Loki Appreciation 2020

[Raye]

So read Valkyrie, not quite what I was hoping for, to be honest.

The first thing is more of just a general gripe, though Tyr is where it's most glaring, and it's kind of subtle, but it bugs me... The Tyr stuff is interesting in premise, but, and this is something i noticed last issue as well, though figured it might just be a quick way to set him up as a threat, or something, but they continue treating him like he has ALWAYS been a villain. Just like Loki is interesting now as a villain turned hero, Tyr is interesting as a hero turned villain, it's the move from one to the other that adds interest, but that's ignored here. Like, I know he's had his bad guy moments before this, even with similar motivations, but... it's weird. I'd have thought the Asgardians would be more surprised at his attack than just being all like 'oh, here we go again, just Tyr doing his thing.' At one point Hildegarde says "I do not know what evil you've brought here today, Tyr, nor do I much care. We've had enough of your sibling rivalry to last a stone troll's lifetime." and it just feels like she is talking about Loki, because she talks as though this is something he does all the time, and it's not. (not to mention that as far as everyone here was concerned, he was dead) And while I get it's kind of the point that he's taken Loki's place, what I find interesting about the characters stepping into new roles is seeing how they grow into them, and how others react to the new people in them as well. That's lessened if it's treated as if it's just business as usual, you know? Like, how dull would it be if Thor took the throne, and was just great at it, didn't feel out of his element at all, and Loki just stepped into Thor's old place, and no one treated it as anything unusual? cus that's what it feels like with Tyr. Somewhat related, it's also weird that it was Hildegarde that said that, and led the Warriors 3 against them, Fandral and Hogun didn't say a single word, even though it is them (and Volstagg, but he was doing his own thing elsewhere) that actually have more history with Tyr, and Hildegarde is the newbie of the group. I'm fine with her being there, and having a part to play, but it feels strange to make her the voice of the group with not much setup there. New roles, yeah, but there is still a transition period, you know? The reason the role changes have potential to be interesting is that it can make everything feel fresh because though the roles are the same, to the people IN the roles, it's new, and if you just have it where everyone acts like this is the usual status quo, that freshness is lost. Thankfully, Cates seems to be leaning heavily into exploring the transition, and how things changed between role holders, so i think we will still have that aspect in Thor, but Tyr is one of the bigger shakeups, so it's a bit sad to see the introduction of that change handled this way. But hopefully it will be picked up again in Thor, and we get more of a 'fallen' feeling with him there, and a sense that the others think he might still be reached. One of the reasons Loki had started to get stale in that role is that Thor kept holding out hope he'd see the light, and it got to the point where like, he really shouldn't have (... except Loki DID eventually see the light, but that's when Thor finally turned on him ) and was just repetitive, and if it feels like we are already at the point where this is old hat for Tyr, then that sense of a reasonable hope that he could be reached goes away somewhat.

Second thing is more spoilery, and has to do with Loki in particular
spoilers:

So TLDR is that Jane defeats Tyr by him stabbing her, thereby effectively giving her all-weapon back to her, giving her control of the darkness, breaking everyone free, and he runs away with his special teleportaiton thing that he learned about in Valhalla, apparently choosing to go to Jotunheim for reasons, and Loki finds him there. I get that it's Jane's book, so I am not mad that she had a major part to play in Tyr's defeat, but I had hoped Loki would have something to do with it... anyway, there's more. So Loki goes up to him and gloats a bit, and says he will hide Tyr from Asgard's wrath IF Tyr shares with him his teleportation tricks, and the captions (which I found very heavy handed throughout, as an aside) say that though Tyr and Jane lack imagination, Loki dos not. So this is on the one hand worrying because Loki is letting Tyr get away with it, and it hints that he is plotting something bad, which seems to directly go against what's going on in Thor and his more recent characterization. But it also doesn't make any sense, because like, Loki can teleport anywhere he damn well pleases anyway, even without the Bifrost. that was a damn plot point not too long ago. (which makes me feel like Aaron actually had very little input here, in addition to some other oddities this issue and last with the characterizations, like describing Tyr as not dead, when he totally was.) Why does he even need this? Hopefully some kind of double cross is planned here, or something...

end of spoilers

that probably came off as overly ranty, but... meh.

[Karabaja]

20200619_101003.jpg
20200619_105116.jpg

My Loki collection arrived and I'm super happy it includes Original sin storyline, too. The only thing missing are some Axis parts #3 and #6, I think) featuring Loki out of his book. Nice quality paper. Really made my day.

[Raye]

Nice! glad to hear the post office didn't 'lose' it on you.

No Loki in solicits today that I could see, but Marvel is still playing catchup on releases, but looks like next month we will begin getting new Thor solicits again.

Cates was on a mailbag version of the Stegman podcast, but they mostly just talked amongst themselves and rambled a lot and only got to, like, 3 questions, none really Thor or Loki related, so they are trying again next week. so yeah, not much new going on that I can see aside from the Valkyrie issue, which he only appeared in for one page. Tho he still probably will appear in Star's final issue, I would think, but that's not till July 1st.

And he may appear in Thor next week. It may be all Black Winter stuff, but they may touch on the stuff with Beta Ray Bill, considering the broken hammer and all, and if they do, Loki may be involved there, I still think he is a likely candidate for Sif and Bill to approach to maybe fix Stormbreaker, especially if she DID see him lift Mjolnir. Though from the vague outline Cates gave on future issues, that may not be picked up again until issue 7, but you never know.

Tho Cates did say in a tweet (deleted, or I'd share, sorry) that Bill would be getting something 'new and better' or something like that to replace Stormbreaker, so it seems like it probably will not be a simple jigsaw assembly and then magically weld the pieces back together deal. But I do think the pieces of Stormbreaker could still come into play. It might be that if Thor does go Dark, Sif (since it seems like she's using her new powers to keep tabs on the situation around Asgard and unlike Heimdall is more prone to interfere early before it directly threatens Asgard) may decide that to counter him, a few hammer wielders will be needed. So maybe each piece gets made into a new weapon? I noticed looking back at issue 1, that it specifically mentioned that Volstagg was a 'former War Thor' which seems like a bit of an odd thing to bring up if it will not be used again, so he might be one, plus Bill, obviously, and Loki, and maybe bring Jane in (tho she has the All-Weapon, so likely will not need one made from a chunk of Stormbreaker, but still) and such. We already saw Thor whoop Bill's ass, and while it seemed like Sif may have fared better by employing some devious tactics, still, they'd want to give themselves an edge. But in that scenario, it likely will not happen until later, 7 or 8ish, as Cates vague timeline hinted at.

[Raye]

Guys, I just noticed something crazy:




Those are TOTALLY the same guys they are fighting. As I said on my post on tumblr:

Easteregg, or something more? Hard to say. But given recent events in the books, I am leaning towards it showing history repeating, but with a different protagonist. And that Loki may have been playing hero a little longer than most people in universe thought. Loki’s methods in the Dr Strange arc were shady, but his intentions, his end goals, were good. (and I mean, Thor is doing bad **** for a good purpose right now, so...) It’s just that no one trusted that, they all assumed he was up to something bad because of his past.

[Karabaja]

Oh my, those are the same guys!
Yeah, Loki has the tendency of acting shady even with the best intentions, has been shown many times, so I hope the same goes for the Valkyrie event. After all, that's the part of his charm. He wouldn't be Loki if he was all nice and predictable.
Also, the inclusion of Drrf might back that up. Obviously the authors follow the path that Kibblesmith set, hopefully.

[Raye]

apparently i am not the first to notice, since I looked them up afterward and there is a wiki page that mentions they appeared in both Dr Strange and Thor, (and that's about all it says) but it seems to have gone mostly un-noticed for the most part, or people are writing it off as nothing but a little easteregg. Which it may be. But Cates loooooves connecting stuff he writes together, and usually with a larger purpose than just eastereggs, and it would frankly shock me if his Dr Strange arc didn't get brought up in some significant ways, so.... this is something he had to tell the artist to include, in a scene that is otherwise not much related to the story besides making it clear that Thor's really damn old, and has so much badassery in that time that it all blurs together and he just forgets things that would be epic to most everyone else, and to elevate the fight with Bill by saying he would remember that. But it could have done all that without the demon dudes. So I'm still thinking there is another purpose for using them specifically. Maybe a subtle one, but still. One thing about that Thor page tho, it does make clear that even if the roles kinda repeat past beats of the previous role holders to an extent, that doesn't necessarily mean it will be repetitive to us, or even the characters themselves. If Thor's done so much stuff that he's forgotten a lot of it, and really we've mostly only seen a tiny, tiny fraction of his thousand or so years in his previous role, there's a lot to cover that we the readers haven't seen, even if it is repeating things in universe. And even Thor and Loki likely would not remember a lot of stuff, i so new to them too. Tho, I don't think it will repeat exactly, more in a broad way, because, i mean the world changed, so it can't go exactly the same. Just saying, I still am favoring it kinda hinting at the fact that the story is starting over.

Another thing I think will carry over from Dr Strange is probably Zelma. Not necessarily in a romantic interest sort of way, though that may be the case as well, but the hints that there was something special about her. I know that may have just been that he was kind of sensing the spell on her, but i think there was something more to it.

And yeah, i hope it is that he's just planning to hand the info over to Jane or something in Valkyrie. But even if not, Thor will take priority as far as characterization goes, and though we've not seen a lot of Loki yet in Thor, based on his Dr Strange run, since we're on the subject, makes me think he'll do right by Loki.

[Karabaja]

Is Valkyrie comic going to be continued?

[Raye]

Only in digital, and a second trade, then it is cancelled, assuming it works the same as the other books that went digital exclusive. Maybe there could be another issue or two to round it out beyond the issues solicited, but I doubt it, they will probably stop it at 12 so it fits nicely in tpb. It sounded like 12 was going to be the beginning of an arc, but they will likely cut it short

[Prof. Aegis]

Only in digital, and a second trade, then it is cancelled, assuming it works the same as the other books that went digital exclusive. Maybe there could be another issue or two to round it out beyond the issues solicited, but I doubt it, they will probably stop it at 12 so it fits nicely in tpb. It sounded like 12 was going to be the beginning of an arc, but they will likely cut it short

Issue 11 was solicited awhile ago and that of course is the issue with Loki. However, has there been any mention of an issue 12? And do we know when issue 11 will be released digitally? Will it be released? The latest Valkryie trade solicited seems to indicate that the issues are just through issue 10 and the I haven't seen any additional future mention of issues.

VALKYRIE JANE FOSTER TP VOL 02 AT THE END OF ALL THINGS

MARVEL COMICS
StockID: 145752 Diamond#: MAR201099

Marvel medics assemble! Jane Foster has been many things in her life- including the heroic hammer-wielder known as Thor! Recently- Jane became the Valkyrie- guardian and protector of the Norse dead. But now she must return to the role she knows best - that of a medical doctor - when a supernatural medical emergency rears its head! Jane teams with Doctor Strange- Sorcerer (and Surgeon) Supreme; the tough-as-nails Night Nurse; Excalibur-wielding Dr. Faiza Hussain; and more to crack a case that will give readers heart palpitations! But is the patient one heroes of medicine will want to save? Plus: When a threat even older than the gods breaks free- Valkyrie reunites at last with Thor Odinson- All-Father of Asgard! Can these two mighty warriors prevent the end of all life at the hands of the Røkkva? Collecting VALKYRIE: JANE FOSTER #6-10.

I agree Issue 11 seemed to be the start of a new story and seemed like it would have more Loki through the storyline too. But now with so little info out I wonder if this storyline will actually be printed at all.

[rpmaluki]

https://twitter.com/OriginalFunko/st...048226819?s=19

[Raye]

aaaah! I have to get that! he's adorable:



Wonder if i should call ahead to make sure my shop gets one for me. also, given what's in his hand, kinda thinking #4 would have been more appropriate, but #1 works too. Seems like they were originally going to include an issue of his solo series but, well... stuff happened. At least Thor still works with the figure.

And issue 12 of Valkyrie was solicited:

https://screenrant.com/marvel-deadli...alkyrie-comic/

VALKYRIE: JANE FOSTER #12
JASON AARON & TORUNN GRØNBEKK (W)
MATTIA DE IULIS (A)
Cover by MAHMUD ASRAR
The Last Son of Kraven has come to New York City on the hunt for a mythic beast — one whose freedom risks the safety of all the realms. So why is Valkyrie standing in his way?! And if a monster of Hel is roaming Midgard, where are the queens of Hel? What is Karnilla singing to sleep in her underworldly bower?!

But that was the last one solicited before the pandemic screwed everything up. Assuming Valkyrie works like the other books that went digital, all the remaining issues will be digital only in single issues, but it will be collected in a trade later. It's possible issues 11 and 12 have been axed outright, but i haven't heard anything to that effect, i think it's more likely that they may try to wrap it up by issue 11 or 12, and then have 6 or 7 issues in the trade instead of the 5 it originally collected, but won't know for sure until they say something.

But we still have Thor! just a couple days until the next issue of that, so could definitely be worse.

[Prof. Aegis]

Thanks Raye, I must have missed the issue 12 solicit earlier. Yeah, we'll have to see what they do moving forward in regards to other issues and the latest collection.

Whoa, so the only way to get the Funko Mystery Box is through a comic shop? No way to order one through Funko themselves? Ugh, that Loki is fantastic!!

[Raye]

Unfortunately Marvel isn't very good about advance notice about digital releases, so really hard to say what will happen with 11 and 12 right now...

And the Pop, little annoying yeah, as a digital person, that it is comic shops only, but at least it is a free comic book, er, summer, tie in, so hopefully they will have some of the good free offerings on the 15th. But thrilled to get another bit of merch in his modern look! Tho now I want some Kid Loki love on that front. Kid Loki would make a super cute Pop.

Oh and preview for Thor was released, Loki is KINDA in it.... https://www.cbr.com/thor-greatest-enemies-preview-end/
At first look it may seem a bit worrying for the status of the face turn, but I mean several of the baddies shown are dead, so I am thinking this is more symbolic than literal

[rpmaluki]

Unfortunately Marvel isn't very good about advance notice about digital releases, so really hard to say what will happen with 11 and 12 right now...

And the Pop, little annoying yeah, as a digital person, that it is comic shops only, but at least it is a free comic book, er, summer, tie in, so hopefully they will have some of the good free offerings on the 15th. But thrilled to get another bit of merch in his modern look! Tho now I want some Kid Loki love on that front. Kid Loki would make a super cute Pop.

Oh and preview for Thor was released, Loki is KINDA in it.... https://www.cbr.com/thor-greatest-enemies-preview-end/
At first look it may seem a bit worrying for the status of the face turn, but I mean several of the baddies shown are dead, so I am thinking this is more symbolic than literal

It may not be much, considering where Thor is right now, but spoilers:

I liked how he said, "that is not my brother" instead of just Loki

end of spoilers

[Karabaja]

This is some kind of illusion or hallucination, spoilers:

and pre-heel turn Loki to that. Thor himself says "you're not my brother". Presuming he didn't mean to say he refuses to acknowledge Loki as his sibling any more, he is aware that what he's seeing isn't real.

end of spoilers So I wouldn't worry
Also I'm trying to hide the spoilers in this post but I obviously can't do it right #facepalm
Edit: yay, did it, thanks