Polaris Appreciation III

[salarta]

The thing I like most if they made Zaladane Lorna sister that would mean that Mags most likely killed his child and i wonder the effect that would take on both his and Lorna mind.

There are a lot of potential ways Zaladane could add to the Magnus family portions, and that interpretation is only one of them. Zaladane's level of connection could be as many people jump to assume, that it means Zaladane is definitely another daughter of Magneto. HOWEVER, it could also mean Zaladane is some kind of genetically engineered sister. Or, she could have been lying about having any family connection. Or, she could be Lorna's sister on her maternal side; it takes two parents to make a child, after all. Many, many other explanations could be given too.

Though I still personally think covering anything with Zaladane has to be put on hold until Marvel's editors and writers are willing to make real use of her potential. None of this crap like leaving her out of Avengers vs X-Men and giving a poor excuse for her not taking part in something she has more stake in than a huge chunk of the characters that do get to participate. Zaladane returning won't mean anything if Marvel won't allow her ties to the Magnus family to be expanded and explored. They can only make the most of Zaladane's potential for drama if they are finally willing to admit that Lorna's worth the time of day when it comes to the Magnus family. Without that, Zaladane is no different than any other random villain they might revive from the past, and she may as well stay dead and unused until Marvel is willing to do what it takes for her return to have real narrative value.

[Mitteloss]

The last of the space era results needn't have too much description as the issue has already been discussed here, but I will present it to...

Best Issue

War of Kings #1

We were happy enough with these pages without the words!

Other nominations (one vote each): Uncanny X-Men #475, X-Men: Emperor Vulcan #1, X-Men: Emperor Vulcan #5, War of Kings #2 , War of Kings: Who Will Rule , X-Men: Legacy #255, X-Men: Legacy #256

[Siena Blaze]

Yay I voted for that issue! I loved the artwork too. I just wish they'd reverse the coloring trend of making her green hair shade darker than her costume. I think it should be the other way around with lighter green hair and a darker shade costume when wearing that costume.

[salarta]

Yay I voted for that issue! I loved the artwork too. I just wish they'd reverse the coloring trend of making her green hair shade darker than her costume. I think it should be the other way around with lighter green hair and a darker shade costume when wearing that costume.

I'm cool with any shade, I think the most important thing she needs is a secondary color. She's the only fictional character I can think of in anything that only gets to have one color to her wardrobe. My personal preference would be gold, but I'm cool with anything as long as she gets a color and it looks good on her.

[Mitteloss]

Yay I voted for that issue! I loved the artwork too. I just wish they'd reverse the coloring trend of making her green hair shade darker than her costume. I think it should be the other way around with lighter green hair and a darker shade costume when wearing that costume.

I never really though much of the shading of the hair before. I don't think it matters- as long as it doesn't start to look lime green or turquoise (which it almost is here).

[Siena Blaze]

I never really though much of the shading of the hair before. I don't think it matters- as long as it doesn't start to look lime green or turquoise (which it almost is here).

The lighter her green costume is, the more tacky it looks. Darker green works better for her green costume because it can appear almost black from a distance and up close doesn't look so green blob-ish like those X-Factor garden preview pics. Her hair should always stand out though. Like green fire. The darker green shade dulls her hair. Leave the darker shades of green hair to Viper, She-Hulk, and Abigail. Artists have already killed her hair by diminishing it with the head guard and shorter length.

[Mitteloss]

The lighter her green costume is, the more tacky it looks. Darker green works better for her green costume because it can appear almost black from a distance and up close doesn't look so green blob-ish like those X-Factor garden preview pics. Her hair should always stand out though. Like green fire. The darker green shade dulls her hair. Leave the darker shades of green hair to Viper, She-Hulk, and Abigail. Artists have already killed her hair by diminishing it with the head guard and shorter length.

I can see where you're coming from there. There's no doubt her original costume was darker than her hair.

[blanchett]

There are a lot of potential ways Zaladane could add to the Magnus family portions, and that interpretation is only one of them. Zaladane's level of connection could be as many people jump to assume, that it means Zaladane is definitely another daughter of Magneto. HOWEVER, it could also mean Zaladane is some kind of genetically engineered sister. Or, she could have been lying about having any family connection. Or, she could be Lorna's sister on her maternal side; it takes two parents to make a child, after all. Many, many other explanations could be given too.

Though I still personally think covering anything with Zaladane has to be put on hold until Marvel's editors and writers are willing to make real use of her potential. None of this crap like leaving her out of Avengers vs X-Men and giving a poor excuse for her not taking part in something she has more stake in than a huge chunk of the characters that do get to participate. Zaladane returning won't mean anything if Marvel won't allow her ties to the Magnus family to be expanded and explored. They can only make the most of Zaladane's potential for drama if they are finally willing to admit that Lorna's worth the time of day when it comes to the Magnus family. Without that, Zaladane is no different than any other random villain they might revive from the past, and she may as well stay dead and unused until Marvel is willing to do what it takes for her return to have real narrative value.

She may yet appear in AVX but it's really clear that this isn't a Magneto family event at all. Magneto doesn't even have a big role in this, I don't think Wanda appears till issue 6 or so. I don't think it's any great loss added to the fact that so far no one seems to be in character or even competent in the story I don't think Lorna is missing out.

Well Quesada said that Zaladane was lying at one point, someone else might have the link and the mutates referred to Lorna as Zala's "false sister" so it's possible. The thing that really contradicts this is the physical resemblance between the women and Moira's comments. I think she could also be a half sister.

You might be interested in reading Zaladane's character profile on Uncannyxmen.net. It's pretty comprehensive, lots of stuff I didn't know about her.
http://www.uncannyxmen.net/db/spotli...12&fldAuto=191

This was theory that's put across about Zala on the profile.

[Note: Zaladane and Polaris being sisters hardly works with what has been established about Polaris’ heritage in X-Men (1st series) #52 and Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #431. Orphaned shortly after birth as her parents had died in a plane crash, Lorna had been adopted by her supposed father’s sister and brother-in-law. She never learned of the adoption until she was an adult, meaning her last name “Dane” must have been that of her adoptive parents and not her original name. Even worse, as Magneto was later revealed to be Lorna’s actual father – her mother apparently having had an affair with the self-styled master of magnetism – there is no chance left of a blood relation between her and the Danes.

The only way for Zaladane’s claim to make sense is going by the assumption that Zala is a significantly older maternal half-sister of Lorna, who was adopted by the Danes at the same time, but eventually ran away from them, perhaps irrationally blaming her new-born baby sister for the death of their parents. That’d explain the last name, their relation and Zala remembering Lorna but not vice versa. One might also argue that Zaladane was just lying about being Lorna’s sister, but Havok noted an undeniable resemblance between the two women and Moira MacTaggert would later confirm in Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #254 that, for the power transfer to work, they needed to be biologically related.]

[blanchett]

Another interesting article about Lorna. I know Jmc has read it because he's in the comments buy maybe some of you might not have seen it. Some critical comments about her treatment as a character and some positive ones about Peter David's use of Polaris. At one point in the article he asks Peter David to actually take her back to X-Factor. It was written four years ago, kind of funny now considering.
http://squidfromspace.blogspot.com/2...-exorcist.html

It is now, at long last, in 1991, that someone (namely Peter David) puts some effort into defining Polaris as an actual character. Realising that this post would require me to read some of his early X-Factor run was a genuine pleasure. The '91 reboot represents some of the best writing of the era, at least where Marvel was concerned.

One day there might be time to discuss David's run in more general terms (it's certainly worthy of study), but for now the key point is that David made Polaris into an actual person. The consequences of Lorna's low self-confidence and repeated external manipulation finally began to make themselves felt. She is referred to a psychologist, but refuses to speak, seeing his attempts to "get in her head" as one more act of mental violation. Eventually, though, he allows her to come to terms with herself, in addition to persuading her that she may be borderline anorexic.

This, at last, is the beginning of a genuine character. I've spoken before about the fact that the "flawed hero" archetype usually relies on a very narrow field of potential flaws, usually a dark past, torturous present, or a temperament unsuited for beating up super villains without killing them. Polaris tries to be a hero despite her low self-esteem and resulting extreme weight-loss. For all her fear of both recommitting to Alex and of losing him, and her conviction that she is unworthy of her role in X-Factor, she pushes it aside when it comes to the crunch. As time passes she begins to build her esteem, and becomes the moral backbone of the group. Now at last, she is strong and compassionate because she has overcome her demons, not simply because it's the accepted template for comic book heroines.

[4sake]

That is a very good point regarding her philosophy on mutant issues which was one of the most interesting aspect of her 2000-2005 run which has been mostly forgotten about since then. It was one of the major things I liked about the character in that era. She had her own views on mutant issues and she cared about something greater then herself and was willing to fight for it. I must say that above anything else is what I want to see a return to from her. It's increasingly hard to keep my emotional connection to the character since she was disconnected from all that with the start of the space arc.

I agree

[Justin K.]

Some Polaris avatars from the recent X-position.

[Justin K.]

2 more because they wouldn't upload first time around :P

[Siena Blaze]

Nice double chin action there Popo! She sure packed on the pounds since her return to earth! And that old lady hairstyle gotta go asap.

[SpaceSquid]

Another interesting article about Lorna. I know Jmc has read it because he's in the comments buy maybe some of you might not have seen it. Some critical comments about her treatment as a character and some positive ones about Peter David's use of Polaris. At one point in the article he asks Peter David to actually take her back to X-Factor. It was written four years ago, kind of funny now considering.
http://squidfromspace.blogspot.com/2...-exorcist.html

Gods, did I really write that four years ago? I'm getting so old...

I'm a bit behind in my X-Factor reading ("Happenings in Vegas", IIRC), but I'm delighted my wish has finally come true. Really must check in to see how the ol' girl is doing.

(And, just as a bit of shameless self-promotion - as if that wasn't the whole purpose of this post anyway - if you think I'm an idiot for writing that, you'll doubtless be digusted beyond belief at what I've got goin' on over here.)

[kid_omega]

PAD, please do something with Polaris. You have mutant royalty within your hands and a force of nature.