Loki Appreciation 2018

[Rosebunse]

according to Comichron, issue 9 is estimated to have sold 21,697... which is close to the usual danger zone, but we have a few things in play that probably mean the book is fine for a while yet. First of all, while comixology does not give numbers of issues sold or anything, it does give rankings, and Loki sells better in relation to the other titles than it does in print. It probably sells better than most digitally, relative to it's print numbers, basically. Also, we made it to Secret Wars! I suspect a lot of books, probably Loki included, will see relaunches after Secret Wars ends. A relaunch would make sense for Loki, since it's not looking like he is Asgard's agent any longer. Al Ewing has said there was an 'and beyond' after issue 17, and Lee Garbett's Tumblr definitely implies there are long term plans beyond Secret Wars, so I think it's going to be fine.

I guess Loki is the kind of title where digital sales should matter a bit. And some of what we've seen does give me hope.

I personally think Ewing has done a great job with all the crossovers. The storylines have flowed pretty well, and Loki's role in Axis was perfect. And it's exciting to see that he does have plans for Verity

Can we find instances of King Loki lying? Or just heavily omitting information?

[Rosebunse]

The thing with Loki, he's a character of Thor's entourage in addition to the protagonist of his own title. If Marvel were to cancel Agent of Asgard, they would still have to choose a version of Loki to keep.

If they cancel Agent of Asgard but AoA Loki survives, the character is still around and we have the hope to read more about AoA Loki, the writers and readers won't forget about him and we may eventually have him as protagonist again...

But if they cancel the title AND kill AoA Loki, then he isn't around, there may pass time before another writer decides to give the character a try, and there probably will be some some writer who may decide he want the old puppy-strangling cackling villain rather than a more complex version of the character, and we would lose both Kid Loki and AoA Loki for years or even forever.

I think Loki as a character in pop culture is in a very interesting place. Many writers have said that he's not likely to truly go back to what he used to be because he's so much more interesting-and attractive-as what they've turned him into. Plus his whole suicide was planned for years, the fans love him as he is now, and this story has proved you can have two Lokis running around and the world won't explode.

[SiegeLoki]

But if they cancel the title AND kill AoA Loki, then he isn't around, there may pass time before another writer decides to give the character a try, and there probably will be some some writer who may decide he want the old puppy-strangling cackling villain rather than a more complex version of the character, and we would lose both Kid Loki and AoA Loki for years or even forever.

Kid Loki is dead. And Gillen did it in such a way that it would insult the character's sacrifice to bring him back. So that's a Loki we will never likely see again, and rightfully so.

AoA Loki's fate isnt certain yet. But it doesn't look very good for him at the immediate moment.

[Habis]

Kid Loki is dead. And Gillen did it in such a way that it would insult the character's sacrifice to bring him back. So that's a Loki we will never likely see again, and rightfully so.

AoA Loki's fate isnt certain yet. But it doesn't look very good for him at the immediate moment.

What I meant if that we lost Kid Loki and we may lose AoA Loki too.

[Rosebunse]

Kid Loki is dead. And Gillen did it in such a way that it would insult the character's sacrifice to bring him back. So that's a Loki we will never likely see again, and rightfully so.

AoA Loki's fate isnt certain yet. But it doesn't look very good for him at the immediate moment.

I don't know. Given the hopelessness of the situation, I would say his death is the obvious choice. Too obvious.

What I meant if that we lost Kid Loki and we may lose AoA Loki too.

I know what you mean, and then kidLoki's is truly gone and his sacrifice wasted.

[Raye]

The thing with Loki, he's a character of Thor's entourage in addition to the protagonist of his own title. If Marvel were to cancel Agent of Asgard, they would still have to choose a version of Loki to keep.

If they cancel Agent of Asgard but AoA Loki survives, the character is still around and we have the hope to read more about AoA Loki, the writers and readers won't forget about him and we may eventually have him as protagonist again...

But if they cancel the title AND kill AoA Loki, then he isn't around, there may pass time before another writer decides to give the character a try, and there probably will be some some writer who may decide he want the old puppy-strangling cackling villain rather than a more complex version of the character, and we would lose both Kid Loki and AoA Loki for years or even forever.

I think it's a bit early to be talking about it's cancellation. Like I said before, the fact that it made it to Secret Wars means it may get a relaunch, which will give it a sales boost, so we're probably good for a while yet. Also, I still think that tease they gave a little while back about a character that was popular in other media having his profile raised in the comics MAY refer to Loki. Most people guessed Iron Man, but.... It's looking to me that they are positioning Loki to have an important role in the MU.

Also, these posts from Lee Garbett give me some hope that things will continue after Secret Wars:

http://leegarbettart.tumblr.com/post...that-isnt-this

http://leegarbettart.tumblr.com/post...on-the-project

But yeah, even IF it's cancelled, Loki will show up in Thor. I know he never showed up in God of Thunder, but I think that had to do with Loki going through some major changes during that time, and Aaron has said in interviews that there are plans for Loki in the new Thor book.

I guess Loki is the kind of title where digital sales should matter a bit. And some of what we've seen does give me hope.

I personally think Ewing has done a great job with all the crossovers. The storylines have flowed pretty well, and Loki's role in Axis was perfect. And it's exciting to see that he does have plans for Verity

Can we find instances of King Loki lying? Or just heavily omitting information?

The tricky thing is, if he's omitting information, we can't really tell until we find out something different. But like i said a couple pages back, a lot of people assumed he was 'king' of Midgard, or maybe Asgard, but he never said any such thing. He just gave a few vague hints and we filled in the blanks, but we filled them in wrong. (which yes, I realize means that a lot of our speculation on this book is probably wildly off base, since that's probably not the ONLY thing they were being tricky about. but oh well.) Also, when he was talking to Doom... He never actually told Doom he had ended the world, he just dropped a few hints so that Doom assumed he had. Now, he never corrected Doom, (assuming he didn't actually end the world here, since I really don't think King Loki is what he appears to be) which is a bit different from how Loki is with lying now, where he can't let an untruth stand, but still. The closest he came to lying was the whole 'I'm melting' thing when he had Gram in him, but that was more of a joke.

[Rosebunse]

Loki can't tell jokes...Oh, this is hard. But I agree, it's becoming very clear that some of our theories were/are really, really, really off the mark.

Really, it seems like such a waste to kill Loki off. Maybe kill everything he loves off, but I agree, his profile is rising. I remember that interview, and it seemed too obvious for it to be Ironman. And the postings seem to suggest that they know their careers are safe wit Marvel.

[Darkspellmaster]

I honestly don't think that they're going to cancel AOA Loki any time soon. For one thing Loki is still a hot commodity for Marvel, for another he fits in with the whole idea of the Trickster better then other heroes in the gray zone do. Al's doing a great job with writing and given that Marvel's been pushing on the movie properties, killing this series would not be a good thing.

By the way what interview? I haven't been here in a while and I'm trying to play catch up with my books. Should be interesting to see how Loki could tie into SW in the near future.

[ROSA13]

The cold, hard truth about Kid Loki .

[spark627]

It does sound like the book is ending or evolving in some way. My guess is there will only be one Loki left by the end. I hope it continues after SW though, I really love it.

[rpmaluki]

I will be completely miserable if this book gets cancelled. I'm not even sure how I feel about a different version of Loki after SW because I've grown so attached to AoA's entire run beginning with Siege Loki. I'd even take King Loki over the Ultimate version simply because it would still be the same Loki I fell in love with. I've never read books of those other ones and I don't trust i will be happy switching over.

I do hope Ewing will continue telling Loki's story (as I've come to know it) beyond SW regardless of the changes.

[Raye]

I think people have to try and remain calm and not buy into Marvel's trolling of the fanbase in regards to Secret Wars. Marvel LOVES working the fans into a froth by making them fear the worst, (in this case, letting fans think it's a total reboot) when it's really probably not going to result in a whole lot, at least in regards to the characters and their histories. We may end up with a new world after Secret Wars (though I would imagine not Battleworld, but possibly a reconstructed but maybe somewhat altered Earth) and some refugee characters from other universes, but there have been lots of signs from many books, including Loki, that everything is remaining intact in regards to continuity. Loki is not being wiped out only to be replaced with Ultimate Loki (isn't he dead, anyway?) Marvel has put so much work into the character recently they are pretty unlikely to just kill him off now, rendering this whole series kinda pointless. And the new Thor book just got started rolling, and Angela and both of them will be mid story when Secret Wars hits, just like Loki's book, but can you really see them ending those books/characters? With Thor smack in the middle of the whole 'unworthy' thing, and Angela without an alternate universe counterpart to replace her with? if they don't replace them, why replace Loki, when what we have now is the most popular incarnation outside of the movies? (and they are not going to use MCU versions of the characters, since that would completely screw up the MCU) so... yeah. Be calm. He's not going anywhere. Even if the book is cancelled, it is likely it will be relaunched, and even if it isn't Jason Aaron said he has plans for Loki in Thor's book, so he will still be around no matter what.

[Raye]

Okay, so have we all read Thor #4 yet? I will use spoiler tags, just in case.

spoilers:

So... Layfey's skull that got smashed last issue was a fake, and now Dario is trading the real skull to Malekith in exchange for the rulerhip of a realm or two. So this is bad. Laufey's skull is now in the possession of the one person with both the desire and the means to resurrect Laufey, which I am sure will have a big impact on Loki's increasingly shitty life. I just hope Malekith pawns off a shitty realm like Niflheim on Dario or something, but we know he probably won't because there would not be much drama there. I am betting Dario gets Vanaheim. It's not well populated due to most of the Vanir being wiped out, but likely has resources for Dario to plunder, and will still cause drama in Asgard, one would imagine especially with Freyja. Then Malekith already has Svartalfheim, we know the Angels can easily be bought, and Malekith is making moves for Jotunheim, though I think Loki will have something to say about THAT. So Malekith's alliance against Asgard is already on pretty solid ground, really. We know Loki is going to be traveling the realms in upcoming issues, and we know Aaron has plans for Loki, not to mention, you know, the skull of his father.... so I am definitely thinking we are going to be seeing a lot of inteconnectedness between the two books going forward.

end of spoilers

[Rosebunse]

I think people have to try and remain calm and not buy into Marvel's trolling of the fanbase in regards to Secret Wars. Marvel LOVES working the fans into a froth by making them fear the worst, (in this case, letting fans think it's a total reboot) when it's really probably not going to result in a whole lot, at least in regards to the characters and their histories. We may end up with a new world after Secret Wars (though I would imagine not Battleworld, but possibly a reconstructed but maybe somewhat altered Earth) and some refugee characters from other universes, but there have been lots of signs from many books, including Loki, that everything is remaining intact in regards to continuity. Loki is not being wiped out only to be replaced with Ultimate Loki (isn't he dead, anyway?) Marvel has put so much work into the character recently they are pretty unlikely to just kill him off now, rendering this whole series kinda pointless. And the new Thor book just got started rolling, and Angela and both of them will be mid story when Secret Wars hits, just like Loki's book, but can you really see them ending those books/characters? With Thor smack in the middle of the whole 'unworthy' thing, and Angela without an alternate universe counterpart to replace her with? if they don't replace them, why replace Loki, when what we have now is the most popular incarnation outside of the movies? (and they are not going to use MCU versions of the characters, since that would completely screw up the MCU) so... yeah. Be calm. He's not going anywhere. Even if the book is cancelled, it is likely it will be relaunched, and even if it isn't Jason Aaron said he has plans for Loki in Thor's book, so he will still be around no matter what.

LOL I love it when Marvel does this to us. It's fun, and I think I'm excited about this whole thing. It's clearly not a total reboot, because that take a ton of work I don't think anyone at Marvel really wants to go about doing. Having that foundation lets them get away with a lot, we've seen writers clearly have too many plans for them to just give up.

And I'm interested in seeing this battle between the Lokis. It won't be all physical, and I'm interested in seeing who wins. Or who won't. And I'm wondering...does King Loki know about the Incursions? He may not be causing them, but were they always in his plans?

[Rosebunse]

Okay, so have we all read Thor #4 yet? I will use spoiler tags, just in case.

spoilers:

So... Layfey's skull that got smashed last issue was a fake, and now Dario is trading the real skull to Malekith in exchange for the rulerhip of a realm or two. So this is bad. Laufey's skull is now in the possession of the one person with both the desire and the means to resurrect Laufey, which I am sure will have a big impact on Loki's increasingly shitty life. I just hope Malekith pawns off a shitty realm like Niflheim on Dario or something, but we know he probably won't because there would not be much drama there. I am betting Dario gets Vanaheim. It's not well populated due to most of the Vanir being wiped out, but likely has resources for Dario to plunder, and will still cause drama in Asgard, one would imagine especially with Freyja. Then Malekith already has Svartalfheim, we know the Angels can easily be bought, and Malekith is making moves for Jotunheim, though I think Loki will have something to say about THAT. So Malekith's alliance against Asgard is already on pretty solid ground, really. We know Loki is going to be traveling the realms in upcoming issues, and we know Aaron has plans for Loki, not to mention, you know, the skull of his father.... so I am definitely thinking we are going to be seeing a lot of inteconnectedness between the two books going forward.

end of spoilers

Thank you! I won't be able to get this book for a few days, so this is great!

Well, so what happens? Loki wrestles control of Jotunheim and uses it to save Asgard?