Some of you reading this know a book was announced that will have Polaris on it.
I’ve seen the information. Hard pass. Here’s why.
Havok.
There are many things about the announcement that are either promising or murky on their own terms.
Leah, a female writer, writing Lorna is on the face of it good. I’ve said before that I thought a female writer could do better with Lorna than male writers. Implying something more may be done with her code name sounds good. The talk about how she has a lot of ground to cover that hasn’t been also sounds good.
Returning to a book titled X-Factor and not being the team leader, only a team member, after her own run as leader on All-New X-Factor was effectively sabotaged is bad. The “in-story reason” for her not being leader, depending on the details, could either make everything perfectly fine or merely serve as a bad excuse for Marvel not having her lead a team.
But it’s this line:
helped me see Polaris and Havok’s relationship in a new light
That instantly turned what was a “wait and see” book into a hard pass book. Not buying it, not reading it.
If you haven’t paid attention to my posts, let me explain. Lorna has decades worth of her character getting screwed over to benefit other characters, mainly Havok. Marvel has been especially bad about this around Havok over the past few years.
Lorna’s return to comics through X-Men Blue was hijacked to promote Havok in advance of him leading a team book. On Prisoner X, a flashback splash page decided that showing Havok kissing Lorna was necessary, yet they had not one image to depict how Lorna survived Genosha. You know, the huge genocide that gave her massive PTSD. X-Men #1 comes out, a teaser news release defines her exclusively by how she’s Magneto’s daughter and dated Havok while the men got blurbs of actual character description, and the comic follows this teaser near perfect.
To say Havok anywhere near Lorna right now is wrong would be a huge understatement. She needs minimum of a decade nowhere near him, having her own stories told and getting respect she was denied for decades, before writers are even remotely ready to write the pair together.
Otherwise it just goes right back to treating Lorna like shit to promote Havok. Erasing her character development (e.g. GENOSHA) because Lorna’s own actual history means nothing to Marvel if it doesn’t make Havok look good.
I don’t just have a short fuse about Marvel’s dickery toward Lorna via Havok. The fuse is gone. It’s been gone since 2017. Everything is a garbage fire, and Marvel’s throwing in gasoline.
I don’t need to read a single page of the new “X-Factor” to know not to read it. To know it won’t do anything for Lorna. Marvel has proven it. Both over the past 51 years, and since 2017.
The instant Havok is invoked like this near Lorna, that’s it. It’s done.
It’s one thing to say there’s potential in the pairing if handled right. It’s another to talk about the pairing in a manner suggestive of plans to use it when it is absolutely not the right time and there’s a shitton else that needs to happen way before then.
Water is great for a plant until you fucking drown the thing in 50 feet of it. Alcohol can be enjoyable til you down 60 bottles in an hour.
But, this is why you harvest seeds from the plant before someone decides to chuck it into 50 feet of water.
This post is overdue. I didn’t want to start it until I was ready to sit down, think it through, write it out deeply.
Like my year in review post, this is going to be stream of consciousness. It will also be prone to errors. I’m dealing with a whole decade this time, not just the most recent year. By errors, I mean I think I might get some details or even some years that things happened wrong.
I would say as a quickie overview that Lorna’s arc of the decade has the look of standard deviation: starts low, goes high mid-decade, falls to low again.
2009
This seems weird to include, but there are a few reasons. One, 2009 is when I discovered Lorna exists. Two, I wasn’t aware of her in the 00s to write anything for that decade like this. Three, the decade technically isn’t over until 2020 ends.
There were three appearances of real note for Lorna: Jeff Parker’s Exiles volume 2, Fantastic Force, and Wolverine and the X-Men. All of them alternate universe.
In Exiles volume 2, we had our first glimpse of what more could be done with Lorna and Wanda as sisters. It included this Exiles team visiting a House of M world. Exiles is seriously my top suggestion for reading of Lorna.
It was also during 2009 that Lorna received her currently second most high profile (then most high profile) depiction, on the Wolverine and the X-Men cartoon.
WatXM is the last time Lorna surviving Genosha, and the emotional impact it had on her, has come up anywhere in anything official out of Marvel. It was also the first time any media suggested Lorna having anyone that isn’t Havok (in this case, Gambit) as a potential love interest. Someone might claim Random from the 90s, but it was really clear Lorna did not feel the same about Random. Hints of Iceman used to sometimes surface too, but they never went anywhere (nor should they, now).
And then we had Fantastic Force.
In this alternate universe, we had two things going for Lorna. One, she was part of a trio called “The Hysteries” with Jean and Wanda, with Lorna and them taking a darker more villainous tone. It played on how all three have a history of comic book tropes using the “hysterical power-mad woman” card. Only difference is in Lorna’s case, she never went full villain.
The other thing Fantastic Force had going on was an AU maternal descendant, named Psionics (first name Cindy).
The other thing going on during this time was 616 Lorna out in space with the Starjammers.
It had good and bad qualities. Mostly bad, IMO. Lorna was largely used to bolster Havok’s cred, same as most depictions of her. Her being in space cut her off from ongoing events, and ultimately, fed into how Marvel today pretends she had nothing at all to do with Genosha (as evidenced by literally everything about House of X/Powers of X/Dawn of X).
The sole bright spot of her time in space in/around 2009, I’d say, is that she got to interact with Crystal and Luna. You see Lorna’s real value, potential, and history in those moments.
At the time, it was the closest thing we had to an acknowledgment that Lorna is Magneto’s daughter. You’ll read more about the struggles on this throughout the post.
2009 wraps up with this: the Disney buyout.
Everything good that happened above, ended abruptly after the buyout. Wolverine and the X-Men was canceled despite plans out to season 3. Exiles volume 2 was also canceled at 6 issues, despite a significant amount of an issue 7 already written. Obviously this wasn’t aimed at Lorna specifically, but the beginnings of Marvel screwing over the X-Men franchise in a bid to eventually get its film rights back from Fox.
Anyone reading this already knows how the Disney-Fox film rights matter played out.
2010
Nothing. I don’t remember anything happening in 2010 for any of the Starjammers. Their absence was egregious enough that someone made this graphic at the time.
(Notice Polaris was mentioned first in the proposed hashtag)
2011
Lorna (and the others) finally got written again on X-Men Legacy, in the storyline “Five Miles South of the Universe.”
In this storyline, we had a few good developments.
One, it confirmed Lorna is a mutant again. See, in the 00s, Lorna’s powers were stripped from her by Wanda in the whole Decimation matter. Her powers were restored in an Apocalypse storyline, but it kept her status as mutant or “tech enhanced human” vague by saying her powers came from Celestial tech but were “evolving” in some way. FMSotU confirmed her status restored.
Two, it further confirmed Lorna as Magneto’s daughter. Up til this point, the only confirmation was Lorna looking at lab results in Genosha before is destruction. That left an opening for someone at Marvel to claim something different – and there were (and still are) people at Marvel eager to change that.
Three, it brought Lorna back to Earth. She could be involved in events and X-Men books again.
Another thing that I can’t recall if it happened in 2011 or 2012, was a change to Magneto’s ending on Marvel vs Capcom 3. An update changed a graphic to include Lorna in his Brotherhood.
I THINK 2010 or 2011 was also when Marvel had an X-Men banner at a Comic-Con with Lorna on it near Apocalypse. Unclear on the year. What I remember is that fans speculated it meant not only a return of Lorna to major X-Men events, but that her past with Apocalypse would be addressed in stories. Shortly after, Marvel said the banner didn’t indicate any plans, and was simply the artist drawing whoever they wanted.
It was the moment when I realized the need to question Marvel’s actions and statements.
2012
Two appearances that I can recall.
First, there’s Avengers vs X-Men. And this is where I talk about the actions of a specific editor who I’m deliberately choosing not to name.
I said before that some people at Marvel are against Lorna being Magneto’s daughter. This editor was so committed to it that not only did he look for excuses to justify the idea, but he followed through in omitting her from the family in everything he had a hand in. A House of M portrait in Children’s Crusade was redrawn to take Lorna out. She had no part in No More Humans, or Magneto: Not a Hero. Which brings us to AvX.
At first, the editor said Lorna wouldn’t be anywhere in it because “events are only for A-listers and B-listers.” Eventually, she was added, and while she had this cool image…
She also had this.
Mind-controlled into submission to Phoenix Frost. Lorna went unnamed, and worse, she was completely excluded from all family moments. The book went so far as to have Magneto ignoring Lorna being controlled in this scene right here like she didn’t matter.
The very same father who just months prior, on Five Miles South of the Universe, made a special trip specifically to rescue her from space. Yeah. Marvel assholery.
Outside of this, we also had Lorna returning to X-Factor with Havok.
Which I ranted about. A lot. I saw it as Marvel moving to undo her character development by reverting her to a book, writer, and role she had in the 90s. In retrospect, I think I was too quick to judge and assume about Peter David at the time.
It was in this year that Lorna finally had her origin story told on X-Factor. She went 44 years without it told, and the lack of it was a big black mark considering all other characters like her had theirs told decades ago and even brand new characters often got theirs told within a few years. So it was a major positive development for Lorna.
It also secured Lorna as Magneto’s daughter, which at the time most assumed would not happen with Peter David since he seemed to dislike Magneto quite a lot.
Marvel did nothing to promote it though. Thankfully though, at the end of this arc, Havok left to be a co-leader on Uncanny Avengers (and sort-of broke up with her again, since they sort-of got back together in space) while Lorna stayed on X-Factor.
2013
More time on X-Factor. I complained a lot about the costume change, as I hate team costumes.
On the plus side, though, Lorna got to interact with her brother Pietro for the first time in a decade!
Yes, that meant getting drunk, throwing objects and shooting bullets at him, but it was still the first time in too long that Lorna got to spend time with either sibling.
She appeared on Astonishing X-Men by Marjorie Liu as well, for Iceman’s story arc.
Ironically for how little dialogue and presence she had, I still think this was one of Lorna’s better depictions in the decade. Even with this odd moment
Pretty sure Lorna could drink Kitty under the table
Keep in mind, when this arc came out, the Iceman gay reveal hadn’t happened yet. In covering his history with past romances and potential love interests, it was great to see Lorna acknowledged for her part.
I remember wishing that more would be done with Lorna and Nurse Annie during this arc. Sadly, it did not happen. And that’s fair, since the arc was about Iceman, not Lorna. But I think it was still a lost opportunity.
Outside of comics, it was Lorna’s first ever playable video game appearance! On Lego Marvel Super Heroes.
She had no story involvement, and the shared power set with her dad had the same color, but it was still her first playable appearance.
It actually got me into playing most of the other Lego video games to boot. I never would have played any of them if not for Lorna appearing in this game.
I think this is everything about 2013. Heavier content in 2014.
2014
This is it. The year.
Lorna led the All-New X-Factor team.
I had a roller coaster of reactions. I won’t describe in-detail cause that would be a whole other post. The short of it.
Ecstatic on announcement. Hated how during issues #4-6 Gambit seemed to be the “real team leader,” recruiting half the team (with Lorna even seeming to hating Danger’s add but not shooting it down) and overruling her repeatedly. I didn’t like the team costumes, but was okay with them due to having a reason and purpose (and Lorna leading).
The problems cleared away starting with issue #7.
More importantly, ANXF provided two very important developments for Lorna.
One, leading a team of her own. Up to this point, Lorna had never led a team in her own right. The closest she had was fill-in/temporary leadership experience (whether teams or pretending to be her father on Genosha). So this was a big development for her.
Two, she FINALLY got to spend time with her sister Wanda in the 616 again! After over a decade of no interaction.
Lorna also had plenty of good sibling moments with Pietro, but the Wanda time stands out because it hadn’t happened yet.
Marvel also didn’t promote the issue (ANXF #14). There was still an uptick in sales for it anyway despite everything working against it. But, it was pretty obvious why Marvel didn’t promote it if you looked over at… Axis.
That’s not Lorna in the picture. That’s Enchantress. Why is her hair green, and Wanda’s red? Simple. This was one of two attempts by the editor I previously mentioned to “replace” Lorna with another character in Wanda’s life and dynamics. The other attempt will be mentioned in 2015.
But to add a disclaimer for Enchantress fans: I’m not saying “Enchantress can’t interact with Wanda.” She absolutely can. They can have amazing dynamics unique to themselves, which Lorna could never cover with Wanda. What I’m saying is that Enchantress shouldn’t be used as a replacement for Lorna, just as Lorna shouldn’t be a replacement for some other character.
Anyway, Axis. As Axis unfolded, we also got the “reveal” that the Maximoff twins aren’t Magneto’s kids. Just like that, all the development Lorna had with Pietro on ANXF, and the potential to do more with her sister Wanda, stopped meaning anything.
I don’t just mean “it made it worthless.” I mean Marvel completely abandoned it. Lorna hasn’t talked to either sibling once since 2014. We don’t even know if Lorna knows she’s supposedly not their sister anymore. It was never addressed.
Back to ANXF. Another interesting note, to me, is the way Lorna’s Pestilence costume was redesigned. It went from this in the original comics:
To this in a flashback image on ANXF:
Kiiiinda needlessly sexualized. As a guy, I’m fine with it, but I also acknowledge how peculiar it is. Not like Gambit’s down to a banana hammock for his Death look.
In the same year, we had Savage Hulk volume 2, which started with a story arc covering when Hulk first met the X-Men. This included Lorna.
Before judging the above, context is key. If you read the story, this didn’t really happen. It was some weird fantasy in a character’s head (can’t remember if it was Xavier’s or Banner’s). But it’s relevant for my posting here, because it shows awareness at Marvel of how important Lorna’s headgear is to her visual presence.
Lastly, the Days of Future Past mobile game (no longer available, and the company no longer exists) was released. Updates made Lorna and Storm playable.
I’m still disappointed the game never got ported to Steam, PSN or other formats. Playing via phone was too awkward for me to continue. I think if it was on a full-fledged system, it would’ve done much better.
2015
I think I’m going to get the “replacing Lorna in Wanda’s life” part out of the way first.
In 2015, over on Uncanny Avengers, a new “sister” for Wanda and Pietro was introduced. Named Luminous.
With a single color scheme and headdress too. Yeah, they totally weren’t trying to replace Polaris with Luminous when they pulled this.
Now that we’ve got that out of the way.
The Secret Wars event brought with it a lot of AU appearances for Lorna. There were myriad cameos in things like Inferno, and Star-Lord & Kitty Pryde. The one that matters of the AUs though, was Secret Wars: House of M.
Which treated Lorna awesome. I have no difficulties saying that. It did great by her. She got to be smart, savvy, powerful, understanding, the whole package.
But, I have to be honest and say that it did poorly by Pietro, and Magneto at one or two points. And I’m a firm believer that you don’t need to throw one character under a bus for the benefit of another. Still, it fueled a fun idea of Lorna and Black Cat doing (lesbian?) crimes together that sadly never went further.
Meanwhile, 616 Lorna finally showed up on the Magneto solo written by Cullen Bunn.
It was… okay. Flipside to Peter David, I put a lot of faith into Bunn. There were some issues that I chose to disregard. Still some good to it though.
The main good as I saw it came from letting Lorna interact more with her father. Marvel hadn’t done anything more with it after Five Miles South of the Universe, so this was the first time (and frankly, was the only reason I had started reading the Magneto solo). There was a one-panel hint at Lorna’s time as a Marauder/possessed by Malice as well.
There was discussion of wanting her to be in Bunn’s Uncanny X-Men, and him suggesting it could happen. But it never did. A whole year spent in limbo with nothing happening with or for her. Any version of her.
2017
A lot happened suddenly in 2017.
The biggest news out of everything was Lorna getting her very first live action appearance! Played by Emma Dumont on Gifted.
There was speculation as to whether or not the little girl in Days of Future Past was supposed to be Lorna (fan talk) or some other random girl (Bryan Singer talk). But here, we had something certain.
And the character broke out in a big way. If you were present in 2017 and watching things unfold, you would’ve seen how Marvel and even the people on Gifted expected Blink to be the breakout star, only for it to become Lorna. Marvel even put Blink on a team and relaunched her Exiles book in 2017, before the show launched, which is very different from the “only show up as a supporting character for one book” plans they had for Lorna.
Another non-comics thing that I think happened in 2017, Lorna finally got a new figurine! Marvel Legends.
This is important because Lorna had not received a new one in over a decade. When this was announced, the speaker even openly said (paraphrase from memory, not exact quote), “You can finally take her off all your top 10 most wanted lists.” That’s how badly she needed a new one. A special shout-out on the fact it took longer than it should have.
Beginning of 2017 in comics, an AU version of Lorna showed up in Deadpool and the Mercs for Money, written by Bunn.
It was, like her appearance on the Magneto solo, okay. But it was for me the first sign of Marvel swinging the Lorna-Magneto daughter-father pendulum too far the other way. Here, Lorna is outfitted in a look largely taking after her father, talking about her father’s values and her father’s views. She’s not talking like an independent woman fighting a fight she believes in, but like a child doing what she thinks some man wants her to do in his absence.
This problem reared its head again when 616 Lorna finally showed up again on X-Men Blue.
Before we get into that, here’s what we saw leading up to her appearance there.
At C2E2, we got this teaser of how Lorna would return in Secret Empire on Blue. When Lorna finally showed up there, we got…
“Daddy’s little mistress of magnetism!” and a lot of talk of how she’s supposedly defined by her association with Havok and Magneto. As if she offers nothing for herself.
This galled me all the more since it was redefining a title she held for herself even before Magneto was restored as her father to somehow be something she can only have because of him.
Other moments came along, like this one which had Lorna mansplained to about something that she’d know better on given what happened to her on Genosha.
Things did get better. Continued into 2018.
2018
We did still have some complications on Lorna’s treatment on Blue. However, they ultimately got better as far as her dynamic with her father is concerned.
On that count, Bunn improved much like how Peter David improved in his treatment of Lorna on ANXF starting with issue #7.
Bunn also brought back Lorna’s history with Malice.
… But it wasn’t good or bad. It was just okay. Because nothing really happened. Malice-possessed Lorna hurt and killed people, then Lorna overcame Malice. It didn’t slip into the bad of using her as a punching bag like Claremont did decades ago, but it also didn’t spend any time analyzing who Lorna is or how she feels.
And here’s why. Because this moment didn’t get to happen as a dedicated story arc. It became a footnote in a story arc dedicated primarily to Havok.
Lorna led a team in Havok’s story arc. But this was undermined by how it worked in service to him, unlike how Peter David had Lorna leading a book for herself. Similarly, there was a team costume which unlike ANXF, had no real purpose to it.
And then there was this fucking cover.
I don’t blame Bunn for this. I blame Marvel, and people above him. Because first of all, I assume Bunn didn’t request this cover. But even if Bunn had said “I want this cover,” someone above him looked at this even at concept level and approved it. They thought a prone Lorna with her legs spread open, being fought over like a trophy, a prop, between Magneto and Havok was the way to go.
They basically said “Yeah, we think Lorna is just an object in the stories of men, and we’re gonna show it.” And I sincerely think this is an accurate reflection of what people working at Marvel right now think of her.
After Blue, Lorna mostly got thrown into limbo again comics-wise til the end of the year. She showed up in Phoenix Resurrection for a line or two during Blue. One thing of note is this Amazing Spider-Man cover.
After WatXM in 2009, this variant cover is the closest Marvel has ever come to acknowledging she even existed anywhere in the same hemisphere as Genosha. It’s representing her storyline on New X-Men #132, when she was dug out of Genosha’s ruins.
End of the year, she had some good moments in the Uncanny X-Men event. Tossing X-23 with her powers. Sensing Magneto’s EM field on a Storm-led team. Better writing in that portion than on Blue. If only it had continued on that trajectory toward better.
Meanwhile, Gifted was wasting its potential and losing viewers. I caught this initially with how they handled Dreamer’s death at the end of 2017. I stopped watching, but from what I’ve been told, Lorna on Gifted was horribly written in season 2 (Emma Dumont doing the best she could as a professional with what they forced on her) and mistakes like that are what killed the show in early 2019.
If you want to go conspiracy theory, perhaps the showrunner and writers were forced to take her that route as an aid to ending the show around the Fox buyout so Marvel wouldn’t have to carry it. Not hard for me to imagine after what happened to projects Lorna was on after Disney bought Marvel in 2009.
2019
It was between 2018 and 2019 that Marvel really stopped hinting around their “force Havok on Lorna and use her as a prop for his benefit” desires and started trying to blunt force it.
There were moments like this, using flashbacks as an excuse to show them together.
There was Marvel Tales, with a great cover used as a bait and switch for how the only story with her in it is Havok’s intro issues where Lorna was treated poorly to build him up.
There’s this “flashback montage” in Prisoner X which apparently decided that an image of the two kissing is more important than, I don’t know, Lorna surviving the worst fucking genocide of mutants in 616 history and having to deal with the subsequent trauma?
And of course, the Marvel Legends pack of 90s Lorna with 90s Havok, at the same time a Magnus family pack was released that had Wanda, Pietro, and Magneto but not Lorna.
And there are plenty of other smaller, subtler insults to boot. But those stand out in memory.
In the case of Prisoner X, I assume it was out of Vita’s hands one way or another. As in, regardless of if Vita wanted or didn’t want it, someone above said it had to be in the book.
But on the subject of Prisoner X, I also didn’t read it. Why? Because in my case, I had issues with how it was clearly inspired by Gifted yet put Bishop in the lead and made Lorna into a supporting character. I covered my reasons in my 2019 year in review post. For what it’s worth though, I’ve been told – supported by the pages and panels I’ve seen – that Vita did write Lorna well if you look only at the writing itself.
For what it’s worth, I did like what I saw and heard about Lorna having special insight into what was happening, being framed as an “evil mutant,” etc.
Then we get to House of X, Powers of X, and Dawn of X.
Lorna’s only appearance in House of X was pretty much to be talked at by her father.
Admittedly, this was handled better than how Blue had Lorna surprised by an attack on HQ just so Magneto could mansplain surprise attacks. But still, it’s just “clueless Lorna told things by wise dad.” Worse, Lorna’s history with Genosha could’ve been used pretty much anywhere in HoX/PoX/DoX and it hasn’t been, not once.
There was also a genetic creation of some kind made from Lorna and Emma Frost’s DNA on Powers of X, which somehow ended up male, so that’s something.
Lorna had an appearance on X-Men #1 as part of Dawn of X, too, with a few okay scenes.
A write-up on Marvel.com before X-Men #1 came out kinda gave away both the summation of contents for her and how Marvel (still) views Lorna as a character, though.
As you can see, Havok and Magneto both have descriptions citing major character moments. Whereas for Lorna’s description, all you have is “her daddy is Magneto and she can totes learn lots from him oh and her naughty ex is Havok.” Not even the write-up acknowledges her history with Genosha – showing that Marvel isn’t thinking about it either.
The Future
I think it’s appropriate to round out this post with a look to the future.
As far as coming works, we have zero news on Lorna appearing in anything aside from collections of old works. The closest we have is a rumor that she might show up in live action again as a secret mutant under the protection of Luke Cage and Danny Rand. Everything is speculation and fantasy.
For my money’s worth, I don’t think Lorna should be involved in the X-Men comics right now anyway. I’ve seen enough. I think she’s better off out of that mess, saved for a future Marvel that both wants and deserves what she has to offer.
What I really mean is, Lorna’s future is in her fans. And I think everything about the past decade bears that out if you look close enough.
Fans noticed things she needed. Origin story told. Mutant status and father confirmed. Interaction with her siblings. A team book she leads. And the considerate, open-minded portions of Marvel at the time pursued those things as a result.
On the flipside, we had not one but two attempts to replace Lorna in Wanda’s life with other characters. We had (and still have) Marvel trying real hard to define Lorna as a prop for Havok and Magneto. What Marvel’s telling us is that contrary to anything they say, they actually do realize she has worth, and fandom for her matters. They just wish they could shift the fandom toward characters they think are “more deserving” of appreciation and respect than Lorna.
The truth is, Lorna’s fandom doesn’t need Marvel. I’ve seen the enthusiasm and creative output of her fans. She’ll survive, possibly even thrive, without Marvel. I’d rather see her in the hands of people who respect her (fans) than people who clearly don’t (Marvel).
That’s my self-indulgent closer. I’m looking forward to another decade of progress for this badass green-haired Mistress of Magnetism and Queen of Mutants!
I’ve decided that it would be beneficial, mainly for myself, to think back on the past year as it relates to Polaris. Bear in mind that as always, these are my opinions. They can differ from what other people think. I may also accidentally say things that are incorrect – perhaps even obviously so. It’s easy to forget details with the passage of time.
Lastly, this is entirely stream of consciousness. Whatever comes to mind. Not going out of my way to find details of note.
Here we go!
Uncanny X-Men
At the beginning of the year, the Uncanny X-Men event was still happening. We shifted from the main event book where Lorna had a couple nice feats and moments, to Vita Ayala on Prisoner X.
I felt the basic premise of Lorna on Prisoner X was good. Along with the writing of Lorna when taken in isolation of everything else. The problems I had with Prisoner X were: 1) the concept seemed inspired by Gifted, yet Lorna was slotted in as a supporting character for Bishop, and 2) it was yet another case of Lorna as support for a male character’s story. If the book had done something like “each character sees their own version of a prison” (e.g. Bishop sees a concentration camp, Lorna sees a mental institution or jail, another character sees a school, etc), I think I would’ve read it.
During this period, we saw X-Men fandom go from raving excitedly for what Rosenberg would do, to absolutely hating his guts because of all the character deaths – and at one point, unintentionally insulting the trans community with usage of Rahne as a clumsy allegory.
Bear in mind, the general public had absolutely no idea that Hickman was coming into the picture. As far as fans knew, Rosenberg was it.
Marvel forcing Havok on Lorna
This is where a special note is deserved.
Marvel was telegraphing intent to force Havok on Lorna starting 2017. This year is where they started to get more blatant with it.
In Prisoner X, they had a flashback image of Lorna kissing Havok – while there was nothing at all of her surviving Genosha.
At the end of Age of X-Man, Rosenberg had Lorna ask where Havok was.
Marvel released a figurine set of Lorna and Havok – shortly after they had released a “Magnus family” set that completely excluded Lorna.
Marvel Tales came out with a great cover depicting Lorna… only for the only story within it involving Lorna to be Havok’s introductory issues, where she was treated poorly to build him up.
We haven’t seen much of it in the past couple months, but Marvel is absolutely still trying to pull this shit and waiting for the right time. Certain of it.
House of X/Powers of X/Dawn of X
Then Hickman came onto the scene.
I knew when the teaser image came out, no Lorna in sight, that she would be excluded from anything truly meaningful. And I was right. Her only appearance in HoX/PoX was to have the resurrection process explained to her by her father, while the dialogue reaffirmed he’s her father.
Admittedly, what Hickman did in their dynamic was much better than on X-Men Blue when Magneto was written mansplaining surprise attacks to his daughter that had survived the Genoshan genocide. But it was still bad for two reasons. 1) It reduced Lorna’s role to “object to be talked at” and 2) just like the complaint about Blue there, HoX/PoX ignored her character history in places it should’ve been highly relevant.
I actually made a mistreatment bingo card and used it for the first time with HoX/PoX. It will be used for future events too.
Dawn of X hasn’t been any better. Her sole appearance to date was in X-Men #1, where the main character beats for her were once again “ex of Havok, daughter of Magneto.” Nothing of Lorna herself. One good thing I can say is that she did a thing with Storm, but that’s it.
The fact Lorna wasn’t included on any covers, not even the X-women variant cover (which had Mystique, Dani Moonstar and others but not Lorna) says it all really.
One more note I forgot. The idea of North as a hybrid of Lorna and Emma Frost’s DNA is actually a kinda cool idea – but also bad in the sense that it would be supremely shitty of Marvel to do a lot with him while doing nothing at all with Lorna herself. It would just be Marvel once again saying “Lorna is only good for building up male characters – this time, a character created from her DNA.”
To wrap this section up, a reminder: I think Lorna is actually better off not involved in HoX/PoX/DoX at all. There are a LOT of problems with it. Some I’ve said publicly (e.g. Omega classifications), others not. But even setting most reasons aside, the simple fact is that Marvel’s not given any indication that they have any respect for either the character or fans of her. They’ve shown no willingness to explore what she has to offer, or what her fandom sees in her. Simply put, Marvel in its current state doesn’t deserve her. And she’s completely wasted on them. Better to wait for a better Marvel once all of this has passed.
But this leads me into…
Fandom
I love you guys. This includes you guys reading this post, and you guys that don’t know this post exists.
Over the past year, I’ve seen some amazing things out of fandom.
4621NN, a Japanese Polaris fan, commissioned nearly a dozen absolutely amazing pieces of Lorna. This is on top of a corner of cool in a room they have which includes framed comics, framed artwork (lineart or not), collector’s cards, figurines and other things.
A car paint was made of Lorna for Forza Horizon 4 (a racing video game) less than a week ago.
More fanart, including some of the Magnus family observing Hanukkah. Tattoos. 3D renders and statues.
Some of the fanart to come this year is quite imaginative, like Malice version Lorna as part of a Misfits/X-Men mashup, or this great punk style Lorna piece.
Since HoX/PoX ended and DoX started, I’ve been saying that I put my faith concerning Lorna’s future on the fandom. Not Marvel. What I’ve seen this past year has absolutely vindicated me on that front, and been amazing work all around. Been seeing more and more of it toward the end of the year as more fans are starting to do things for themselves instead of expecting Marvel to provide.
My Activity
I simply can’t think of a better title, so this will have to do.
Just as the above has unfolded, I’ve done quite a bit this year as well as far as commissioning some great artists. For one, the Polaris minicomic co-created with Mlad (me on writing, him on art) finished in the early parts of 2019. I’m only including the “cover page” image here – follow the link for the whole comic.
Around St. Patrick’s Day, I decided to commission j-likes-to-draw for a piece of Lorna and Jean sharing in their affinity for green.
Then I learned that some people online were being incredibly shitty (as in, so bad that ‘racist’ isn’t a good enough descriptor) to a black Polaris fan for cosplaying Lorna. So I commissioned the ever-awesome bikenesmith for what he also awesomely titled Polarises of Color.
Seriously, go commission from him. He’s great.
As we reached Halloween, I put in another commission with BoxOfWant for something I’d wanted to see for years: Lorna dressed as a knight, Wanda dressed as a witch. There are two versions, one showing cleavage and one not. I’m posting the not cleavage because I’m a prude despite writing NSFW fics I like the way details around the chest shine out.
And that’s it… for now. 🙂 One more piece is on the way. Likely more if things go as I expect.
I can’t think of anything else to say. 2019 was a terrible year for me personally, but I think what I’ve seen for Lorna in the lead-up to its end suggests a north-star-bright future for her.
This is said so often that it comes off as cliche. But it means more than that. You can’t kill a soul. You can’t kill a heart. No matter what someone tries to do, there’s a permanence of a high ideal concept which cannot be destroyed, denied, or tarnished. It buries deep and persists no matter how far down bad actors dig to try to yank it out. Even if tiny traces remain, it will continue to play out.
Polaris is more than just a fictional character and the way a company writes her. She’s the heart of what people see and feel from her. She’s everything anyone needs. She’s a comfort to those who need to empathize. She’s an inspiration for those who need a boost in spirit.
Marvel can fuck up. Their fuck-ups will never take away what matters most.
A fan can dream. A fan can make, and imagine, and believe. Those are things Marvel can never take away, no matter how ignorant or regressive they choose to be.
While Marvel’s busy wasting time on power plays, dictating that X character is an omega but Y isn’t, how Q character that’s a pet favorite of theirs can be in everything but A character that people want can’t be in anything… Lorna’s giving people and the world what they need.
Which is so much more important than whether or not some asshole with a title sees what’s really going on. Or respects it at all.
This is why I’ve said the things I’ve said lately. Why my stance is what it is.
Lorna has transcended Marvel. Her value isn’t in if she had her annual cameo this week, or how many panels exist where she gets mansplained to.
I know this because no matter what Marvel tries to do, Lorna is still Lorna. They can’t make me lose sight of her worth and potential. No matter what happens, there will always be at least me. They can’t snuff that flame out. No matter how hard they try.
For the fun of it, let’s take a look at Marvel thinking toward Polaris. The “logic” behind certain actions both done and possible, as well as defenses of Marvel behavior (past or potential).
1) “There isn’t enough interest in Lorna to justify using her”
If you take a real look around online, this is just patently false. Interest in Lorna is still high. When Gifted was doing well by her, she was all over the place, managing to garner far more attention and interest than anyone expected. There’s also been a general move in pop culture toward all the things Lorna best exemplifies when used well.
You have to be completely tone deaf about the current state of society to think Lorna has no place or use.
But even without that, Marvel’s not been shy about using and promoting plenty of other characters that don’t have anywhere near the same level of interest in them. Lockjaw got his own miniseries. So did Multiple Man. Marvel even created a miniseries for a brand new character they created only for that miniseries (Worst X-Man Ever). Basically, Marvel’s saying that a brand new character with almost no marketing who they will never use again somehow has more worth and interest than Lorna.
Without Gifted or anything else to go on, the argument would remain that Marvel needs to make at least one real attempt with her before they can safely consign her to the dungeon of nothing. Marvel has not done that. Therefore any argument of “no interest” in her is colossal bullshit.
2) “This fan is saying things we don’t like, so we’ll take it out on their favorite character”
This is in response to the idea that complaining about Marvel mistreating Lorna results in Marvel treating the character poorly, refusing to use her where appropriate or necessary, etc.
There are a lot of fans in the world. Fans have different viewpoints. It’s natural. One thinks something’s good, one thinks something’s bad, one eats cheese wheels all day. But it says something all on its own if Marvel is “punishing” all fans because they don’t like the words and actions of one or a few.
For one, it further demonstrates that they have no respect for Lorna or her worth. If a couple fans’ thoughts are enough to sour them on a whole ass character, they’re doing their jobs wrong and have no business working at Marvel. I manage to not blame Havok for the sins of creatives who have mistreated Lorna for his benefit; you don’t see me saying Havok should be blacklisted from comics because of that history. I recognize the character is separate from things I hate about his usage.
For two, it demonstrates a very clear lack of respect for fans and consumers as a whole. You have however many fans exist in the world who absolutely adore the character and see great things in her.
In the past 10 years, I’ve seen the kind of impact she has. I’ve felt moved by fans who said they have a figurine of her at their desk at work for emotional support. I’ve seen tattoos by people who cherish her enough to have her (or a symbol of her) inked onto their arms or legs. I’ve gotten pissed after learning that racists verbally abused a black Polaris fan for cosplaying as her.
If Marvel is ignoring aaaaallllll of those shows of fandom, all those life experiences, because they’re mad that I or any other fan is calling them out on poor behavior (even if they don’t think I’m valid in what I’m saying), then Marvel is a flat out shitty company. People behind those decisions don’t deserve to be in control of characters that hold so much meaning to fans.
Even if taking the POV of “Marvel can’t dignify fan demands cause they result in more,” it’s hardly dignifying fan demands to use Lorna where necessary. You don’t have to give Polaris a solo book to acknowledge that her time on Genosha was an essential character moment for her and use it in events where Genosha is important.
When you refuse to do the bare essentials because you don’t like one person demanding far more, you’re saying every single fan has no worth in your eyes and you do not respect them in any way.
3) “Her use in <insert old decade> is her best use and we must recapture it”
This is nostalgia talking. Pure and simple. There are certainly many things about Lorna’s history that can and should be used and explored, but it should never be about simply trying to copy-paste a time that some guy really liked when he was growing up. Progress is about moving forward, not looking back and drawing Twitter handles on an old picture.
4) “Fixing decades worth of problems would take too much time and effort”
This has two gaping hole fallacies.
One, it assumes that if you can’t fix every single problem then you shouldn’t attempt to fix anything. In reality, fixing one thing is better than fixing nothing. People of color who have been wronged in the United States will never see full reparations for all the harm done to them, but at least SOME things can be done, however small. Lorna’s situation obviously doesn’t compare, but the same basic logic applies.
Two, we go back to how this amounts to Marvel saying Lorna is a nobody character who doesn’t deserve good treatment. If this were someone like Jean Grey or Invisible Woman, Marvel would trip over themselves to clean up past messes because not doing so very visibly reflects poorly on them. It’s symptomatic of lack of respect for the character – and other characters like her.
5) “Now isn’t the right time, other things/characters take priority”
Okay then, when IS the right time?
Lorna’s existed since 1968. That’s 51 years. Does that mean there has been not a single month out of 612 months that fits as the right time for her? Will her time come 51 years from now? Will it come centuries from now when we’re all dead?
I used to think “Lorna needs X before Y is reasonable to ask for.” Then I saw them give minis to characters like Lockjaw and Multiple Man, and ignore her as part of the Magnus family and try to replace her, and undermine her to promote Havok on Blue and subsequent work.
I’ve learned that if you give Marvel an excuse to hold her back, they will absolutely run with it. An “unreasonable” demand is only “unreasonable” because Marvel thinks she doesn’t deserve that level of respect and likewise doesn’t have enough respect for her fans to pursue it.
This is everything I can think of at time of writing. I will add to this post if anything more comes to mind. Feel free to reach out via Tumblr/Twitter or the contact form on here if you have any I’ve missed.
This has no special title because it’s a free flow of thoughts about the two. I don’t know where it’s going, it’s just going.
Lorna has more value that Marvel knows. That’s the biggest secret. She’s a flex point for much of the present and future, and the fact is, Marvel’s blindness means they don’t see just how much influence the character has. WITHOUT them.
Lorna doesn’t really need Marvel. Of course, I’ll still complain about poor treatment and disrespect by the company, but ultimately she’s doing her thing. She’s reaching people and entities Marvel can’t even see.
I know this fact because through my fandom, I see so much of what Lorna offers that Marvel doesn’t. I see the connections. The influence. They’re not looking at her, they’re looking at a mix of the broad strokes and other characters they like and care about more.
I used to push for Marvel to do various things. That changed the day an editor opened my eyes to an unwillingness at the company to really look at Lorna, look at interest and potential she has, and actually DO something with it. As in a real something. Not a “she has a few people who like her, let’s exploit that to make men look good” something.
I also used to think Lorna needed Marvel. But she has so much more than Marvel now. Fandom is bigger, better, more caring and more interested. There are people who have a deep-felt longing for the character, besides me. Her existence itself is helping and saving people in an indirect manner.
People steeped in Marvelthink think she needs Marvel, because that is the narrative Marvel pushes. Just like the narrative that they need to piss people off to generate sales. Or the narrative that you need to get X number of tweets personally sent to you to show interest. Or, back 10 years ago, the narrative that Marvel doesn’t care at all what happens online and isn’t affected in any way.
Marvel needs Lorna more than Lorna needs Marvel. It’s easy to think otherwise with sales numbers and hype and whatnot, but truth is bigger than these things. And the future is more complicated than this.
More importantly, Marvel is backwards. There are so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so many cases I’ve seen over the past 10 years of Marvel missing beats. Failing to catch and utilize golden important opportunities that should’ve been slam dunks. I have always focused on Lorna when I said that, but it doesn’t stop at Lorna.
Marvel’s behavior concerning Lorna is just a taste of who they are. Sometimes they do things for the appearance of progress and change, but it’s always shallow. And you have to ask, how they can possibly know Lorna well enough to use her potential when they refuse to get to know her. To understand why she has the fandom she does. To acknowledge the most important elements of who she is and what she’s done.
Lorna is better than the company that owns the rights to her. And I’ve stopped wanting to play Marvel’s games. I’d rather go outside them and break the artificial barriers they try to maintain.
But a lot of what’s happening right now is invisible, and timed. Development is not forced or rushed. That’s when mistakes happen. It needs to unfold naturally.
I’m waiting for my Sam in Death Stranding to finish sleeping, so now’s a good time to make a post that’s suddenly on my mind.
Predictability in story-telling isn’t inherently bad.
There’s a mistaken assumption that if the direction you’re going with a story is obvious, it’s somehow a bad story. Some companies and writers take this a step further – that if fans and consumers have already accurately guessed where things are going, they need to veer in a different direction.
But predictability can be good. Or at least not as much of an issue as it seems.
Knowing where a story is going isn’t the same as getting there. “This character dies in the end” may not capture everything the character does on the way that makes their death so impactful. Or in another sense, if it’s a tough thing to guess and fans succeed in their guess, it can bring a sense of satisfaction that they managed to guess right. And lastly, catharsis. A predictable outcome isn’t a bad thing if that outcome is what the audience emotionally needs at that point. Leading into a particular character coming out of a trial fine, fans guessing right, and deciding to change it into the character dying horribly just because of a correct guess can easily leave a sour mood that puts fans off.
This goes hand in hand with the idea of how too often people think spoilers are inherently bad. They’re not. If you don’t want spoilers, that’s understandable. But people who want them may be deriving more satisfaction from the chance to better see the way things develop to the “spoiler” moments.
My Sam’s done in Death Stranding, and I’ve pretty much said what I needed to anyway. Onward!
I both understand and don’t understand why some fans seem to think they need to highly revere and bow down to companies that own the copyright to their favorite franchises and characters.
Lately, this is especially the case when it comes to Marvel comics. But it’s also true for many things, and I’ve seen it often with video games.
I understand fans wanting to buy into a company’s narrative and perceived ownership. Company owns the rights to create content? Make money off of it? Hire and pay talent to make it? Market it all over the place, make that a full-fledged job that expands into other media at times which the average person couldn’t make alone (e.g. Hollywood films, AAA video games)? Yeah, I can see in that sense why fans feel like they should go by what a company puts out.
… What I don’t understand is why some fans act like the company is always right, and fans have zero say in anything.
I remember, when complaining about Resident Evil 5 excluding Jill Valentine from the finale (and thus any catharsis about what Wesker did to her), how some fans tried to claim she “had” to be left behind. Because the P-30 drug behaved a certain way. Yet, those fans ignored the fact that P-30 didn’t exist until the writers of Resident Evil 5 created it. The game’s writers had full control over how that drug functioned, just like they had full control over everything else about their story. It wasn’t a case of the writers having their hands tied by a pre-existing concept. It was a case of the writers deciding a concept they created should function in a way that led to Jill’s exclusion.
Currently, when it comes to Marvel comics, I’ve seen some hardcore comics fans present a narrative of “You must support what Marvel is doing with the X-Men right now. You must want your favorite character involved. Supporting the current event and trying to get your fave in that door in whatever fashion you possibly can no matter what it is is the only available path.”
And that’s a lie. It’s buying into several mistaken assumptions. One, that Marvel has exclusive authority and fans must go along with anything and everything the company says. Two, that fandom is worthless. Three, that Marvel can do no wrong, ever.
Marvel is not owed tribute. Their owning the copyright to a franchise or character does not mean they are always in the right and never to be questioned. If they made Magneto into a Nazi tomorrow, and they made that the centerpiece of a massive X-Men event that all of Marvel is pushing as a status quo change for decades to come, should we say that we need Polaris there as his Nazi underling?
I’m not going to say “Lorna needs to be involved in this” just because it’s getting a lot of hype that people are buying into. I need to be given a real reason to want her there, and trust that her presence would be a good thing for her. Sales and hype generated by a combo of artificially depressing the X-Men franchise’s potential for a decade (due to a spat with Fox) and promoting like crazy as a bounce back is not sufficient. It may be for other people who see big numbers and think that’s the whole story, but it’s not for me.
“This is popular therefore my fave needs to be part of it” misses crucial ingredients. From what I’ve seen, I don’t trust Marvel with Lorna or believe they are willing and able to do right by her. I don’t consider Marvel to be the real authority on Lorna. It’s in her fandom that I see real authority. Fandom actually wants to know more about her, thinks about who she is and what she could be, wants to explore what she’s been through. Marvel only sees a prop to be used for glorifying Havok and Magneto. And if not them, then the closest man they can find.
Marvel wants fans, like me, to think our faves need to be involved in their next big event. To think it’s necessary to pay tribute with money and fawn over their every move in hopes that we might get a panel once per year where they show up to make some other character look good. Because “maybe we’ll get something more.” But when Marvel’s done nothing to earn it, there’s no real reason to give it. Send your love to the people who really love and respect your fave: other fans.
The same applies for just about any case involving fans and companies with creative IPs.
It’s been a while. Life has been sucking. This is the first time for the past month or two that I’ve had a moment to really think about these things in a dedicated and coherent way long enough to make it into a blog post.
Problems snowball. You start with one tiny, seemingly insignificant problem. Then if you’re not careful, not considerate, more problems arrive. Or you unwittingly add problems that didn’t need to be problems. Sometimes, things that wouldn’t be problems under ordinary circumstances turn into problems because they join the collective big snowball of problems.
That’s what’s happened and happening with Marvel. At the very least, as far as my fandom and feelings in relation to their behavior.
Back when Lorna and Havok rejoined X-Factor in 2012, and when Havok made appearances on All-New X-Factor, Havok’s presence was not a huge problem for me. It was an annoyance, but one I was able to put up with while getting to things for Lorna.
Today, in 2019, Havok having anything to do with Lorna and her stories is an instant black mark for me.
Why? How did this happen? Because of the snowball effect. There are many, many problems that contributed to the snowball effect. Specific to Havok, some of the contributing factors were:
Lorna’s return to comics in Blue hijacked to promote Havok, before Havok then got to lead his own book
The awful (in content, not quality of art) cover for X-Men Blue #28
Bait and switch cover for Marvel Tales, where the cover was a great depiction of Lorna, but the contents inside were Havok’s intro issues that were horrible for Lorna
Multiple instances of trying to define her primarily as Havok’s girlfriend/ex (in a Marvel Legends bundle with him, kissing portrait in Prisoner X, asking where he is at end of Age of X-Man, etc) while ignoring her own actual character
This is only the past two years. This is not judging the entirety of their character history – which would give TONS more issues to cite.
But there’s a reason this is called the snowball effect. It’s not just adding more junk to a pile of junk. When that snowball starts rolling, it becomes harder and harder to stop. Its momentum and accumulated mass make it into a problem you can’t simply pretend doesn’t exist. At least not if you want to do the right thing and minimize or prevent damage. Small, formerly innocuous elements come within the snowball’s reach and add to it.
The bigger and faster that snowball gets, the more it takes to stop it. Break it down. Take the good things out of the snowball and do good with it.
Now, if you actually deal with that snowball, guess what happens. Those little issues are no longer as much of a problem. It’s easier for people affected to say “That’s a problem, but perhaps it’s an accident or misunderstanding, they’ve done a lot lately to try to do the best they can.”
When you have a legitimate problem, expecting people affected by it to ignore it is not going to do anything for you. Adding even more problems to the snowball (especially as a threat, explicit or implied) only makes it worse. There are three things that could work. One is to actually fix the problem. Two, if it’s too big to fix, is at least acknowledging it IS a problem so attempts can be made to account for it (and maybe fix in the future). Three, diverting the problem or trying to minimize potential damage.
Going back to Havok. In my opinion, that snowball is way too big to stop or break down easily. It’s going to take multiple attempts over a long period of time to chip away at the snowball until the good in it is salvageable. Throwing things into the snowball’s path in its current state will just add to its problems.
So let’s go back to the three potential fixes. In my opinion, the best approach is to keep the snowball out of the way. Don’t do anything to add to it. Pair this with structures designed to chip away at the snowball – in this case, actually doing more with Lorna as her own character, acknowledging her own worth, with Havok not involved or even mentioned.
If your goal is to eventually have Lorna interact with Havok again, then will there be a time when you start to re-introduce him in her life? Yes. But it has to be at the right time, with the right approach. You can’t just say “Oh we had Lorna say hi to her dad for one panel, now she’s Havok’s girlfriend again.”
Marvel’s problems in this regard are 1) a lack of respect for Lorna as her own character, and 2) a lack of patience.
What I’ve seen of Marvel to date, they don’t seem to care one bit that Lorna is an actual character who has fans and potential all her own. This has been echoed repeatedly, from one editor trying to claim Lorna couldn’t be Magneto’s daughter, to another claiming she doesn’t have enough fan interest to warrant her getting anything like a solo book (despite other characters like Lockjaw getting minis, and even creating a brand new character for Worst X-Man Ever specifically for that mini).
Pair that disrespect with a lack of patience, and what you have is people at Marvel trying to force Havok onto Lorna in little bits and pieces thinking if they just keep tapping in those appearances, eventually they can force the couple together again. Yet all Marvel’s doing is tapping in more junk to make the snowball bigger, faster and more dangerous.
And that’s my blog post on the snowball effect. Tune in next time! Whenever that is! Same Polaris time, same Polaris channel.
(P.S. Lorna should have a TV show that she broadcasts straight from her brain. She can do it. She has that power.)
For a bit of fun and relief from my more serious topics, and to be more bloggy for a moment, I’m gonna go into my current shows. By this I mean brand new content. Not stuff made a while back that I’m watching now.
The Good Place
If you’re not watching this… why? Go watch, it’s amazing. It’s got such a great soft sense of humor that goes completely against how often comedy seems to think you need to be crude and disgusting for no apparent reason.
I’m disappointed it’s ending with season 4, but I understand the decision to stop at four seasons instead of letting it go on endlessly. I can very much see the show falling into stale tropes over time. Keeping it as a nice tight package keeps it sweet and memorable.
Creepshow
This is on Shudder. It’s been fun. It’s part of a trend of bringing back horror anthologies, which I absolutely love. Anthologies have been misunderstood for a long, long time. It’s like a neat shot of immersion every single time because it’s always a whole different scenario with different rules and structures.
The House of Head is the best episode so far. The others are just kinda okay, but House of Head gives you some amazing thoughts on the concept of hauntings and spins the haunted house notion into a whole different angle. I’d love to see more like it.
Charmed
I loved season 1. Niko was the best, followed very quickly by Chloe (the pixie girl who I really wanna see more of in future episodes). It’s a new, more diverse setting that’s not afraid to be a bit corny and playful with tropes.
I especially loved how this show evolved the sisters’ powers. The evolution is so much more fitting, in my opinion, to the core of their powers than what the original did to add new powers for the Halliwell sisters. Having other factions is great too.
I really think season 2 is when this show is going to find its best unique voice and shine.
The Purge
Purge has been rife with great social commentary since the second film. I’ve been watching all of it (films and show) since the first film entered theaters. Lots of potential in the setting, and it’s been great to see it expand to really delving into human nature and social structures.
I don’t know much about the newest season. Last season did a good job showing how men might use the night to be misogynistic assholes instead of murdering people. Also, how someone might exploit the day to murder outside the “official” hours and still get away with it.
That be all I have currently. I dropped Walking Dead because, although they were obviously in their right to do it, the death of Addy really put me off. I felt she had so much potential and the show just wasted it. It basically killed my interest and desire to see what happens with the other characters, or get attached to any new ones.
salarta 