Polaris' Biggest Obstacle: Jordan D. White
You've seen me complain about how the X-Men comics office treats Polaris/Lorna Dane for a while.
You've seen me point out how important being a survivor of the Genoshan genocide, one who had to relive those final moments constantly until the X-Men found her in Genosha's ruins, is to Lorna as a character.
You've watched as the X-Men comics office refused, and refuses, to acknowledge this essential part of her character history.
This problem has existed for over 15 years now. It's not new. But what is new, is that Lorna fans have been making its importance very clear for several years now. The X-Men comics have been addressing Genosha more and more since 2019, while excluding Polaris, and there's exactly one person to blame for this.
That person is current X-Men comics editor Jordan D. White. He's been deliberately undermining Polaris whenever he has his hand in anything involving her, based on his own biases against the character.
This isn't an accusation based on nothing. I have receipts.
Let me first give you a little background on this man. I've always said you need to know what you're fighting to figure out how to deal with it. We don't need to dive very deep right now. Just the essentials.
Like most editors at Marvel, he got his start as an assistant editor in the mid-00s. He worked his way up that chain, working as an editor for several books until eventually becoming senior editor of the X-Men comics in 2018. However, it wasn't until during COVID that read the original run of X-Men comics. That includes Lorna's introductory issues of X-Men #49 - #50.
Before I delve any further into the history lesson, let me take a detour. Into what he thinks of Polaris.
I was, quite frankly, not planning on ever pointing this out publicly. I intended to keep it to myself because he was replying to me, and it felt wrong to use his willingness to talk with me against him.
But things have changed. He's shown he has no respect for Polaris or any fans of her, and gives zero fucks about the impact of his actions in this regard. So I will likewise exhibit zero fucks in using this. I've been holding on to this for years. And now it's coming out.
In 2018, the year he took over as senior editor of the X-Men comics, Jordan White responded to tweets I was making that complained about how the comics were treating Lorna. First, he replied to one I had written directly to him. But then he found and replied to one of my tweets where I had not tagged him.
This is the exchange. It was a typical tweet for me. I said Lorna is underused, underrated, and deserves way more than Marvel gives her.
He didn't like that.
Below, are screencaps of the most critical bits.
At the time, I made a critical mistake: I let myself believe he actually meant any of this. I let myself think that since he was willing to talk with me, that must mean he's being honest. It must mean he's trying to be considerate, and understand where I'm coming from. It must mean he really does care, but he has a lot to juggle.
I was fucking wrong. This was him covering his ass. Every step of the way. He's made it more apparent with every year he's been an editor.
This is where I start to take his lies apart.
Let's go back now. To his history.
Jordan White did several comics before he become X-Men senior editor. Guess which X-Men comics he did before 2018.
At least as early as 2011, White was an assistant editor of Peter David's long second X-Factor run. White was also assistant editor for Lorna's origin issue, X-Factor #243. However, he didn't have much power yet - because he was still just an assistant. He was still under Daniel Ketchum, and sometimes working alongside other editors. However, that changed toward the end of that second X-Factor run. By the end, he was an editor.
Now here's the million dollar prize for you all.
After that run ended, Marvel announced a new X-Factor. This run, All-New X-Factor, would be Polaris very first time running a team as its intended leader. She had been a leader on prior occasions, from 90s X-Factor when Havok was gone to her time on Genosha.
Guess who served as editor for All-New X-Factor.
Come on. Guess.
That's right. You guessed it. The main asshole himself: Jordan D. White.
You might be thinking to yourself: wait a second, if this is Polaris' time to shine as leader, then doesn't him serving as editor for this book mean he was actually in support of Lorna? That he was trying to give her a shot?
Oh how naive. How sweetly, sweetly naive. The problem, dear reader, is that you're assuming Peter David went at this project with good intentions all around.
He didn't. He royally fucked up the book. He killed it. He destroyed every ounce of possible real win Lorna could have gotten out of this book. If All-New X-Factor had succeeded, with REAL editorial precision and care, it could have continued on. And Polaris would be in a much, much better place today.
To understand this, you have to understand how he fucked up the book.
The book and its whole concept actually started out very well. Lorna formed the team under Serval Industries. She recruited Gambit. Pietro joined under the company's guidance. So far so good.
Then... we get to the rest of the book.
Here's Lorna depicted as so randomly unhinged that she's about ready to slaughter a cat for scratching her.
Here's Gambit written with the POV of Lorna being shittily unhinged and unfit for leadership, not listening to or working with her teammates, just doing shit.
Here's Gambit acting like the actual leader of the team, Lorna clearly not wanting Danger to join but ending up having to accept her anyway cause Gambit wants her.
Here's Lorna trying to give the team some orders, only for Gambit to be written as single-handedly deciding what she, the team leader wants to do, must be stopped.
Here's yet another case of Gambit written as "putting his foot down" on Lorna, who's supposed to be the team leader, and... wait, what? Gambit gets to do this and Lorna DOESN'T rearrange his face or chew him out, in direct contradiction to how she was written with the cat and with Danger in prior issues?
And lastly, here's Gambit making the offer to Cypher and Warlock for them to join X-Factor, with Lorna just backing him up.
This is supposed to be Lorna's team. She's supposed to be the leader.
Why the fuck is she being depicted as if she wouldn't know how to lead her own ass to water, let alone lead a team? Why is Gambit being presented as if he's moreso the leader than her?
Oh. That's right.
But wait. There's mooooore! We have a bonus round of White dickery.
Jordan White around on this book as editor until All-New X-Factor #14 - the issue where Wanda showed up to interact with Lorna shortly before the Axis retcon, and the point at which Marvel announced they had cancelled ANXF.
When the issue starts up, for a moment there it looks like it just might have a shot of having Lorna and Wanda work out any issues they have concerning M-Day when Wanda had depowered many mutants including Lorna.
For a moment there, we were about to get some actual discussion and development! Something tangible! They could've just got through this, came to an understanding, and that's a wrap.
But then, on the very next page...
A... a renaissance faire?
They're going to a renaissance faire?
They're going to a renaissance faire.
They have real issues to work through and they're going to a renaissance faire instead. What the fuck.
After this issue, the remaining 6 issues got handed off to a different editor to finish it up. The damage had been done. He had "successfully" ruined and killed Lorna first and to date only chance she's ever had, in over 50 years, to lead a team book of her own.
At the time ANXF was coming out, Peter David provided interviews where he talked up how excited he was to write Gambit. He also talked about how he thought Danger would be ANXF's break-out star. I'm not saying any of that is true or false. I'm not in his head, I don't know what he was thinking.
But to me, it seems very, very odd for a writer to take a character he had written at various points across two decades, give her an opportunity to stand on a pedestal as a book's intended team leader for the first time, and then fuck her up royally to promote other characters.
No. I think what likely happened, behind the scenes, is that Jordan White absolutely abhorred the concept of Polaris leading a team of her own and getting out from under the shadow of "Havok's girlfriend."
According to Jordan D. White, X-Men senior editor and self-proclaimed expert on Polaris' viability for meaningful use (despite the fact he knows dick all about her in any real way), Lorna doesn't "deserve" such opportunities. According to him, Lorna doesn't have fan demand, editorial interest, or writer interest for her to become a star in the X-Men comics, and so doesn't deserve any of the good and fair treatment so many other characters got and get all the time.
A view of his that was shut down quite readily with her winning the X-Men vote to be on the main team in 2020. Which, quite honestly, I'm surprised he actually honored instead of lying through his teeth to claim she lost. Maybe there was too much oversight for him to get away with that.
But the X-Men vote matter will come up in a future post. If it's needed. I have more receipts in that vein to present if Jordan White forces me to put them out there.
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X-men 97 S1: 07
Loved this chapter it looks like Rogue and Captain America were investigating Hydra/Bastion Operation Zero Tolerance
It was a good showing for Rogue´s grieff but also of the X-men getting together to defeat this new enemy.
I LOVED Amelia Vogh appearing again, with her on Genosha along with Emma I get the sense that we are going to see the Ultimate Sentinel but with Mr Sinister and Cable there we also could be seeing Apocalypse soon, OZT could very well be his way of separating the strong mutants from the weak ones as his motto survival of the fittest said.
Loved nightcrawler comforting Rogue over Gambit and Magneto on days of the death in Mexico. Remy´s funeral was also very heartfel and beautiful, I don´t think the X-men made one for Magneto because without a body they know he still could be alive even if it´s a long shot and to be honest, no one of them except the professor was close enough to mourn him properly.
Cable calling Scott Dad and remembering Maddie was awesome, is what I always wanted to see in the comics, I love Jean but Maddie gave birth to Nathan and loved him, she deserves to be remembered by him as well.
Talking about that, Bastion having Magnus is horrible, my poor blorbo :( but if what Cable said was true, if only the electromagnetic fields can cointain prime sentinels then it makes sense to take Magneto out of the board and of course Bastion is a sadist so I can see him turning Magnus into a prime sentinel and if Apocalypse is also involved, he could also take the opportunity to turn him into one of his riders.
That last part gave me chills with that music, it´s just Magneto´s luck to die apparently and be taken by Bastion, Mr Sinister and their sentinels while Charles dies apparently and he gets a vacation, marriage and a galactic crown. That man just can´t win. Lol at them not only taking his powers away but also keeping his mouth shut, his mouth is too powerful not to take it away in this series.
In short I loved this, Genosha looks like it will still be a factor in this series in the near future so I hope we see other characters besides Amelia and if Exodus was a survivor that would give them another reason to become antagonists in this series.
PD: We also saw a short scene of Quicksilver and Strong Guy was on Genosha, that gives me hope of seeing Lorna in the next chapters especially if they are going to need someone who uses magnetic fields.
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Is the house of m headdress based on anything because I feel like whatever they were going for they missed it and landed somewhere in lampshade territory
The clothing designs in House of M are super interesting, particularly for the Magnus family. Outside of the stiff, Western military uniforms the men wear in official settings, they all tend to wear long, loose, heavily embroidered garments that feel simultaneously South Asian, North African, and Eastern European in design. Despite the myriad of influences, I don't think they replicate anything one-to-one, and some of the choices, such as Lorna's bra top and absurdly low skirt, are decidedly non-traditional.
A lot of the stuff also gets simplified in later comics, so nowadays HoM Magneto wears kind of a normal bathrobe, and HoM Wanda's sumptuous robe has become a weird ketchup-and-mustard tube.
Love those monogrammed slippers, papo.
Anyways, to answer your question, I'm not sure what Wanda's headpiece is supposed to be. Her jewelry features a lot of gold disks or medallions, as does Lorna's. While that motif is present in many cultures, it is a visual trope that's very commonly associated with Romani women, to the point of stereotyping. The use of galbi (gold, gold coins) in jewelry and accessories is popular in many communities, but it doesn't usually look like this.
This style actually reminds me a lot of Amazigh jewelry, but Wanda's headdress, specifically, recalls the caps and veils found throughout various Balkan cultures, particularly in bridal costumes. I'm not an expert, so I can't verify these images, but you can see where I'm coming from. The lampshade effect is kind of weird, but I believe her face is obscured because the Wanda we're seeing here is actually an illusion-- the "real" Wanda is hidden deep within the palace with her children.
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Writing Wrap Up 2023
Another weird year, to be sure. Between finishing up school, job hunting, moving out, and all sorts of family things, it's been... a really slow year. It's a feeling I keep coming back to, this feeling like I'm not doing enough. Like there's some invisible deadline that I'm failing to meet. And that failure is what's keeping me from getting any enjoyment out of the works I do finish.
But that's not really... helpful, is it? Loathe as I am to admit it, focusing on what I did accomplish makes me feel better and it is worth celebrating, I think. Darn therapy actually giving me helpful tips and advice.
Now, most of what I wrote this year I shared exclusively with friends. Tbh this is both because it's all been pretty self indulgent OC stuff ngl, but also it's niche content for my DnD characters. But both Lorna and Alexi got some really excellent pieces, and Euripheus' origin/demise piece was another one I enjoyed doing.
Except for the part where I had to write an awkward family discussion/fight. Nearly did me in.
On a different note, Alexi's AU piece clocks in at nearly 10k words, which is the longest one-shot I've ever done. Bonkers. I really just wanted to torment him, huh?
Aside from that, I've been diligently chipping away at my worldbuilding documents, each of which is wildly different in construction/layout. Mostly due to their different reasons for being, and purposes. The OI one is the least developed as of now, but I hope in the next week to really dive into (hah) the nations and make those tangible cultures. My Fading Reflections one only really needs a timeline and some loose details added here and there.
The Sun/Moon game concept expanded to having a separate NPC doc, and I'm testing out how the dialogue could theoretically sound. In Stars and Time really inspired me, and I think it'll be a fun little side project as I side eye other things.
Then my big one, the Crane Wives Analysis. It's the first time I've ever done something like that and it really gave me a deeper appreciation for a band I already adore. 20k words over the course of the year, with half of those coming in November alone when I did NaNoWriMo for the first time! Not the traditional way that event works, but I completed all my goals, so hooray!
I also did nearly half of the Whumptober prompts I picked out, and am still doing those when I feel stuck.
I don't know where this next year will take me in terms of writing. I'm starting my new job, which while extremely exciting, does raise the question of Time. I'm on my own, going to have to do all the Adult Things™, and free time is definitely going to be at a premium. It does worry me, but I'll adjust (I hope).
So yeah! I'll attach links to some of my works below the cut, and wish you all a happy new year! Thanks for sticking around!
The Well Analysis
TCW: Singles
True Reflections (Magnus Archives Fanstatement)
TCW: Foxlore
TCW: Coyote Stories
TCW: The Fool in Her Wedding Gown
TCW: Safe Ship, Harbored
"Captive"
Bodies Are Business
Reassignment
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