Good Things Marvel Has Done for Polaris/Lorna Dane (since 2009)

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For the past several months, I’ve complained a lot about Marvel and things they’ve done wrong with Polaris and everything related to her. I think I’ve been completely justified, but I don’t like that I haven’t done enough to acknowledge the good things that DID happen for Lorna in that same time span.

I’m not forgetting or ignoring those bits. I love and appreciate them. I want to spend more time focused on them, but things keep happening that sideline chances to show it.

So in the interest of recognizing the good work some people at Marvel are doing, and the moments where the company allows them to happen, here’s a list of the POSITIVE developments and treatment Lorna has received since 2009, IMO.

Note: this does not include things Marvel canceled due to the Disney buyout, like the Wolverine and the X-Men cartoon and Exiles.

  1. Confirmed Polaris is Magneto’s daughter (X-Men Legacy #254-#260, Five Miles South of the Universe)

    At the time this happened, there were still a handful of people that absolutely refused to accept Marvel undoing the forced retcon on her parentage way back in her early days. It was very nice of Marvel not to backtrack on something with so much potential.

  2. Confirmed Polaris is a mutant again (X-Men Legacy #254-#260, Five Miles South of the Universe)

    Being mutant is core to her identity. Marvel hasn’t made as good use of it as they really should, but that they restored it is important. It makes things easy to use her well when Marvel’s ready.

  3. Brought Polaris, and the rest of the Starjammers, back to Earth after five years stuck in space and one year in space limbo (X-Men Legacy #254-#260, Five Miles South of the Universe)

    This, too, was a big deal. The Starjammers, which were Lorna, Rachel Grey and Havok, were sent into space and segregated from everything in the X-books as a result. Confusion over which office, space or X-Men, had the characters led to a year’s wait before we saw them again.

  4. Finally gave Polaris her origin story after over 40 years without one (X-Factor #243)

    This was big, one of the major things Lorna fans asked for. Every other character made around the time she was, including Havok, had their origin stories told decades ago. This was more Marvel doing what should’ve been done long ago, but it’s still worth appreciating that they finally did it. Though they really should’ve promoted it; it severely undersold because casual fans didn’t know it was happening until it was too late.

  5. Allowed Polaris to interact with her brother Quicksilver, after 10 years apart (X-Factor #260, All-New X-Factor)

    This was easiest among her family relations to pursue, since Lorna and Pietro were teammates on X-Factor in the 90s, before Lorna was returned to her status as Magneto’s daughter. We got some good sister-brother moments, like in All-New X-Factor #1, out of the deal.

  6. Allowed Polaris to interact with her sister Scarlet Witch, after 10 years apart (All-New X-Factor #14)

    I’ve complained a lot about Marvel withholding the cover, not promoting the issue, and refusing to use Lorna on Axis while making Enchantress look like Lorna on a variant cover to try to push people off Lorna and Wanda. In spite of all those complaints, it IS very significant that we finally got to see Lorna and Wanda interact as sisters. It was another great issue, and it sets up for a bright future when Marvel’s ready to admit it and tap into it.

  7. Allowed Polaris to lead a team in her own right, not as a “stand-in” leader for someone else, for the first time in her character history (All-New X-Factor)

    This, too, was a huge deal for Lorna fans. Again, every character made around the same time as her or after got to lead their own teams decades ago. Lorna getting to do it was long overdue.

  8. Allowing her to work with her father again for the current Magneto solo story arc (Magneto #18-#20, maybe #21?)

    Her relationship with her father is unique from Wanda and Pietro’s relationships with him. More of these interactions will allow Marvel to better understand the whole family when they’re ready to use it.

  9. Allowed her to become playable for the first time ever in a video game (Lego Marvel Super Heroes)

    Another big development for Lorna. Fans wanted playable Lorna badly, to the point where people were making up rumors she’d be in Marvel vs Capcom 3 alongside Cyclops and Apocalypse. It’s a shame that never happened, but this playable version was still great.

  10. Acknowledged her history for one story arc of Savage Hulk (Savage Hulk #1-#4)

    It wasn’t a huge role, she didn’t save the day or have tons of lines, and that is perfectly fine. As much as I’d like it, she doesn’t need to be the center of attention. She just needs her worth and history to be acknowledged. Savage Hulk #1-#4 did just that by including her in a storyline from way back in her late 60s days.

  11. Included her in an X-Men 75th anniversary cover (Uncanny X-Men #28)

    This came on the heels of Marvel excluding her from a TON of X-Men amalgam anniversary covers. The covers included all the big names plus Havok alongside the O5, but excluded Lorna, despite how she joined before Havok. This cover made up for the amalgam covers mistake.

These are all the cases I can remember. There may be more that I am forgetting.

In short, none of this changes that Marvel is doing a LOT of bad things and excluding and undermining Lorna a lot in ways they should not. But if we’re going to push for positive change, it’s important to acknowledge the occasions when we get that positive change. It’s a disservice to Marvel, editors and writers to ignore when they do, especially if they’re facing pressure from above to make things worse.

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-eyes-like-stars-:

kurt-banged-her:

salarta:

kurt-banged-her:

blaze-rocket:

kurt-banged-her:

salarta:

(via Marvel Editors Literally Killing Anyone Who Mentions X-Men or Fantastic Four)

Even in parody form, it’s nice to see so many people and sites pointing out the exact same thing I’ve mentioned and complained about for several years, both for Marvel as a whole and Polaris specifically. Marvel’s current course helps nobody except Fox and specific people working on the Avengers franchise.

Note I said people, not the Avengers franchise itself. It hurts the Avengers franchise too, far more than it could ever help.

Marvel’s taking on Base Breaker style changes not just for specific
properties, but for all of Marvel. If you want to see how that worked
out, look at Soul Calibur. Soul Calibur V’s changes, kicking out major
beloved characters and replacing them with random new ones, literally
cut that game’s sales in half. Soul Calibur only exists today as a free
to play online game that people hardly talk about.

And there isn’t an audience Marvel is gaining as a result of mistreating the X-Men and Fantastic Four franchises.They’re only losing fans they don’t need to lose, and the money and positive buzz that comes with them.

This behavior puts a block on good stories that could be told, like Polaris and Scarlet Witch as sisters. It turns Marvel fans against each other, fuels a toxic environment. People that love the pedestal given by Avengers and those put down by it will fight with each other, and that infighting does not breed intrigue. It breeds avoidance. On sight of this kind of infighting, how many people are really going to think “Yeah, I want in on that action”? Most potential new fans will instead think “THAT’S what being a fan is like? Nope, nope, I’m outta here.”

The Marvel universe has so much potential. It deserves better than petty corporate sabotage and ego trips.

Please read this article it’s fantastic.

Oh and Salarta’s commentary is good too.

The phrase “Cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face” comes to mind. Again. Still. 

Also: I like how they’ve put lockjaw riiight up there in the front, in a desperate, and not totally transparent push to get someone– ANYONE– to give a shit about the Inhumans. “Look! We have puppies! People like dogs, right? The X-men never had a dog. C’mon! READ it!”

lol if Inhumans were worth shit they wouldn’t have to be turned into Nu X-men.

This is precisely one of those cases that I think proves my point about how Marvel is only hurting themselves.

I firmly believe any character or franchise has good qualities in its own right, it’s all a matter of understanding what those qualities are and then effectively presenting them to the world in a way everyone can see them. This includes the Inhumans. I think the Inhumans have their own meaningful and unique aspects that, if handled properly, could make for some great work.

Marvel trying to turn the Inhumans into “Nu X-Men” tosses nearly all of that in the bin. The Inhumans will never be as popular as the X-Men if they’re turned into “Nu X-Men,” and they’ll be even less so if the rumors about Marvel trying to turn the X-Men into “Nu Inhumans” turn out to be true. Both efforts make X-Men fans hostile toward the Inhumans and any potential they might have in their own right.

There’s a damn good chance that even if Marvel somehow gets everything they want, a good chunk of X-Men fans will never accept the Inhumans now. And it’ll be a direct consequence of Marvel’s efforts to undermine the X-Men.

Marvel might think upsetting a few hundred thousand comic book fans is a drop in the bucket, but it has a Streisand effect that can result in non-readers spending much less on Marvel merchandise and films than they otherwise would have. Between complaints about Black Widow’s writing in Age of Ultron and Renner’s sexist remarks, complaints about whitewashing the Maximoffs, lack of representation of women on merchandise and now the pissing match with Fox all becoming big mainstream news, Marvel’s going to be hurting soon.

In fact, they already are. They’re still “on top,” but Age of Ultron has been behind Avengers for sales despite its greater hype, and it fell into third as soon as some real competition hit theaters.

the article itself states this:

How this is supposed to affect a movie franchise that reaches tens of millions of people when comics readership as a whole consists of like 100,000 people who will probably go see X-Men movies regardless of whether Marvel is selling lunchboxes, nobody knows

I’m HELLA confused by what this article is saying because, RIGHT THIS MINUTE IN COMICS, Marvel is staging a massive crossover event designed to skyrocket sales, with Fantastic Four members Susan and Reed, along with frenemy Doom, at the core of the main plot, and X-Men characters leading multiple side-stories. Please tell me how these teams and groups are being undermined right now I’m desperate to know.

It might be difficult to really see all of what’s going on unless you’ve been following what they do to the comics very closely. Some of it can admittedly look paranoid if taken by itself, but lots of small things build up. Removing the Fantastic Four and X-Men from merchandise is the most recent sign, and hardest for Marvel to deny.

These are the cases I know. There are guaranteed to be ones I do not know or can’t remember right now. This list is also NOT an exhaustive list of sources and evidence, it’s what I threw together quickly off immediate memory.

  • Removing X-Men and Fantastic Four from merchandise meant to represent all of Marvel (1, 2)
  • Canceling the Fantastic Four comic after 600~ issues, conveniently timed for about when the new Fox film is coming out
  • Sketch card artists given explicit instructions not to draw Fantastic Four characters (1)
  • Canceling Wolverine and the X-Men as soon as Disney took over despite the cartoon having part of season 2 done and plans up to season 3 mapped out
  • Lack of dedicated X-Men cartoons or video games since; the Days of Future Past mobile game was pushed by Fox to coincide with the film,
    the X-Men anime was planned and announced pre-buyout
  • Setting up every event between Avengers and X-Men so the Avengers are better off and the X-Men are worse off (X-Men depicted as terrorists, Xavier killed off, turning Xavier’s brain and Genosha into plot devices for the Avengers and Red Skull to exploit while characters like Magneto are made to look foolish)
  • Avengers books getting to dictate the direction and issues dealt with by the X-books (Havok’s M-day speech, Wanda written as admonishing characters like Rogue about what it means to be part of the X-Men)
  • Making changes to existing characters and franchises in order to cut ties to the X-Men and Fantastic Four, such as forcing a retcon on Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver’s parentage so they’re no longer Magneto’s kids or mutants
  • No panel for the X-Men that wasn’t paired with the Avengers during San
    Diego Comic Con in 2014; this was despite how, at the time, Marvel had 4
    more X-Men books than Spider-Man books going but gave Spider-Verse its
    own panel.
  • Certain remarks by certain editors (not naming or linking here because I don’t want to risk people harassing them)

Marvel is still using the X-Men and Fantastic Four in increasingly smaller ways for two reasons. One, they want to push as many X-Men and Fantastic Four fans as possible over to other franchises. This is why they did so many events where Avengers and X-Men clashed. Two, for plausible deniability with responses such as the one you gave. If they take it slow, don’t pull it all at once, it’s easier to claim it’s all fan paranoia and any lack of use and representation is due to “lack of interest” in both franchises.

Source: theouthousers.com
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kurt-banged-her:

blaze-rocket:

kurt-banged-her:

salarta:

(via Marvel Editors Literally Killing Anyone Who Mentions X-Men or Fantastic Four)

Even in parody form, it’s nice to see so many people and sites pointing out the exact same thing I’ve mentioned and complained about for several years, both for Marvel as a whole and Polaris specifically. Marvel’s current course helps nobody except Fox and specific people working on the Avengers franchise.

Note I said people, not the Avengers franchise itself. It hurts the Avengers franchise too, far more than it could ever help.

Marvel’s taking on Base Breaker style changes not just for specific
properties, but for all of Marvel. If you want to see how that worked
out, look at Soul Calibur. Soul Calibur V’s changes, kicking out major
beloved characters and replacing them with random new ones, literally
cut that game’s sales in half. Soul Calibur only exists today as a free
to play online game that people hardly talk about.

And there isn’t an audience Marvel is gaining as a result of mistreating the X-Men and Fantastic Four franchises.They’re only losing fans they don’t need to lose, and the money and positive buzz that comes with them.

This behavior puts a block on good stories that could be told, like Polaris and Scarlet Witch as sisters. It turns Marvel fans against each other, fuels a toxic environment. People that love the pedestal given by Avengers and those put down by it will fight with each other, and that infighting does not breed intrigue. It breeds avoidance. On sight of this kind of infighting, how many people are really going to think “Yeah, I want in on that action”? Most potential new fans will instead think “THAT’S what being a fan is like? Nope, nope, I’m outta here.”

The Marvel universe has so much potential. It deserves better than petty corporate sabotage and ego trips.

Please read this article it’s fantastic.

Oh and Salarta’s commentary is good too.

The phrase “Cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face” comes to mind. Again. Still. 

Also: I like how they’ve put lockjaw riiight up there in the front, in a desperate, and not totally transparent push to get someone– ANYONE– to give a shit about the Inhumans. “Look! We have puppies! People like dogs, right? The X-men never had a dog. C’mon! READ it!”

lol if Inhumans were worth shit they wouldn’t have to be turned into Nu X-men.

This is precisely one of those cases that I think proves my point about how Marvel is only hurting themselves.

I firmly believe any character or franchise has good qualities in its own right, it’s all a matter of understanding what those qualities are and then effectively presenting them to the world in a way everyone can see them. This includes the Inhumans. I think the Inhumans have their own meaningful and unique aspects that, if handled properly, could make for some great work.

Marvel trying to turn the Inhumans into “Nu X-Men” tosses nearly all of that in the bin. The Inhumans will never be as popular as the X-Men if they’re turned into “Nu X-Men,” and they’ll be even less so if the rumors about Marvel trying to turn the X-Men into “Nu Inhumans” turn out to be true. Both efforts make X-Men fans hostile toward the Inhumans and any potential they might have in their own right.

There’s a damn good chance that even if Marvel somehow gets everything they want, a good chunk of X-Men fans will never accept the Inhumans now. And it’ll be a direct consequence of Marvel’s efforts to undermine the X-Men.

Marvel might think upsetting a few hundred thousand comic book fans is a drop in the bucket, but it has a Streisand effect that can result in non-readers spending much less on Marvel merchandise and films than they otherwise would have. Between complaints about Black Widow’s writing in Age of Ultron and Renner’s sexist remarks, complaints about whitewashing the Maximoffs, lack of representation of women on merchandise and now the pissing match with Fox all becoming big mainstream news, Marvel’s going to be hurting soon.

In fact, they already are. They’re still “on top,” but Age of Ultron has been behind Avengers for sales despite its greater hype, and it fell into third as soon as some real competition hit theaters.

Source: theouthousers.com
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rnonotone:

salarta:

happylad92:

rnonotone:

@people drawing trans boys: please for the love of god, draw a binder and not the bandaid wrap, as using ace bandages to bind is very dangerous and can influence young inexperienced trans boys to bind like that.

To be honest, while I’m sure most of the use of bandages instead of binders is due to misconceptions, I also think it happens because it’s “sexier.” With bandages, you’re seeing the shoulders, more skin in general, and attention is heavily drawn to how flat the chest is. With binders, they can be seen in the same way as a tight shirt or tanktop.

The artists still shouldn’t draw the bandages. While I agree with you for the most part, this post was intended to get people to stop drawing the bandages.

Looks like maybe my post wasn’t clear enough. I’m agreeing with you. I’m saying I think part of the reason they use bandages is because it provides a way to “sex up” the presentation of trans men with reminders that they have female biology.

I’ve seen characters like Naoto Shirogane from Persona 4 drawn with bandages where you see the breast shape clearly, and sometimes even see cleavage. It kinda goes against the point when trans men are sexualized in a manner that calls attention to female biology. At least, that’s how it looks to me; please correct me if I’m mistaken.

Source: rnonotone
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(via Marvel Editors Literally Killing Anyone Who Mentions X-Men or Fantastic Four)

Even in parody form, it’s nice to see so many people and sites pointing out the exact same thing I’ve mentioned and complained about for several years, both for Marvel as a whole and Polaris specifically. Marvel’s current course helps nobody except Fox and specific people working on the Avengers franchise.

Note I said people, not the Avengers franchise itself. It hurts the Avengers franchise too, far more than it could ever help.

Marvel’s taking on Base Breaker style changes not just for specific
properties, but for all of Marvel. If you want to see how that worked
out, look at Soul Calibur. Soul Calibur V’s changes, kicking out major
beloved characters and replacing them with random new ones, literally
cut that game’s sales in half. Soul Calibur only exists today as a free
to play online game that people hardly talk about.

And there isn’t an audience Marvel is gaining as a result of mistreating the X-Men and Fantastic Four franchises.They’re only losing fans they don’t need to lose, and the money and positive buzz that comes with them.

This behavior puts a block on good stories that could be told, like Polaris and Scarlet Witch as sisters. It turns Marvel fans against each other, fuels a toxic environment. People that love the pedestal given by Avengers and those put down by it will fight with each other, and that infighting does not breed intrigue. It breeds avoidance. On sight of this kind of infighting, how many people are really going to think “Yeah, I want in on that action”? Most potential new fans will instead think “THAT’S what being a fan is like? Nope, nope, I’m outta here.”

The Marvel universe has so much potential. It deserves better than petty corporate sabotage and ego trips.

Source: theouthousers.com
Format Post format: ImageLeave a comment

happylad92:

rnonotone:

@people drawing trans boys: please for the love of god, draw a binder and not the bandaid wrap, as using ace bandages to bind is very dangerous and can influence young inexperienced trans boys to bind like that.

To be honest, while I’m sure most of the use of bandages instead of binders is due to misconceptions, I also think it happens because it’s “sexier.” With bandages, you’re seeing the shoulders, more skin in general, and attention is heavily drawn to how flat the chest is. With binders, they can be seen in the same way as a tight shirt or tanktop.

Source: rnonotone