Loki Appreciation 2020

[Karabaja]

Yes, Drrf is back I sure hope we get to see him in Thor's book, too. And Verity, too.
Also, Loki has the Norn stones, specificaly has them animating Frösti. Perhaps we could expect Balder to come and reclaim them?

[Raye]

Yeah, it was fun to see Drrf again! Good to know that Loki's solo isn't being brushed aside. And yah, I hadn't thought of the Norn Stones, but Balder probably would want them back...

Remember WOTR Omega, when Drrf asks Loki how he got to Jötunheinm when Bifrost is broken, and Loki answers "it's only broken at the moment..besides, she ows me a favour", and we never get the explanation of who is "she"? What if it's Sif, for the reasons (yet) unrevealed?

That's right, he may have been talking about Sif there. Though it said he had been sent from the past, not the future, and Heimdall had not yet died at that point... still though.

I actually wondered about the Sif thing. At first, I actually thought it was a bit weird she sent Mjolnir right to where Loki was, because as Raye pointed out she could have sent it anywhere on Jotunheim but yet chose to send it straight to Loki instead. At first, I thought it was strange coming from Sif since I thought it was a bit out of character for her to do that but then I was more looking at it from Sif in her previous role and how she used to view Loki. I mean I know she said that she didn’t believe anyone could lift it, but she knows from experience there are still things Loki can do to the hammer regardless. That said Sif’s view on Loki has changed over the course of the last few years so there’s that as well.

She didn't say "anyone" said "no man". It could be the same kind of wordplay possibly at work with Mjolnir's inscription, which now reads "they" rather than "he" or "she" as it did previously. Though Loki does most often go by male pronouns because he's in male form like 90% of the time, and doesn't generally seem overly concerned with that, kinda just being cool with being called whatever seems to fit best at the moment, it's still not 100% of the time, Loki is still genderfluid, and technically is not a he or she, or a man or a woman, when thinking of the bigger picture of who Loki is. So what Sif said there is still accurate and true, even if she fully expected Loki could pick it up. And Sif probably knows this better than most, after the whole bodysnatching incident, and all. Even though that is also the incident that would also likely make her one of the people to trust him the least. But then again, at the end of Agent of Asgard, she was one of the few who seemed to think Loki was truly sorry for what had happened, and had changed.

However, seeing it from Sif’s new role, it makes more sense of why she would send the hammer straight to him. I do think Sif knows and I think she knows Thor knows as well. I think the reason she sent it to Loki was to test two theories she had, one to see if she’s right about Loki being able to lift the hammer and two to see Thor’s reaction on her sending it to a place where Loki was. I think she pretty much got her answer to both of her questions.

I think we might see Sif and Mjolnir continue to give Thor hints and a push to finally relinquish ownership and give it to it’s now rightful owner. It seems that things might reach it’s peak in Thor #7 if the solicits has anything to go by since it seems that Thor is desperate to keep hold of the hammer but he’s just really delaying the inevitable.

Yeah, the more i think about it, the whole situation seems fishy, I think Sif sent it to Loki intentionally. I'd definitely like to see them have a talk in the next few issues. And yeah, I really do hink thor will have to give up the hammer. I know this will anger some people, but like i said, he can't do both jobs at once, and he has the power of the All-Father now, which seems like a fair trade, and maybe he can have Gungnir, too.

I forgot to say, it was good to see Drrf in Valkyrie. Tyr in Loki’s role is quite interesting though and I do wonder how the dynamic Tyr vs. Loki would go down, if it does happen that way.

Speaking of Tyr, we also have to keep in mind that the events happening in Valkyrie right now happen prior to events in Thor, and presumably shortly after Sif took Heimdall's place, cosidering it was in Valkyrie's book that Heimdall died. So this could be another thing that Sif has seen that is leading to her being willing to give Loki a chance here. If in the next couple issues Loki does help defeat Tyr and the Rokkva, and Sif sees that, it could go a long way towards explaining her actions here...

[Raye]

oooooooh, look what arrived on my doorstep today!



There was some assembly required upon opening the box, and though his arms and head went on without a problem he did NOT want to fit into the base, but finally forced him in there, and he looks great:



And he's the same scale as my (way cheaper) Thor statue, so that's nice. I was prepared to spend some cash on Loki but could not justify the cost of the companion Thor statue as well, so at least i have this, even if the sculpt and paint on Thor isn't as nice.

[Karabaja]

Amazing details

[Raye]

the only ting i wish they'd included was a green translucent sphere inside the head of the staff, but that maybe something i can look into doing, with some fine fishing line you could probably even attach it without having to damage the original

[Prof. Aegis]

oooooooh, look what arrived on my doorstep today!



There was some assembly required upon opening the box, and though his arms and head went on without a problem he did NOT want to fit into the base, but finally forced him in there, and he looks great:



And he's the same scale as my (way cheaper) Thor statue, so that's nice. I was prepared to spend some cash on Loki but could not justify the cost of the companion Thor statue as well, so at least i have this, even if the sculpt and paint on Thor isn't as nice.

The Loki statue looks fantastic! And he does look good opposite of your Thor statue. Yeah, I'm surprised there isn't some crystal in the center of the staff. I'm sure you'll create an power stone to put in there! So glad the statue turned out so well!

[HipHopAvenger]

That Loki would look so good in Legends form

[Raye]

This sculpt isn't really set up for articulation, but that would be cool, to have his modern costume as one of the Marvel Legends series. I have a few of them, (you can see my 12 inch Iron Man's foot and hand peeking in there in a couple of the pictures) and they're cool.

Also, a big source of frustration for me is that nearly every bit of merch with Loki is either from the movies, or one of Loki's older pre-JiM comics costumes. I'm fine with those being out there, I have some of them myself, but that we've literally never had anything from JiM onward until this statue is frustrating to me, cus this modern Loki and Kid Loki are my favorite takes on the character, so I want stuff with those costumes. That is part of why I jumped on this despite the cost (keep in mind I am in Canada, too, so had to deal with more expensive shipping and duty as well, this ate up a good chunk of my geek merch budget for like the year lol.) same with that pin i got from Etsy, but I don't think that's like official or anything. Like, Jane as Thor has multiple toys/statues, and Loki in his modern costume gets ONE? (well, kinda 2 if you count the Venomized Pop) And NOTHING for Kid Loki? like wtf? Even in the Marvel Legends series that had Jane, they did young Thor from Aaron's run and Ares, but it was Loki in his Ragnarok costume from the movies. At least if Loki is going to be taking up Mjolnir that may give him a similar push that got Jane those figures. I know he gets a lot of figures in general because of all the movie ones, but still. This statue is really nice, and I love it, and I am grateful they made it, I know some other characters would be lucky to get even one statue, of any costume, but...

Anyway, Loki was not in Star today, disappointingly... or if he was, he didn't look like himself. But for some reason Black Swan made Star use the stone to learn Swedish, which may be related, norse god and all.

[Lambadelta]

As someone who got into comics because of Kid-Loki and the Loki who came after, it’s massively frustrating for me that we don’t get much. Maybe the retailers don’t think that this current Loki would sell well. Personally, I think he would because I think Loki has become quite popular, not on a grand scale, at least not yet, but his popularity has been growing ever since Kid-Loki. Yes, the movies had some say in that but so did the direction the comic writers decided to go with Loki. I’m seeing more and more people invested in his character and not all of them even watch the movies.

Hopefully we’ll get more current Loki stuff in the future. Right now, he’s not appearing in much, but I do have a strong feeling that will change soon. In fact, and this might be wishful thinking on my part, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they greenlight another solo for him. Since I think the last solo was more likely cancelled due to how Cates wanted to write Thor and Loki, rather than it being down to sales. Like I said that’s wishful thinking.

But yes, we need more current Loki merchandise!

[Prof. Aegis]

Just read Star 3, and yeah, while Loki wasn't in the issue per se, Black Swan did seem to be acting rather, lets say not her normal self and I swear I could read how Loki could be impersonating her. Pulling the knife on Star, Swedish, and mannerism just had me thinking more about how it might not be Black Swan exactly. But we'll see.

As to the other point on the lack of current Loki merch, yeah, I'm not a fan of the "classic" Loki. That version of the character just doesn't connect with me. JMS Lady Loki was where I saw a whole new version of Loki that completely changed how he/she was. From there Kid Loki and AoA Loki just continued to add to the amazing character. What amazes me is that since JMS we've had so many great versions of Loki with fantastic designs, yet most of the merchandise always goes back to the old, simplistic comic book villain look. I wish there was more on Lady Loki, Kid Loki and current Loki. I really think they would sell well too. Maybe as his new series comes out there will be more opportunity.

[HipHopAvenger]

Tbh Thor and the rest of the Asgardians and other supporting cast have been getting the short end of the stick since forever in Legends form

[Raye]

Loki may be my fave, but yeah, I'd love to get more of comics-Sif and/or the Warriors 3. Or Beta Ray Bill, or Enchantress, Balder, Tyr... the whole family! and it baffles me that there is not a Throg Pop. It's like he's made to be Pop-ified. I'd buy one. But I want a Kid Loki Pop more, a toy or statue would be nice, want those too, but he'd make an adorable little Pop, maybe with a little Ikol to go with him. I mean Kitty Pryde has little Lockheed, and Squirrel Girl has Tippy Toe, (they are both exclusives, but still) so a little companion has been done before.

Hopefully we’ll get more current Loki stuff in the future. Right now, he’s not appearing in much, but I do have a strong feeling that will change soon. In fact, and this might be wishful thinking on my part, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they greenlight another solo for him. Since I think the last solo was more likely cancelled due to how Cates wanted to write Thor and Loki, rather than it being down to sales. Like I said that’s wishful thinking.

I think the cancellation was due to story conflicts with Cates' run as well. I know some people pointed out that Valkyrie was selling a lot better, but it was overshipping for a few months in a row, once that ended, and the true numbers came out, they were actually only a couple thousand above Loki's, and at this point are probably lower than Loki's were when that got cancelled, so I really don't buy that it was just due to sales, especially after we saw similar themes being explored in Thor's book. And not to disparage them, but creators simply come in different pay ranges based on their popularity etc. and I think Loki's was almost certainly cheaper to produce than Jane's book from a creative team standpoint, as well, so...

I think either when the Loki Disney+ series hits, or Loki gets the hammer in the comics, whichever comes first, Loki will get a new book. Probably the hammer now, assuming Marvel is cool with distributing just digitally for a while, and playing catchup with a backlog of issues once Diamond is back in operation, since the show is likely delayed by a few months at least since filming was shut down. Maybe this time it will have a higher profile creative team to help give it more of a bump, and the hammer, if he has it by then, will likely help as well.

Just read Star 3, and yeah, while Loki wasn't in the issue per se, Black Swan did seem to be acting rather, lets say not her normal self and I swear I could read how Loki could be impersonating her. Pulling the knife on Star, Swedish, and mannerism just had me thinking more about how it might not be Black Swan exactly. But we'll see.

Yeah, Black Swan seemed.... off. I am not sure where the switch could have happened though, the point where Star seemed to think Swan had teleported away, and then she ambushed her with a knife and no more laser eyes seems like a possible opportunity, but then, what happened to Black Swan? Presumably Loki did something with her, but... and some of her earlier dialogue seemed odd as well. Guess we'll find out in a month.

As to the other point on the lack of current Loki merch, yeah, I'm not a fan of the "classic" Loki. That version of the character just doesn't connect with me. JMS Lady Loki was where I saw a whole new version of Loki that completely changed how he/she was. From there Kid Loki and AoA Loki just continued to add to the amazing character. What amazes me is that since JMS we've had so many great versions of Loki with fantastic designs, yet most of the merchandise always goes back to the old, simplistic comic book villain look. I wish there was more on Lady Loki, Kid Loki and current Loki. I really think they would sell well too. Maybe as his new series comes out there will be more opportunity.

As someone who got into comics because of Kid-Loki and the Loki who came after, it’s massively frustrating for me that we don’t get much. Maybe the retailers don’t think that this current Loki would sell well. Personally, I think he would because I think Loki has become quite popular, not on a grand scale, at least not yet, but his popularity has been growing ever since Kid-Loki. Yes, the movies had some say in that but so did the direction the comic writers decided to go with Loki. I’m seeing more and more people invested in his character and not all of them even watch the movies.

It's kind of strange. Yeah retailers probably just figure that movie or classic will sell better, and in the case of the movie, ok, they're probably right. Not so sure about classic though, I think though he was popular as villains go, and was definitely the most important villain of Thor's rogues, I don't think classic Loki specifically had a large fanbase. I mean I know there were some, but it was more that he was an extension of Thor, and Thor fans would get things of Loki because it went with their Thor stuff. It wasn't until the past 10-15 years or so that he's started to stand on his (or sometimes her) own as being interesting in their own right, and got a dedicated fanbase distinct from Thor fans. But some of these are limited runs anyway, (there was 2,000 of this statue made, i apparently got #1,525) so as long as they can sell what they make, it's all good. And there are characters out there that have less of a following than comics-Loki right now that have had statues/toys made of their more recent costumes. But when I went to place a pre-order, i had delayed a bit, debating if i wanted to shell out the cash, and when i finally decided to bite, I went to a bunch of places, because I was trying to find someplace in Canada or other non-US place to cut down on shipping (for some reason though we are next door neighbors, it is cheaper to ship from overseas than from the US. It's insane.) but the places i tried had sold out, and I ended up just going through Sideshow directly. So while it is possible those other resellers had only ordered a few, clearly there was some demand there.

and Kid Loki in particular is confusing to me since it has been close to 10 years since he was introduced, and though the individual issues may not have set the charts on fire, that story is so highly regarded that I am sure it must sell fairly well in trades, so I would have expected to see something of Kid Loki by now. Maybe when the 10th anniversary hits (just checked, and that will be in April next year) we will get something.

[Raye]

Random thoughts.

OK, so in the MU, but not the myths, what's something Loki's pretty well known for, something he's done a few times? He's (usually inadvertently) helped found Avengers teams by doing something awful, necessitating they team up to stop him, right? So that seems to be part of the "Loki" role in the MU. So.... doesn't it stand to reason that if Tyr is taking Loki's place in that role, that he should do the same? I know a lot of people just write off Aaron's involvement with the Valkyrie book as him playing with his pet character, but if that was the case, wouldn't he be the sole writer, not just handing off plots (which appear to be fairly broad) to someone else to script? But there must be a reason he's co-writing, and i think it might be because of the element that is shared between Valkyrie and Avengers: Mephisto. He's probably co-writing at least partly to make the Mephisto bits line up, which means Valkyrie is sorta-kinda linked to Avengers. And in Avengers, we have Mephisto pulling strings to get different groups of villains to work together and team up vs the Avengers, so it will probably end up being that one Avengers team won't be enough, they're likely going to need another team or two, and like team A takes the vampires, while team B takes the Winter Guard etc. Well, even if he doesn't end up being one of Mephisto's puppets, what if what Tyr does in Valkyrie is enough to necessitate a second Avengers team forming? Or alternately, it allows Mephisto to get his hooks in Tyr, which will cause him to do something else down the line that prompts a new Avengers team. We have the Avengers kind of co-starring in this arc, we have already had several hints that Loki would be joining the Avengers in the nearish future, and he's here too, so... I'm just saying. If Tyr ends up inadvertently spawning a new Avengers team, one that looks like it may end up being kinda Asgardian themed, or at the very least have Loki on it, that pretty much seals Tyr as the new "Loki" doesn't it?

also, completely random, but I was telling a friend of mine about a black metal musician, Fenriz, who is one half of the band Darkthrone, who accidentally got elected to a city council position in Norway. his "campaign" was literally just a photo of him and his cat that read "don't vote for me" (but in Norwegian, presumably) and... he won, and he kinda hates it. https://www.theguardian.com/music/20...llor-interview and it dawned on me, especially with Cates kinda going for a metal vibe, that's kinda similar to Thor and Loki's whole reluctant rulers thing right now. I'm definitely going to have to look for some Darkthrone to put on the playlist, tho they are a bit harsher than i generally like.

And finally, got notification that I have upcoming issues for my subscriptions coming in Comixology, including Strange Academy which may have Loki in it, so it appears publishers are going forward with digital distribution at least for this week, unless the automated email went out by mistake. So I will likely be getting Strange Academy this week, and can talk about it. I think most of us here are digital already? But if not, how should we handle spoilers going forward? If some of us are getting the books and others are waiting on Diamond and comic shops to begin operations again...? Not that I even know if Loki will be in Strange Academy this week or not, but going forward, since it does appear Marvel is prolly just gonna publish digitally for the time being.

here are links to the Loki-featuring books if anyone wants to go digital for them:

https://www.comixology.com/Strange-A...-series/139619 (new issue this week)
https://www.comixology.com/Thor-2020...-series/137776 (new issue on the 8th)
https://www.comixology.com/Star-2020...-series/137766 (new issue April 22nd)
https://www.comixology.com/Valkyrie-...-series/131512 (new issue April 29th. so that one does seem to be delayed some)

as an aside, I agree with this decision assuming it will continue past the 1st. I am getting tired of this attitude some people have that the publishers first priority is keeping comic shops afloat, even if that harms the publishers, comixology, the creators, and readers. A lot of the retailers are upset that they will be hurt by this, but Comixology won't be, and want the publishers to just shut everything down so digital is in the same boat as print, and I'm like, **** that. From a purely selfish perspective, I switched to digital years ago, and I don't want to have books i read delayed because of something on the print side of things. But also, digital distribution means people can get new comics without going out and spreading disease, that's a good thing right now. I get that the comic shops are the primary distribution method for comics right now, and so it is in the publishers best interest that they stick around, i get that. But not to the point where they are hurting themselves. Their job is not to act as life support for comic shops, they are there to create comics and get them to readers, first and foremost, if that means it's just digital right now, so be it. If it means Comixology gets a boost from this, oh well, it was going to happen eventually, just like the music industry, we have to adapt. Marvel has offered an extension on payment to Diamond, which will help if they pass it on to retailers, but i see no reason why they should just cease to operate because Diamond and the monopoly they have on physical distribution shut down (and even if they hadn't, most shops would have likely been forced to temporarily close anyway, because they are non-essential)

[charliehustle415]

oooooooh, look what arrived on my doorstep today!


There was some assembly required upon opening the box, and though his arms and head went on without a problem he did NOT want to fit into the base, but finally forced him in there, and he looks great:



And he's the same scale as my (way cheaper) Thor statue, so that's nice. I was prepared to spend some cash on Loki but could not justify the cost of the companion Thor statue as well, so at least i have this, even if the sculpt and paint on Thor isn't as nice.

Still waiting on mine from BBTS; it will make such a great companion piece to the Artfx+ Thor

[Raye]

ah, now I'm being tempted to get it! It looks so much nicer than the one i have. oh well, after the world is back on it's feet, we'll see if it's still available on Amazon, and if i have enough money.

Or, maybe they'll make one of this new costume...