It’s been a long road for Loki, the Lok-Dog, over the past few years at Marvel. Thanks to Tom Hiddleston’s immense charisma and popularity as the central villain in Marvel’s Cinematic Universe, the pressure has been on to find a way to transmogrify the comic book version of the wicked, dastardly, power-hungry warlock who originally brought the Avengers together into some kind of antihero capable of carrying his own book without being… well, a wicked, dastardly, power-hungry warlock. Or, one supposes, without being ONLY that. While he’s been through several permutations, including possessing the body of Sif, sacrificing himself to stop the Void, being reborn as a frustrated child who later grew into a mischievous adolescent and now a sly and dashing young adult – convenient, that, the core conflict has been the Loki That Is vs. the Loki That Was, and that seems to be the central thrust of Loki: Agent of Asgard #1.
The very interesting idea that’s been explored over the past few years has been “what happens when the God of Mischief becomes the God of Evil?” Well, for starters, mischief is out of the question, because everyone is always onto his shenanigans immediately, because he’s evil. If you’re a guy who thrives on manipulation who can no longer manipulate, something’s gotta change. You have to do things no one expects of you, to reintroduce the possibility of honesty and virtue into your activities, so everyone else’s certainty of your malevolence becomes doubt and confusion once more. Dying nobly does a lot to change the reputation of the self-serving. Being an adorable kid helps that along, too, especially if you bring together a team of Young Avengers to deal with your shenanigans.
Now, as per the last few issues of Young Avengers, Loki is now “One Direction” age, and he’s been recruited by the Allmother – a trio of ruling women of Asgardia – to be their operative to quell burgeoning threats to the realm. The stuff of bona fide heroes, although his methods still involve misdirection, manipulation, theft and skullduggery, because he wouldn’t be Loki without them. We’ve seen the thefts in Marvel’s latest Point One issue, as he gathered together artifacts he’ll be using on his adventures – a pair of cool magic boots, a sneaky invisibility coat, and a sword of truth named Gram (you can tell it’s an important weapon because it has a name) – and Loki: Agent of Asgard #1 shows us his first mission, which involves stabbing Thor through the heart with Gram. But not before we get some fan service, since the issue opens with Loki in the shower. Writer Al Ewing knows who’ll be making up most of the vocal fan base for this book if he plays his cards right, and he’s tipped some of his hand right away.
This first issue is a fun one, showing Loki at his mischievous best as he confronts the Avengers in a much different way than he did way back in the 1960s, all the while having him explain to us why he needs all these magic gadgets and espionage skills instead of relying on his immense reservoirs of magic. We see a lot of exploration of New Loki vs. Old Loki, and the first arc is likely to go deeper still into that vein, judging by the events that unfold that I won’t tell you about because they’d be spoilers. But suffice to say that Ewing is an entertaining writer (Mighty Avengers proved that, as does Hawkeye’s penchant for bad life choices turning any video game into Grand Theft Auto), and Lee Garbett is a pretty good artist with very expressive faces, clean and slick lines, and funny pacing that serves Ewing’s japes well.
Loki: Agent of Asgard promises to be a very fun book, one where we root for a classic villain determined to recast himself in a different life and shed the trappings of the big horns. You can bet this will also be a blueprint for a future Tom Hiddleston solo film franchise, too.
