There’s been news and images since yesterday with several X-Men titles and lineups revealed.
None of them have Polaris/Lorna Dane in them. I’m waiting for word on that.
The big worry as the Magneto solo has been wrapping up was that either Magneto or Polaris would get killed off. Now that we know Magneto will be survive Secret Wars and star in Uncanny X-Men, the concern becomes exclusively that Polaris will get killed off.
We still don’t know anything for certain. That’s why I’m not complaining, only stating concerns. Maybe she gets killed off. Maybe she continues to live in a different capacity that hasn’t been revealed yet.
Lorna’s getting a big spotlight over the past month thanks to the Magneto solo and a couple nice cameos, and she’s given a much bigger one next month. But, the question becomes whether that extra attention is to prime her for something more and better that Marvel hasn’t revealed yet, or if it’s intended to dull complaints if she’s killed off.
My personal experience with company behavior trends toward the latter. Usually, I’ll see this kind of activity when a company intends to get rid of a character. But, there’s always a chance Marvel can prove that trend wrong, and I hope they do. It’s happened before, and I really like the rare moments when it does. I’d rather be wrong and admit I was wrong than be right and have a reason to complain.
Now this sound negative for a fan. Me as a fan of Polaris I would rather believe there is a All New All Different X-factor out there. They only published some books, but not all of it. It’s too early to publish them all at once. Also, this sounded that because of Magneto book, Polaris became something big. I don’t think so. Don’t forget All New X-factor was an excellent book and didn’t got canceled for poor sale like Storm (as an example) book did. Pretty much you can say that in All New X-factor, Polaris was the protagonist of this book. It was more like her solo book running a team. To me, Polaris was big ever since she became Magneto’s daughter, joined the X-Men, X-Factor, and appeared in many tight in books. Anyway, my point is, I don’t think she’s going to die at all. I mean, they took away Magneto’s twins and now they gonna take Polaris away too? I doubt it, but I do understand your concerned. But to me, Polaris is going to be pretty much alive and it will be a surprise to see her in one of these all new different.
It’s true that this is negative, but it’s because I’ve come to find the negative outlook is more often true than false.
I had a LOOOOOT of text here explaining the pessimistic side of my outlook in minute detail, but after writing it, I don’t think it’ll be needed unless Lorna actually does get killed off.
So here’s the cliff notes. Marvel has done a lot of good for her, by giving her a lot of good character development and giving her some representation in the form of her first playable video game appearances and some cameos. However, she’s also been excluded from her family, excluded from Marvel and X-Men events and representation (even when she has a huge stake in them), and typically, what she’s on isn’t promoted. In one case, a cover was even deliberately withheld until a week before the issue hit shelves.
She’s given progress, but it’s under the radar, not supported, and segregated from anything important. Marvel is looking to cull the number of X-books out there. It’s inevitable that will mean characters get cut, whether that means less/no use or outright killing them off.
If a person doesn’t value something, they feel less obligation to keep it. If Marvel feels she doesn’t deserve to be in big events, represented on franchise-wide covers or have her books or big character moments promoted, it betrays an attitude toward her put simply as “Eh, she’s a nobody, we can afford to kill her off.”
To answer your direct comments, the Magneto solo is frankly the biggest spotlight Marvel has given Polaris in 6 years. It’s a smaller role than All-New X-Factor, but unlike ANXF, Marvel is actually willing to promote it. It also helps that it has more readers.
As far as Lorna’s place on ANXF, I disagree with you. It was closer to a Gambit solo. Most stories focused on Gambit, and until ANXF #7, he was treated more like the team leader than Lorna. He even got to recruit half the team, including one member, Danger, that Lorna was visibly uncomfortable with having on “her” team.
That doesn’t mean ANXF was bad. Aside from ANXF #2-6, I felt she was written very well. It allowed her to interact with her brother and sister, Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, after far too long apart from them. And it was good that Lorna finally got to lead a team in her own right, rather than filling in like she did for Havok (various teams), Magneto (Genosha) and Madrox (X-Factor).
But ANXF was definitely not in any way a Polaris solo, even partly. Gambit, Quicksilver and Danger, in that order, all had more use and representation than Lorna.
Lastly, you’re right, it would be a terrible idea for Marvel to kill Lorna off after the forced retcon on Wanda and Pietro. But then, the forced retcon on Wanda and Pietro itself was a terrible idea, and they’re sticking to it despite the well-deserved backlash.
Again, I hope my concerns are wrong. I like to be wrong in cases like this. However, I can’t pretend the risk isn’t here just because I don’t want it to be. Optimism is nice, but if there’s a chance your ship might sink, it’s not helpful to pretend it won’t. It’s much better to know what to expect and make plans for if it happens.
salarta 