Loki Appreciation 2018

[Raye]

I see you speak troperese.

And yeah, he is pretty insufferable right now, definitely showing signs of becoming a Knight Templar. His talk in the apartment in particular reminded me of religious proselytizers, the way he treats those who don't share his beliefs with a sort of condescending pity, and I totally get Lorelei's reaction to that sort of talk, it's not nice to be on the receiving end of that sort of attitude.

And yeah, you're right that Loki's feeling towards Thor are not as defining to him as the reverse (at least currently, Loki's jealousy of Thor used to be HUGELY defining) I just really like where their relationship has been ever since Loki was resurrected, even though it's been based on a lie ever since the whole body snatching incident, to find out that it's all been him playing a part, using Thor, would be pretty hard to take.

And my thought on the unworthy thing, if it IS that, is that him hearing about that was the thing that finally broke Thor's forgiving nature. Loki got up to all sorts of evil shit before his death, but Thor always found a way to forgive him, saw something redeemable in him. And... he was right, it turns out. Kid Loki proved that. To have that taken away from him would be hard. We also know that Asgardians frown on killing kin VERY strongly, so if Thor was mad enough that he wanted to simply KILL Loki, that desire for his death alone could be enough, Mjolnir would see that desire to kill his brother as dishonorable. But yeah, it is a bit strange that he didn't go right to Loki's place if that was the case, but dropping the hammer may have simply taken priority right then.

[Prof. Aegis]

yeah, he DOES have a lot of Thor in there...



The wrist wraps are IDENTICAL to King Thor, and the arm.. er, armor, is very similar to regular Thor's armor, (though currently he only wears it over in Avengers... well, wore. I bet he regrets not wearing it all the time now.) but gold instead of silver. But the rings on the belt and the fur is more similar to Siege/King Loki, imo... the circle things/belt buckle i am unsure about. Hard to say from a side view. It could just be a large belt buckle, but could also be one of Thor's circle dealies.

The arm wraps intrigue me the most, though. The two costumes are separated by thousands of years, and King Thor is in the future. So while Loki could have 'borrowed' some of his brother's armor (not like Thor seems too interested in wearing shirts lately ) to patch together a new costume, the arm wraps pre-date the ones King Thor is wearing. So... did Thor in turn take those from Loki?

I am not sure what this all means, but I am intrigued.

Now this is research! Great connection of designs and linking the different pieces of outfits/armor to Loki's. Yeah, I'm very intrigued myself and can't wait to see how this all plays out. It looks like issue 11 or 12 will reveal this!

[cosmicjoke21]

Man, AOA is really just such a fantastic book. Fantastic art and fantastic characterization.

Things are really getting interesting here, and already heartbreaking. The stuff with Verity was just so painful to read. Because even if Loki was, as Verity said, somewhat self-interested (and isn't everyone), he wasn't really a bad guy, and he certainly wasn't evil. He cared about Verity, and genuinely wanted to do right by her. Her own contemplation's on his being genuinely sorry every time he screwed up with her speaks to that, also her thinking of him as kind. And if this inversion somehow screws up their relationship for good, Loki will have lost his only, true friend. And thinking of Loki without anyone, if the fallout of all of this results in Thor even abandoning him, gah, I think I'll just die from the heartbreak.

What's also really fascinating here is the way Loki's "heroic" status sort of ends up highlighting how when he's just his normal self, he really isn't so bad at all. When his being purely "good" and "heroic" leads to him being a thousand times more of a dick than he normally is, that says something. And then there's the moment when Loki is doubting what he's just done, after sending Verity away, and wondering if the inversion turned their bad parts good, what if it turned their good parts bad. That highlights further that Loki really DOES have good in him. Genuine good. As Kid Loki's existence did too. But the inversion seems to have taken those parts of him, as well as Amora's, and turned them into a self-righteous and belittling attitude. Not necessarily bad, but a self-important attitude that a lot of "do-gooders" succumb to, thinking their work is more important, and their perspective the only right perspective. Something Loki didn't have before at all. Not this Loki, or Kid Loki.

And then there's what Loki says to Thor in "Axis # 6", telling him he loves him. I know some people are worried that it means Loki never loved Thor as himself, but I don't think that's the case. I think Loki does love Thor, and that's what fueled such bitter, impassioned hatred of him to begin with. If Loki ever felt indifferent or uncaring towards Thor, he never could have hated him so much. Since the inversion renders Loki incapable of lying, I think that's all it is. Loki relied on his ability to lie to protect himself, and now it's been taken away from him, and that's what will eventually lead to him revealing the truth about what happened with Kid Loki to Thor.

What's also interesting to note is how Loki's new found "righteousness" has rendered him unable to feel guilt over what he did to Kid Loki, and how that speaks also to Loki's normal self not being evil, or even bad, deep down. That Loki felt that guilt in the first place speaks volumes to the capacity for good Loki has in him. And it speaks to his progress as a character, that he feels it, it means he feels a responsibility for his actions. Inverted as he is, he suddenly doesn't feel that anymore, showing how being purely good renders you an imbalanced husk almost. There's nothing to balance out Loki's perception anymore, nothing to cause him to doubt himself or his ideas of what's right and what's not. Loki's such a fantastic, fascinating character, in part, because of how deeply insecure he generally is, and how low his self-esteem is, underneath it all. It's part of what makes him such a sympathetic, relateable character. That self doubt and self-hatred and sense of sadness. You take those out of Loki, and he isn't nearly as dynamic. He doesn't have nearly the potential, good or bad, that he does normally.

[Taral-DLOS]

Attachment 13319
aoa 8

I showed this to my wife, with only the words "And now Loki is a unicorn." All she could say was "...because OF COURSE he is."

[El Sombrero]

I liked AOA 8 but I think I am done with the book. It's hit that "I think this is well done but it doesn't really excite me anymore" stage which is a sign that it's time for me to drop a book.

I think Ewing has great chemistry with Garbett so I was really glad to see Lee back on art duties. His art has this whimsical charm that is PERFECT for the tone that Ewing is trying to establish. I really liked the opening scene with the throwing villains and the scene near the end with Loki turning into a unicorn...Ewing & Garbett always nail the comedy scenes in this book. I was just bored with the great plotline of the Axis alignment switch and thought the group conversation at the apartment trailed on for way too long.

Crossovers killed this book for me. The first arc was great but I didn't like the Original Sin mini and dropped that after issue 1, then I thought the Doom 2-parter was okay but a big downgrade in Loki characterization and art, and I feel like the Axis switch was forced here and changed the dynamic of Loki and his friends too quickly. Sigurd didn't really do anything here and I would have liked Verity and Loki to develop their friendship / relationship more.

I also have absolutely zero faith in Marvel to let this book survive long enough to tell a full story. I really hate how Marvel operates their line and don't really like supporting their books so that is another reason why I'd just rather drop this.

[asiea]

Man, AOA is really just such a fantastic book. Fantastic art and fantastic characterization.

Things are really getting interesting here, and already heartbreaking. The stuff with Verity was just so painful to read. Because even if Loki was, as Verity said, somewhat self-interested (and isn't everyone), he wasn't really a bad guy, and he certainly wasn't evil. He cared about Verity, and genuinely wanted to do right by her. Her own contemplation's on his being genuinely sorry every time he screwed up with her speaks to that, also her thinking of him as kind. And if this inversion somehow screws up their relationship for good, Loki will have lost his only, true friend. And thinking of Loki without anyone, if the fallout of all of this results in Thor even abandoning him, gah, I think I'll just die from the heartbreak.

What's also really fascinating here is the way Loki's "heroic" status sort of ends up highlighting how when he's just his normal self, he really isn't so bad at all. When his being purely "good" and "heroic" leads to him being a thousand times more of a dick than he normally is, that says something. And then there's the moment when Loki is doubting what he's just done, after sending Verity away, and wondering if the inversion turned their bad parts good, what if it turned their good parts bad. That highlights further that Loki really DOES have good in him. Genuine good. As Kid Loki's existence did too. But the inversion seems to have taken those parts of him, as well as Amora's, and turned them into a self-righteous and belittling attitude. Not necessarily bad, but a self-important attitude that a lot of "do-gooders" succumb to, thinking their work is more important, and their perspective the only right perspective. Something Loki didn't have before at all. Not this Loki, or Kid Loki.

And then there's what Loki says to Thor in "Axis # 6", telling him he loves him. I know some people are worried that it means Loki never loved Thor as himself, but I don't think that's the case. I think Loki does love Thor, and that's what fueled such bitter, impassioned hatred of him to begin with. If Loki ever felt indifferent or uncaring towards Thor, he never could have hated him so much. Since the inversion renders Loki incapable of lying, I think that's all it is. Loki relied on his ability to lie to protect himself, and now it's been taken away from him, and that's what will eventually lead to him revealing the truth about what happened with Kid Loki to Thor.

What's also interesting to note is how Loki's new found "righteousness" has rendered him unable to feel guilt over what he did to Kid Loki, and how that speaks also to Loki's normal self not being evil, or even bad, deep down. That Loki felt that guilt in the first place speaks volumes to the capacity for good Loki has in him. And it speaks to his progress as a character, that he feels it, it means he feels a responsibility for his actions. Inverted as he is, he suddenly doesn't feel that anymore, showing how being purely good renders you an imbalanced husk almost. There's nothing to balance out Loki's perception anymore, nothing to cause him to doubt himself or his ideas of what's right and what's not. Loki's such a fantastic, fascinating character, in part, because of how deeply insecure he generally is, and how low his self-esteem is, underneath it all. It's part of what makes him such a sympathetic, relateable character. That self doubt and self-hatred and sense of sadness. You take those out of Loki, and he isn't nearly as dynamic. He doesn't have nearly the potential, good or bad, that he does normally.

Loki does not need Thor he is better off without the odinson family..

[asiea]

tumblr_nf8x3b4arY1u2k6e0o1_1280.jpg
do you think they will torture him THERE IS SO MUCH BLOOD...

[TheWinterSoldier]

Loki does not need Thor he is better off without the odinson family..

For the sake of argument, we can say Loki doesn't need Thor, but if you've ready any of the comics in the past several years, I don't think they could have made it any more clear that Loki and Thor are some of the most important things to each other. (And more explicitly, in the 4-parter 'Blood Brothers', (though I dislike it for several reasons), Loki himself says "There is no Loki without Thor").

Yes, there is a lot of bad blood between them on both sides. They have hurt each other, they've fought, but there has also been a lot of good there too and they love each other immensely. They are brothers, if not by birth, and neither of them is going to turn their back on that without a lot of pain and regret. They're even getting along at the moment, outside of AXIS. It's why the teaser that Thor will find out about kid!Loki is so impactful already - because it can only mean a lot of hurt for both of them.
And along those same lines, it's not just Loki. Look at everyone's reactions when Thor brought Loki back - even Thor knew it was a bad idea, but he couldn't live without his brother, card-carrying villain at that point or not. And then he defended kid!Loki from everyone, including Odin.

Maybe Loki would be better off outside of the All-mother and Odin's influence. In fact, I'm sure he probably would. But not Thor. Never Thor.

[LeeGarbett]

I liked AOA 8 but I think I am done with the book. It's hit that "I think this is well done but it doesn't really excite me anymore" stage which is a sign that it's time for me to drop a book.

I think Ewing has great chemistry with Garbett so I was really glad to see Lee back on art duties. His art has this whimsical charm that is PERFECT for the tone that Ewing is trying to establish. I really liked the opening scene with the throwing villains and the scene near the end with Loki turning into a unicorn...Ewing & Garbett always nail the comedy scenes in this book. I was just bored with the great plotline of the Axis alignment switch and thought the group conversation at the apartment trailed on for way too long.

Crossovers killed this book for me. The first arc was great but I didn't like the Original Sin mini and dropped that after issue 1, then I thought the Doom 2-parter was okay but a big downgrade in Loki characterization and art, and I feel like the Axis switch was forced here and changed the dynamic of Loki and his friends too quickly. Sigurd didn't really do anything here and I would have liked Verity and Loki to develop their friendship / relationship more.

I also have absolutely zero faith in Marvel to let this book survive long enough to tell a full story. I really hate how Marvel operates their line and don't really like supporting their books so that is another reason why I'd just rather drop this.

I understand the frustration with the crossovers. They *have* slowed down where we wanted to take the book (though they're fun for me cos I get to draw more of the Marvel U for a bit) but not by much. We're still very much on course and what we have in store is... well, let's just say it's definitely worth sticking around for.

How does the saying go? "Trust Me".

[LeeGarbett]

Also. Hello everyone! Thanks for all the support and kind words. X

[Raye]

Lee! this is awesome.

And I am glad to hear it hasn't been put off track much, but i do agree that some things feel like they were compromised for the sake of crossovers, and I really hope it can just do it's own thing now without being pulled off course again. Though I hear he will be appearing in Thor at some point, and of course Laufey and all, so... I am guessing the stories will be kind of interconnected, and probably should be. I mean, when Laufey comes back, if it's not even mentioned in Loki's book that would be just, really weird. But I hope it's more natural feeling, I guess. I mostly wish we could have had more time to establish Verity as his friend, since, while I like her and all, it feels like most of their becoming friends has happened off panel, so it's hard to really get why she is so upset. From our perspective she's been in a few issues, had one dinner with him and helped on one mission, then one inadvertent adventure where he was out of action for a lot of it. I think she's good for him, but it takes more than that for me to really buy them as friends, so I am left to just assume they've been hanging out off panel.

But, I am sticking with it. It sounds to me like things are getting interesting. Just... you know, some parts feel a bit rushed.

For the sake of argument, we can say Loki doesn't need Thor, but if you've ready any of the comics in the past several years, I don't think they could have made it any more clear that Loki and Thor are some of the most important things to each other. (And more explicitly, in the 4-parter 'Blood Brothers', (though I dislike it for several reasons), Loki himself says "There is no Loki without Thor").

Yes, there is a lot of bad blood between them on both sides. They have hurt each other, they've fought, but there has also been a lot of good there too and they love each other immensely. They are brothers, if not by birth, and neither of them is going to turn their back on that without a lot of pain and regret. They're even getting along at the moment, outside of AXIS. It's why the teaser that Thor will find out about kid!Loki is so impactful already - because it can only mean a lot of hurt for both of them.
And along those same lines, it's not just Loki. Look at everyone's reactions when Thor brought Loki back - even Thor knew it was a bad idea, but he couldn't live without his brother, card-carrying villain at that point or not. And then he defended kid!Loki from everyone, including Odin.

Maybe Loki would be better off outside of the All-mother and Odin's influence. In fact, I'm sure he probably would. But not Thor. Never Thor.

Agree with this. It's why the upcoming stories fill me with dread (but in a good way) the relationship with Thor is just one of the best things about BOTH characters. Always has been, even when they hated eachother. (or at least said they did) This brief few years we've had of them being close and friendly with eachother, even if part of that time was founded on a terrible lie, has been so nice, I am sad to see it probably come to an end.

[LeeGarbett]

"But, I am sticking with it. It sounds to me like things are getting interesting. Just... you know, some parts feel a bit rushed."

#10 onwards is the start of a big story arc for Loki, big stuff happening but all very personal too. We'll really get into the character and what makes him tick.

[Raye]

That's good to hear Even though it sounds like tragedy abounds, but i guess that's kinda his thing. I just hope there is some light at the end of that tunnel for him. I know he's trying, I want him to get something good out of all this.

oh. weird question. Is Loki left handed? I've noticed he carried his sword in his left hand a lot, but... it's inconsistent across different artists. Just curious, is all, and figured you would know.

Also... if he is unable to lie, does that include sarcasm? that would put a serious crimp in his style of deadpan snarker sense of humor....

[Kalethas31]

AOA 8 is very good!!

poor verity

[TheWinterSoldier]

I mostly wish we could have had more time to establish Verity as his friend, since, while I like her and all, it feels like most of their becoming friends has happened off panel, so it's hard to really get why she is so upset. From our perspective she's been in a few issues, had one dinner with him and helped on one mission, then one inadvertent adventure where he was out of action for a lot of it. I think she's good for him, but it takes more than that for me to really buy them as friends, so I am left to just assume they've been hanging out off panel.

I might be in the minority here, but I was already sold on his and Verity's relationship. To me, the both of them were written in such a way that it only made sense for them to become fast friends - not only are they both rather isolated to begin with, but they really click and compliment each other perfectly - like one of those people you meet and from the get go it already feels like you've got years of history.

It would have been nice to see the two of them hanging out more, but it would probably risk the pacing of things even more. Especially since he doesn't really (or at least tries not to) involve her in his scheming/plans/plot-driving actions, with the exception of asking her to get them through the traps in issue 5 - because as Verity notes in this issue, his intent is not to use her but to hang out with her for her own sake.