The Mistress of Magnetism: LORNA DANE POLARIS Appreciation

[AbnormallyNormal]

I would have no issue with that team by in large with the right direction. Jordan White said he is really looking for titles that can a have clear mission statement to them. That line up with them also using the vestiges of the Hellfire Club could be the type of title the line has been missing out on for awhile now.

The question comes down to is the mission statement and I think either developing a new land based mutant nation or integrationism and protecting the minority by more shall we say coercive means then the other titles would work.

My question is how would that interact with X-Men RED's mission statement which is ostensibly also about Jean Grey trying to create "independence for mutantkind"?

[Paleo_Rage]

What do you guys think of this being the new Blue team if the O5 is exterminated (lol)

Nice team but I would swap out Archangel for Bishop or Northstar after an issue or two.

[jmc247]

My question is how would that interact with X-Men RED's mission statement which is ostensibly also about Jean Grey trying to create "independence for mutantkind"?

Not well either way because a land based nation is contrary to her goals. And the other way if it was integrationalist group it’s tactics would run contrary to how X-Men Red believes mutant teams should interact with the majority.

[jmc247]

According to you, what were the best time/runs for Lorna ?

My view across a few pages on eras and runs.

I would say the most popular runs the X-Men have ever had have a habit of not being the best runs for Lorna as a character.

Mr. Sinister saves the day at the end of all people. And X-Men Unlimited #6 is a great Lorna/Alex/Jean/Scott story. Say what you will about Chuck Austen but his brash crazy Lorna was awesome.

That was JM’s run from the 90s where Sinister saves the day. His run he started by looking back to the 60s for ideas on Lorna and noticed she was much more of a no nonsense bad ass back then then she was after to that point. The Austen era was a return to that on steroids after the genocide combined with dealing with PTSD and a unique political philosophy.

Largely for Lorna the story is similar to that of other characters I like such as Legion/David Haller or Doug Ramsey/Cypher or Nate Grey/X-Man (or even Rachel Grey really). Lot of potential, lot of promise, SOME writers "get" the character, but overall not enough pushes to really solidify the interesting attributes or keep the character very prominent

Honestly the best thing for Polaris right now? Is on television. "The Gifted" is giving an AMAZING rendition of her.

You do want a character to have connections be them friendly, unfriendly, and downright hostile with characters who matter to other fans. It might mean she is used accentuate their stories at times, but when a character like Emma has developed a broad swath of them it services the character over the years.

One of the problems with Lorna's lack of a consistent voice or understanding of the fundamentals of the character is it doesn't service her in the building of lasting new relationships. With Emma there is a clear model from her persona built under critically acclaimed writers runs on the core titles which presents a template for a character that writers do want to use her in their stories can and do use.

For Lorna the template is a confused mash up of comic stories with wildly different voices and runs not really agreeing on a core ethos for the character, what motivates her and what defines and what she represents. The most critically acclaimed runs a lot of fans want to look back on because they were just all around great runs as a whole provided depictions of Lorna that don't service her character.

Plans for The Gifted from the sounds of it started out with her as a non-regular so on the chopping block with a first run Claremont view on her importance in its early planning stages. By the second formative stages it sounds like they progressed to the point of a pretty standard 1990s conception of the character of the girlfriend of Eclipse who would accentuate his story while still being in effect being a girlfriend character and part of the B list cast of the series so bottom run of the regular cast and not on the chopping block which is how she appeared in the promo art as well.

I think The Gifted writers had the time to really look at her whole history as a character and skim away the fat as it were in the depictions of her and putting together a puzzle of different pieces to build a coherent whole which services the character no matter what side she happens to be on.

By the late Spring and Summer photo releases of scripts it seems like may have been going too hard into accentuating the instability, but the writers managed to find a good medium. Its the positive of having a team of writers behind you and people who care like Emma who check their assumptions.

The character breaking out in The Gifted would have never happened if they just defaulted entirely to a popular X-Men run with her as it appeared they might do early on. Hopefully The Gifted itself can become like a beginners guide for an outline on how she can be used by writers.

[Soulsword323]

What do you guys think of this being the new Blue team if the O5 is exterminated (lol)

Great lineup. Would love to see something like this in the future.

I'm not a fan of Polaris (but I'm not a hater either) But I really loved her during PAD X-Factor first run (I think she was amazing during those years)
I missed a lot of books as I stopped buying them after Whedon/Cassaday's astonishing X-Men.

According to you, what were the best time/runs for Lorna ?

For me, these are some great Lorna reads:

X-Factor: 70-89; Peter Allen David's first run with Polaris wasn't amazing, but it overall was a nice read. It did attempt to explore the impact Malice had on Lorna's mind, and was at least trying to do something to explore the character, although still having a focus on her relationship with cosmic rings. 90-105 by JM DeMatteis. JM was one of the few writers that actually attempted to give Lorna a POV, and a personality that wasn't so subservient to Alex. A really great run if you can find it, and one of the very few jems of the 90s for Polaris.

Uncanny X-Men: 442-443; Chuck Austen's run was very divisive to say the least, but his last couple of Uncanny issues were great. Another writer who gave Lorna something to say, and actually explored something bad that happened to her. If you don't want to read his entire run, his short tenure on the X-Men title, where Polaris and the team find Xorn is a good showing of his portrayal, and was actually better than most people give it credit for; X-Men 157-165.

X-Factor/ All New X-Factor: A lot of people aren't a fan of PAD's Lorna, but I am. I really enjoyed his second chance with the character much more than the first, and he really encompasses a number of the traits that I associate with Polaris. I'd recommend reading all of his X-Factor Vol. 2 run, but if you want to skip to when Lorna joins, she's a part of the team starting at number 233. She's present through all of All New X-Factor, which is a continuation of PAD's previous X-Factor run.

Been reading X-Factor volume 1. Lorna from about X-Factor 71 through 130ish or so was GOLD. LOVED her red and gold costume that she only had for like 6 issues during Fatal Attractions. This is when I first started reading X-Men and barely read X-Factor. Also, one of my favorite Lorna stories is the one where she goes to the beach with Havok and he gets possessed by Malice and Mr. Sinister saves the day at the end of all people. And X-Men Unlimited #6 is a great Lorna/Alex/Jean/Scott story. Say what you will about Chuck Austen but his brash crazy Lorna was awesome.

Some great stuff in there. I think Lorna kinda lost her way after JM left, but Mackie did give her some nice moments here and there during the 90s.

[Thievery]

What do you guys think of this being the new Blue team if the O5 is exterminated (lol)

I think that this would be a great team. The character are a little more ruthless than the average X-team, but without being a complete team of murderers like the Weapon X cast. I don't like Daken all that well, but I see how he fits.


The only change that I would make would be to remove Elixir. He's kind of become a little over powered for my tastes. I would replace him with Triage.

[Lucas 35]

No, Elixir is much better than Triage.

[jmc247]

Emma on the early plans for Lorna.

[Heroine Addict]

TeePublic.com, Polaris with Helmet T-Shirt

Polaris the Mistress of Magnetism and daughter of Magneto

Design by sergetowers80

[juan678]

Polaris 2x01

[AbnormallyNormal]

So basically she will begin season 2 more dressed up as befitting her status in HFC (also befitting her being heavily pregnant)

[Soulsword323]

Wow, looks like her hair is much longer than it was before. Get wait till we get the full reveal.

[Hellinoze]

For me, these are some great Lorna reads:

X-Factor: 70-89; Peter Allen David's first run with Polaris wasn't amazing, but it overall was a nice read. It did attempt to explore the impact Malice had on Lorna's mind, and was at least trying to do something to explore the character, although still having a focus on her relationship with cosmic rings. 90-105 by JM DeMatteis. JM was one of the few writers that actually attempted to give Lorna a POV, and a personality that wasn't so subservient to Alex. A really great run if you can find it, and one of the very few jems of the 90s for Polaris.

Uncanny X-Men: 442-443; Chuck Austen's run was very divisive to say the least, but his last couple of Uncanny issues were great. Another writer who gave Lorna something to say, and actually explored something bad that happened to her. If you don't want to read his entire run, his short tenure on the X-Men title, where Polaris and the team find Xorn is a good showing of his portrayal, and was actually better than most people give it credit for; X-Men 157-165.

X-Factor/ All New X-Factor: A lot of people aren't a fan of PAD's Lorna, but I am. I really enjoyed his second chance with the character much more than the first, and he really encompasses a number of the traits that I associate with Polaris. I'd recommend reading all of his X-Factor Vol. 2 run, but if you want to skip to when Lorna joins, she's a part of the team starting at number 233. She's present through all of All New X-Factor, which is a continuation of PAD's previous X-Factor run.



Some great stuff in there. I think Lorna kinda lost her way after JM left, but Mackie did give her some nice moments here and there during the 90s.

Thank you for your answer and reading advice !I love PAD so I'm gonna start with X-Factor Vol.2 run through All New X-Factor.

[jmc247]

Thank you for your answer and reading advice !I love PAD so I'm gonna start with X-Factor Vol.2 run through All New X-Factor.

A fully formed version of the character with all of what I view as her major component parts distilled into one package is not something you are apt to find in one comic run. A pick and choose method I like for aspects one is looking for.

In terms of political chess playing Lorna of the type we are likely to see next season on The Gifted in depth. That is a Lorna hardest to find in the comics, scattered about most heavily into comics after Magneto when he is running something is injured and out of commission when she has to run things as in a few 60s issues and Uncanny X-Men 380. It was last seen in the comics in 2009 in War of Kings #1-3 and War of Kings Who Will Rule when DnA who created Guardians of the Galaxy realize Lorna would work as sort of a in their words 'rogue princess' from another house in their cosmic opera.

In terms of Magnus family stories the 616 universe is actually very weak in that area with Lorna as one side of the line refused to recognize her parentage for a long time so you had Wanda and Polaris together in the same panels in AvX and don't recognize each other. Austen set the building blocks there for future writers, but no writer got to anything in regard to Wanda and Pietro until PAD in his second run which is why I would say for that three issues are vital Uncanny X-Men 442, X-Factor 260, and ANXF 14. In terms of Magneto and Lorna's relationship to him I would say Magneto Last Days #18 did a good job at least from the emotional prospective and if one is interested in any others X-Men v 3 99, X-Men Legacy 255-258 not counting the more recent issues of Blue. New X-Men 132 was an amazing Lorna and Magneto story with Magneto existing only as a dead recorded voice. For Lorna interacting with Crystal and Luna the War of Kings issues I already listed and a smattering of ANXF issues.

In terms of Lorna and romantic relationship issues, hell there are too many to count or list. If anything the character became too pigeonholed as a girlfriend character, but X-Factor 94 I would recommend because it combines relationship issues and political ideas in the early 90s. If one is looking for a war of the roses her wedding issues of Uncanny X-Men 425-426 are most certainly that.

In terms of Lorna and political philosophy and her worldview, beyond what I would say one has to go with Uncanny X-Men #443 in so many ways. There is nothing approximating it when it comes to political philosophy and her view on the world.

In terms of Lorna's origins, well its important to know her original story and how that went in X-Men 49-52 and just know her early stories are full of retcons including a year later attempting to retcon the Magneto in that storyline to be a robot. But, in terms of fixing that and filling in the back story of her life so far its important to read Uncanny X-Men 430-431, and X-Factor 243.

In terms of Lorna the warrior the Austen's issues Soulsword listed of New X-Men 157-165, Emperor Vulcan #5, ANXF #7 are what I would recommend. There are also some earlier Austen issues where she and Logan are hunting Purifier types with the leash off in Uncanny X-Men #424 and needless to say it doesn't end well for the mutant hunters. That is some people's cup of tea, but not others.

[jmc247]

TeePublic.com, Polaris with Helmet T-Shirt

I wondered how long it would take for someone to find that. I got one as a gift when they were on a Memorial Day 7$ off sale.