Fantasy!AU: Lorna is a witch, The Keeper of mountains, and Pietro is a stranger
original sketch | inspired by fic (!russian language!)
Okay, it’s now clear that I need to regularly check in on a few different Tumblr accounts, because a Tumblr search didn’t pull up this awesome piece.
Yesterday, how much interest exists for Polaris/Lorna Dane on Twitter came into question. Well, I’ve been compiling tweets about Lorna for several months now. I’ve saved screenshots of over 200 tweets in that time. I’m sifting through and making use of some of them.
This post serves one purpose: to show those tweets I’ve found that demonstrate a strong desire that people have to see more of Polaris.
No commentary from me. Just a couple introductory “rules” and disclaimers to what I’m presenting.
No tweets about Gifted.
Will attempt to not use the same person more than once – can’t guarantee I won’t slip up.
For the top 10 lists, I opted not to save all the tweets including her cause I thought that would be annoyingly and unnecessarily repetitive.
With that, here we go. 72 tweets on this post. Broken down by category.
I have another post to make later. Tonight if I have the time and I’m not too tired. But this is overdue.
People are starting to talk about how it’s Lorna’s 50th anniversary next month. Marvel won’t acknowledge it, but others will.
Yep. People are increasingly aware of how shitty Havok has been for Lorna’s history. Having Lorna’s return and use on Blue hijacked by Havok to promote him and then Havok leading a team book while Lorna gets nothing doesn’t help that sentiment whatsoever.
I include this one because literally nobody has liked or retweeted it, vs the one it’s quote-retweeting getting 3 retweets and 19 likes.
Concern is rising about this. I don’t feel like writing extensively at the moment. Just. It’s pretty much what I warned could easily happen on this show after Dreamer was killed off so poorly.
Another to go with the Havok stuff up there. Guy’s trolling obviously. But it’s the same sentiment as the guy I ran into back in 2009/2010 that said Lorna should be left in space limbo to “keep her away from characters that matter.”
Couple new top 10 posts.
Segura doesn’t work for Marvel, but this is a vivid show that there are writers that would like to write Lorna in some capacity.
If they don’t work at Marvel right now, then it’s an issue that Marvel isn’t hiring people that would want to write her. They’re hiring people that match their personal sentiments that disadvantage Lorna.
Talk rising of how Lorna should be included in MCU based stuff with the rights going back to Marvel.
Remarks of how mental health issues are common in the Magnus family, and also questioning the trope of women “going crazy” in comics. I’d say a more accurate point here is women with great power suddenly turning out shitty or evil when they get it. Jean Grey, Scarlet Witch, Polaris, Sue Storm, Monica Rambeau (when Avengers leader), there’s a tendency in many past comics to paint women in a bad light.
Actually, I’d say Lorna could be bi too. But lesbian would fit just fine. Say that dating Havok was self-loathing. And it’s not like Marvel has any other characters in her history to deal with. They haven’t allowed her to date anyone that isn’t Havok.
Just some WATXM value.
The issue he’s talking about is, I believe, Uncanny X-Men #442 or #443 (I’m too lazy right now to make sure I got the number right). Austen’s run. Which shows how that run was integral to her character.
General fandom and character gushing.
Damn right she is!
This is an example of how interest in Lorna has spread. Again, people are dyeing their hair green specifically because of their interest in Lorna. People don’t do that over characters they don’t care much about.
Final tweet to highlight, for its great point. Marvel tries to seem progressive and supportive of diversity, yet they have all these great female characters that they don’t utilize in any real and proper way. Which, of course, includes Lorna.
That’s all here. I will have a post in the near future with no commentary, just tweets posted, to make a very specific point when I send someone the link.
Wanda and Pietro being restored as Magneto’s kids shouldn’t mean Lorna loses, but there’s fair reason for the worry.
Before the forced retcon on the twins’ parentage, an editor at Marvel was absolutely adamant that Lorna “couldn’t” be Magneto’s daughter. Not only did the editor try to make up excuses, he deliberately excluded Lorna from every single thing having to do with her family. Children’s Crusade, Avengers vs X-Men, No More Humans, Axis. The editor went as far as to have a House of M picture redrawn to remove Lorna.
All this, while the editor also tried to find ways to “replace” Lorna with other characters. From having colors tweaked to make Enchantress look like Lorna on an Axis cover:
To post-Axis trying to give the twins a new “sister” that was conveniently monochrome.
To add, during Axis, the cover to All-New X-Factor #14 – where Lorna actually got to spend time with Wanda – was kept from release until the Friday before the issue would be available for purchase.
And then there’s Marvel itself. The company has a hard time showing any respect for Lorna in general. They especially don’t seem to want to acknowledge and respect her actual roots as a character, seeming to prefer how later writers ruined her by making her a lesser supporting character for Havok.
I want to stress, though, that the twins should still be restored. The family should be whole again. They have great stories together when all of them are treated with respect. Lorna only loses if a) Marvel goes through with retconning Lorna out after restoring the twins, and b) there isn’t enough pushback if Lorna gets retconned out again.
As a Lorna fan, I’m glad that she’s Magneto’s daughter. I want that explored in good ways. I want it to exist as a part of her identity, adding stories to be told, while avoiding it defining her and limiting her stories. When the whole family is together, that’s even better. My favorite family moments have been Lorna and Wanda interacting, even though most of it is only seen in AUs.
That editor who wanted Lorna not to be Magneto’s daughter, felt that way because he secretly thought it would “take away” from Wanda being “special” – another case of artificial scarcity of roles for women in comic books. Just like the “lists” of importance (A-list, B-list, Z-list, etc). It’s one of the most insidious aspects of persisting comic book attitudes from past decades.
It’s really up to fans to break those molds and push for Marvel to be better. Catering to those molds by not wanting the twins to be restored just so Lorna’s at less risk of being retconned helps nothing.
please,, give polaris a decent redesign………… im begging u
IMO, Kris Anka provided an excellent potential redesign. It retains enough of her iconic look for her to be recognizable, adds a much-needed secondary color that hints at her powers, and it comes off like battle armor to get at her personality.
Only thing I don’t like of the second version is the Magneto-like bubbles on it.
I think I’ve seen enough to confirm that Marvel is blacklisting anything having to do with Polaris/Lorna Dane.
Obviously, there’s the fact they have nothing planned for her. It’s her 50th anniversary, there’s a TV show where its idea of her is the most popular character out of all of them. There is no reason for them not to use her.
There’s also this tweet by Gail Simone which to me, gives away that Marvel is shooting down anything having to do with Lorna.
How would a Polaris book be a “hard sell” unless people higher up at Marvel are getting in the way?
But here’s what I consider the final piece of evidence: as they’re reprinting Uncanny X-Men in the 00s, they’re deliberately skipping over the most important issues for her.
In February, they’re reprinting Uncanny X-Men up to #424. This is right before Lorna’s wedding issues.
In December this year, they’re reprinting Uncanny X-Men starting at #444. This is right after her best issues in the entire run.
There’s only one possible reason to have no plans for Lorna, to skip over her essential issues of a run, and for a writer to think it’s not possible to convince Marvel to accept a solo book pitch for her: Marvel has Lorna blacklisted.
And if she reappears as “Havok’s girlfriend” or some bullshit like that, I’m still right. Because that will mean they’ve blacklisted Lorna the actual character. Using Lorna only as a way to promote Havok is not using Lorna. It’s using a plot device with the name and visual appearance of Lorna.
Thoughts arose from tweets on the Twitters.
There’s a little discrepancy on the nature of Lorna’s hair color.
X-Men #49: Lorna’s says she was born with green hair.
X-Factor #243: Lorna’s memory suggests her green hair came about when she used her powers on the plane.
What can account for this discrepancy?
Did her foster parents tell her she was born with green hair?
Did she assume she was born with green hair because she has no memories prior?
Was she really born with green hair (and therefore born with her powers), and Suzanna dyed her hair brown to cover it up, only for the dye to come off when she used her powers during the crash?
Just one of those things worth pointing out, needing some blanks filled some day.
salarta 