salarta

This cover and solicit got released today.

MAGNETO #21  
CULLEN BUNN
PAUL DAVIDSON (a)
Cover by DAVID YARDIN
• With the Earth on the verge of destruction, the Master of Magnetism is determined to be mutantkind’s savior once more…
• But at what cost?
32 PGS./Parental Advisory …$3.99

What I see here is raising all my red flags for the possibility of Lorna getting killed off.

We won’t know what really happens until the actual issues come out, or at least until we get more interviews and previews. This is all speculative educated guessing based on what we’ve seen so far. This prediction could be completely wrong, and I certainly hope it is.

Here’s why it looks like Lorna is going to get killed off, and so soon after Marvel’s forced retcon on Wanda and Pietro.

Secret Wars is touted as this big event that’s going to change the face of Marvel. It’s being used as an opportunity to cull much of the roster, particularly the X-Men and Fantastic Four as a result of Fox owning the film rights to those franchises.

Magneto #20 makes a heavy emphasis on Lorna as “salvation.”

   • Earth is careening toward oblivion and Magneto is desperate to prevent mutantkind from meeting its untimely end…

   • But could it be that the key to salvation has been right in front of him all along in the form of his daughter, Polaris?

Compare.

Lorna is “salvation.” She’s posed in a very clear crucifix position. Energy’s glowing radiantly out of her. We have Jesus martyr imagery plain as day here.

Magneto is still alive in #21. We know this for a fact thanks to the solicits. The cover for #21 puts an emphasis on his whole family, from Wanda and Pietro, to Lorna, to his relationship with Rogue. Within that, Magneto looks down and defeated, expressing significant loss. There is no mention of Lorna in those solicits, and the last we know about Lorna’s involvement is having a big scene with Briar in #20.

Everything we see here suggests Lorna is going to die, and Magneto is going to spend #21 agonizing over everything he’s lost in such a short time. It is not absolute proof. It is only strong suggestion. Anything is still possible.

I’m ending off with a frank personal statement. If you wish to read it, follow the “Keep reading” jump.

I’ve said in the past that if Lorna were to get killed off on Uncanny Avengers, I wouldn’t be bothered if Lorna died there, because Remender loves killing characters. Under those circumstances, I’d be able to wait for a year before complaining about her death.

Lorna getting killed off during the fog of Secret Wars on a non-Remender book is not the same thing. I would be bothered with her dying during this event, even if Bunn’s excellent writing gives her a great send-off.

Why? Well, naturally, there’s some of my fandom involved – but that’s not all there is to it. If Lorna gets killed off, we already know from Marvel’s actions over the past 6 years that it will not be for noble, well-intentioned goals like telling a good story.

For the past 6 years, Lorna has been kept away from her family, left out of major events she had a huge stake in like Children’s Crusade, AvX and Axis, left off anniversary covers Havok got to be on despite being around before him as the second female X-Men member after Jean Grey. Anything she’s on has received no promotion, or in the case of All-New X-Factor #14, deliberately buried from view. And we know all of this is a result of Disney and Marvel being angry about how Fox owns the film rights to the X-Men franchise.

I would have been able to accept Lorna getting killed off for a time if the opposite of the above was true, if Marvel acknowledged and respected her enough to use her as much as she deserved to be used.

Again, we won’t know anything for sure until the actual issues come out, or at least until we have more interviews to go on. Lorna might die. She might live. Nothing is confirmed with 100% certainty just from this much. For this reason, I’m likely not going to say anything more about this unless new information makes saying something necessary.

But, if Lorna gets killed off during Secret Wars, I’m done with everything Marvel until she comes back. If she doesn’t come back by the time the new Star Wars movie comes out on December 18th, I’m swearing off everything Disney that I can. I only specify “that I can” because I might not realize something is owned by Disney until it’s too late. However, I’ll still buy and see Fox content based on Marvel properties, and I’ll still complain about Marvel and point out what’s wrong with the company, more than ever before.

Oh, and I won’t blame Cullen Bunn if Lorna dies, because I know it won’t be his fault. He’s the writer, he does amazing work, but killing off a character like Polaris is something only a higher-up would allow or demand. Bunn’s only role would be trying to make the narrative best out of terrible business decisions out of his hands.

That’s where I stand on all this. Feel free to omit my personal bits if you want to reblog everything before it.