Loki Appreciation 2019

[Snoop Dogg]

[Raye]

YAAAY! and look, he's in his current body/outfit, so that's a good sign.

Wait, why does he have Mjolnir? why is he ABLE TO LIFT Mjolnir?

So current Loki is the old Loki just different due to character development. Because I was wondering if current Loki was just a mixture of Ikol and kid Loki or if Ikol was just imagined by kid Loki.

It's a little fuzzy, but (since i presume you are cool with spoilers) Loki died at the end of Siege, got blown to bits by the Void (hence why he was so afraid of it in Dr Strange, to the point that he kinda froze up, if you read that, but also another sign that the old Loki is still in there) but it turned out this was actually kind of part of his plan. Before his death, he had arranged to have his name struck from the Book of the Dead, so that he would not go to the afterlife, and instead be reincarnated. He also created a backup copy of his mind, along with a set of simple instructions for it to follow once he died. Kind of think of it as a backup of a computer, with a program to restore it if the original computer is wiped. This backup was to seek out his reincarnated body, and when the time was right, overwrite the mind of the reincarnated Loki so the original personality/memories would be in the drivers seat again. He wanted the new Loki to establish a new role and fate and make people trust him once again, because he felt he had become too predictable and had done too much damage to the relationships with Thor etc. Make no mistake, he was thinking in a very self serving way here, he wasn't, at that point, really trying to restore those relationships for a good reason, he just wanted to shake up the status quo so that people wouldn't be able to predict what he did next. So this backup followed Kid Loki around as the magpie Ikol, and when he saw his opportunity, he overwrote Kid Loki's mind. Loki later justified this to himself as Ikol being the weapon of the old Loki who was the one who really fired it, which is where it gets fuzzy. But imo, while Ikol was technically just a copy of the original Loki's mind, he did have all his memories and personality traits, so in all the ways that matter he is the same, and his 'murder weapon' justifications were just him trying to escape the guilt he was feeling. Was this guilt due to some of Kid Loki remaining behind? was it something that was always there, just a step too far even for him? a glitch in copying the 'code'? I dunno, but he has all the memories of the old Loki, so as far as I am concerned, it's the old Loki in all th ways that matter, and apparently his family feels the same way. And at the end of Agent of Asgard, it seemed he came to accept this himself, right before trying to redefine his role.

[Rosebunse]

Thank God, it's the same Loki! Seemingly! But most likely!

But I'm happy. That design just works. So given what very little information we have here, what new responsibilities would Loki have? Yes, he appears to be wielding Thor's hammer, but then again, he's not exactly holding it here...

But still, so excited!

[Raye]

as for Kibblesmith, just been looking into him, and I have read Lockjaw, and that was cute, and have of course watched the Colbert Report, and the Late Show, though impossible to tell there which parts were Kibblesmith there, but it's mostly all good so doesn't matter a lot. So I think he can do a good job. May check out Black Panther vs Deadpool to get a better idea of what he might do. In any case, yeah, as you say, mainly a comedy guy, so it may be that we are getting away from the seemingly endless string of tragedies that have been Loki's life since JIM, which should be refreshing. Loki is perfectly well suited to a fun book, he doesn't have to be one tragedy after another, so I'm here for this.

Still tho. Mjolnir. If that's the real deal, Thor's gonna be piiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiissed. If Mjolnir turns up again and goes for LOKI instead of him, after all this time of hm trying to get Mjolnir back. But on the other hand, if Loki's worthy, that's a huge deal for him, and a clear sign to everyone that he's doing good.

yeah, it's not technically in his hand here, but it's got motion blur on it, it looks like Loki's just kinda tossed it in the air and is going to catch it again.

This is a good birthday present. (my birthday is in July)

[Rosebunse]

as for Kibblesmith, just been looking into him, and I have read Lockjaw, and that was cute, and have of course watched the Colbert Report, and the Late Show, though impossible to tell there which parts were Kibblesmith there, but it's mostly all good so doesn't matter a lot. So I think he can do a good job. May check out Black Panther vs Deadpool to get a better idea of what he might do. In any case, yeah, as you say, mainly a comedy guy, so it may be that we are getting away from the seemingly endless string of tragedies that have been Loki's life since JIM, which should be refreshing. Loki is perfectly well suited to a fun book, he doesn't have to be one tragedy after another, so I'm here for this.

Still tho. Mjolnir. If that's the real deal, Thor's gonna be piiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiissed. If Mjolnir turns up again and goes for LOKI instead of him, after all this time of hm trying to get Mjolnir back. But on the other hand, if Loki's worthy, that's a huge deal for him, and a clear sign to everyone that he's doing good.

Now, now, just because we're getting a comedy writer doesn't mean we won't get some really depressing **** out of this. Fingers crossed! But like you said, Raye, it's fun to have something less tragic. Loki as a character has worked hard to get past some of his past and while I'm never going to want a completely "good" Loki, him being firmly on the side of a light grey is great.

If this is some sort of responsibility given to him by Freya or Odin, it'll be nice to see Freya finally accepting that Loki is goodish for good.

As for Mjolnier, would Thor be mad? I'm not sure I can ever look at that hammer again after what it almost did to Jane and I'm not sure Thor can either. I hope what comes out of WotR is Thor finally accepting that he doesn't need that hammer to be powerful. It's ultimately just another tool.

[rpmaluki]

The baby's.... GETTING AN ALL-NEW SERIES!



By Daniel Kibblesmith and Oscar Bazaldua. Good creative team, but Daniel's more of a comedy writer, so this might be a little lighter. "New direction and new responsibilities."

Colour me shocked, Loki has a new solo book, YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!

But mjolnir? Really? I guess it goes with a new direction and responsibilities but we've been down this road before and I wasn't overtly thrilled with it during Axis (mind you, I did squeal a bit during that initial lift of the hammer) and more so with Thor being unable to wield his own hammer.

But yay, new book to look forward to.

Edit: and about those responsibilities, it says Thor's not about to let Loki "walk away from them this time." I guess Thor won't be too pissed about his hammer choosing another wielder over him (I do wish they'd remember that he is a god of thunder, not hammers). I like that it sounds as if the brothers have patched up a bit. That's what I look forward to the most.

[Raye]

here's a bigger version of the cover, from Kibblesmith's twitter!



so yeah, looks nice. And that definitely looks like him just casually tossing Mjolnir as he strolls down the Brooklyn/Rainbow bridge, gettin' up to mischief of some kind, no doubt. Which is another semi spoiler we can derive from this, appears the Bifrost gets fixed. Hoping he had something to do with that, to make up for the Dark Bifrost.

Mjolnir nearly killing Jane was not good, this is true, but all the same, Thor was trying to get it back, to the point of diving into the sun repeatedly until his eyeballs started melting, to try and get it back just an issue ago. So I think it's safe to say, he wants it back pretty bad. But yeah, he may finally learn he isn't all about Mjolnir during War of the Realms.

and the Axis thing was kinda different, Loki and Thor were all messed up in that arc, presumably this is not the result of some personality altering magic like Axis was.

[rpmaluki]

Marvel just made my night with this announcement. Now I've got some catching up to do.

[Rosebunse]

here's a bigger version of the cover, from Kibblesmith's twitter!



so yeah, looks nice. And that definitely looks like him just casually tossing Mjolnir as he strolls down the Brooklyn/Rainbow bridge, gettin' up to mischief of some kind, no doubt. Which is another semi spoiler we can derive from this, appears the Bifrost gets fixed. Hoping he had something to do with that, to make up for the Dark Bifrost.

Mjolnir nearly killing Jane was not good, this is true, but all the same, Thor was trying to get it back, to the point of diving into the sun repeatedly until his eyeballs started melting, to try and get it back just an issue ago. So I think it's safe to say, he wants it back pretty bad. But yeah, he may finally learn he isn't all about Mjolnir during War of the Realms.

and the Axis thing was kinda different, Loki and Thor were all messed up in that arc, presumably this is not the result of some personality altering magic like Axis was.

Loki's pants look weird in this one. I mean, I love the art, but it is super noticeable on my laptop.

[rpmaluki]

Loki's pants look weird in this one. I mean, I love the art, but it is super noticeable on my laptop.

How do you mean?

[Raye]

yeah, they don't connect to his waist right. still excited!

[rpmaluki]

yeah, they don't connect to his waist right. still excited!

See it. Now I can't unsee it.

[Rosebunse]

https://www.cbr.com/loki-new-series-...of-the-realms/

We have slightly more information! Don't know what to make of it, but here it is.

[Raye]

Yeah, it's hard to unsee once you've seen it.

Just saw your edit about the responsibilities thing. That's very encouraging. Sounds like Thor may be like, 'OK, if Mjolnir chose you, I'm going to make sure you do good with it' like Thor giving Loki 'how to hero' lessons, or something. And that, yeah, they seem to have patched things up some. Which is good! I've been wanting them to have interactions as brothers where they aren't at each other's throats for a loooong time (we did kinda get it in Aaron's run, but then at the end Thor decided Loki had stolen something from him and that was sad. But they were an excellent team before that, they literally could not have won there without working together.)

Besides Thor, which I obviously want to see them interact more, and patch things up and be friends, also Freyja and the rest of the family, I hope we also get to see some of the other relationships Loki has built be brought up in the book. I want to see maybe Squirrel Girl and Nancy coming in for a team up, more Dr Strange frenemy shenanigans (and Bats, of course), Wolverine, Zelma... also some of the older ones, like maybe some of the Young Avengers. i don't think Thor would be the only one who would want to provide some encouragement and help, here.

[Rosebunse]

Yeah, it's hard to unsee once you've seen it.

Just saw your edit about the responsibilities thing. That's very encouraging. Sounds like Thor may be like, 'OK, if Mjolnir chose you, I'm going to make sure you do good with it' and that, yeah, they seem to have patched things up some. Which is good! I've been wanting them to have interactions as brothers where they aren't at each other's throats for a loooong time (we did kinda get it in Aaron's run, but then at the end Thor decided Loki had stolen something from him and that was sad. But they were an excellent team before that, they literally could not have won there without working together.)

Besides Thor, which I obviously want to see them interact more, and patch things up and be friends, also Freyja and the rest of the family, I hope we also get to see some of the other relationships Loki has built be brought up in the book. I want to see maybe Squirrel Girl and Nancy coming in for a team up, more Dr Strange frenemy shenanigans, Wolverine, Zelma... also some of the older ones, like maybe some of the Young Avengers. i don't think Thor would be the only one who would want to provide some encouragement and help, here.

Yeah, there's so much to work with here that it would be pretty disappointing if they didn't take advantage of it. All in all, it's so refreshing to get the possibility of a "happy" Loki for a bit.

And I just can't unsee the legs or the waist.