Now we’ve come to the Polaris issue! I think every character who is leaving X-Factor is getting their own issue in this ‘Breaking Points’ storyline, and now we’ve arrived at the Polaris one. It’s a good issue, revealing new facts in Polaris’ already twisted backstory while providing some nice supporting work by the other characters. But it kind of comes out of nowhere. Was anybody really eager to hear some new convoluted twist to Polaris’ life? And other than hardcore Polaris fans, was anybody really interested in seeing a whole issue dedicated to her problems?

X-Factor #243

Polaris, and to an extent Havok, have been non-characters for so long. It’s nice of writer Peter David to try and make something of them, but I think it’s too little too late, especially considering where they’re going.

Comic rating: 4/5: Good.

This is a solid issue of X-Factor. It’s got some good humor, some great character work and tells a complete story. It also builds on a few ongoing storylines and teases the next issue, which looks to focus on Banshee, though I hope she’s staying in the book. My problem is with Polaris, and I’ll explain more after the jump. She’s such a messed up, blank slate character at this point. How does it help her for PAD to add some crazy new wrinkles to her backstory…unless he thinks he’s smoothing them out. Her character has been through Hell, both mentally and physically, over the past few years. She’s due for a smoothing out. But I don’t know if that is accomplished in this issue.

Still, like I said, it’s a pretty fun issue of X-Factor. The team acts like a group of friends/frenemies  just trying to help each other get by. And that’s the real strength of this series.

Allow me to provide a little backstory on Polaris, so that you better understand what happens in this comic. She of the green hair was introduced back during the run of the original X-Men in the 1960s, as was her longtime boyfriend Havok. They both discovered they were mutants and were some of the first to join the X-Men alongside the original five. Since she has magnetic powers, some people thought she was the daughter of Magneto…but that was dispelled in one story. A super-villain had built a Magneto robot to try and convince Polaris that she was Magneto’s daughter. But the villain’s plot was discovered, the robot destroyed and Polaris’ life went back to normal for the next few decades.

Then writer Chuck Austen came along in the early 00s and decided, in his infinite wisdom, to say that the Magneto robot thing was right all along! Magneto was Polaris’ father! Not only that, but she was craaaazy! She went psychotic at her and Havok’s wedding, and remained partially crazy for years. Sometime later, she and Havok went into outer space and joined the Starjammers for awhile. They didn’t do much, but were in the background of several big space stories at the time. Then eventually, Havok and Polaris joined X-Factor in the wake of the big Regenesis storyline this past winter.

And this fall, Havok is going to be a major player on the Avengers in the wake of Avengers vs. X-Men. What becomes of Polaris? Who knows. But he’s definitely leaving X-Factor. So they were only around for a couple of months. It’s too bad. I bet PAD could have come up with something good for them to do eventually. Instead, he decided to add yet another wrinkle to Polaris’ back story…

We open with Polaris wandering down a hallway at X-Factor HQ, focused on a photograph in her hands. She doesn’t even seem to notice when Madrox greets her. He figures that bears investigating, even if Layla said she wanted to talk to him about something in his room…

We’ve all been there…

A chat with Havok reveals that Polaris always gets like this on the anniversary of her parents’ death…or at least the people she thought were her parents. It seems her mom had an affair with Magneto – of all people – but she was still raised by them. Until they died in a plane crash. But we knew this part already.

Madrox sees Monet pass in the hall and he asks her if she’s seen Guido, who ran off two issues ago. She hasn’t seen him, and thinks they’re better off without him.

Elsewhere, Polaris runs into Longshot and she shows him the photograph. Polaris explains that her ‘father’ was chartering a flight from Las Vegas. He was a pilot, and decided to take his wife along for fun. After it crashed, the investigators said they found some magnetized metal in the wreckage, but Magneto denies having any part of it. Still, just remembering all of this makes Polaris rather emotional, and she ends up tossing the photograph away. Longshot picks it up…

…and immediately flashes on some new truth behind the photograph. Longshot has the ability to psychically read memories off inanimate objects, like the photograph. What he saw freaks him out and he tries to run away, but Polaris wants to know what he saw!

Little miss grabby magnet powers

Oh also, Banshee is there, and she makes a comment about the mysterious visitor she had in her room a few issues ago. She tries to convince herself that he’s not really there, that it’s a trick…but we learn nothing more about who her mysterious visitor really is. Maybe next issue.

Havok and Madrox run in to try and calm Polaris down, but she isn’t having it. She wants to know what Longshot saw in that photograph, and the best way to do that is get Monet the telepath. That way, Longshot can take another reading, and then through the magic of telepathy, Polaris can ‘see’ what he ‘sees’. She finds Monet quickly enough, and Monet doesn’t like to be summoned – but Polaris, again, really wants to know what Longshot saw!

The polite thing to do would be to not lord your magnet powers over everyone else

I suppose “really angry psycho” is as good a character trait as any.

Layla shows up, wearing only a blanket, considering her planned fun with Madrox, and is able to talk Polaris down and get everyone to work together. So they head up to the roof to do this psychic memory whammy-jammy.

In the memory, Polaris finds herself on the plane, with her dad behind the wheel and her mom in the passenger seat. He’s very angry, arguing with her about her affair with Magneto, and the fact that their daughter isn’t his. The dad says he lured the mom up into the plane to kill her, or maybe just crash – but then Magneto shows up and destroys the plane, claiming that if he can’t have Suzanna then no one can!

Magneto is a jealous bitch

So that was all a lie.

Whatever the truth is, Longshot wants to hide it from Polaris so badly that he convinced Monet to make up some charade. Polaris doesn’t fall for it, and so she demands the truth. Monet doesn’t particularly care either way, so she gladly shows Polaris the truth.

And the truth is that Polaris was on the plane as well, as a little child. Her parents were arguing and she told them to stop, with both of them getting mad at her. So Polaris, only a little kid, gets even madder and that’s when her mutant powers manifest – even her green hair – and she brings down the plane herself! Polaris is responsible for killing her parents!

The green hair is now forever tainted

Heavy stuff.

Then Magneto shows up, drawn by the electromagnetic output. He finds Polaris still alive in the wreckage. Then he has Mastermind use his telepathy to alter Polaris’ memories and shield her from this horrible thing. Back in the real world, Polaris snaps out of her trance screaming, and Havok consoles her while the others piece this all together. They say that Polaris’ past craziness can be traced to Mastermind’s mental tinkering, so that explains why she was crazy back in Chuck Austen’s run. Though the her being responsible for her parents’ death thing is the new wrinkle that PAD has added.

Havok gets mad and accuses them all of implanting these memories into Polaris’ head…for some reason. But Layla shows up and tells him that the memories are real, that Polaris really did cause the death of her parents. And now Havok can either stay mad at all of them or he can actually try and get Polaris some help.

And we end with Madrox wondering if maybe it’s best to leave the past in the past.

So like I said, it was a pretty solid issue. Polaris is too minor and underdeveloped a character for this to have any real emotional impact, but everyone else plays their parts well. It’s always fun to see the members of X-Factor interacting. Plus the art is still top notch. X-Factor has been doing pretty good with artists lately.