Loki, thy name is Dickery.

[proteus_lives]

Greetings True Believers!

This post is about one of my favorite moments of Loki-Dickery. The fire-demon Surtur prepares to lay waste to Asgard and all creation. So All-Father Odin calls for all Asgardians, good and evil, to fight against him. He calls Balder the Brave from his self-imposed exile act as a ambassador to Loki. But dealing with Loki is never a simple deal.....

Enjoy and remember Walt Simonson is but a mortal aspect of the All-Father.





Balder is given a scroll from Odin and after a perilous journey arrives at Loki's castle but is seized by trolls. (Balder has taken an oath of non-violence after surviving Hel. He left Asgard and accepted sanctuary in Norn-realm. Balder is a depressive eater and let himself go.)

Balder is brought before Loki and his guest, Malekith lord of the Dark Elves. Loki isn't interested in Odin's message and Malekith mocks Balder.







Balder confronts Loki.







Balder grabs his horse and rides screaming into the desert, he has broke his oaths and seeks to die alone in the wastelands.

This page is one of my favorite Loki moments.



Oh Loki, you scamp.

Comments

[shanejayell]

I LOVED when Loki picked up his head and reattached it. ^__^

[crinos]

Right before he beheads Loki, Balder morphs into Rush Limbaugh for a panel.

[nezchan]

He was quite overweight at the time. After returning from Hel, he fell under the tutelage of Volstagg in the...tastier arts.

[crinos]

I can dig it. If only we could all follow the Volstagg diet plan.

[nezchan]

His heart wasn't in it though, so he never really got his black belt (well, paisly muumuu) in Feasting. It takes dedication to live up to a teacher like that.

[proteus_lives]

Balder was eating for the wrong reasons. He ate out of sadness while Volstagg ate for the joy of eating and the joy of being VOLSTAGG.

[nezchan]

There is no greater joy than being VOLSTAGG!

[proteus_lives]

He should write a book "THE JOY OF BEING VOLSTAGG"

I don't think the world would be ready for such an awesome tome.

[jlroberson]

Probably the very best single sequence in Simonson's dazzling run, and that's saying something. The sheer cruelty of what he does to Balder here is overwhelming. This is probably the best distillation of What It Means To Be Loki.

And Simonson was the only creator who ever managed to make me care about Balder, and the first one to show me he even had a personality.

[proteus_lives]

Very motto.

WS turned Balder into a great character. He was a warrior god who was conflicted about life, he had a dry wit and a wonderfully complex relationship with Karnilla, Queen of the Norns.

I really liked how he questioned everything after going to Hel.

[psychopathicus_rex]

He can take off his head to recite Shakespearian quotations...

[endis_ni]

No animal nor man can scheme like he can
With the fury of his recitations...

[dr_archeville]

But who here would ever understand
That the Trickster King with the lopsided grin
Would tire of his crown, if they only understood
He'd give it all up if he only could

[shadowpsykie]

i think that was the whole point of this past Thor run. and thats what i loved about it.

also did you make this up? or was it from some where? ikinda like it

But who here would ever understand
That the Trickster King with the lopsided grin
Would tire of his crown, if they only understood
He'd give it all up if he only could

[terrykun]

It's a mock-up of Jack's Lament from Nightmare Before Christmas. (:

[shadowpsykie]

... i love you :)

[dr_archeville]

A bit of A, and a bit of B. psychopathicus_rex and endis_ni started reciting lines form "Jack's Lament" (from The Nightmare Before Christmas), and I joined in.

The second line of what I posted is supposed to be

That the Pumpkin King with the skeleton grin

But as I was typing it, it struck me just how perfectly the song -- which is about how Jack Skellington, Pumpkin King of Halloweentown, has grown tired of his role and craves something different -- actually fits Loki, and I was inspired to change those two words around to make it better fit the Laufeyson.

Glad to see it's appreciated :)

[dr_archeville]

and I see terrykun beat me to it >

[psychopathicus_rex]

Does it? I haven't been following the comics of late, but I always thought Loki's thing was that he WANTED that crown, damn it, and would go to any lengths to get it.

[dr_archeville]

This and this make me think a bit different.

[psychopathicus_rex]

I don't think either of those necessarily mean that Loki has given up on ruling Asgard, it's just that he doesn't want to be BOUND to Asgard. He wants the freedom to do what he likes and go where he likes and do non-Asgard-related things - that doesn't necessarily mean that he's given up on his original ambitions, just that he wants some wiggle-room.

[dr_archeville]

Oh, I'm not referring to the crown of Asgard (i.e., rulership of it), I'm saying Loki's tiring of his own "crown" -- of being Loki.

[psychopathicus_rex]

Possibly, but given how much PRIDE he's always seemed to have in being Loki - and really, you could read that 'Loki is still Loki' as being satisfaction rather than weariness - that strikes me as a bit of a stretch. He may be itching to get out of the boxes that he builds around himself, but he's always struck me as a very self-centered and self-reliant character.

[endis_ni]

endis_ni started reciting lines form "Jack's Lament"

And let's be honest here- I regret nothing! :P

[psychopathicus_rex]

Yet who here would ever understand
That the son of a king with a skeleton grin
Would hunger for the crown? If they only understood -
He'd blow them all up, if he only could...

[zechs80]

The Onimbus of this collection cannot come soon enough.

[falseaesop]

Why to Asgardians EVER trust Loki after shit like this?

[proteus_lives]

Loki always makes sure to make himself useful. Like in this storyline, he did assist Odin and Thor against Surtur.

I don't think any Asgardian trusts Loki but they do acknowledge he has his uses.

[cloud_wolf]

I kinda resent you for making me want to read this after all your posts on Simonson's run. *sigh*

So, this is the two book I'll be wanting, right? And the rest of those Thor Visionary books. I hope the colouring looks the same as this, I like it simple.