This is a good final moment for Lorna on the book. Much better than what I thought was her final moment, the Havok-focused one from months ago.
If things had gone better for her use on Blue, this would have been a good lead-in to Lorna leading a new school and team. Take a bit of her experience with Genosha, and her mix of Xavier and Magneto philosophies, and you have something good to work with. Danger would’ve been a good member of a team led by Lorna.
There’s one thing I want to point out concerning Marvel and use of Lorna, and part of the process involves acknowledging one good thing about Blue that I haven’t mentioned much until now.
Out of all pictures of Lorna during her time on X-Men Blue, this is the one I keep seeing most on social media.
One of my big complaints – perhaps biggest – of Lorna’s earlier appearance on X-Men Blue was that it bent over backwards to put “she’s Magneto’s daughter” at the forefront of everything about her. Doing that brought about a lot of problems. History was overlooked, opportunities were missed, etc.
One thing Cullen Bunn did right and well with Lorna on Blue is exemplified in the above image. He actually did take steps to fix the problem of how Lorna’s own identity was getting ignored in earlier issues.
The above image’s usage on social media is the result.
There are various images people could use instead. The page where she’s described only as “daughter of Magneto.” The panel where her memories are used to “redeem” Havok. Both of which I abhored, but even ones I support like Lorna training Angel and Jimmy. Those get less use than what’s above.
Here’s why it gets so much use. The picture acknowledges that Lorna is Magneto’s daughter, but it doesn’t define her as Magneto’s daughter. She’s acknowledged as her own character. She may have things in common with her father, but she has her own independent interests and drives that take precedence over who her dad is, too.
This was something Bunn did right, and it paid off for everyone. If he had done more like this, I would be saying a lot of good things about Blue today and how he turned his use of her around. Unfortunately, that’s not what happened with regard to Havok.
A few days ago, it was confirmed that X-Men Blue is ending, and Bunn is off the X-Men books as he goes to other areas of Marvel. I have a few things to say.
Editorial vs Writer
I’ve seen some people say Bunn kept getting interference from editorial. If that’s true, and if things I’ve complained about concerning his writing happened only because of that interference, then I apologize for as hard as I was on him.
However, I did also repeatedly say that I needed clear signs it was editorial and not him, and I never got those signs, so I had to assume it was primarily Bunn’s choices as a writer. And as such, until I see proof, I have to lean toward the expectation that “editorial got in his way” is more likely fans of Bunn wanting to write off problems as things he had no control over.
Expectations vs Reality
When I originally found out about Bunn, I read the Magneto series both cause knowing Magneto fed into knowing Lorna, and because I hoped Lorna would show up there and get the same care and attention Bunn was giving Magneto. I assumed quality for Magneto would trickle down to quality for Polaris, which led me to imagine all sorts of things could happen.
Not that every story arc or issue would be “about Lorna,” as that would be absurd and greedy. But I expected that when she did show up, she would get some really good stuff out of it.
Instead, most of her presence with Bunn writing her has been what she can do for Magneto or Havok. How Magneto having a daughter can boost his profile. How Havok’s ex can give insight into who he was before inversion. Even Lorna’s big return was really all about how she could benefit those two men. And then, not content with Havok having stolen the sole issue where Lorna could have shone, he was then given a five-issue story arc.
That was not what I expected and hoped for with Bunn when I supported him taking over as her writer. Frankly, I expected editorial to refuse to let her be used. But in a scenario of Bunn getting to use her more than that, I expected great things from him.
I expected scenes of Lorna talking to teen Jean and teen Iceman because they came from a time shortly before they would’ve met teen Lorna. I expected that Lorna and Magneto’s shared Genosha history would be featured prominently. I expected that if Malice was used, Bunn would delve into the vast potential behind it. I even fandommed that perhaps the time travel device Bunn introduced was going to bring teen Lorna in, or that the Sentinels that helped the teen O5 were controlled by Lorna.
I don’t know with 100% certainty why none of that happened. Maybe editorial shot it down. Maybe Bunn didn’t care enough about Lorna as her own character to want to do anything like any of that.
The Overall Takeaway
My overall takeaway is that Blue ending, and Bunn moving on to other areas of Marvel, is… good. At least for Polaris.
Under Bunn, Lorna didn’t really reach any important milestones or development like she got with Peter David – who I also didn’t exactly like writing her, but I came around to him by the end of ANXF as he made real efforts to fix things in response to complaints.
The three things that can be said for Bunn having written Lorna is that she interacted with Magneto, Malice came up again, and she was on a flagship title. But I can’t say he made good use of her, because he didn’t. We learned nothing new. She didn’t achieve anything new. And with the teen O5 going away soon, it feels more and more like he wasted a golden opportunity to tell such amazing stories.
Someone I used to talk to, used to say Lorna needs a writer that will champion her before she’s able to get real use and real attention at Marvel. The impression I got out of what Bunn’s done with Lorna is that her champion wasn’t Bunn. If he was, he would’ve done more with and for her. If editorial resisted, he would’ve fought for her. At the very least, he would’ve said more publicly to show interest in her so fandom could talk to him and he’d have fandom as a bargaining chip.
I don’t want a writer writing Lorna that only sees Lorna as Magneto’s daughter or Havok’s ex. If it’s editorial who sees her that way, I don’t want a writer writing Lorna that isn’t willing to push back against editorial’s misguided ideas of who Lorna is. I want a writer for Lorna that sees her potential and wants to use it.
I wish Bunn the best wherever he goes. If editorial was screwing him over like some fans say they were, I’m glad he’s switching to where editorial can’t do that to him anymore. I thank him for not making things worse for Lorna when he could have. And if he sees her potential some day, or he gets up the will to fight for her to be treated better by Marvel, then I’m open to him writing her again – but with an understanding that I’ll need some convincing that things will be better the next time around.
Covers and solicits for Blue #33 and #34 came out today. These are for August, two months before Lorna’s 50th anniversary.
I have some things to say about assumptions I’ve seen concerning the cover for #34. But first, the cover and solicit for the issue it’s paired with.
X-MEN BLUE #34 CULLEN BUNN • MARCUS TO (A) Cover by R.B. Silva • Time-traveling Magneto must team up with the future counterpart X-Men in order to save mutantkind from extinction. • But in order to do so, will Magneto submit to his darker instincts? • Don’t miss a major turning point for the Master of Magnetism! 32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99
The solicit for #33 explains Magneto’s gone 20 years into the future, so this is with him still there.
I’ll also have some good things to say after I talk about assumptions.
First, there’s the assumption that this is Polaris on the lower left. It’s a perfectly fair, reasonable assumption given Lorna’s use on Blue and that the costume and hair match.
However, this is Marvel. This is the same company that tried to make Enchantress look like Lorna during Axis, and for the Shadowcat wedding issue last week, made Brand look like Lorna while placing her between two women who just happened to be wearing green dresses. Even though all signs point to Lorna, it’s important to be prepared for the chance Marvel’s doing that on purpose before revealing it’s an entirely different character.
Second, there’s an assumption that this is proof Lorna doesn’t get killed off in upcoming issues and Marvel acknowledges she has a future. For which this assumption has three mistakes.
Mistake #1: Lorna being alive in the future doesn’t mean she doesn’t die in the present. Characters die and come back to life often. This is important because if she gets killed off, Marvel telling us “she’ll be back” means little if they conveniently have her dead in October during the 50th anniversary of her creation.
Mistake #2: The future can change. Just because she’s alive in the future now doesn’t mean she’s promised a return if she’s killed off.
Mistake #3: If she’s killed off in coming issues, then even if Marvel of today intends to bring her back, plans can change. Someone else could take over and decide to keep her dead.
All in all, it’s nice to be optimistic and hope for good things to happen. Maybe they will. But with Marvel, it’s also important to be prepared for them trying to pull fast ones and steering people toward making assumptions that aren’t true.
I said I’d have some good things to say after I addressed assumptions, so here they are.
This cover is better than the coming cover for Blue #28. If that is Lorna on the lower left corner, Magneto isn’t just standing over her, he’s standing over all of them. It sends a message of Magneto overpowering all of them, not just Lorna.
If that is Lorna, I also really like that it appears the costume she’s wearing will be at least closer to her iconic costume. That’s become a lot more important to me than it already was after Marvel decided to give Havok a book to lead where he gets to wear his iconic costume, paired with the “making Brand look like Lorna” debacle from last week. Those two situations have made me a lot more opposed to the idea of Lorna in a generic team uniform than I used to be.
The glove reminds me slightly of Anka’s idea for a costume redesign, which is the only redesign I’ve seen and liked so far.
I think some people are assuming they see a part of Lorna’s headpiece on the right side, but I think that’s just a portion of cape sticking out. I could assume she’s missing the headpiece she should have cause I’d expect it to poke out, but I’ll wait under the idea that maybe her hair is blocking it.
Someone pointed out to me that volume 6 of the trade paperback for X-Men Blue is collecting only Blue #35 and #36, with speculation that the book ends with #36.
Blue’s release schedule is two issues per month. Having looked at that schedule, #36 would be the second issue of September – meaning it ends right before Lorna’s 50th anniversary in October.
Old, idealistic, optimistic me from 2009 would like to accept fantasies that there’s some big secret plan for Lorna’s anniversary, and would like to believe this is a hint that Marvel will actually acknowledge her value and history in October. That version of me would like to believe Marvel will do something big for her, like announce a solo book, or relaunch Blue with much more of a focus on Lorna’s value and potential than we’ve seen so far.
Current, jaded, pessimistic me – which has been right more often than old optimistic me – expects otherwise. I remember when Pietro was deliberately left off covers of All-New X-Factor while Days of Future Past was in theaters. I remember Brevoort trying to “replace” Lorna in Wanda and Pietro’s lives, first with Enchantress during Axis, then with “Luminous” on Uncanny Avengers.
Jaded me expects that if Blue ends at #36 in September, it’s to keep Lorna out of the comics on the exact month of her anniversary.
Because jaded me has been right more often than optimistic me, I’m deferring to jaded me again. I’ll have to wait until there’s more to go on before a firm conclusion can be made, though. Hopefully we get good news in/about October.
Edit: Though if jaded me’s view is correct, it would also mean Lorna wasn’t killed off in Blue #28/29, which is what I’ve been expecting will happen to her. So, positive note.
I’ve leveled complaints about Bunn and his treatment of Polaris/Lorna Dane for several months. I’ve really picked up with it in the past month, due to Blue #23.
But I’m not getting any pushback. Even when I’ve complained about the worst stuff I’ve ever seen for any character in anything, I’ve had at least some tiny shred of pushback. And a few months back, I did have that with Bunn. I haven’t had it lately though. I’ve only seen people who also see problems with what Bunn’s doing, or who agree with what I’ve been saying.
So my question is this: do you disagree with my complaints? Do you think Bunn’s doing a good or great job with Polaris?
I’m not looking for an argument with this post. I’m not requesting an explanation, though you can give one if you want. I just want to know if there’s support for how he’s treating Lorna that hasn’t been said or that I’m not seeing.
I will admit in advance that if reasons are given, I might say something about those reasons, but it would very likely be in a new post.
Oh hey look, the cover for an upcoming Blue issue reinforces every bad thing I’ve said about Bunn on his view and treatment of Polaris, and adds more weight to arguments he can’t write women at all.
Remember: the cover of a comic is almost always a reflection of the story contained within. They’re trying to sell you on the story with it.
On this cover, the action is Magneto attacking Havok. The apparent cause? The passive, weak, defeated Polaris sitting right there.
No agency. No expression. Not even conscious. On this cover, Lorna exists exclusively to be a trophy for Magneto and Havok to fight over. Lorna isn’t a character on this cover. She’s an object for the stories of men.
By itself, this cover could get a pass. If Bunn had a pattern of treating Lorna incredibly well, then we could dismiss this cover as either the artist or the editor misrepresenting the story.
But we can’t do that. Because it fits Bunn’s pattern of poor treatment toward Lorna. It reinforces Bunn’s perception of Lorna as worthless as anything other than an object in the stories of men, primarily Magneto and Havok.
The story inside will match the cover. As such, if you’re still reading Blue and you’re a fan of Lorna (or female characters as a whole), I strongly suggest skipping #28 when it comes out. At least until you see what people say about it online. You’ll thank me later.
The article itself, in mentioning Malice possessing Lorna, puts primary emphasis on what that can do for the stories of other characters – primarily Magneto. Not what it can do for the 50-years-and-going story of Lorna Dane.
I don’t know whether this is just the writer’s take, or the writer is doing this off things Bunn has said behind the scenes.
Either way, it’s heavily informed by how blatantly Bunn’s priorities are all about what benefits characters he actually cares about, including Magneto and Havok, even if it’s at the expense of Lorna and other characters he clearly doesn’t care about.
This is a post-mortem of the support I used to have for Cullen Bunn.
When Bunn started writing Polaris, I was glad.
At the time, Lorna was being kept from interacting with her father. She was on a book that Marvel was using to isolate her from the rest of the Marvel universe, because the writer of that book was against “his” characters used elsewhere like that. The possible romance with Gambit was too often “Havok lite,” where Lorna was treated like his lesser, like a subordinate in a team he was the actual leader of instead of the leader of her own team.
In the beginning, I felt Bunn was doing great work with Magneto, and I wanted the same for Lorna.
Problem is. Bunn is worse for her.
He doesn’t see Polaris as a character to be given the same care and respect that he gave Magneto. He sees her as a tool he can exploit to make Magneto and Havok look better.
Magneto solo
At the end of the Magneto solo, Bunn had Lorna act stupidly mad toward her father for putting lives at risk out of necessity. He then also had Lorna stupidly act like she was blindsided by Magneto betraying her trust, in taking power from her without permission.
These are both things that make absolutely no sense for her given her history. But okay, fine, I was able to overlook it because Bunn hadn’t written Lorna before. It takes time to understand a character, and feedback is a necessary part of getting things right. Be fair.
Deadpool and the Mercs for Money
In Deadpool and the Mercs for Money, Bunn had an alternate future version of Polaris leading the last mutants. At the time, I was very happy about this. However, there’s an element to it that I didn’t see as a problem until we had more cases of Bunn’s writing to go on.
Alternate future Lorna adopting the helmet and collar piece of Magneto’s usual costume.
See, in the past, Lorna donning Magneto’s helmet said something about Lorna. When she put it on when Havok left her at the altar, it was to demonstrate that she’s had enough of everything in life going to shit for her and she was ready to be as ruthless and vicious as her father is known to be. When she put it on in the Wolverine and the X-Men cartoon, it represented that version’s shattered innocence and everything she lost.
On Deadpool and the Mercs for Money, it stood for… Magneto’s greatness. She wasn’t wearing it for some grand character development of her own, or to showcase emotional turmoil. Bunn had her wearing those elements to pretty much say “Lorna is only able to be a leader and show the strength she has because Magneto is her father.” To bind anything she could do as a character exclusively to Magneto’s shadow.
X-Men Blue
Oh boy. Here we go.
X-Men Blue #8 was being showcased as Lorna’s big return, after a two year absence. But in its lead-up, Bunn said all of nothing about her. Which, alone, means nothing. But then he was very, very happy to tease that he was going to be bringing Havok back.
In other words, he was excited about getting to write Havok, but he wasn’t excited about writing Lorna. If he was, he would’ve been talking about her just as much if not more.
Then the issues came out.
He spends much of X-Men Blue #8 – Lorna’s big return issue – building up what a threat Havok is and letting him interact with various characters. Then, when Lorna finally shows up on the final page, she’s introduced as… “daughter of Magneto.”
Someone claimed editorial had control over this box. So okay, fine, let’s say they did. Doesn’t change that the sole dialogue she gets for her “big cliffhanger” is all about Havok.
Also doesn’t change this addition in Blue #9.
“Daddy’s Little Mistress of Magnetism.”
This is dialogue Bunn chose to include. Not editorial. Here, Bunn took a title that should have been used to introduce her in Blue #8 and deliberately twisted it into being something she only gets to call herself because Magneto is her dad.
He took a title that was her own and tried to make it into something Magneto gets credit for.
The rest of Blue #8 involves lots of talk about Lorna’s past relationship with Havok.
In subsequent issues of X-Men Blue, we got Lorna further treated like shit to bolster Magneto.
In one issue, Bunn writes her acting shocked that enemies would launch a surprise attack on their headquarters, all so Magneto can “correct” her.
This is something Lorna sure as shit doesn’t need to be told. Why? Because SHE SURVIVED THIS EXACT FUCKING THING. THE GENOSHAN MASSACRE. WHERE MILLIONS OF PEOPLE DIED ALL AROUND HER, BEGGING HER TO SAVE THEM.
This is like Magneto acting shocked about a mutant Holocaust happening and having Captain America correct him for being stupid enough not to expect it. It’s not only missing a crucial part of that character’s history, it’s an insulting miss.
Later, during the whole Mojo crossover with X-Men Gold, he had Mojo put Lorna in her old Malice outfit… and this is her reaction.
I wouldn’t expect Lorna finding herself in that costume to react like a shrieking banshee absolutely trembling in tears or anything. That would be stupid, and I had some jackasses try to frame me complaining about this in that manner.
What I WOULD expect is for Lorna to express disgust and outrage.
Malice possessed her. Imagine that. All it takes is five seconds of giving a damn about Lorna’s POV to understand. She had no control over her own body. Malice used her body to hurt the people she cared about, along with innocent people, and she suffered in the ride emotionally, reputation-wise, and physically as even the X-Men beat her down in that state and didn’t seem to care about the horror she was going through while possessed.
But what does Bunn do with it? He has Lorna act like it’s just some random strange costume. Not a costume loaded with deep meaning, symbolism and history.
Bunn used this costume from a terrible period of her life and treated it like flavor text to her advancing Magneto’s story about the Mutant Massacre. Bunn couldn’t even spare a few lines for Lorna in his quest to use her as Magneto’s lackey.
And then we get to this past Wednesday. X-Men Blue #23.
Bunn wrote Lorna telling these people to call her by who she is, not just by Magneto’s daughter, which was a good thing. I was very glad to see that. But then he did this.
“Don’t reduce me to being just Magneto’s daughter,” and the stadium cheers, until Bunn has her swiftly add “cause then you’re forgetting I’m also Havok’s ex! The person writing me thinks I only exist for the benefit of TWO men, not just one!”
And not only that, Bunn adds in the “we’ve been apart for a long time” line, which is not just bullshit, it’s bullshit that I know he knows better than to try to claim. They haven’t been apart for hardly any time at all, especially when you factor in Havok forced into every goddamn thing Lorna does, and he knows better.
I can’t make a “he just needs to understand the situation more” excuse for him this time. To make that excuse would be to pretend he’s so clueless about how comics work that he shouldn’t be writing them at all. And I know he knows comics. He has decades of knowledge about them, as a reader and as a writer. He knows better, so the only conclusion is that he’s doing this on purpose.
Where Things Stand
At this point, I think I’ve waited plenty long to see how things go with him.
I’ve seen Psylocke fans complain about how he treated Psylocke poorly to build up Magneto in Uncanny X-Men.
I’ve seen Emma Frost fans complain about how he’s trying to throw away her character development to reduce her to a villain type.
Combine that with what he’s been doing to Lorna, I have no choice but to agree with so many other readers out there on the conclusion they’ve come to: Cullen Bunn doesn’t know how to write women.
He’s completely incapable of writing them. Whether he’s incapable cause he’s not a good enough writer to handle it, or cause he IS a good enough writer but he just doesn’t give enough of a shit to do better (and that’s the nice interpretation of his work), I don’t know.
In Polaris, Bunn has this amazing badass woman who’s been through so much.
She unintentionally killed her parents. She lived a memory-altered lie of a human life as a teen, hiding her green hair cause it drew too much attention. She awoke to her powers and mutant heritage to being called a mutant queen. She suffered through possession and repeated mind control. She suffered through millions of people dying in the Genoshan genocide all around her, all begging her to save them, and her failing every single one of them. She suffered through an identity crisis when she lost her powers, and being forced into space, and tortured, and so, so, so much else.
Lorna Dane is an amazing as fuck character, and all Bunn sees in her is Magneto’s daughter or Havok’s ex-girlfriend.
I’m not buying another issue of Blue unless someone tells me Bunn did something so absolutely amazing with Lorna that it blows me the fuck away. If the next issue (meaning X-Men Blue #24) is as bad as Blue #23 or worse, I’m dropping and avoiding everything associated with Disney that I can until either Bunn does some damn amazing work with Lorna or Marvel takes Lorna away from him and gives her to someone who actually cares about her and what she has to offer.
Not as Magneto’s spawn. Not as Havok’s fuckbuddy. As Polaris, Lorna Dane, a character in her own right with a heart and mind and history and motivations and interests unique to her. That do NOT serve to make her look like shit so the men in her life look like gods.
This whole time, Bunn could’ve had Lorna interacting with Iceman and Jean to rekindle that lost shared history. He could’ve had Lorna fight Emma Frost in X-Men Blue #8 and #9 instead of Havok. He could’ve had Lorna actually say something about being put in the Malice costume. There is so much he could’ve done, and he wasted it all because he only cares about the men.
Take Lorna (and Emma Frost, and any other established female characters for that matter) away from Bunn. Leave him to create his own characters like Briar Raleigh, who really can exist exclusively to put his men on a pedestal without issue.
Bunn has no business writing Lorna, or any women really. Give Lorna to someone that cares.
I have time to write out something more thorough. Which means I’m going to go hard into exactly what pissed me off today about X-Men Blue #23.
And when it’s something this bad, I don’t give a shit about “spoilers.” Just like I didn’t give a shit about “spoiling” 3rd Birthday for people. Spoilers have no meaning when the product is basically bad fanfic.
Here’s the page. Lorna has limited presence in the issue, Havok already gets a sizable presence. And then we get this shit.
I liked the preview pages where Lorna tells Raksha or whoever these guys I no longer care about are to call her by her name, not just by Magneto’s daughter, but then Bunn goes off and shoves this garbage on Lorna.
A whole fucking page dedicated to using Lorna as a mouthpiece to demonstrate a massive raging fan boner for Havok. Bunn could’ve had Lorna talk about Emma Frost, or Sinister, but no, he just haaaas to force this whole page-long dialogue about how Lorna supposedly wuvs this piece of shit that’s held her back for decades and has always, ALWAYS stolen potential and opportunities from Lorna while never giving a single goddamn thing back.
Bunn may as well have written Lorna humping a shrine to the great and glorious Havok, here, for all the emphasis he places on making it all about Havok Havok Havok.
Or maybe this will better illustrate how pissed off I am, as done in tweet earlier today chatting with someone.
Raksha person: “Hey daughter of Magneto.” Lorna: “Call me Polaris.” Raksha person: “Okay but didn’t ya fuck Havok” Lorna: “OH BUT SEE HE’S A GOOD MAN AND CHCKJDJEUJDJDIDYAHSHDHDU”
I knew the second I saw this arc would be spotlighting Havok that it would be trouble, and Bunn not only proved me right, he went out of his goddamn way to do so.
Having Lorna chastise someone for treating her like she’s just Magneto’s daughter and nothing more loses all meaning when you then proceed to make her nothing but Havok’s ex-girlfriend who can’t go a fucking year without him forced on her narrative.
People use the Bechdel test as a gauge on whether or not female characters are written well, but in this case you don’t even need something that broad. Can Bunn go one issue without defining Lorna by Havok or Magneto?
That’s not a hypothetical, I honest to god don’t think he can do it. I don’t think he’s capable of understanding and giving a shit about who Lorna is as her own character if he can’t make it all about how much he loves Magneto and Havok.
What makes this even worse? The absolute bullshit line of “Alex and I haven’t been together in a long time.”
It’s only been five and a half fucking years. OUR TIME. Not comics time. Jean Grey was dead for around 15 years our time. Lorna didn’t even have Magneto fully confirmed as her father for nearly 10 years. But a little over 5 years and suddenly that’s supposed to be an eternity?
It’s made EVEN WORSE when you factor in the way comic book time works. Lorna was a teenager in 1968. Today, 50 years later, she’s in her late 20s or early 30s.
For generosity sake, let’s say Lorna was 18 in 1968 and she’s 32 today. That means every year of our time is about a fourth of a year comic book time. Five and a half years our time equals a year and a half in Marvel comics time for her.
Bunn’s having Lorna say a year and a half is a “long time” for them to not be a couple in the comics.
I know Bunn knows better than this, which leads me to two conclusions. 1) He’s a huge Havok fanboy who wants to push Lorna back over to him, meaning he has to pull stunts like this to justify his ploy. 2) He doesn’t give a shit about Lorna at all beyond her association with men.
If this was just one lone incident, one random mistake, I’d be more forgiving. But Bunn’s had MULTIPLE issues to get this shit right. He’s had since August last year to hear and digest complaints and alter plans in taking those complaints into account.
At this point, the only conclusion I can draw is that he doesn’t give a shit about Polaris at all and he shouldn’t have creative control over her. He doesn’t know how to write her, and he doesn’t even want to know how to write her.
I had complaints about Peter David, but Peter David was better than Bunn. He still had problems, but he made real efforts to fix things. When he laser focused on Lorna, he actually did some good work, e.g. X-Factor #243′s origin story. Bunn just doesn’t even try because he’d have to care to try.
I’m at a complete loss as to exactly how this can be salvaged at all. Maybe Marvel can say this Lorna is an alternate universe version brainwashed into thinking she’s 616 Lorna when she’s not. Maybe they can say she’s a Skrull. I don’t fucking know anymore and I don’t care, because as far as I’m concerned, Bunn hasn’t been writing Lorna. He’s been writing a plot device made to look like her so he can fangasm about Magneto and Havok at Lorna’s expense.
Bunn shouldn’t be writing Lorna. Hell, like a lot of other people have said, he probably shouldn’t be writing women period. He doesn’t know how to write Lorna and he doesn’t care enough to want to figure out how.
If it’s between Peter David or Cullen Bunn (rather than a female writer, for example), give her back to Peter David if he wants her. He has issues but at least he gives some fucks.
• MARCUS TO (A)
salarta 