Amazing Spiderman #503&504 : In which Loki teams up with our friendly neighbourhood Arachnid man

[tacitoz]

So I've fallen victim to Loki lately and then I saw an image somewhere of him and Spidey sitting on a rooftop and eating hot dogs, instantly I thought WTF IS GOING ON HERE! AND WHY DO I WANT IT SO BADLY! Then there was an epic quest of searching around the web until I FINALLY found out which issue(s) that was from, and I practically exploded with glee.

It begins with Spiderman and Doctor Strange...I don't even know. exploding?

apparently they battled with a powerful being in another dimension. ALSO apparently they somehow managed to release a different entity which then chose the depicted woman (Tess Black, Loki's daughter. Does anyone know if her mother ever showed up?) as its new host.
It does not go well.

So this entity, a powerful sorceress who goes by the name "Morwen", has now taken control and wants to thank Spiderman, so she corners him in an alley and wants to...give him the world. Huh. Neato.
Meanwhile, Loki, disguised as a kid, watches them.

I love the thought of a kid talking like that. Loki you're such a racist sometimes!

Morwen leaves and Spidey heads for Doc Strange's place. No one seems to be home so kid!Loki pretends to be a messenger of Doc to lure Spidey into a warehouse and reveals that he is, in fact, Loki. And from that point on I was in love with this.

I love how Loki just completely ignores Spidey's feeble attempts to hurt him. Oh, and also he's not evil he's "...complicated."
Loki then proceeds to nearly kill some guy who had the misfortune of being near them and asked Spidey to work with him (because he wants to hunt down Morwen and thinks she'll search for Spiderman again) or else he'd kill the guy. Spidey agrees and Loki revives the dude, allowing Spidey to get him to safety. Loki's floating head then talks a bit about Morwen and stuff and then appears next to Spidey :

"possessed by the spirit of a boy scout"...yeaaaaaah, Spidey, next day he'll sell you cookies!
The issue ends with Morwen bestowing some gangsters (one of them is H.P. Baxxter? 8D) with powers. Or rather, their guns:


the next issue opens with Spiderman and Loki chilling on top of a building and eating hot dogs, but Morwen appears and puts an end to the bronding.

...I love those two so much right now you have no idea.
Morwen asks Peter if he wants some shiny magic powers followed by this revelation:

Wow. I think at this point, all of humanity could be related to Loki. Loki makes it clear he wants Morwen out of his daughter's body ASAP but Morwen likes her new body, thank you very much.
And if Morwen truly IS Sir Pose-a-lot's Loki's daughter, shouldn't there be a way to get Morwen out of her system without Tess dying?

shippy
They battle a bit with Morwen, but she's not too easy to take down. Also their main focus is on driving her out of the body.

"Loki doesn't care for pain. HONORIFICS MAN. DO YOU USE THEM!"

Spiderman distracts Morwen while Loki dives into her mind and wakes his daughter's ghost, which allows him to drive Morwen out.

although, maybe she just really hates disco.
Loki erases Tess' memories of the incident and leaves, telling Peter that he owes him one and leaves him a Rune he can use to summon Loki. Sweet.
Peter wants to check up on how Tess is doing and searches for her address and goes there, only to find she's moved out. But who does he find there? YEP, good ol' Sir You the Mighty...what

I swear, they just cannot stay on topic.
Loki asks Spiderman to look after Tess and make sure she doesn't remember and then leaves for real.

That is not how rainbows work. this is so shippy aaah. Ze goggles!

I kinda liked it how it portrayed Loki in a different light (not a woobie or a villain, but an ancient god that dotes on his mortal daughter a bit), buuut on the other hand, why would he care so much for his HUMAN daughter? What about his monster kids? Don't they get any love from daddy?
All in all this was very enjoyable though and I reaaaaaaaaaaaally wish this wasn't the only issues in which those two teamed up because they had some great moments together. I guess at this point the writers forgot about this already, but it'd be nice if Peter were to ask for a favour now and kid!Loki were to appear. And I think he could have helped him with Mephisto, too...OH WELL!
I hope this wasn't too long or anything <3

Comments

[fifthie]

What about his monster kids?

Well

they ugly

[fifthie]

Petty vanity is the third fail-out round of So You Think You Can Asgard, right after boasting and struggling against prophecies of annihilation even while knowing that struggle will be the very thing that brings it about.

[cainofdreaming]

"Loki? Spider-Man here. You know, the guy you owe a favor to. Dresses in red and blue, 'does whatever a spider can'... That Spider-Man, yes. So, I was thinking of making a deal with Mephisto and I'd really like it if you could write up the contract papers. Yes, I know. Paperwork, right? But think about what it'll do to your reputation when people hear you put one over Mephisto in a deal with the devil... Thanks! I knew you'd like the idea."

[tacitoz]

And everyone would have been happy :D
(I so need to save this in my list of awesome quotes)

[shadowpsykie]

you have to get a job with Marvel and make this happen... NOW!

[icon_uk]

That makes so much sense it's approaching the painful that it didn't happen.

[sherkahn]

That RUNE from Loki is still around, no?

That would summon kidLoki?

[ceirwyn]

Actually, I think that may be where Gillen is going...clearly Loki and Mephisto are doing some I'm-more-deceitful-than-you competition going.

[zenbro]

Where do I start? Loki feeling "no ordinary wind" after eating a hot dog? Peter stroking his horn with impunity and Loki not responding?

I cut the rainbow some slack. It's probably Bifrost. Asgardian rainbows care not for the paltry ROYGBIV rules of Midgard.

[tacitoz]

Horn-stroking is so turning into one of my kinks (also thanks to homestuck, goshdarnit) it's not even funny.
xD
"Screw you, light, I'm the effin BIFRÖST, I CARE NOT FOR COLOUR THEORY!"

[shadowpsykie]

i would LOVED for Spidey to team up with Kid Loki! :D

[tacitoz]

Wouldn't it just be so adorable if Spidey took kidLoki for a little hike when swinging from ceiling to ceiling? :D

Loving the Loki

[blue_bolt]

I'd blame Thor for Spider-Man not bothering with honorifics for Norse Gods, but we all know that's just how Peter rolls.

My favourite line in the whole thing is "I'm a Norse God. It's what we do." Of course we could say that about the Greek Gods as well - Zeus, Hercules... - but Loki's right, they do get around.

Re: Loving the Loki

[terrykun]

Ares had a similar reaction when his troops found out some of his children were horses.

"Your kids are /horses/?!"
"It is different for gods."

[shanejayell]

OMD would have been SO much cooler if they had just used Loki. *lol*

Loved this story.

[salinea]

wah!

thank you for posting this :D

[tacitoz]

(icon love! That comic was so awesome ;3; )
no problem, i'm glad someone enjoyed it :)

[nemryn]

I think it's probably not so much that Loki cares for his daughter as it is 'nobody messes with Lokispawn except me' or something.

[drexer]

Not that hard really:



My work here is done.

[tacitoz]

I love your brain and wish to live in it. XD <3

[baihu]

This is quite possibly the calmest, most well-adjusted Loki I've ever seen. The lack of any wangst is eerie. The presence of apparent affection and empathy for his half-human daughter is near OOC - except it might be an unexplored thread so I'll cut it some slack.

I mean I just found out that Loki and Sigyn did in fact, have a son who I didn't even know was Loki's son when I came across him in a Hulk comic and only when I looked it up on Marvel wikia.

I mean does anyone remember Vali Halfling? He was Agamemnon in the Pantheon story arc in one of Hulk's books. Got cursed by Loki to be forever 16 (actually looks sorta younger than that), but is immortal and has hundreds of descendants anyway. Acts a lot like Loki, manipulative jerkass, and the only arguably 'good' thing he did was to negotiate for his offspring to be long-lived so they have that in common in only doing something nice for family. Well, sorta (the 'immortality' involved using alien tech paid for by offering the pick of his descendants to aforesaid aliens as mates).

And apparently Vali was seen around in other comics briefly, walking around free. If we take into account Vali's descendants is ergo, Loki's descendants, good gawd how much percentage of the world has inherited Loki-ness?! And does that explain everything that happens in the world?!

And ah, I would possibly like to see him brought back? I dunno, would be interesting to see Vali's reaction to kidLoki what with both being the same physical 'age' and such. Extraneous offspring are always fascinating!

PS: In retrospect, has Thor or any other marvel god got as much action as Loki then? Well except Hercules. Cos he gets everyone.

[tacitoz]

I don't know, in the issues I've read (of which a great percentage had LadyLoki) he seemed very calm.
And yeah, I know a bit about Vali, too. (Why would you curse someone to be forever 16?) he even appears in the myths, in which he had a brother. Loki was bound to a rock with either his or his brother's intestines, can't remember which...yeaaah.
I have no idea if the other marvel gods sleep around like Loki does. It would be more likely to say "that's what we Gods do", because the Greek pantheon had much more action with humans than the Norse one...

[don1138]

Great stuff -- I had almost forgotten how fun the pre-One More Day ASM was, and what a great job JRJR did on the art.

I prefer Loki as the hero (well, multifaceted protagonist, anyway) rather than the villain. The point was made in Siege (or somewhere) that his goal is mischief rather than pure, manichean malevolence, and I find him much more compelling than the rest of the Norse pantheon for this reason.

IMHO, his best nature is to impel others (especially dullard warrior-gods) to activity, and written this way (chaotic good?) he's (almost always) a pleasure to read.

[tacitoz]

I guess more "complex" characters (well at least more complex than "I AM GOOD AND I SAVE EVERYONE") are always compelling, maybe because they offer more opportunity for drama and you can exploit a lot of different angles on that character.
But yeah, the Siege thing... "I didn't know it would go that bad 8C" that was kinda...fail xD

Yeah, I'd like to read more like that, too. But right now I'm really enjoying JIM. Kinda excited to see what'll happen there and how they'll handle Loki from then on..

[qalchemist]

Did Tess ever show back up again?

And does anyone know if Spidey ever used his One Use Only Loki Favor?

What If...?

[chocochuy]

If only we could have a story where Loki reveals that he tricked Mephisto into making the deal from OMD with a phony (and irresponsible) Spider-Man (as well as a phony Mary Jane) because he wanted to troll the Devil or because he cared for Spider-Man's welfare and wanted him to be free of his problems. It could also be explained that the real Spider-Man and Mary Jane are in some kind of suspended animation or living on a paradise-like dimension.

I know this story has its flaws but I would like to see it happen.

Re: What If...?

[domino_blue]

Really I would take any excuse to get rid of one more day, hell I take Superboy punching time, Crazy Wanda, Loki trolling the devil, a April fools day prank gone horribly wrong, Legion going back in time and killing Uncle Ben any excuse as long as it goes away and I never have to see Carlie again.

[drmcninja]

Love it. Loki, not as a malicious trickster, but as an objective god. Really bringing in how most people, and the mortal world, are so far inferior to him. That last page sells it, really drives it home that as much as people seem to forget it, Loki is a god. He isnt a supervillain, hes a god doing his thing.

[tacitoz]

Yeah. I mean I guess his character really depends on whoever writes him, but I also like this approach. I guess he's much more reasonable and collected if he isn't fighting Thor or Odin because of all the issues :D
Yeah, he isn't a Supervillain, he's just "complicated" xD

[baihu]

Did some digging. Tess Black's only appearance is this arc and hasn't made a return in snt new media. She's also the most recent mortal character shown with a god-parent. Mom has never been shown etc. And she's an exceptional stock broker.

[tacitoz]

oh cool, thanks for the info. :) So I guess she was specifically created for this issue. Eenteresting
Pity though, I would have liked to see what kind of a woman her mom would be

[blackruzsa]

It's what we do.
BEST.
Sorry. *headdesk*

Alternatively, does the last scan not look more shippy for the fact that Loki watches Petey swing away while flanked by a rainbow?

[tacitoz]

...why do I get the image of Loki putting on sunglasses CSI Miami style and then Thor shouts "VERILYYYYYYYY" in the background and....argh

and that is EXACTLY why the last thing looks shippy. Rainbows make everything gay. In both senses of the word :)

[eyz]

Loki/Spidey team up? Who taught of it? OUTRAGEOUS!!!

Loved every bit of it!

[joysweeper]

That was fun to read.