Polaris/Lorna Dane: Queen of Mutants/Mistress of Magnetism Appreciation 2023

[jmc247]

From the Marauders #12 preview. That first panel is amazing.

I like the art there better there then issue #11. The parallels to New X-Men 132 are nice. It is good to see Kitty's history with her father dealt with. I am certainly very much hoping the issue has a sense of the importance to Lorna of being there.

[Krakoa]

Okay, I have time to chime in here.

What actually, really matters is if Lorna's history with Genosha is explicitly acknowledged and respected. New readers need to know she actually has a history with this island. Future writers need to see that it's recognized as important to Lorna's history so that they know Lorna should be used for similar stories in the future.

Acknowledging and respecting her history doesn't mean the book has to spend pages on pages delving into that history. It just means making it clear to readers and future writers that she has an actual pre-existing connection to the island, and what that connection is. Within the scope of this specific story, that can be handled with just a line or two of dialogue in a single panel. For example, the panel with the "coffee desert" line could have easily been used to bring this up, and using it to acknowledge her history with the island would have been infinitely better than a random coffee comment that doesn't mean anything.

Lorna standing on the island alone isn't enough. If her history isn't openly acknowledged in the process, she's just there to help Kitty, and nothing else in the X-Men comics is going to acknowledge Lorna's history, then Lorna being in this book is actually worse than not being in it. Because being here but depicting her as if she has no history of her own with the island acts as a quiet retcon on that history. It encourages future writers to pretend everything the character went through never happened.

All of that said, I realize there's another issue to come. I don't yet know what's actually going to be in that issue. Because of that, I'm going to reserve judgment for the possibility that maybe the next issue will acknowledge Lorna's history with the island. Or at the very least, that the X-Men office might announce something else that will do it instead of this book.

But. If in a month from now, Lorna's history with Genosha isn't explicitly acknowledged whether in this book or elsewhere in the comics, then I'm going to assume it's a deliberate attempt to soft retcon that event out of Lorna's character history. For which the blame would still go to JDW, not Orlando, due to JDW's track record.

Wrapping up, I do notice that Marauders is using Lorna's iconic outfit instead of the more modern one. I appreciate that, but there are more important matters than what she's wearing at stake here. Acknowledging her history matters more than what she's wearing when it comes to Genosha. And of course, the art is excellent, but story matters more than art. In this situation, a black and white comic of stick figures that acknowledges Lorna's history with Genosha means more than a comic with the best art ever drawn that doesn't acknowledge that history.

I don't understand how explcitly including her (& Wicked) in this story but not delving into the history of why they're there for new readers is a "deliberate soft retcon" or why it would fall on JDW and not Orlando.

[salarta]

I don't understand how explcitly including her (& Wicked) in this story but not delving into the history of why they're there for new readers is a "deliberate soft retcon" or why it would fall on JDW and not Orlando.

1. Having Lorna on the island but depicting her in a manner that you would someone who has no history with it effectively retcons that history. The soft part is in not explicitly saying it's been retconned, but not acknowledging the history exists. A character with history is going to behave differently than one that doesn't. They'll reflect on their experiences, recognize things, and have a stronger reaction than others. This is Lorna's first time on the island since Austen's run.
2. It's deliberate because they know the history exists, meaning that not acknowledging it is deliberate.
3. It would fall on JDW because the issue of Lorna's worth and her history not being respected spans multiple writers with JDW being the common denominator. For this specific case, I know he knows about Lorna's history as a survivor of the Genoshan genocide because I pointed it out to him. Best case scenario for him, he's been failing as an editor by not informing writers of that history and/or pushing them to respect it in the same way he would for "more important" characters. Worst case, he's so enraptured by nostalgia and his personal opinions of characters that he's against that part of Lorna's history being recognized and respected as it doesn't fit his perception of her. Which doesn't require having a "grudge" against the character. All it takes is having a pre-formed view of a character and instinctively following that view without a shred of thought or care when making decisions.

But again. Everything depends on what comes out within the next month.

[PolarIceFire]

ICYMI

https://twitter.com/BettyBettyBooo/s...09708167856128

My Name Is
@BettyBettyBooo

Today I got to read 3 books with Polaris in them. They all came out yesterday. Spoiler so proceed with caution The first book I read was #CaptainMarvel 46 by @79SemiFinalist I'm in love with how Polaris is portrayed here. She should stay in this book with Carol. Such a fantastic...

story and duo. I give it a 10/10. The next book I read was #Marauders by @thesteveorlando. #Polaris unexpectedly appeared as a guest to help Kitty. How delightful to know Steve is having Polaris as his guest for 2 of his books. Can't wait to see what he has in store. Glad to see...

[PolarIceFire]

https://twitter.com/BettyBettyBooo/s...09717785403392

her in her classic costume. 9/10. And last was #Xmen by @GerryDuggan. I do have a question for Duggan on this one though. Well, for start, we get an X-men cover with Polaris in it. The Brood saga continues and while I was reading I see no Polaris but a panel that captured my eyes...

which is the question I want to ask Mr. Duggan. There was a panel with Forge and Monet where they saw a mysterious woman while traveling to a dimension? I think? Anyways, this is what I want to know if this woman on the rock was Polaris. I was thinking the same thing who the hell...

is that? But looking at it I immediately thought of Polaris. I mean you can see that in this thumbnail the green surrounding, her cape, and what I think is her tiara. I mean look at it.

[PolarIceFire]

https://twitter.com/BettyBettyBooo/s...09728296321024

Let me make it closer. What do u think?

I want to know because to me it is Polaris but only Gerry can confirm it. And while it's not confirmed yet, I will continue to believe it's Lorna. Can you think who else this might be? It's so hard to think it's not Polaris. Because the picture says it all. You know what else?

Do you know what this reminded me of? Remember Planet Size Xmen? Yup! Spoiler? Anyways, I give it a 9/10.

[CGAR]

I hope she mentions her connection to Genosha. Literally one big word bubble of introspection would be nice

[salarta]

At minimum one word bubble, yes.

As I said before, I'm not expecting Lorna's history with Genosha to be a huge part of this story. I recognize this is Kate's book, and a true and proper story for Lorna regarding her history with Genosha is outside the scope of this story. But I do still expect some real acknowledgment that Lorna's history with Genosha actually happened. Not vague hints or ridiculously obscure easter eggs that you have to jump through a thousand hoops to decipher. Real up front acknowledgment like the X-Men books did for Lorna being Magneto's daughter in Five Miles South of the Universe.

Now, honestly after seeing both Jean and Kate deal with Cassandra Nova concerning Genosha, and Storm and other characters get to talk about it, I also expect more out of the X-Men office as a whole for respect toward Lorna's history there than just a single word bubble. But it would be a start, and suffice for this book.

[Soulsword323]

Lorna looks amazing in that Marauders preview. That art style is hit or miss with me, but what they did with Polaris was great. Menacing and powerful <3 <3.

That's a cool theory about Lorna being the mysterious woman in X-Men. Hope that pans out, and leads to something interesting.

[jmc247]

I hope she mentions her connection to Genosha. Literally one big word bubble of introspection would be nice

While in the big scheme of things the topic needs more than one word bubble from her eventually, I do agree that would be reasonable for this story.

For over a decade not treating that era as part of her stories canon made her views on mutant rights and humanity and her relationship to Magneto an incoherent mess. Writers wanted freedom to do their own thing with her. I certainly understand that and respect it to a degree. But, the lack of a foundation or guard rails to the character turned her into something incomprehensible.

If going forward her history with Genosha is allowed to exist in the background of her story and runs don't fear accessing it when it's called for (and not in the vaguest most plausibly deniable sense) it will mean very good things for the character going forward. Her character will actually be able to move forward without going from one run to another with recycled nostalgia or phoned in generic voice/views for the character leaving her with no foundation for her views and belief system.

[kcekada]

I'm tempted to get the Brood story when those issues of Captain Marvel get collected. The art has been looking very good of late.

[jmc247]

On the issue of Polaris and Magneto I have noticed on twitter a lot of well-earned consternation and anger over the dissolution of Lorna and Magneto's relationship and as we have seen in X-Men Red and Judgement Day the relationship treated as if it doesn't exist. Compounding that problem Storm was turned into Magneto's right hand and legacy inheritor at least in promotion right now.

In terms of the posters view of Bunn I will agree he was good from Magneto's perspective on his relationship with Lorna, but I do view him as dodgy from Lorna's point of view. He tried to obscure the fact he was writing a 90s Lorna other than a few plausibly deniable moments who really didn't care about mutant issues and didn't see a wider world beyond her own little life. I will say Bunn's take on Lorna and Magneto's relationship was better than Williams, but it still was not what it should be. Alan Davis really got what they should be together motif wise on Genosha, and Austen understood the context of her thinking on him as a symbol and man.

Writers can certainly go in different directions, but divorcing Lorna and Magneto's relationship from mutant issues and politics and trying to force generic fictional daddy daughter dynamics on them doesn't work.

Good things might be ahead for Lorna if they can get back to the basics and legacy themes of what works for her. Orlando is a big fan of the Morrison era which was the last era I felt Lorna's story was firing on all cylinders. Kelly Thompson's Lorna has some Duggan and Austen attached which is good. The make-or-break moment for her story over the next few years will come when the shit hits the fan between mutants and humans perhaps in Fall of X.

I'm tempted to get the Brood story when those issues of Captain Marvel get collected. The art has been looking very good of late.

Its going to be at least two trades (who knows maybe three when all is done). The first is already available for pre-order.

[Selene]

On the issue of Polaris and Magneto I have noticed on twitter a lot of well-earned consternation and anger over the dissolution of Lorna and Magneto's relationship and as we have seen in X-Men Red and Judgement Day the relationship treated as if it doesn't exist. Compounding that problem Storm was turned into Magneto's right hand and legacy inheritor at least in promotion right now. [/URL]

I haven't been following much since the Trial of Magneto. Basically, Polaris didn't get any acknowledgement from Magneto, unlike Anya and Wanda, in X-Men Red?

[salarta]

I haven't been following much since the Trial of Magneto. Basically, Polaris didn't get any acknowledgement from Magneto, unlike Anya and Wanda, in X-Men Red?

Correct, and in retrospect it's incredibly obvious that the whole reason they had Lorna and Magneto acting OOC in Trial of Magneto was to justify excluding Lorna in this way once Magneto's death happened.

[kcekada]

Its going to be at least two trades (who knows maybe three when all is done). The first is already available for pre-order.

Have you been reading it? If so, do you recommend it. I haven't really been a fan of how Carol's been handled since becoming Captain Marvel. I thought the Life of Captain Marvel series was good -- except for the change to her origin. The Brood story looks to be one of the more interesting things they've done with her of late.