Loki: Agent of Asgard #17 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

OMG, this issue is AMAZING.  It really defies recapping.  I'll give it my best, but you should really read it yourself.

I think the best way to describe this issue is that Ewing uses all the tricks that writing about a Trickster God allows him.  When the older Gods demand tribute in the form of the stories that Loki holds of the younger Gods, Loki refuses.  He tells them that Gods are really just the product of stories that are so amazing that they take form.  If the younger Gods are the product of the stories that humans told, the older Gods are the product of stories that the younger Gods told.  As such, Loki uses his power as the last younger God to dismiss them.  It's a beautiful contemplation on the importance and power of myth.  Hopefully some professors uses it one day in class.

But, we have one last bridge to cross until the end.  Loki strips away the mask (literally) that King Loki wore, revealing the self that he could've been had said self not traveled into the past to bring about his future self sooner.  Our Loki tells him that he might've screwed up the implementation, but the plan was sound.  The ego-death that our Loki suffered let him put behind the anger that King Loki felt, and he's able to walk his own path.  If King Loki was driven mad by everyone's failure to let him be a new him, our Loki doesn't carry that same baggage.  King Loki cries with relief, and our Loki sends him to his happy ending (a.k.a. the crystal in our Loki's staff).  Then, he invites Verity to go with him through a door into the future when "Secret Wars" has concluded.

Seriously, it's just an amazing, amazing end to our Loki's story.  As cheesy as it sounds, I really feel weirdly privileged to be here for it.  It's just a testament to Ewing's story-telling abilities that he was able to tell such a tightly crafted tale for so long.  Man, I'll miss this series.

***** (five of five stars)

Loki: Agent of Asgard #16 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

It's just so...perfect.  In the end (literally, in the very end), the thing that keeps Loki from becoming King Loki is that he stops caring what everyone thinks of him.  He lets go of the rage that drove King Loki, the anger that he would never be accepted, wanted, or loved.  As the God of Stories, he seems capable of things that he wasn't able to do before, like this release has freed up his focus.  Freed, he chooses neither side as the end nears, allowing Asgardia and Hel to do battle on their own.  He simply captures their story, and, as such, moves into the Beyond.  He does take Verity (or, at least, her ghost, after he killed her last issue) with him, because, as he said, he needs a friend.  But, other than Verity, he's on his own.  He gets to tell his own story.  (I'm still not 100% sure how destroying the Marvel-616 universe would help give King Loki, Hel, and Tyr a chance to survive, but we'll just overlook that.)  He's achieved the rebirth that he longed to have, no longer burdened by his past or future self.  Onwards and upwards.

*** (three of five stars)

Loki: Agent of Asgard #15 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

This issue is odd.  It seems clear that Ewing wrote himself into some sort of corner and somehow even arming the Norse gods with machine guns couldn't help him escape it.

To start, I want to say, in Ewing's defense, that one of the problems with this issue is that Ewing is telling a story that takes place before "Secret Wars" began.  It was OK for the first issue or so of the story, but, at this stage, we're getting pretty deep into the event for us to be stuck in the past.

But, the main problem is admittedly that the Asgard sequence really just makes no sense.  I'm not sure why Odin and Freya thought that human guns would somehow defeat the armies of Hel.  Freya herself even notes that the bullets will be exhausted well before the armies, so it doesn't really seem like a strategic play.  I had thought that they were maybe enchanted by the dwarves of Nidavellir, but no one actually says that.  Plus, I'm still not really sure that I understand King Loki's plans.  How does destroying the other Norse gods make it possible for him to survive the destruction of the two universes?  It seemed last issue like he was just settling old scores, and I was cool with that.  But, in this issue, Hel, in a conversation with Tyr, implies that they might have some sort of larger scheme for survival afoot.  But, we're never given a glimpse of that plan, even with all King Loki's ranting.

Finally, I have no idea why young Loki was able to steal Verity's soul (if he does that, exactly) simply by her telling him (er, her) her story.  I'm also not sure how it ties into the Asgard story.

Honestly, Ewing has to give us a little more than we get here.  It would be one thing if we knew that this confusion came from the events in "Secret Wars," but they don't.  Instead, it just feels like a lot of random events with no real point.  To make matters worse, we're essentially being asked to hang in there despite knowing that the reality where this story is happening is already destroyed.  It's not all that inspiring, needless to say.

** (two of five stars)

Loki: Agent of Asgard #14 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

I don't have a ton to say about this issue.  The impending end of reality is encouraging old enemies to settle scores, and Odin realizes that his enemies throughout the realms are preparing an assault on Asgardia.  He tries to get the other gods to care, but fails miserably, since no one takes him seriously anymore.  However, they realize their mistake when King Loki arrives riding the World Serpent and leading the forces of Hel.  (Did I mention that he's holding the head of Baldur?)  Meanwhile, our Loki has a fuzzy memory after his transformation into the God of Stories, and he encourages Verity Willis to tell him her story since he becomes convinced that it might be important to the current predicament.  I'm not quite sure where Ewing is leading us, but I'm exciting to be on the trip.

*** (three of five stars)

Loki: Agent of Asgard #13 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

After reading so many terrible comics lately, it was nice to read a solid one.

King Loki tries to burn away our Loki's innocence so that he can be his pawn in his attempt to take over the Ten Realms while Asgard is weakened.  Our Loki is sent to some form of purgatory, where he's confronted by Old Loki and Kid Loki.  Old Loki tells him to accept what he's learned -- that he'll always be seen as the God of Lies, regardless of his deeds -- and return as Loki.  Kid Loki tells him instead to end the story of Loki by embracing the void like he did.  Thankfully, Verity calls him (thanks to his phone with magical cellular coverage) and tells him that she's confused but that she wants him to know that it's not too late to change.  She reminds him that King Loki didn't know her, so they might be past a point where their stories diverge.  Our Loki tells her that he'll always be the God of Lies; she tells him that she doesn't even know what the "God of Lies" means, but that he can't even tell a lie correctly, so he's already something else.  Elsewhere, Odin urges him to be worthy of his own power and remember what a lie is.  Then, Loki choses neither Old Loki or Kid Loki's path.  He reminds himself that he has a friend that believes in him and a brother that he loves, that he's his own man, and that he will never sit long in a box built for him.  Deciding that he'll keep these traits but that it's time to tell a different story, he fully immolates himself, to King Loki's fury.  He hurls them eight months in the future, with a red sky and another Earth looming over them, and appears at Verity's apartment.  He doesn't recognize her, but he tells her that he understands that she's a friend.  He then announces that he's the God of Stories.

This ending is as close to perfect as I can imagine it.  Since I've been reading about Loki, starting with the "Young Avengers," he's suffered under an increasing amount of baggage:  first, the spirt of Kid Loki, then the presence of King Loki, and now the appearance of Old Loki.  Deciding to burn away that history to become his own man seemed the most logical thing to do.  Emerging as the God of Stories?  Even better.  Because, honestly, sometimes you just have to burn away the bad to start with the good.  The open question, of course, is whether Asgard will accept this change.  King Loki burnt Earth to a crisp in his war with King Thor because no one accepted his efforts to change.  But, this new Loki isn't a reformed God of Lies; he's the God of Stories.  Will that change be sufficient?  I guess we'll see.

(By the way, I didn't fully realize that King Thor's golden age of Asgard was concurrent with King Loki's total destruction of Earth.  Originally, I thought of Asgard and Earth's fates as linked; in other words, a destroyed Earth couldn't exist at the same time as a golden Asgard.  I also thought that Loki was somehow tricking the All Mother to bring about Thor's golden age of Asgard, because it's that age that Loki destroys to usher in Thor's destruction.  But, I now understand that they exist at the same time.  Plus, King Loki was in the past to change ruling over a destroyed planet, not bring about it.  In the end, it all comes together.)

**** (four of five stars)

Loki: Agent of Asgard #12 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

I don't have too much to say here, because Ewing lays out King Loki's case brilliantly.

First, we learn how our Loki becomes King Loki.  King Loki tries to save himself (for reasons that Ewing doesn't really lay out here, other than possibly boredom over his lot in life) by creating this new Loki, erasing the sins of his previou self to create a new future.  We learn that it takes our Loki ten years (and a final victory over Ultron) to accomplish this goal.  But, in the end, no one forgets that he's the God of Lies, and this inability to change people's perceptions of him -- depsite his success in erasing his history -- finally drives him mad.  He tries to kill King Thor (after Thor also refers to him as the God of Lies as if it were an imutable part of him), and King Loki is born.

Why is King Loki here now?  Glad you asked.  Basically, he wants to skip to the end.  King Loki already knows that this plot will fail, and so he wants to bring about his creation sooner.  Moreover, he recognizes that this particular time in history is ripe for action, since Odinson is shattered, Angela is learning, and Baldur is distracted.  If he gets our Loki to act, he could rule the Ten Realms.  He didn't do it originally because he was still trying to redeem himself.  But, now, he no longer see a reason to hold back.

The question is whether our Loki will go for it.  King Loki does something here that implies that he casts a spell on him, but we'll see how it affects him. If everyone wrote exposition so cleverly, I wouldn't complain about it nearly so much.

*** (three of five stars)

Loki: Agent of Asgard #11 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Man, this story just get sadder and sadder.

Loki loses everything here.  The Asgardians turn their backs on him, Freya exiles him, and King Loki drives away Verity Williams by proving that he's Loki's future (since she'd be able to see through his lie if he were telling one).  It's a bad day for our guy.  Of course, Loki doesn't take it all without putting up a fight.  He calls Freya on her self-righteous, noting that it makes it all the worse if she believed that he were Kid Loki, since she planned to betray him in the end.  I'm glad that he managed to twist that knife a little before she exiled him.

The only good news is that he's not totally bereft of hope, even if he doesn't know it.  Odin tells Loki that he loves him (and knows that he's really the echo of his old self), but refuses to help him.  He tells Loki that it's his time of tribulation and that he now has a chance to prove himself.  It's essentially a parent making a child pass the test on his own.  It's a lovely moment, providing Loki his only glimmer of hope that he won't be alone forever.  (Loki isn't privy to Sif telling Fandral that she doubts that this Loki is the same as the old one that once hid in her body.)

In the next issue, King Loki is going to reveal (for reasons that still aren't clear to me) how our Loki becomes King Loki, and it's clear that it's going to serve as the impetus for Loki's hero's trial.  He'll need to find a way to change his future, with no one at his side.  Talk about a legend in the making!  The Story of the Echo of Old Loki Avoiding Becoming the King Loki That He Was Destined to Become.  I'm game for that story.

*** (three of five stars)

Loki: Agent of Asgard #10 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Holy fucking crap.

First, this issue establishes the new status quo for Loki and Thor as the people that they are after the events of "Original Sin" and "Avengers & X-Men:  Axis."  Thor has accepted the superiority of the new Thor (apparently in upcoming issue #4) and now calls himself Odinson.  Loki has been deeply shaken by his time unable to tell a lie and realizes that he can still no longer tell one.  He spontaneously confesses to killing Kid Loki, and an enraged Thor disowns him (after kicking his ass, breaking Gram, and dragging him to Asgard to expose his crimes to everyone).  It's an unexpected moment, in part because you think that Loki and Thor are having a brotherly moment of contemplating what they do now that they're no longer the people that they thought that they were.  Ewing plays this confusion to the hilt; I found myself reading those next few pages after Loki's confession just muttering, "no, no, no," to myself.

As you can tell from that last statement, this issue is as emotional as it comes.  Ewing makes it clear that Thor isn't just furious at Loki for lying (though he is), but that he's truly enraged by the grief that he feels over realizing that Kid Loki is dead.  In the brief flashback sequence, we see the affection and love that Thor had for Kid Loki, and you realize that he finally thought that he had the brother that he had always wanted Loki to be.  That dream is ruined here, and Ewing makes Thor's devastation over it clear.  But, equally, he makes clear Loki's horror over Thor's reaction.  This series has been all about Loki trying to find redemption for his sin.  Thor may not know that, but we do.  As such, it's all the more difficult to watch Thor not believe that Loki really is a changed man. In other words, Ewing makes you feel terribly for everyone, since they're all hurting so deeply.  Loki has been dreading this moment since his crime, and we all now see that it was as awful as he feared.

I wonder where we go from here.  I worry that it's nowhere good.

**** (four of five stars)

Loki: Agent of Axis #9 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Ewing's challenge here is that he's already telling a much better tale about inversion in this series than Remender is in "Axis."  Loki already inverted himself on his own, making this issue's focus on his "sudden" inversion during "Axis" difficult to explain.  In fact, if Loki really is trying to become a better man, wouldn't his inversion remove that impulse?  Or, are we saying that he isn't really trying to become a better man and, therefore, the inversion turning him into a hero revealed the truth?

Ewing tries to side step those problematic questions, since answering them now would essentially close the shop on this series.  The problem is that this issue makes little sense as a result.  We're distracted by Amora taking a page from "Incorruptible's" Max Damage's book, becoming unflinchingly good to the point of absurdity.  But, it's really about Odin and Thor not believing Loki has become nobler (again distracting us from the question of whether it's true or not).  One challenge I always face with Odin is that he's such a spectacularly hypocritical asshole that I have no idea why anyone cares about his opinion.  Peter Quill told his condescendingly imperious oaf of a father to go *$&% himself.  I think that it's about time for Loki to do the same.  But, he doesn't, and we instead get an overwrought sequence where Loki seeks to proving his nobility by wielding Mjolnir.  He does, but, again, it's unclear if it's just because of the spell or if it's because he's really changed.  Ewing even seems to imply that it's a former, with the narrative box seeming to imply the inversion was his only chance to be a hero.

At any rate, this issue is sort of the opposite of those issues that excel by using the event to further an ongoing plot in the series.  Ewing is forced to awkwardly handle the "Axis" event without undermining the larger story that he's telling in this series.  It's also complicated by the fact that, in just nine issues of this series, it's the second event to intrude, after the series was suspended for the "Original Sin" story.  God only knows what horror "Secret Wars" will wreck.

** (two of five stars)

Loki: Agent of Asgard...ahem...Axis #8 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

OK, I'll say right off the bat that this issue isn't the easiest to follow.  It's not totally Ewing's fault because he's got a lot of balls in the air right now, some of them related to this series' ongoing story arc and some of them related to its presumably mandatory participation in "Avengers & X-Men:  Axis."  He does his best trying to put them together in a coherent fashion, but he doesn't necessarily do himself any favors by using the flashback approach that he employs here.

First, we have the framing device, namely the fight between Loki and Thor that we see in "Avengers & X-Men:  Axis" #6.  Loki initially learns of Thor's drunken antics in a Vegas casino from the tweets of a journalist following Thor (as seen in "Axis:  Revolutions" #2*).  But, before he finds him, Loki stumbles upon the robbery of a different casino by the Death Throws, a group of circus-themed ("super-")villains.  Honestly, this fight is the best part of the issue.  Ewing lets us know that the Throws consider themselves legitimate villains (one of them is even auditioning for a spot on the team), but we're allow to laugh at them with Loki as he makes quick work of them.  They're the perfect group for Loki-as-superhero to confront.  They're not enough of a challenge for him to require his full attention, so it allows him to toy with them (and a circus-themed group certainly lends itself to Loki's sense of humor).  Once he defeats them, the cops send him to the casino where Thor is, setting up the fight in "Avengers & X-Men:  Axis" #6.

Second, Ewing is also trying to tie up loose ends left from "Loki:  Agent of Asgard" #6 and #7.  At some point, the Enchantress, Lorelei, Loki, Sigurd, and Verity have all assembled in Loki's apartment.  (The intro page tells us that the Enchantress is Lorelei's sister.  I'm not counting that as an example of pet peeve #2, because long-time readers of this series and its predecessors may already know that.)  It's a surprise to see them all together, since they were all in different places when we last left them.  Eventually, we learn that the Enchantress and Loki called everyone to the apartment to let them know that they're good guys now, but it's not until well into the issue that Ewing establishes that.  It results in the reader (or, at least, me) spending most of the issue confused, since we're not privy to the events that set up the scene and it's clear that a lot happened since we last saw everyone.  I keep feeling like I had missed an issue somewhere.

In other words, Ewing is clearly rushed, trying to combine the epilogue to the events of "Loki:  Agent of Asgard" #6 and #7 with the introduction of the changes to the Enchantress and Loki to this series as a result of "Avengers & X-Men:  Axis" #3 as well as setting up the fight in "Avengers & X-Men:  Axis" #6.  It's a lot.  As I mentioned above, I'm not sure if the flashback technique was the best call here.  I get that starting the issue with a fight (and a well scripted one at that) is a better opening than the expository scenes that happen in Loki's apartment in the middle of the issue, but its impact is lost when the reader is suddenly throw a few hours into the past and left trying to put together the pieces.  As I said, Ewing manges to do a better job than most authors with what he has here, but I think it would've been even stronger of an issue with a more linear approach to the events unfolding.

* I've previously mentioned "Axis: Revolutions" in passing, because it's really just filler.  I'm not even reviewing it, since it doesn't really merit the effort.  But, I'll admit that it would help to pick up issue #2 if you're totally lost here, because you really get a better insight into Thor's mindset.

*** (three of five stars)

Loki: Agent of Asgard #7 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

I've read several issues this week where the plot flowed logically from each event and I'm glad to say that the streak continues.

I wasn't entirely sure why Loki would be involved in World War Hate.  I mean, old Loki, sure, he'd totally be on the front lines.  But, young Loki is trying to make amends.  Why would he be involved?  But, Ewing has a great answer:  Gram, the Sword of Truth.  Valeria hooks up Gram to an orb that broadcasts its power throughout Latveria, saving the Latverians from themselves by showing them their actual emotions.  Consequently, Doom faces the truth about himself; whatever it is, it horrifies him.  In showing us this scene, Ewing reminds us just how self-deluded Doom is.  It's not like we don't know that, but it's interesting to see it so clearly.

Moreover, Loki finding himself in Latveria just in time to save the day doesn't feel like an overly convenient plot device.  It builds off the revelation that old Loki is lying to Freya, because the world of the future that he's trying to ensure comes to pass is only a golden age for him, with Earth ruined.  Doom obviously wanted to avoid that happening, setting up the kidnapping of Loki.  In other words, it's a logical sequence of events.  By revealing old Loki's lies, Ewing also becomes one of the few authors to use a tie-in issue to forward the series' ongoing plot.  It's solid work from start to finish.

**** (four of five stars)

Loki: Agent of Asgard #6 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Ewing dedicates a lot of narrative here to explain the obvious:  Dr. Doom traps young Loki outside space and time because he's afraid old Loki is going to destroy the world; this worry comes after he stumbles upon a future dystopian Earth where old Loki is making sure that his failure to spark a war between Asgardia and Heven didn't result in Earth being saved.  The back-up story is similar weighed under narration, as we discover that the Red Skull may have started World War Hate after a construction worker and, later, his colleagues go on an unexplained rage-bender.  It's just sort of meh.

** (two of five stars)