was the "my ex" that threw me, as well as Bobby's hair coloring there. Silly me. Well... then I guess all my questions are sort of moot but not completely

[jmc247]

Question: if Lorna's motivation to join Magneto was due to her despair about Alex being presumed permanently gone

That was Bobby as stated, but her early reasons we see in her words and thought bubbles of wanting to stop the civil war and save mutants. The fact that Alex was gone meant her old life was basically defunct in her mind.

Then why when Alex returns to the island, does she stay with Mags anyway? And why does she seem so enthralled with it all?

Could we speculate it was a "Power Rush" from working with Magneto and getting to use her powers in new ways?

Maybe this is part of who she always was... or it's a rebellion against her life as a superhero, after all she constantly tells other X-Men hers is a more quiet domestic life , a normal life, she never wanted to be an adventuress. So perhaps it is easier for her to jump into what is possibly considered villainy, because in her mind it is just another kind of "Experiment" or "Journey" in her life?

Different writers came up with different reasons for being there, but the reasons to start off with was she really didn't have the roots with the X-Men of the others. Her relationships with them were basically defunct, her old life was trashed, and this man from a strange time in her past comes asking for her help to change the world.

Was it power addiction? Well some later writers try to use that as an excuse, but she spent weeks to months depowered fighting so that doesn't pass the smell test. At least in the early part of the arc she wants to make a better world and is fighting tooth and nail to do that depowered.



Did Lorna see things through the lens of good and bad. Well yes early on she believed she was helping one not so good side against something worse, but over time at least in Alan Davis' run she was believing in the dream of mutants and humans living in peace in a mutant homeland.

Alan Davis and the other writers of the 1999-2001 era were treating Magneto as her defacto father in this period without saying so and playing on her old 1960s story.

Austen and Bunn both touched on reasons vaguely years later with Austen explaining it through the lens of her believing in the dream of a separate mutant homeland and wanting her original confusing encounter with a Magneto she later heard second hand might not have been Magneto sorted out.



Bunn had her basically explain that yes she saw the mutant controlled Genosha as the attempts with them pop up through the lens of an experiment that she wanted to see if a safe homeland for mutants can be built.

[jmc247]

Fabian Nicieza II: And, Lorna and Magneto end up fighting... because she turns against the dream? Not so much, she decides Magneto is destroying Havok's dream.



Dark Seduction textually takes the view against Lorna was there because she believed Magneto would help her find Alex in another universe something that until the DS mini never came up.



She can't make up her mind to stay or go so she lets guess who be her personal moral and philosophical compass as well as her decision maker.



And she returns a few weeks later at least in part to help refugees, but after Eve of Destruction she steps back into power after Magneto's spine is cut by Wolverine to keep things together.

Either way Lorna goes from wanting to help mutants, having a dream and wanting to learn about her powers back to a individual centrist universe in this mini.

[Soulsword323]

Fabian Nicieza II: And, Lorna and Magneto end up fighting... because she turns against the dream? Not so much, she decides Magneto is destroying Havok's dream..

lmao

Perfectly phrased. Dark Seduction really took Lorna back to what she use to be.

[AbnormallyNormal]

I still think it's very strange her time on Genosha. She vacillated wildly from like being an Agent of Magneto , to being the typical goody goody fighting against him, then... she returns again? It's like... what.....

[jmc247]

I still think it's very strange her time on Genosha. She vacillated wildly from like being an Agent of Magneto , to being the typical goody goody fighting against him, then... she returns again? It's like... what.....

The real problem was not that she was a 'typical goody good' on Dark Seduction. I mean she kicked Tony Stark's ass around a bit along with the other Avengers and so not what I would call 'typical goody good'.





The problem with the mini was her reason for fighting the Avengers the author tried to change from she believes in the idea of a mutant controlled Genosha she helps to rule to she is doing it because she thinks Magneto is going to help her find Alex in the Mutant X universe. The motivation of the character matters a great deal in whatever she does be it in the comics now or then.

As for what happened in regard to Lorna my guess is there was going to be an opening somewhere on the x-books for her to go that disappeared for whatever reason so when Eve of Destruction came along the writer decided because she was so connected to the island to have her there helping refugees.

After that Magneto gets his spine cut and its a blank spot in Lorna's history. The only hint to what happened in the months between Magneto getting his spine cut and the Sentinels arriving was a 2003 flashback of her memories walking around the Imperial palace again and saying that she believed she had gotten his trust back which hints that she was back in her role of being the enforcer of the his rule when he was injured that she also had been earlier.



In the end subsequent writers render Dark Seduction's goal with Lorna irrelevant, but it and alot of other issues she has been in stand as an important testament to why the character needs her own viewpoints and her own agenda and goals.

Early in the Genosha arc the character may have been fighting for Magneto, but she was fighting for her own personal reasons not because she was loyal to him or wanted to find Havok. Lorna is at her best when she has an agenda and views of her own that guide her actions.

Just think about The Gifted. The strength of the finale was that it was her decision right or wrong to down the plane and turn on the Underground not her fathers and not Eclipse's even though she took what they thought (or in the case of her father what Esme said he thought about wanting her to be proud of who he is) into account.

[jmc247]

Morrison: Does he deserve his own spot? Damned sure as hell right he does.

Months after the fall of Genosha the X-Men and others including Quicksilver descend on Genosha after strange electromagnetic readings come from the Island. We get a chance to see characters who don't usually talk about Lorna discuss her including Storm and Xavier.

[jmc247]

We see that Lorna has not just spent many weeks to months walking around the dead on Genosha, but they are stuck in her head with the memories trapped of the last moments of millions who died.





Where does Lorna begin and the last moments of the dead end? Not always clear. But, the unmitigated horror is beyond words and yet within that horror actually there was hope for a better future and all those dead would live on as memories traveling throughout the cosmos. This story on the first anniversary of 911 and the feelings were still very raw and this in the end was one of the top 3 issue issues Lorna ever had full stop.

[jmc247]

https://www.instagram.com/marcusanthonyto/

And, from Marcus To perhaps of Blue #27 or #28.

[Soulsword323]

Nice. Looks a cool moment for Lorna. Emma being in the back is an interesting development, but I hope that Lorna isn't losing her leadership spot because of this. Emma has more experience than her when it comes to leading, but I don't want Lorna to lose her position.

[jmc247]

Nice. Looks a cool moment for Lorna. Emma being in the back is an interesting development, but I hope that Lorna isn't losing her leadership spot because of this. Emma has more experience than her when it comes to leading, but I don't want Lorna to lose her position.

Unfortunately we lost the chance for real interaction between Lorna and Emma during Milligan’s run, but we have the chance again. In terms of leadership it depends on what the team evolves into after, but yes Lorna should continue to have a leadership role of some kind.

Oh and memories from one year ago.

[jmc247]

Lorna and Emma Frost commonalities and differences to be had? Hmmm.

They both work well as political characters. Both were on Genosha when it was destroyed. Each suffer from not core X-Men syndrome.

It would be very interesting to see them try to get along. Well, Milligan's run doesn't count as he had Lorna too unstable on that run to build relationships.