The Mistress of Magnetism: LORNA DANE POLARIS Appreciation

[jmc247]

@ JMC, sounds to me like what you're saying, in short... is she needs motivation, a reason for being, beyond just eXisting (so to speak). Why does she do what she does, what's her purpose? What eXceeds her introspect, and finding herself as it were, when it comes to bigger goals in/for (Mutants) the world at large? Succinctly, she needs a DEFINITIVE direction, that's her own & greater than her individual, personal plights. Whether they be with herself, her father (and former/soon-to-be-again sibs?), AleX, or what have you.

She is in a different position then Wanda who is seen as a mainline Avenger and will be rotated into and out of the Avengers over time as a major member. Lorna still could work in the X-Men books, some other title, but more as a freelance operator which is how she has been depicted for decades anyway.

But, a freelancer who has a core goal and agenda outside of her significant other, father or X-Men might want, but that can dovetail on it at times. Otherwise she flows from story to story without any grounding and it’s hard for writers or fans to decide what she is there for outside of furthering higher profile characters stories.

Her view, tactics and goals in the end could guide and drive all her non-developed relationships as right now she has only one well developed relationship and a lot of underdeveloped ones including even with her father. .

In terms of past writers doing Lorna again. I would love things like a one shot story or mini from PAD, Austen or JM, but for an ongoing I believe she needs new blood.

[salarta]

You make a fair point, however, I would caution... constructive criticism doesn't = complaining "nicely", but it does > being hypercritical, with heaps of sarcasm.

I just think creators & TPTB might respond better to fans championing WHY a character should be used, as opposed to deriding how they've already been so, in the past. Just ask Ken Kneisel, a fan who reached out to Grant Morrison, and inspired him to use Emma Frost in his infamous New X-Men run:

CBR.com, Comic Book Urban Legends Revealed #140

I agree on the value of championing why a character should be used. Simply complaining a lot doesn't get across why anyone should care. There needs to be a clear direction of where things should be going.

Where I disagree is in not complaining strongly about poor treatment and lack of use. By this I mean beyond constructive criticism, which I have always understood to mean expressing concerns but doing so nicely, assuming the person criticized has best of intentions and is fully receptive to feedback. I don't think constructive criticism is taken seriously by people at Marvel. I think unless the writer has a diehard fandom for the character, they'll see constructive criticism as "just another comment in an unending chorus of them" and continue to do whatever. Sheer number of reviews, tweets, posts, etc with a wide variety of opinions leading to mostly tuning them out.

About the Emma Frost example: context and history are important factors. To my knowledge, Emma didn't have any terribly toxic ideas of how she should be perceived or used that held her back and "defined" her poorly. Even if she had that, Emma was created in 1980. Morrison's New X-Men run started in 2001, so she had only been around for 21 years by that point.

Lorna has decades worth of poor treatment as a "sub-character" to Havok. That treatment defines how people working at Marvel today perceive her value. It infected Peter David's writing of Lorna and Gambit's dynamic from ANXF #3-6, as well as Bunn's writing of Lorna and Magneto's dynamic in the first half of Blue. Right now, Marvel is heavily promoting Havok first by letting him hijack Lorna's return, then giving him a dedicated multi-issue Blue story arc, then giving him leadership on Astonishing. Meanwhile, Lorna got rare appearances on Blue that mostly served to benefit Havok and Magneto, and there are no plans for her 50th in October. And all of this is happening with a character who by this point has been around for 50 years.

Morrison listened to the Emma Frost suggestion because he didn't have, say, a view of her as Cyclops' worthless clingy girlfriend ingrained from decades of being treated like one. He didn't have toxic ideas of Emma not being "deserving" of use or respect clouding his ability to see what could be done with her. That's a massive bias hurdle that Lorna needs to jump for anything good to happen for her. It requires pushing anyone who has control over her to stop working on ignorant autopilot and actually think about their assumptions about Lorna for a few seconds.

But again, I could be more positive here, and I'll try to provide more positive things in the future.

[Siena Blaze]

By Victoria O'Connell

Nice, haven't seen these ones before!

[Siena Blaze]

I can't remember if I saw this posted on here before, and I don't feel like looking through past pages to see if it was, so I'm gonna post it.

This is a piece by Rhiannon Owens that someone commissioned.

Beautiful, I love it!!! I haven't seen it before. I imagine Polaris in control, calm and massively powerful in this one.

[jmc247]

Beautiful, I love it!!! I haven't seen it before. I imagine Polaris in control, calm and massively powerful in this one.

Some artists do really love the character and Rhiannon Owens is certainly one of them.

The Magneto one shot in October is getting a wanted mugshot variant cover by Salvador Larroca who was Lorna’s great go to artist early last decade.

That reminds me what top artists do people like the best for Lorna?

In no particular order.

1. Coipel
2. Larroca
3. Pelletier
4. Andrea Di Vito
5. Philip Tan

[Heroine Addict]

... By this I mean beyond constructive criticism, which I have always understood to mean...

... helping to improve; promoting further development or advancement (opposed to destructive): constructive criticism. of, relating to, or of the nature of construction; structural.

As for the rest of what you suggest, you have to remember that's your take on things, and not everybody's gonna see it the same way. With that in mind, you're just making assumptions yourself, that stem from your own, personal perceptions. You can't prove what other people think, unless you can provide evidence, like a quote or something. And again, I don't think demanding things, with some sort of heightened sense of righteous indignation... is gonna be very productive. As being accusatory, basically, often puts people on the defensive.

[Soulsword323]

Hm. Some of my favorite aritsts for Polaris;

1) Carmine Di Giandomenico. I loved his work on ANXF, and although I wasn't a big fan of the uniforms, I love the way he depicted Lorna.



2) Larry Stroman. Really enjoyed his work in the 90s on X-Factor.



3) Jorge Molina. I was always happy with Molina's Lorna, and loved the way he added color differences on her space costume. The yellow and different shades of green improved it.

[salarta]

As for the rest of what you suggest, you have to remember that's your take on things, and not everybody's gonna see it the same way. With that in mind, you're just making assumptions yourself, that stem from your own, personal perceptions. You can't prove what other people think, unless you can provide evidence, like a quote or something. And again, I don't think demanding things, with some sort of heightened sense of righteous indignation... is gonna be very productive. As being accusatory, basically, often puts people on the defensive.

I won't go further into a semantics argument than I already have, because I know they never lead anywhere and just clutter up posts while risking agitating everyone involved. I'll just say there's broad technical definition, then there's usage in certain contexts, and leave it at that.

Evidence of bias is much the same thing. I could highlight things like how someone asked Gail Simone if Polaris (or any other mutant women) could get a solo series written by her, and Gail said Lorna might be a "hard sell" but other lady mutants could carry a book. Or how back on his old formspring blog several years ago (before 2014's Axis), Tom Brevoort bent over backwards to try to justify saying Polaris can't be Magneto's daughter but somehow Siryn can be Banshee's. I can say these things, but then someone can just say I'm making assumptions about Brevoort's intentions, or why Gail would think convincing Marvel to let Lorna have a solo would be so much harder than those other women she was thinking about despite Lorna being popular on a TV show.

I can't prove what other people think, but I can get a very good idea of what they're thinking and why they think it based on what they've said and observable actions. I can make very good guesses as to their reasons, which become even more accurate as the years go by and I obtain more data and incidents. I'm not saying things about Marvel based on just one issue or one comic book run or one year. I'm basing them on 9 years of personal experience, and what I've learned happened in the 41 years before that.

I think demanding better is justified when Marvel has shown their inherent bias is to not do better by Lorna unless better is demanded from them. And my righteous indignation is how I genuinely think and feel. I would be censoring myself if I didn't say what I need to say, and I would loathe myself for not saying it.

I think we're at odds on this and neither of us is going to think otherwise, so I'm going to stop here so the thread can move forward. Thanks for talking about it with me and putting in effort toward what you believe would be best for Polaris. I hope your approach brings about good things even though I believe a different approach is needed.

[jmc247]

Hm. Some of my favorite aritsts for Polaris

That is a good idea attaching a photo to the artist, maybe with some explanation too.

Coipel- Had three of the five most widely read Lorna issues of last decade, then again it was a line wide crossover.



Philip Tan

Lorna's main writer in 2003 on Uncanny (the series was averaging a bit over 80K then)



Larroca- Lorna's main artist in 2004 when Uncanny (the series was averaging a bit over 90K then)

[jmc247]

Pelletier- Drew the main War of Kings story arc.



Andrea Di Vito- Drew CW HoM



Phil Jimenez- Drew New X-Men 132

[jmc247]

Jim Steranko- First among many



An unsung artist I really liked- Brett Booth

[Heroine Addict]

... I think we're at odds on this and neither of us is going to think otherwise, so I'm going to stop here so the thread can move forward. Thanks for talking about it with me and putting in effort toward what you believe would be best for Polaris. I hope your approach brings about good things even though I believe a different approach is needed.

Same, and right back @ ya.

[jmc247]

In the meantime the SDCC panel is finally up and Emma D. has another little hint to come up.

My take on the momentum in terms focus on season 2 is that its been somewhat blunted by the glut in TV shows of all kinds including super hero ones. But, those watching the promo for season two are impressed and many catching up.

But, the show is lacking enough people spreading the word about season 2. There are alot of people just finding out about the show as in now and the market place is so crowded.

I have a feeling about what is coming in the immediate post pregnancy eps and it seems like a bloody game of tag at least for a segment of time between Purifiers, the Morlocks and Hellfire in the tunnels. Its interesting to get little bits and pieces here and there and try to put it together.

[Heroine Addict]

Neil Adams, Jimenez, & Tan, of course.

[Heroine Addict]

Some I'd like to see, in the future, Mark Brooks, Rocafort, and current Red artist Carmen Carnero: