scans_daily: Seige: Loki Preview

sherkahn (

sherkahn) wrote in

scans_daily,
@ 2010-04-08 02:01 pm UTC

Entry tags:

char: loki, char: thor odinson/donald blake, creator: jamie mckelvie, creator: kieron gillen, event: siege, publisher: marvel comics

Seige: Loki Preview

The God of Mischief lives up to his name. IGN has the preview. So far it looks like a well written take on the character. Two separate pages from the preview behind the cut.

Loki has just finished his mystic chat with Loki, and said that "Loki remains Loki."
And it bugs the heck out of the God of Mischief.

Emo Loki has a point, and that scene shows subtle depth that we've had hinted at in Loki during the Planet X alternative Earth saga.

But he's trying to go about it the wrong way, as he will have nothing to rebuild from. Then again...

*From The Mighty Thor #586, 2004

Looks like Loki has learned, but is applying the lessons incorrectly.

*****
Another preview cut.

Now there is the scoundrel we know and love, true to form.

Remind me, who or what are the ones who seek dead gods?

suggested tags:

character: Loki God of Lies
character: Thor/Donald Blake

writer: Kieron Gillen
artist: Jamie McKelvie

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	no subject terrykun 2010-04-08 10:17 pm UTC (link)
	Why rebuild when you can roam? I think the principle here is that while the 'undesirables' Thor woke up (which damn well should not have included Amora grumble grumble they were lovers grumble) went to explore the world and see what it offered, the Aesir for the most part remained in Asgard. Think of birds being shoved from the nest, on a much larger scale. (Reply to this)

	no subject neev 2010-04-08 10:33 pm UTC (link)
	I'm really coming to love Loki. He's a very interesting character in the right hands. (Reply to this) (Thread) (Hide 4 comments) (Show 4 comments)

	no subject koschei 2010-04-09 02:04 pm UTC (link)
	If Loki was really all about slipping the noose of Destiny, he really shouldn't have continued to be a complete douche bag villain and instead have become an intriguing anti-hero (Reply to this) (Thread from start) (Parent) (Thread) (Hide 3 comments) (Show 3 comments)

	no subject cmdr_zoom 2010-04-09 02:49 pm UTC (link)
	The implication is that he's so bound by that role that he can't stop. Yet. One of the things that sucks worse than being a character in someone else's stories (comics, sagas, eddas, etc) is being aware of it, but still not having free will. (Reply to this) (Thread from start) (Parent)

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neev
2010-04-09 03:02 pm UTC (link)

Well, I kind of like that he walks the line between douchebag villain and interesting anti-hero. I mean, mythologically Loki started off as the later and went careening headlong into being the former, so I think it's sort of his nature to...not be able to stop doing that. But I'm always fascinated by villains whose villainy is compulsive, no matter how much they try to escape it. It seems to be a common theme amongst trickster types (hi, Riddler, hows that workin' out for you?).

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da_reap
2010-04-13 10:43 pm UTC (link)

What I would have liked to have seen was Loki saying 'You know what? Screw this. I've tried taking over Asgard, I've schemed and battled and won and lost and screw ALL of it. I'm TIRED, Thor, tired of being stuck in the same mold forever and a day, and I want to try a change. I helped build Asgard into what it became; Odin's spear and that hammer you've swung against me so damn often are both a result of MY cunning. I want to go back to that Loki, the one who plotted for the good of Asgard instead of its downfall." (Maybe not those words, but that sentiment.)

I could see him as being, like, the Foreign Minister of Asgard, and playing a vital role in three or four Crossover Crises. Maybe playing a vital role when Asgard was attacked by the Skrull god-killers, acting as a double agent in the Dark Cabal (even if that means accepting Osborn's rise, which I refuse to do on principle) and a couple more past that. He wins almost everybody's trust, spends about 5 real-time years doing so, and right around then? He starts falling back into old villainous habits. And he can feel himself doing it, possibly out of boredom, possibly out of spite, possibly out of both... and despite his struggles to avoid succumbing to his own worse nature, he's back to a betrayer again.

One of the most fundamental problems with Loki as he's been portrayed since the reboot is that he's been able to GET AWAY with obviously scheming BS. As things stood when they got started, any person in Asgard should have called Loki a filthy liar if he just said the sky was blue, so why were they listening to him!? He had no trust to betray! The only way any of this plotting he's done was able to happen was if the entire floating city was chiseled out of a giant Idiot Ball!

...But, enough ranting. Intriguing anti-hero ideas, yes; cackling plotter with occasional flashes of insight no.

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	no subject ghosty732 2010-04-08 11:52 pm UTC (link)
	Having just read Phonogram: The Singles Club two weeks ago when it was released, I am totally buying this simply because its Gillen and McKelvie! (Reply to this) (Thread) (Hide 2 comments) (Show 2 comments)

	no subject kingrockwell 2010-04-09 12:53 am UTC (link)
	Motto! (Reply to this) (Thread from start) (Parent) (Thread) (Hide 1 comment) (Show 1 comment)

	no subject shatners_bassoon 2010-04-09 08:35 am UTC (link)
	Double motto. (Reply to this) (Thread from start) (Parent)

	no subject kingrockwell 2010-04-09 12:53 am UTC (link)
	I see Gillen's not done with the Dísir after New Mutants 11. oh my god i can't wait for this one! (Reply to this)

	no subject silverzeo 2010-04-09 02:39 am UTC (link)
	So Loki is aware of the roles they are playing, like in Planet X? (Reply to this) (Thread) (Hide 1 comment) (Show 1 comment)

	no subject shadowpsykie 2010-04-09 06:08 pm UTC (link)
	the very nature of the trickster is that he is in a way self awarre like this. (Reply to this) (Thread from start) (Parent)

	no subject neuhallidae 2010-04-09 04:14 am UTC (link)
	Oh, hey, are those the three jackasses Balder and Bill offed? (Reply to this) (Thread) (Hide 1 comment) (Show 1 comment)

	no subject terrykun 2010-04-09 06:42 am UTC (link)
	Webs within webs, that trickster weaves. (: (Reply to this) (Thread from start) (Parent)

	no subject sinisterlink 2010-04-09 08:02 am UTC (link)
	I absolutely adore Loki. He's horrible and cruel but he's just so utterly amusing most of the time that I can't help but love him. Also, he has an awesome hat. (Reply to this)

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shatners_bassoon
2010-04-09 09:18 am UTC (link)

I loved what happened to Loki in Earth X, and that self-aware version of him(/her), but that seems sort of an end-point for the character. Still, as a motivation it's pretty neat, especially the underlying irony of trying to break out of his "Loki" role through devious, conniving and entirely Loki-y means.

And again woot of Gillen Mckelvie, as they refer to the single entity that does their collaborative work. Although depressing to see the Newsarama lot decry the art, just because it's not 100% Marvel house style. It really pissed me off when that happened with Gillen's SWORD as well, which pretty much didn't make it because of conservative art tastes, as far as I can tell.

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	no subject catbird 2010-04-09 09:55 am UTC (link)
	I really, really love what Marvel does with Norse Mythology. Thor's "I walked the same path as Odin" just GETS how it works, and self-aware yet unable-to-break-the-pattern Loki is just right for a being as smart and flawed as he should be. (Reply to this) (Thread) (Hide 5 comments) (Show 5 comments)

	no subject arilou_skiff 2010-04-09 12:12 pm UTC (link)
	I don't. It might be because I grew up with norse mythology (I literally learned how to read from the old big illustrated "Gods and Heroes of Nordic Mythology") The Marvel/Kirby version has always felt very "off" to me. (Reply to this) (Thread from start) (Parent) (Thread) (Hide 4 comments) (Show 4 comments)

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catbird
2010-04-09 01:04 pm UTC (link)

Sorry if this is tl;dr, but I feel misunderstood on the internet and it's horrible ;P

That's why I said "what Marvel does with" Norse Mythology. It's an adaptation, not an accurate representation of the real Norse religion (whatever that would be, considering that our only real sources are a couple of rune stones, archeological evidence and texts written in an era that was already Christianised, by Christians. Every version of Norse Mythology we have is already subject to interpretation and, very often, ideology.)

That said, I find Marvel's version to be a vibrant and internally fairly consistent adaptation (considering that this is comics). Sure, they take liberties, like making Loki, Baldr and Thor brothers, not to mention Sif, who never seemed much like a warrior to me in the stories, and they averted Ragnarok, but I still find it surprisingly good (Americans sure have given us worse representations of other cultures). The whole story of Loki stealing Sif's body, for example: it's not in the mythology, and yet it's perfectly in character for Loki, who has a history of stealing parts of Sif and changing his gender when it suits him.

Note also that I'm not very familiar with the older stuff that was actually done by Kirby and doesn't just build on his work. If it's more like DC's Fourth World then I probably wouldn't like it, either...

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	no subject shadowpsykie 2010-04-09 06:06 pm UTC (link)
	are you talking about Sif not being a warrior in Marvel or traditional myth? (Reply to this) (Thread from start) (Parent) (Thread) (Hide 1 comment) (Show 1 comment)

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catbird
2010-04-09 07:21 pm UTC (link)

I'm talking about traditional myth - or the Edda, at least. Sif doesn't appear much, and she does, she's just Thor's wife. The only longer part in which she appears is where Loki cuts off her golden hair, and later when Loki insults all the gods. Afaik, scholars think she might have been a harvest godess - nothing warlike at all. Norse myth has female fighters like Brynhild, but Sif is not one of them. Marvel's Sif on the other hand has been modernized as an action girl, and I find nothing wrong with that.

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arilou_skiff
2010-04-10 01:50 am UTC (link)

It's less changing the details though than the... Tone. It's hard to explain precisely, but there is a certain tone to the norse myths, grim, yet humorous and very funny. Marvel's version has a... Different tone? Very much more standard superhero/fantasy.

It's not *really* making Sif a warrior, as much as changing the underlying tone/language. (especially, and I'm glad they've tried to distance themselves a bit, making the gods speak shakespearean english. The connotations of shakespearean english and the prose of the Eddas can't really be farther apart)

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	no subject halloweenjack 2010-04-09 03:54 pm UTC (link)
	It makes perfect sense that he's a black-fingernail-polish kind of guy. (Reply to this)

	no subject shadowpsykie 2010-04-09 05:55 pm UTC (link)
	i like that Loki i actually being played as a trickster, one of the trickster's "jobs" is to bring Balance, teach lessons, and in many cases is essential to both creation and destruction. int his case, destroy asgard to create it anew. _oracle out.... :) (Reply to this)

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cmdr_zoom
2010-04-10 02:43 am UTC (link)

"Because of you, I'm changed, I'm unplugged, a new man, so to speak; like you, apparently free."
"Congratulations."
"Thank you. But... as you well know, appearances can be deceiving, which brings me back to the reason why we're here. We're not here because we're free, we're here because we're not free. There is no escaping reason, no denying purpose. Because as we both know, without purpose, we would not exist."

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sherkahn
2010-04-10 05:44 am UTC (link)

Which leads to an existential question: How can Loki the God of evil escape his role as Loki? Must someone else take his place while he takes on an alternative role? How does Loki escape the bonds of being an ... anti-Loki, as those are shackles none the less.

I think we have seen the attempts, as Loki cared for his daughter enough to bargain with Spiderman for her safety.

-There are two solutions, I see.

1. If Loki wanted to escape his bonds, then he should take up the human role and identity the God of War Ares left behind. Not lost among the masses, but remain someone important based on the merit of Loki's own labors. Either hero or villain or something in between, but just not as Loki the God of Lies.

2. Give Loki the damn throne. Let the person who would usurp the throne see if he can do a better job keeping the golden city of Asgard golden and worthy of the honors bestowed upon it. Give him something to care for.

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