For more than a year now, X-Men fans have had one burning question, one that they would ask to editors and creators alike: what happened to Havok, Polaris, and Marvel Girl? The characters were participating in the events of War of Kings, filling the role of the new Starjammers. Once the clouds cleared, and the dust settled, they were nowhere to be found. However, that may soon change. Hit the jump to find out more.
These characters joined the new version of Starjammers in a serious of convoluted events that we highlighted in our War of Kings primer. It was an interesting status quo for them, because outside of the sphere of influence of the main X-Men, they got to play bigger roles. Havok (Alex Summers), for example, got to exercise the role of leader without the shadow of his elder brother, Cyclops, hanging over him. In any case, it was a different part for them to play, and they added a different taste to the event that was otherwise mostly about the cosmic side of Marvel.
As far as I can tell, the last chronological appearance of these three characters was in the War of Kings - Who Will Rule? one-shot. They appeared in the state funeral for the fallen leader of the Inhumans and Kree, Black Bolt. Previously, in War of Kings #6, we saw Alex and Lorna deciding to head back home, and walk away from all the space shenanigans.
Lost in Space
Once War of Kings was over, however, the characters literally disappeared. There was a mention of them leaving space, of returning home, but that trip or the return never materialized in the pages of any comic. Whether this was because of an editorial slip-up, plans falling through with some creator, or just plain lack of interest, we haven’t seen any of them since the conclusion of War of Kings.
Their absence became more apparent as time went by, and harder to justify. Tumultuous events were happening in the X-Men books, what with the appearance of Hope, the formation of Utopia, the joining of Magneto to the team, the death of Nightcrawler, and so on. The kind of things that seem important for all the X-characters, and in particular these three with connections long and old to some of these key players in the X-books.
Surely, at some point, they WOULD have to come back, but fans kept waiting for it to happen. I even saw a particularly colorful theory that they would return alongside Kitty in the giant space bullet that she was confined in. As time went on, it became more apparent that there was no known plan to return the characters, with an editor even joking that they were lost on space.
A New Hope
Just when all hope was lost, a couple of hints seem to point that these characters will finally be returning to the X-books. First of all, from Mike Carey, current writer of X-Men Legacy. When asked about the Polaris-Magneto relationship, he had this to say in the X-Position column for CBR:
We weren't ready to do that, and didn't want to tease stories that we weren't yet in a position to tell. But watch this space. I predict -- I confidently predict -- Magneto-Polaris interaction in 2011.
That’s a pretty big damning hint about Polaris, but it could have as well have been a flashback, or some kind of other interaction not expressively in the present. However, there was a second hint, this time coming from recently promoted X-editor Jordan D. White. Over on his Formspring page, when asked about a possible Excalibur reunion, he answered:
I would LOVE to. But...it's not that simple, sadly. Kurt is dead, Kitty is tied up in the X-men books...and there might just be plans for Rachel, yet.
While not concrete evidence in of itself, paired with the other clue dropped by Mike Carey, we can start painting a clearer picture of the status of Havok, Polaris, and Marvel Girl. Between these two unrelated pieces, I think you can start forming the puzzle of the trio’s comeback. It took a while, but it looks like they will finally make a (glorious?) comeback to the X-books.
I know these characters have some very ardent fans, and that they have been asking for this editorial oversight to be fixed for a long time. I’m interested to see how they handle it, and how it goes with fans. What do you think? Are you looking forward to it? Let us know in the comments below.
Follow each of us on Twitter:
6 comments:
Please, please, please bring Polaris back. Please!
I didn't find Havok, Polaris, or Marvel Girl particularly compelling *until* they were on their own in "The Rise and Fall of the Shi'ar Empire" arc. I'd rather they stay in comic limbo (or get a STARJAMMERS series) with their newfound interesting personalities than return to X-Men where they can sit around doing nothing like Kitty. (Seriously, has a more popular character ever returned to less, or less interesting, screen-time?)
@Aaron: Oh, I agree that they would have been more compelling as Starjammers, or just staying in space teaming up with the Guardians of the Galaxy/Annihilators. The time for that, however, seems to be long past, since it would have been perfect right after War of Kings.
Since they didn't do that, they have to bring them back somehow. And the problem is that the longer they wait for it, the harder it is going to be to explain it.
There are already too many X-Men, no need to bring back two third stringers and a time traveling alternate universe character to waste more space.
Just have a footnote saying they crashed somewhere in space and died off-screen.
@Tom: There's plenty of people that would disagree with you.
There were also people who liked Maggot back in the day. Heck, there are probably people who want him back even now!
On the internet a few vocal and busy people can appear to be much more than that.
Just sayin' :)
Post a Comment
Thanks for checking out the Weekly Crisis - Comic Book Review Blog. Comments are always appreciated. You can sign in and comment with any Google, Wordpress, Live Journal, AIM, OpenID or TypePad account.
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.