Loki Appreciation 2019

[rpmaluki]

Some of those images might show some indications of what happens in Omega. Apparently there's Freya watching Loki as he's emerged out of Laufey's body (in a much less realistic way than in WOtR#6; I prefer the original version), a frost giant kneeling before Loki, Loki heading for an ice castle and having a beer with Thor.

Yeah I'm not feeling the "heroic" looking pose over dead Laufey when it was done better in WotR#6 Everything seems to point to what's coming (yay!) except the inclusion of Kid Loki and the more villainous-classic-like Loki, what does that mean?

[Karabaja]

Maybe just a flashback to his old versions. I hope we won't have another round of several versions of the same character running around.

[Raye]

Yeah, I liked the gore of the actual scene, I've always said that i wanted lots of guts and blood when he killed Laufey, and for Loki to be in pretty rough shape (but not permanently) and they definitely delivered in that regard, got my wish there. But i suspect it's just that because WotR 6 came out not even a month before Loki's first issue, it just wasn't possible for them to have Dauterman's art available as reference for that scene.

I think the inclusion of Kid and villain Loki is just kind of part of a recap page, it also has Vote Loki posters there, (but sadly missing him as Sorcerer Supreme. I really liked that story ) so I am guessing it will be giving a basic rundown of his history to catch people up who may be jumping in for the first time. cus yeah, I think having Loki literally fighting himself has been done to death recently, and should be put to rest at least for a while.

Loki and Thor seem to be on pretty good terms tho (even if Thor does not approve of the snow man) so that's good.

edit - oh yeah. I am betting that the rationalization behind returning to his AoA coat and getting a hair cut is that he's now openly on the good guy side with Asgard, hence Thor being there and all, so he's like, no longer all depressed and letting himself go..... But I liked the long hair.

[rpmaluki]

My preferred relations between Loki and Thor is for them to be on good terms but forever bickering because they have different views/approaches to ruling or life in general. Not straight up good vs evil since that's been played to death.

[Snoop Dogg]

Ya like Siege?



Also, Marvel is overshipping the baby's launch because they BELIEVE in him!

https://www.bleedingcool.com/2019/06...-1-invaders-7/

[Frontier]

Ya like Siege?



Also, Marvel is overshipping the baby's launch because they BELIEVE in him!

https://www.bleedingcool.com/2019/06...-1-invaders-7/

Is that Jason Spisak I hear?

It's refreshing to see a more classic Loki design over something based on the MCU.

[Raye]

games with multiple costumes usually get around to the comics eventually, tho yeah, usually the default is something movie based, which gets a little frustrating sometimes. I get it, that's the most recognizable version of the character right now, but still.

My preferred relations between Loki and Thor is for them to be on good terms but forever bickering because they have different views/approaches to ruling or life in general. Not straight up good vs evil since that's been played to death.

Yeah, I am not really expecting or wanting them to be bestest friends forever, but I do think it's fun when they are on good enough terms to work together, they actually usually make a really good team when they can find it in themselves to work together, even if they bicker.

Also, Marvel is overshipping the baby's launch because they BELIEVE in him!

https://www.bleedingcool.com/2019/06...-1-invaders-7/

Nice! Shows Marvel thinks they have something good on their hands, and hopefully that will help get it off to a good start. On the downside tho, it may indicate that initial orders were not as good as they were hoping for. But I think loki is one of the books that may do better than most outside of the direct market, with digital or trades etc. But not something we can really count on, so I hope it does well in the DM.

Had another look at those pages with fresh eyes, and realized that they kinda change what we initially assumed about some aspects of the solicits, with Nightmare being involved since issue 1 rather than just since issue 3. Like, look at the page where Nightmare is attacking and Thor and Loki are fighting him off, it looks like Thor may get captured. So in the issue 2 solicit where it says that Thor has a trick up his sleeve, we initially kind of assumed it was in regards to Loki, trying to keep him on task or whatever, but what if it's that Nightmare was targeting Thor there, and Loki was just kind of unexpectedly there? He looks kind of surprised/confused to see Loki fighting his minions there. So the trick may be him trying to escape. Also, it may explain why Loki goes to Tony rather than T'challa or someone in issue 2, since we know Nightmare is going to target New York, not Wakanda or someplace. Loki may have been going to NY to get Tony's help to rescue Thor and save NY, because Tony is NY based, but Tony was having none of it due to his past.

[Riimi]

What I was trying to convey was more of a harmonic balance of forces. In an imperfect metaphor, the best analogy I have is the Fae/Sidthe courts. The leading theory on this board corresponds well with the idea of Fae mantles (I know fae mantles are a thing in traditional Irish folklore, but my knowledge is based more around the Dresden files, so bear with me). In every Fae court, there's the Queen, Lady, Knight, etc. Different people can fill the roles, but they must be filled, and each role comes with certain trappings. Up till this point, we've been treating Asgard as a single "court" with the All-Father, Prince/Hero, and Villain mantles. My point was that maybe Loki is the starting point of a new court that complements and balances the existing Asgard court. To take the fae metaphor further, while his brother was the "Thor of Summer", I'm saying Loki could be the "Thor of Winter" (minus the malicious trappings associated with Sidthe and winter in particular, which is why the metaphor's not perfect).

Anyways, I am so ridiculously happy with these pictures. So nice to see Loki and Thor getting along again! That was my fave, tho the rest looks awesome (tho I did like the long hair, too). I think Raye's right about the justification being that he's taking care of himself again (which really just reinforces how depressed he was ), but long hair suits him. Interesting to see how happy he looks hanging out with Thor vs how resigned/almost dejected he looks taking the throne. You can tell based on the art alone that he doesn't want it. However, I don't think it's necessarily the gloomy depression that we've been dealing with for a while, now. It seems like there are some definite bright spots in there.

I wonder how people react to his crowning on a political level. I mean, here's this cosmic super villain who just ascended to the throne of a traditionally warlike nation (even if it looks like the frost giant army is all but gone). I mean, I know I would calmly freak out. Also I'm wondering if Wakanda will ever factor in, given that Black Panther seemed to be questioning Loki's "villainous" motivations. You know that if Wakanda and Jotunheim make so much as a trade deal, the US will pitch a fit. Also, will Loki and Thor forge a political alliance? I don't see why they wouldn't. Thor was visibly supporting him as he took the throne, from what I can tell.

Edit: Yeah, I totally want Thor and Loki to be BFFs, although they can be vitriolic BFFs, that can be more fun.

[Rosebunse]

Yeah, it's nice to see Loki taking care of himself here.

I guess my opinion on Loki's hair is that it's up to the artist. If they want short hair, do short. Long hair? OK! Loki is that rare character who can look however you want him to look, so you do you!

I'm also digging his face, though. Like, it's youthful and handsome, but not too boyish and cute. He looks like Loki, like his own character, and I'm happy with that.

Nice to see this plot with Nightmare quickly picking up. I was worried about this comic being a bit too directionless, but it looks like the plot is there and should be rather tight, at least starting out. I was honestly worried that the first two issues would be all recap or something.



OK, so I'm a former emo and this song just always reminded me of Loki, specifically the current ones.

[Prof. Aegis]

There's more:
https://mobile.twitter.com/ComicBoss...67422017028096

Some of those pics make me very happy

Nice pages! Yeah, the first one definitely has recap aspects to it. And the image of Loki coming out of Laufey, could relate to how Loki is talking about the events...a bit more Heroic. Definitely shows Loki on the throne and leading Jotunhem and then Thor coming to him for a reason. Yeah, it does look like Nightmare begins his meddling early on. Has me excited to see this series start!!

[Raye]

What I was trying to convey was more of a harmonic balance of forces. In an imperfect metaphor, the best analogy I have is the Fae/Sidthe courts. The leading theory on this board corresponds well with the idea of Fae mantles (I know fae mantles are a thing in traditional Irish folklore, but my knowledge is based more around the Dresden files, so bear with me). In every Fae court, there's the Queen, Lady, Knight, etc. Different people can fill the roles, but they must be filled, and each role comes with certain trappings. Up till this point, we've been treating Asgard as a single "court" with the All-Father, Prince/Hero, and Villain mantles. My point was that maybe Loki is the starting point of a new court that complements and balances the existing Asgard court. To take the fae metaphor further, while his brother was the "Thor of Summer", I'm saying Loki could be the "Thor of Winter" (minus the malicious trappings associated with Sidthe and winter in particular, which is why the metaphor's not perfect).

Ah, I think i get you now. Though that may be more complex than what Marvel will want to explain in the end, not only do they have one court with fixed roles, now we have other ones in the different realms.

Also, we got a little off track in the discussion, it wandered towards Thor being 'fire', but when it started because in the future, Wolverine said that 'Thor's brother' had destroyed the earth with fire, so it's not Thor that's the fire here, even if it could thematically fit.

Anyways, I am so ridiculously happy with these pictures. So nice to see Loki and Thor getting along again! That was my fave, tho the rest looks awesome (tho I did like the long hair, too). I think Raye's right about the justification being that he's taking care of himself again (which really just reinforces how depressed he was ), but long hair suits him. Interesting to see how happy he looks hanging out with Thor vs how resigned/almost dejected he looks taking the throne. You can tell based on the art alone that he doesn't want it. However, I don't think it's necessarily the gloomy depression that we've been dealing with for a while, now. It seems like there are some definite bright spots in there.

Yeah, not getting depression from that art so much as I am getting boredom and frustration. Which I was pretty sure was going to happen.

I wonder how people react to his crowning on a political level. I mean, here's this cosmic super villain who just ascended to the throne of a traditionally warlike nation (even if it looks like the frost giant army is all but gone). I mean, I know I would calmly freak out. Also I'm wondering if Wakanda will ever factor in, given that Black Panther seemed to be questioning Loki's "villainous" motivations. You know that if Wakanda and Jotunheim make so much as a trade deal, the US will pitch a fit. Also, will Loki and Thor forge a political alliance? I don't see why they wouldn't. Thor was visibly supporting him as he took the throne, from what I can tell..

Hah, yeah. to most people, Loki taking Jotunheim's throne may not be seen as a good thing.

With Wakanda, I am not sure what Jotunheim could really have to trade. though, remember when Agger like, brought in space-ice at great cost, and tried to sell it and then Thor just went to Jotunheim and grabbed a chunk of ice? so I guess they have at least that going for them. Black Panther has already pissed off the US with the Avengers, so i mean, how much more harm could establishing some kind of relations with Jotunheim do?

And Thor is standing right there beside Loki, in what appears to be the Jotunheim throne room, so I can't see why they would not form an alliance. It would definitely be in Asgard's best interests to establish friendly relations with Jotunheim's new ruler, and unlike Wakanda, would not be political suicide.

Yeah, it's nice to see Loki taking care of himself here.

I guess my opinion on Loki's hair is that it's up to the artist. If they want short hair, do short. Long hair? OK! Loki is that rare character who can look however you want him to look, so you do you!

mini-rant: This approach REALLY bugs me. A lot. It reeks of unprofessionalism and laziness. These comics are being done by professionals, and they are working with company owned characters, they ought to be able to follow a model sheet, to keep the characters consistent from book to book, or they won't actually feel like the same character under different creative teams. It's not much different than expecting the characterization in the writing to remain consistent between appearances, and it's for the same reason, pretty much. I have problems with characters being written out of character, and that extends to them being off-model. I have a background in animation, where it is drilled into you to follow the model sheet at all costs, and I just think the same should apply to comics. It's not like it's difficult or anything. I'll allow for style to affect things to an extent, more than in animation, but costume and major physical traits like hair length should be set in stone, until an official editor/writer approved change is made, imo. I may not like the short hair as much as the longer hair, but I think consistency is more important. The model sheet is sacred.

Fan art, do whatever you want. But the comics themselves should have standards to adhere to in terms of how the characters are portrayed, imo.

edited to add in - just to use Loki's design as an example of why I think this is important, as we just said, the change now is likely in order to reflect an internal change in the character. He was wearing the ragged coat, neglecting to shave, not bothering to cut his hair etc. because he didn't care about himself. He made a temporary effort to clean himself up for Vote Loki because it was expected of him, if that was ever going to work, and I can understand that, but the point still stands that the character design actually said something important about the character. If you don't maintain consistency with that, just let the artist do whatever they thought was cute or fun, then what it said about his internal state would have been lost, and be a betrayal of the writing. And now that he's feeling better, apparently, to have him drawn all ragged and disheveled after this change is made in his own book would likewise be going against his established character. I know long hair alone may not do that, but it's the principle. The covers being the old costume, I can probably give a pass to because covers are typically done well ahead of the interior art so they can be used in solicits, so they may not have decided yet that he would be cleaning himself up and going back to his old coat. But if it continues to use the ragged coat while the interior art uses the AoA coat, that will be a problem.

Nice to see this plot with Nightmare quickly picking up. I was worried about this comic being a bit too directionless, but it looks like the plot is there and should be rather tight, at least starting out. I was honestly worried that the first two issues would be all recap or something.

*snipped video*

OK, so I'm a former emo and this song just always reminded me of Loki, specifically the current ones.

I and a Gen Xer (tail end but still) so was never into Emo, I was into Grunge and Industrial, and then made my way to Metal from there. So had never seen that before, it's pretty cool.

this is the one that always reminds me, especially when paired with the video. more anti-hero than where he's at at this exact moment, but still. I know i have posted it before, but still:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4p6GWewmTYQ

But like, the whole BAND, really... they're one of my more recent musical obsessions. Johannes' clown character is just very Loki like. (He's an absolute sweetheart in real life though, who is, i swear to god, a legit kindergarten teacher in his day job. And they have some newer ones that would nicely apply to recent developments: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrvmURFvacc

and they did a successful Kickstarter recently to do a bunch more videos from that album. It's a concept album all about a king, who fought a great war, so...

[dr4conianlaw]

I do think that going back and forth on Loki's hair bothers me less then it would for most characters, just because he's a shapeshifter, so it seems fine to me that he can just have whatever style he wants at the moment. The cover/interior discrepancy is odd, though.

Of Loki's styles though, I think I like the two extremes the best- either the messy, shorter look, or long and in a ponytail.

[Rosebunse]

I do think that going back and forth on Loki's hair bothers me less then it would for most characters, just because he's a shapeshifter, so it seems fine to me that he can just have whatever style he wants at the moment. The cover/interior discrepancy is odd, though.

Of Loki's styles though, I think I like the two extremes the best- either the messy, shorter look, or long and in a ponytail.

This is what I meant! He's a shapeshifter who can easily just change his hair style from one day to the next.

Besides, this is a more respectable job, so it nakes sense tht he would at least try and look the part.

[Prof. Aegis]

Okay, usually I don't comment on artistic touches as each artist has their own style or eye with designs so I'm never really bothered unless its very glaring. And Loki going back to his AoA coat, I'm okay with as it seems to me he's taken his look back to his fresh and stylish one and not the ragged and torn look. As for his hair, hey, keep in mind, this all takes place after WotR and he's now ruler of Jotunheim, perhaps he wanted to clean himself up a bit...fresh coat, bit of a trim on the hair, etc. Clean up his own look, makes him feel a bit better and ready for new plans and actions. That's how I'm looking at it.

[Raye]

Just to be clear I am not bothered by changes to the design, as long as they are agreed upon by the creative team. I'm sure the coat and hair were requested by Kibblemith, and the changes were agreed upon, or at least I hope they were. And as long as that's the case, returning to the old coat is fine with me. What I take issue with is more the artist ignoring the agreed upon design.

This is what I meant! He's a shapeshifter who can easily just change his hair style from one day to the next.

Yeah, but he doesn't do that. He uses his shapeshifting when it serves an actual purpose, not just to change his hair, and his costume is kept fairly consistent. I mean even during Vote Loki, when he was actually trying to present a more put together image, the hair remained the same length as other appearances, if he didn't use shapeshifting then to change his hair, then he's not going to use it anywhere else.

And the main point is that doing that as an artist is super unprofessional, and as an artist you just shouldn't make uncalled for changes, whether the character is a shapeshifter or not is irrelevant. If the writer wants the shapeshifting to be a thing, or for the character to wear a different outfit (like the suits Kibblemith has in his Printerest) they'll mention it in the script. Until then, stick to the default design. To do otherwise is disrespectful of the collaboration aspect, and while it may not seem like a big deal, altering the design on a whim could be screwing up the writer's plans. Like, say the hair was meant to be a plot point a couple issues down the line, (like maybe the fact that he got it cut was supposed to be commented on because characters had noticed he was taking better care of himself, like Freyja is like saying she likes the haircut and thinks he looks better with short hair, and she is glad he's taking care of himself again, or something) and you just don't think to mention it because the model sheet exists, and it is assumed the artist will follow it, because that's their job. But the artist thought he'd be cute with a pony tail and liked the ragged coat better, and fucked that up. I know it may not seem like a big deal but it's the principle of it. You just don't do that to your partner, because it may throw a wrench in the works. The artist is there to draw what the writer wants, not just whatever. There is a reason it is Kibblemith and not the artist that is assembling that printerest. There are some projects that are more artist driven, and the writer is more there to give voice to their vision, and in the past the artist sometimes had more creative freedom, but generally modern mainstream superhero books are writer driven. tho the artists do have more freedom than at some points in the past when there was not just a model sheet to stick to, but an actual house style to emulate. At least now artists can let their own style shine through, but adhering to the designs is still expected.

I mean look, I was a professional character designer for many years, and also a builder, for professional mascots, and as mentioned studied animation and done self published comics. I'm sorry, but I just take this very seriously.