Polaris Appreciation III

[Siena Blaze]

Polaris continues to depreciate in value while imprisoned on X-Factor.

[Imraith Nimphais]

Because her character truly appreciated from not appearing in any X-book for quite the number of years post losing her powers (not a highpoint) during decimation...and while playing "lost in space: the hidden and easily forgotten years".

tsk. tsk. tsk.

[.A²]

Polaris gets more exposure on X-Factor, a team she originally helped to found, than she would in any of the other X-Books. But this is a tired and circular argument at this stage.

[The_Greatest_Username]

Makes perfect sense. Iceman is Lame.

Aww...he's not that bad.

[jmc247]

Aww...he's not that bad.

I really liked Ice Man and Lorna's interaction on Genosha if you recall. It was quite well done and IMHO Claremont's best job writing Lorna in his history. When she was tied to a character he actually liked it was a whole new ball game.

[PolarisJunkie]

Hello, everyone. I browsed this site frequently but only just recently joined and this seemed like a great thread to start posting in since I absolutely adore Polaris.

[The_Greatest_Username]

Always good to have more Polaris fans on board. Welcome PolarisJunkie!

I really liked Ice Man and Lorna's interaction on Genosha if you recall. It was quite well done and IMHO Claremont's best job writing Lorna in his history. When she was tied to a character he actually liked it was a whole new ball game.

I don't know, I thought his work with Polaris in "The End" was pretty solid too. But you're right that his brief writings of Lorna in Genosha were probably better.

[Imraith Nimphais]

Polaris gets more exposure on X-Factor, a team she originally helped to found, than she would in any of the other X-Books. But this is a tired and circular argument at this stage.

Exactly. The other X-books are really only interested in Whoreverine, Cyclops, Emma and the various "child-mutant of the month".

[Siena Blaze]

Polaris gets more exposure on X-Factor, a team she originally helped to found, than she would in any of the other X-Books. But this is a tired and circular argument at this stage.

Exactly. The other X-books are really only interested in Whoreverine, Cyclops, Emma and the various "child-mutant of the month".

Excessive exposure within the confines of X-Factor is not a good thing for Polaris. It cements her as a peripheral character. She is downgraded every time she appears on X-Factor as her status continues to plummet to Madrox levels. What's worse is that she's his lackey now. If she was also appearing in other titles where she interacts with relevant characters, I would not be complaining much about this.

[PolarisJunkie]

Excessive exposure within the confines of X-Factor is not a good thing for Polaris. It cements her as a peripheral character. She is downgraded every time she appears on X-Factor as her status continues to plummet to Madrox levels. What's worse is that she's his lackey now. If she was also appearing in other titles where she interacts with relevant characters, I would not be complaining much about this.

While I agree on some points with this, I think her on X-Factor is also incredibly healthy for the character. I mean we finally got her origin, and it only took what like...30+ years? XD A book like X-Factor allows for a lot more lax editorial involvement and this lets Polaris go through hurdles that she wouldn't most likely be able to do on the X-Men. To be honest she rarely ever had any time with the X-Men as Claremont rarely used her other than using her as a ragdoll for mindwipes and body snatching. If anyone can write Lorna, IMO, it's Peter David and I'm all for him using her.

[Siena Blaze]

While I agree on some points with this, I think her on X-Factor is also incredibly healthy for the character. I mean we finally got her origin, and it only took what like...30+ years? XD A book like X-Factor allows for a lot more lax editorial involvement and this lets Polaris go through hurdles that she wouldn't most likely be able to do on the X-Men. To be honest she rarely ever had any time with the X-Men as Claremont rarely used her other than using her as a ragdoll for mindwipes and body snatching. If anyone can write Lorna, IMO, it's Peter David and I'm all for him using her.

Hi PolarisJunkie and welcome!

Yes, you do bring up the development point which I agree with to a certain extent. Don't get me wrong, Peter David is a good writer. As a Polaris fan, I'd love to see her elsewhere. I definitely don't buy the notion that only he can do right by Polaris and only he is capable of developing her properly. I welcome other writers and their take on Polaris. I won't always agree or like how they develop her, Peter David included. But I hate to pigeonhole Polaris on X-Factor just because he's writing it and just because she was a founding member and just because it somehow makes sense because she has history with several of the cast so it will always make less sense for her to branch out and keep her trapped and isolated from the rest of the x-gang.

[PolarisJunkie]

Hi PolarisJunkie and welcome!

Yes, you do bring up the development point which I agree with to a certain extent. Don't get me wrong, Peter David is a good writer. As a Polaris fan, I'd love to see her elsewhere. I definitely don't buy the notion that only he can do right by Polaris and only he is capable of developing her properly. I welcome other writers and their take on Polaris. I won't always agree or like how they develop her, Peter David included. But I hate to pigeonhole Polaris on X-Factor just because he's writing it and just because she was a founding member and just because it somehow makes sense because she has history with several of the cast so it will always make less sense for her to branch out and keep her trapped and isolated from the rest of the x-gang.

Thanks, everyone has been very welcome on every post I've been in so I really appreciate it!

Believe me, I would LOVE to see her on an X-Men team. Or anything where she is front and center and interacting with some of the bigwigs of the Marvel U. She's def. earned her place and those years of disuse in space were painful and quite frankly were a slap in the face to fans of not only her but Havok and Marvel Girl. However I always got a sense that Havok and Polaris never truly fit into the X-Men, if ever. They are mutants, yes. And they've def. served tenures on the team. I just always felt as if they both always felt like they belonged elsewhere. I'm sure another writer could indeed change that notion but thats always been how I pictured the both of them.

But I do agree with her that it would be interesting to see her interact more with other characters. She usually fits well into these splinter teams because she knows all of the characters so well which you've stated. Like I said, it always felt to me as if Lorna was an outsider when she was with the X-Men since aside from Alex and maybe Iceman, I never really saw her have any long lasting conversations or relationships with anyone else besides Guido, Jamie, etc.

Now that I think about it though, it does seem lazy to keep her shoehorned there. If I can get Polaris, especially after that hiatus where there was not even a mention of her or Havok for years, I'll take it. A slow build to even better things would be cool. Hell, if she guest starred on Uncanny Avengers, that'd be pretty cool. Theres some interesting relationships on there that she'd fit in fine.

[blanchett]

If you like the character, and found that you could personally, emotionally relate to their development- then you should carry on caring about their future development, because this character has meant more to you than mere entertainment, and probably still does. Same goes for Lorna.

I think the argument that we go around in some circular arguments on the thread is definately true about what title Lorna should be in, what she's wearing, he potential etc. Something we don't do, or at least I don't remember anyone mentioning before is what Mittleoss just mentioned, is simply why we as Polaris' most fanatical fans(lets be honest) like the character and emphatize with her so much. So rather than discussing her potential or anything like that why do people relate to a character whose gone through so many changes?

For me personally, I was in secondary school(high school) came out of the closet around the time that Lorna returned to the X-Books. I went to a meeting with local gay teens and it was the first time I realized that I didn't have the same rights as my friends in my country and it was down to religious prejudice. Even though I knew plenty of decent religious people I had an irrational anger at them as a group when I realized this. I empathized with Lorna's struggle with her anger at humanity as a group when she returned from Genosha because like me she had plenty of experiences with good humans like Val Cooper and Moira MacTaggert but still struggled to move past her anger.

[Imraith Nimphais]

Would it be really odd of me if I only really liked and was truly interested in Polaris from the moment she was possessed by Malice? Because from that point she seemed very focused, determined, strong-willed...and not the woe-begotten, melodramatic (read crazy) perpetually distressed damsel she became afterwards. Everytime I read StrongPolaris I wondered why did she not adopt and portray the positive qualities that Malice brought out?

I confess to not having read a great deal of PAD's initial X-Factor...and was not very impressed with her X-Men appearances pre and post Decimation. (Which is why I am so looking forward to wot PAD has in store for her now).

[Siena Blaze]

I think the argument that we go around in some circular arguments on the thread is definately true about what title Lorna should be in, what she's wearing, he potential etc. Something we don't do, or at least I don't remember anyone mentioning before is what Mittleoss just mentioned, is simply why we as Polaris' most fanatical fans(lets be honest) like the character and emphatize with her so much. So rather than discussing her potential or anything like that why do people relate to a character whose gone through so many changes?

I relate to Polaris because of her passion. Even during the times where I felt her passions were misplaced (like right now for instance), she seems to really dive into whatever she's doing and become fully invested while forgetting other important aspects of her life. I'm totally the same way. Present a diversion, and you'll forget entirely that a major storyline just got dropped and is likely forgotten for another decade. Perhaps its a lack of commitment to see things through to the end for fear of what one might find or committing to a wrong path. But yeah, Polaris can be quite wishy washy and it shows in her abrupt changes in focus over the years from super hero, to education, to love, to family...for a peripheral character, she has her finger in too many pies, which is a good thing for potential future interaction and development and a bad thing since focus usually ends up on the already developed areas (love and rehashed interactions with the same characters).