Opinion (Polaris-centric): Paniccia and Ketchum Leading X-Books

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Originally, I was going to make a post within the next few days about how terrible and obvious it is that Marvel’s been trying to bury the X-Men and Fantastic Four, citing recent articles like this and this. However, news that came out today that I’d much rather talk about: Mark Paniccia is now senior editor of the X-Men, joined by Daniel Ketchum.

Note #1: I am NOT what I consider a “hardcore” comics fan. I know a lot specifically about Polaris’ history and treatment and stuff that’s happened related to her, but I don’t know tons and tons outside that. I don’t really know much about editors pre-2009.

Note #2: This post will be Polaris-centric, because she’s what I care about most.

Follow the jump if you still want to read on!

So! Paniccia. Recently, he was the one in charge of Savage Hulk during the arc that included Lorna.

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Lorna didn’t have a very big role on the arc, but she DID have a meaningful one, and she was on it. That’s extremely important. In the past, Marvel’s ignored her history with the franchise and acted like she was created in the 90s as an obscure character. In Savage Hulk, we see Marvel acknowledge that she’s been around since 1968, and I think it was a really good smaller role showing for her.

(For anyone that might be concerned about the second image, it’s all mental hallucination even with the implication that Hulked up Jean is mind-controlling everyone)

However, there’s something far more important he worked on: Jeff Parker’s Exiles in 2009.

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This is just a sample, there are a lot of great moments between Lorna and Wanda. Exiles provided us with these AU versions of the sisters, and even sent the Exiles to a whole House of M style universe. We got two sets of AU sister awesomeness, and the storyline itself made heavy use of that. Parker’s Exiles is honestly THE version of their relationship I point to any time I want people to know what’s possible.

On the flipside, Paniccia was the editor on Ultimates for the event that killed off Ultimate Lorna. Personally, that one doesn’t bother me; it might’ve been decided without him, and regardless, it might have been for the best. Ultimate Lorna was devoid of most of what made other versions of Lorna, especially 616 Lorna, so great.

This means that in Paniccia, we’ve got someone that knows how important Lorna is as part of X-Men franchise history, and who knows of the potential of Lorna both separately and with her sister Wanda.

Next, Ketchum. Recently, he’s been the main editor to the amazing Magneto solo written by Cullen Bunn. It’s the only X-Men book I’ve been reading that didn’t have Lorna on it, who only just recently got involved on Magneto #18 with great moments like these.

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Magneto’s considered one of the best X-Men books currently getting published, and Bunn’s written some great work that’s really addressed Magneto’s character with brutal honesty. I haven’t said much about editors in that regard, but bad editors could really screw up good writing, and I think what we’ve seen in Magneto shows Ketchum’s a good editor.

Ketchum was also editor on X-Factor, most importantly for X-Factor #243, THE big issue (in my opinion) of the run in which we finally got Lorna’s origin story after she went 40 years without one.

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At the time, I was very negative about Lorna on X-Factor under Peter David’s pen, and X-Factor #243 was a shining moment that I think helped change my view to a more open mind for All-New X-Factor. Obviously nearly all the credit for that goes to Peter David himself, but like with the Magneto solo, I’m sure Ketchum deserves at least some credit.

It should be noted that Ketchum’s been editor for Axis and the more recent post-Axis Uncanny Avengers, but from what I’ve seen about each, he’s not the editor in charge, just an assistant editor.

So, in Ketchum we have an editor that also knows Lorna’s long history with the franchise, knows the importance of her ties to her father, and who was on board for one of the most important issues of her recent character development.

Between Paniccia and Ketchum, we have two editors that are aware of Lorna’s history with the franchise and key parts of her character development and potential. They’ve each been editors on some of the best depictions and uses of her in recent history.

I don’t know everything about either of them, and even thinking the best of each, there are people above them at Marvel who could overrule them on anything and everything. Still, right now I’m optimistic about the future, both for Lorna and the X-Men franchise as a whole.

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peppermonster:

salarta:

comicbookwomen:

Scarlet Witch and Polaris-Mike Mayhew

As much as I love for awareness of both Polaris herself and her ties to her sister Wanda to spread, I need to point out that the green woman in this picture is supposed to be Enchantress.

However, it also gives me a chance to point out what’s going on here.

Marvel doesn’t want to use of acknowledge Lorna and Wanda as sisters or the growing interest in their relationship. Back in 2009, we saw Lorna and Wanda interacting as sisters in the Wolverine and the X-Men cartoon, and the Exiles and Fantastic Force comics… but shortly after Disney bought Marvel, the first two got canceled. In the half a decade that followed, Wanda and Pietro did things with their father Magneto like Children’s Crusade, Avengers vs X-Men and No More Humans, but Lorna was always excluded and treated like she wasn’t part of the family. A portrait originally from House of M was even redrawn in Children’s Crusade to remove her.

Last year, we FINALLY got Lorna and Wanda spending time together as sisters on All-New X-Factor #14. It was a great issue, it was the second issue in a double shipping month and it actually sold about 400-500 more issues than an issue of ANXF normally would have… in spite of Marvel not promoting it and even withholding the issue’s cover until less than a week before it hit store shelves. Imagine how many more issues it would’ve sold if Marvel gave it the support it deserved.

Here’s where this picture comes into play. This is a variant cover for Axis. It’s supposed to be Enchantress, but she’s been mistaken for Lorna in this picture many, many times because Marvel went out of their way to recolor Enchantress’ hair green, and recolored Wanda’s red to make it look less bizarre.

What we’re left with is a whole mess of insult toward all the characters involved. It’s insulting to Lorna because it’s an unnecessary exclusion of her from her family and events purely because Marvel doesn’t value or respect her. It’s insulting to Enchantress because it changes her from her own character with her own worth into a Polaris knockoff just to avoid using Lorna. And it’s insulting to Wanda because it suggests her potential for relationships with other characters is so generic that they’re all interchangeable.

Since then, they’ve backed off on trying to replace Lorna with Enchantress, but also retconned Wanda and Pietro out of being Magneto’s kids. Marvel’s basically doing everything it possibly can to not acknowledge and use Lorna and Wanda as sisters, despite how more and more people show a desire to see it with each passing year.

and in the end, after editing her out of the M-family photos and plots, she ends up being the only M-kid left. Marvel fucking dropped the ball with this whole damn family. 

Yeah, and it’s not even like Marvel can pretend to not know any better. In terms of Wanda and Pietro as Magneto’s kids, they know how much outrage and sadness alike they caused with the forced retcon, they’ve had to respond to it. In terms of Lorna and Wanda, going so far as to recolor Enchantress’ hair green on a variant cover demonstrates they’re aware of interest in the sisters’ relationship but have no respect for it.

I’d never say Marvel “has” to do every single thing anyone asks of them, including myself, but this is one case where their reasons for their actions are terrible and do more harm to Marvel and fans alike than any kind of imagined good.

Source: comicbookwomen
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charleypollard:

Day #[I don’t know I don’t count them] I still miss All-New X-Factor. 

I felt there were some problems with it, especially in its treatment of Lorna from ANXF #4 to #6, but it WAS getting better starting from ANXF #7 onward. ANXF #12 and #13 were great for Pietro, and #14 was excellent for Lorna and Wanda. Technically, ANXF #3-6 were probably good for Gambit, but how they handled Lorna makes it hard for me to say much about them.

Going with the trend of gradual improvement, I would’ve liked for ANXF to continue. There was a lot of potential behind the idea of a corporate-owned team, and this team specifically, but it didn’t really find its place before it got canceled. I still think it could’ve made for a good cartoon.

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comicbookwomen:

Scarlet Witch and Polaris-Mike Mayhew

As much as I love for awareness of both Polaris herself and her ties to her sister Wanda to spread, I need to point out that the green woman in this picture is supposed to be Enchantress.

However, it also gives me a chance to point out what’s going on here.

Marvel doesn’t want to use or acknowledge Lorna and Wanda as sisters or the growing interest in their relationship. Back in 2009, we saw Lorna and Wanda interacting as sisters in the Wolverine and the X-Men cartoon, and the Exiles and Fantastic Force comics… but shortly after Disney bought Marvel, the first two got canceled. In the half a decade that followed, Wanda and Pietro did things with their father Magneto like Children’s Crusade, Avengers vs X-Men and No More Humans, but Lorna was always excluded and treated like she wasn’t part of the family. A portrait originally from House of M was even redrawn in Children’s Crusade to remove her.

Last year, we FINALLY got Lorna and Wanda spending time together as sisters on All-New X-Factor #14. It was a great issue, it was the second issue in a double shipping month and it actually sold about 400-500 more issues than an issue of ANXF normally would have… in spite of Marvel not promoting it and even withholding the issue’s cover until less than a week before it hit store shelves. Imagine how many more issues it would’ve sold if Marvel gave it the support it deserved.

Here’s where this picture comes into play. This is a variant cover for Axis. It’s supposed to be Enchantress, but she’s been mistaken for Lorna in this picture many, many times because Marvel went out of their way to recolor Enchantress’ hair green, and recolored Wanda’s red to make it look less bizarre.

What we’re left with is a whole mess of insult toward all the characters involved. It’s insulting to Lorna because it’s an unnecessary exclusion of her from her family and events purely because Marvel doesn’t value or respect her. It’s insulting to Enchantress because it changes her from her own character with her own worth into a Polaris knockoff just to avoid using Lorna. And it’s insulting to Wanda because it suggests her potential for relationships with other characters is so generic that they’re all interchangeable.

Since then, they’ve backed off on trying to replace Lorna with Enchantress, but also retconned Wanda and Pietro out of being Magneto’s kids. Marvel’s basically doing everything it possibly can to not acknowledge and use Lorna and Wanda as sisters, despite how more and more people show a desire to see it with each passing year.