X-Men #5: Fearless, Chapter Five: Don't Piss Off Polaris

[superboyprime]

"I can’t unmake a fan of Polaris, I can only make them not a fan of mine, and I’m only trying to deliver ideas to my artist to turn into moonshots. So, yes, sure, as you said. Lots of pressure in the Polaris business." - Gerry Duggan

Comments

[lordultimus]

Guhhh. Why do writers never understand all the moral implications of casual telepathy?

Actually, this might not even be a telepathy thing; if Jean had switched out Polaris's ballot it still would have been a shitty thing to do.

[numeronone]

Besides which, wasn't it Terry Pratchett - among others - who pointed out that one's first thoughts are rarely the wisest or most practical?

[jlbarnett]

some people would counter with if you're depressed or lack self confidence then your later thoughts might be worse

[alliterator]

They do understand the moral implications. But Jean is gonna Jean. That's just what she does. "I'm going to help you whether you like it or not" is just a very Jean thing to do.

[lordultimus]

If they understood, I don't think the narrative would portray as an unambiguously good and necessary thing that no one minds.

[alliterator]

If you think that's what the narrative portrays, you're wrong.

[deh_tommy]

Given Duggan’s X-stuff this era, I’m not even sure he understands the moral implications.

That was jerky when O5!Jean did that, but O5!Jean was a teenager who just found out she could do more than she thought she could, and went through development to rein her impulses in. This Jean is a decade or two older and should know better, especially if she’s still got the memories of her time as time displaced teen Jean.

[lordultimus]

Or at least, she would have if Bendis didn't have one joke with telepaths that he never deviated from.

[chalicother]

So Bendis's interpretation of X-23 is not going to go away..huh...

[arilou_skiff]

Honestly, she is one of those characters I feel doesent have a set "character", every author seems to write her entirely differently.

[sarahnewlin]

You know who they need there? Betsy. Jean, Emma, Betsy. They'd be a good trio of psychics

[xammax]

Also know as Appreciate Scott Society.

[arilou_skiff]

The Scott/Psylocke thing was something I heard about but never really read about first hand. Still feels weird to me that it was a (one sided?) thing.

[blues32]

Oh, Jean is so full of crap. Looks to me that "Just not me" became (through no action of Polaris's own) "Just pick me", not the other way around. This is sickening. Aren't they supposed to be friends?

...and SERIOUSLY? DOCTOR Polaris? Her name isn't Polaris Polaris, just for starters. It's Lorna Dane. So it's Doctor Dane. Which is helpful since I'm pretty sure DC has a claim to Doctor Polaris as a name.

[deh_tommy]

Human names are generally frowned upon now in Krakoa, so for all intents and purposes her legal name is her super identity.

[blues32]

I doubt Dr. Stasis cares.

[jlbarnett]

which is kind of odd, cause like aren't there plenty of mutants who never signed onto a team and so never adopted a superhero name?

[thezmage]

What Jean is saying is that she read Polaris' private thoughts where Polaris said "I should tell them to pick me. Oh, wait, no, that's stupid," and then decided that she would broadcast the "just not me" vote, but because Jean read the first part she changed it to what she "knew" Polaris would want.

The comic didn't show us the first, private part because they wanted to set up this contrived situation.

[blues32]

It looks more like she put the thought in her head and flat out lied about it. After Teen Jean, I have no trust in her restraint.

[onsokumaru]

This is such an odd mix of very good stuff and very bad stuff.

It's nice to have a Polaris who is quite well balanced without being bland. Between that an William's X-Factor, Krakoa has been very good to her.

Synch is shown as a full X-Man and not as a baby X-Man, which is nice

On the other side, Jean is still a creep. For me, she is worse than a mutant with X-ray vision who would feel entitled to peep under people's clothes.

Laura being ok with Polaris using her as a weapon? Not sure about that.

[blues32]

Yeah, Laura didn't take it too well when Finesse did that, did she?

[tinygaylaura]

This does feel like it should have been more of a big deal to Laura

[scorntx]

I suppose it's good that Lorna's not upset with what Jean did.
Because for someone who has spent an alarmingly high percentage of her life getting her brain futzed with, either via brainwashing or possession, you'd think that might be something of a sore topic for her.

[bruinsfan]

Yes, but that was by irredeemable villains like Malice and the Morrigan and... Magneto? Anyway, not golden poster girl Jean SueGrey who can do no wrong and knows better than you what you need.

[blues32]

Didn't Mesmero brainwash into thinking she was Magneto's daughter? Which she later turned out to actually be or something?