On the topic of Loki (or What am I doing with my life)
‘It was, Loki thought, as though the hammer were made for him. A runt, like him. Flawed, like him.
Misunderstood… like him. But magnificient, no question.’ (Trials of Loki #1)
I'm not that fond of the encompassing storyline, but it was the comic where I first liked the art and even Loki's design (especially his outfit).
Also, it retells the myths and fits them in the comic-verse, and I really liked the way they were told. As they are Loki's view on things, they are of course highly biased, but they made me feel for him a lot.
Which is odd, because although I feel with them to a degree, I usually don't pity fictional characters in a way that really gets to me. D:
_____
LOKI (2004)
“Simply this, then: How best to make a hero? Give him a means by which he might define himself so. Set up a field of black against which his white will be yet more blinding…
Yes, I speak of Thor. My stepbrother, filled with energy and ambition.
How to mold him according to your will? Why, mold a villain alongside him.”
The story about Loki in the moment of his absolute victory, and also the story where he is the most miserable.
It's of course full of self-pity, and the one where Loki's love for Thor is pretty much canon.
It highly focuses on fate, and the inevability of Loki's fate - the circumstances and his own nature, action and reaction, forming a vicious cycle that will always end in the worst, with him as the ultimate evil - and Loki trying to escape it, by breaking the cycle and going back to be what he really wants to be - not King of Asgard, but Thor's brother.
Of course, it ends tragic.
The art has its pros and cons, but I highly approve of the overall slashiness
Have a taste:
"Over all the millennia, only you have ever loved me, Thor, only you have ever looked at me with affection in place of condescension.
Why, then, am I killing you, and not the others?"
_____
But now to more cheerful things: How shota!Loki saves the world, or the only Thor run that I really follow:
Journey Into Mystery (#617-624 so far)
“You are Loki, son of Laufey and Farbuti, child of Odin, son of Bor, and brother of mine. And for your myriad sins… For all the wretchedness of your past lives… I cannot imagine my present life without you.” - Thor (#617)
After Loki had brought down the destruction of Asgard (but died as he then suddenly sacrificed himself) and got revived again by his brother Thor, who missed him.
(That's the great thing about gods being in a dysfunctional family. In their conflicts, they can try (and succeed) to kill each other, they can hate and despise each other and do horrendous things - but in the end, they still love each other.)
So we have now shota!Loki, with nothing but his wits (and a magpie that hosts an echo of his former self, giving him information and dangerous advice), who is basically the only one that can save all the Nine Worlds from impending doom.
I think I don't have to point out that the boy is exactly down my road, both adorable and wicked. :D
Also, there are cute brother shenanigans all around.
As I will be talking about that later, have the piece of dialogue that little Loki exchanges with his old self that struck me the most :
KidLoki: You sacrificed yourself... for yourself?
Loki's Echo: Aye. I was a creature of spite and will. I was the God of Chaos. But in my capriciousness, I was totally predictable...
No god of chaos worthy of the name could stand such a thing.
I wrote myself out of the book of death. I slipped predestination's noose. All I had to do was to escape my personality's...
After a glorious death, I would be found or find my way back. A new Loki: A fresh page with fresh ink to write a free future.
KidLoki: You went into oblivion with nothing but the hope that there was something out there? Or that someone would show you the path home?
Loki's Echo: The people in Midgard have a saying: Change or Die. I would rather die than not change. I would rather be nothing.
Aside from that, I've been reading not much more up to now, except for Thor and The Warriors Four (four issues full of cuteness, featuring baby!Thor and baby!Loki and even baby!Odin)
and various newer Thor issues, especially those were Loki is a Lady and combines creepy with sexiness and twists Balder around her/his little finger.
"Wear this ring. All you need to do is wear it and whisper my name into it, and the door will open again.
Do not shout my name.
Simply... whisper." (Thor Vol.3 #9)
---
Basically, it's the same old story. I can't resist silliness and self-irony, anti-heroes who are doomed to lose over and over again, wit and sarcam and so forth. And I love the concept of lies and liars (and someone who can only use intrigues to reach his goals and feels the need to use lies and deceit to make people love him - or if he can't have that, at least fear him) - and of deep-rooted envy/jealousy.
But there are a few aspects that made me actually admire him (which is a scary thing, because DAMN, I usually don't do that! I make fun of fictional characters and don't take them seriously, dammit).
1) He's a trickster god, and I have this giant weakness for rebels and outcasts and anarchistic natures. So there, his goal to break free from all obligations and just do what the hell he wants and his ability of TROLLING makes him awesome.
The element of chaos makes Loki so compelling to me - it provides fun, but has an underlying tragedy: Chaos can never rule or own. In the end, chaos cannot achieve anything, at least not for itself.
It's a fascinating thing about the trickster deity - he gives a lot, gifts and inventions and most of all: provides necessary change, but he doesn't gain anything for himself.
2) Loki's fate is leading towards the ultimate catastrophe and the destruction of all (he sets Ragnarök in motion), but it is against the nature of a trickster to be predictable. He is the most interesting when he tries to escape his fate and his role as nothing but a very predictable villain who simpy does evil things- and succeeds in tricking destiny.
It's what I love about the whole Journey Into Mystery-rebirth-thing - Loki is re-inventing himself, and it's interesting to watch.
3) This might a bit silly, but it's what I really admire about Loki as a character, a deity or his concept. I am very much intrigued with shapeshifters and hermaphrodites and the like, and well... He crosses the borders of gender and gender roles so frequently, they might as well not exist.
Loki is a male god, and a powerful one in his own way, but at the same time, he is given feminine attributes - recieving and giving birth, magic and intelligence instead of brute force. The great thing about it is that he doesn't seem to care.
(Thor, the epitome of manliness and male potence, might throw a tantrum when he has to crossdress in order to get his hammer back. Loki doesn't mind at all and even volunteers. :D)
To a shapeshifter, gender is changeable, and he appreciates the the advantages and possibilities of a female body - or any body, at that matter. Bodies are something to make use of, that can help achieve goals, trick and decieve, so there's no need to discriminate.
It's just the same with his preferences in bed. Loki doesn't seem to mind who or what he has sex with at all and sees no shame in taking the part of a woman or the act of recieving, although these things would be usually deemed outrageous.
Both in the mythology and the comics, Loki, as the transgressor, does not care about the borders and restrictions of gender.
I am not religious, but hey, if I had choose a deity, that would be reason enough to give Loki (and others of his kind) my respect.
TL;DR
But that's what I did for the last few weeks, immersing myself in Loki-related stuff until I couldn't tell anything apart anymore, and I kind of felt that I had to sum it up somewhere (and wanted to share my thoughts, although I don't know if anyone will appreciate them).
I just needed to get that out of my head to focus on some more urgent and important stuff.
Misunderstood… like him. But magnificient, no question.’ (Trials of Loki #1)
I'm not that fond of the encompassing storyline, but it was the comic where I first liked the art and even Loki's design (especially his outfit).
Also, it retells the myths and fits them in the comic-verse, and I really liked the way they were told. As they are Loki's view on things, they are of course highly biased, but they made me feel for him a lot.
Which is odd, because although I feel with them to a degree, I usually don't pity fictional characters in a way that really gets to me. D:
_____
LOKI (2004)
“Simply this, then: How best to make a hero? Give him a means by which he might define himself so. Set up a field of black against which his white will be yet more blinding…
Yes, I speak of Thor. My stepbrother, filled with energy and ambition.
How to mold him according to your will? Why, mold a villain alongside him.”
The story about Loki in the moment of his absolute victory, and also the story where he is the most miserable.
It's of course full of self-pity, and the one where Loki's love for Thor is pretty much canon.
It highly focuses on fate, and the inevability of Loki's fate - the circumstances and his own nature, action and reaction, forming a vicious cycle that will always end in the worst, with him as the ultimate evil - and Loki trying to escape it, by breaking the cycle and going back to be what he really wants to be - not King of Asgard, but Thor's brother.
Of course, it ends tragic.
The art has its pros and cons, but I highly approve of the overall slashiness
Have a taste:
"Over all the millennia, only you have ever loved me, Thor, only you have ever looked at me with affection in place of condescension.
Why, then, am I killing you, and not the others?"
_____
But now to more cheerful things: How shota!Loki saves the world, or the only Thor run that I really follow:
Journey Into Mystery (#617-624 so far)
“You are Loki, son of Laufey and Farbuti, child of Odin, son of Bor, and brother of mine. And for your myriad sins… For all the wretchedness of your past lives… I cannot imagine my present life without you.” - Thor (#617)
After Loki had brought down the destruction of Asgard (but died as he then suddenly sacrificed himself) and got revived again by his brother Thor, who missed him.
(That's the great thing about gods being in a dysfunctional family. In their conflicts, they can try (and succeed) to kill each other, they can hate and despise each other and do horrendous things - but in the end, they still love each other.)
So we have now shota!Loki, with nothing but his wits (and a magpie that hosts an echo of his former self, giving him information and dangerous advice), who is basically the only one that can save all the Nine Worlds from impending doom.
I think I don't have to point out that the boy is exactly down my road, both adorable and wicked. :D
Also, there are cute brother shenanigans all around.
As I will be talking about that later, have the piece of dialogue that little Loki exchanges with his old self that struck me the most :
KidLoki: You sacrificed yourself... for yourself?
Loki's Echo: Aye. I was a creature of spite and will. I was the God of Chaos. But in my capriciousness, I was totally predictable...
No god of chaos worthy of the name could stand such a thing.
I wrote myself out of the book of death. I slipped predestination's noose. All I had to do was to escape my personality's...
After a glorious death, I would be found or find my way back. A new Loki: A fresh page with fresh ink to write a free future.
KidLoki: You went into oblivion with nothing but the hope that there was something out there? Or that someone would show you the path home?
Loki's Echo: The people in Midgard have a saying: Change or Die. I would rather die than not change. I would rather be nothing.
Aside from that, I've been reading not much more up to now, except for Thor and The Warriors Four (four issues full of cuteness, featuring baby!Thor and baby!Loki and even baby!Odin)
and various newer Thor issues, especially those were Loki is a Lady and combines creepy with sexiness and twists Balder around her/his little finger.
"Wear this ring. All you need to do is wear it and whisper my name into it, and the door will open again.
Do not shout my name.
Simply... whisper." (Thor Vol.3 #9)
---
Basically, it's the same old story. I can't resist silliness and self-irony, anti-heroes who are doomed to lose over and over again, wit and sarcam and so forth. And I love the concept of lies and liars (and someone who can only use intrigues to reach his goals and feels the need to use lies and deceit to make people love him - or if he can't have that, at least fear him) - and of deep-rooted envy/jealousy.
But there are a few aspects that made me actually admire him (which is a scary thing, because DAMN, I usually don't do that! I make fun of fictional characters and don't take them seriously, dammit).
1) He's a trickster god, and I have this giant weakness for rebels and outcasts and anarchistic natures. So there, his goal to break free from all obligations and just do what the hell he wants and his ability of TROLLING makes him awesome.
The element of chaos makes Loki so compelling to me - it provides fun, but has an underlying tragedy: Chaos can never rule or own. In the end, chaos cannot achieve anything, at least not for itself.
It's a fascinating thing about the trickster deity - he gives a lot, gifts and inventions and most of all: provides necessary change, but he doesn't gain anything for himself.
2) Loki's fate is leading towards the ultimate catastrophe and the destruction of all (he sets Ragnarök in motion), but it is against the nature of a trickster to be predictable. He is the most interesting when he tries to escape his fate and his role as nothing but a very predictable villain who simpy does evil things- and succeeds in tricking destiny.
It's what I love about the whole Journey Into Mystery-rebirth-thing - Loki is re-inventing himself, and it's interesting to watch.
3) This might a bit silly, but it's what I really admire about Loki as a character, a deity or his concept. I am very much intrigued with shapeshifters and hermaphrodites and the like, and well... He crosses the borders of gender and gender roles so frequently, they might as well not exist.
Loki is a male god, and a powerful one in his own way, but at the same time, he is given feminine attributes - recieving and giving birth, magic and intelligence instead of brute force. The great thing about it is that he doesn't seem to care.
(Thor, the epitome of manliness and male potence, might throw a tantrum when he has to crossdress in order to get his hammer back. Loki doesn't mind at all and even volunteers. :D)
To a shapeshifter, gender is changeable, and he appreciates the the advantages and possibilities of a female body - or any body, at that matter. Bodies are something to make use of, that can help achieve goals, trick and decieve, so there's no need to discriminate.
It's just the same with his preferences in bed. Loki doesn't seem to mind who or what he has sex with at all and sees no shame in taking the part of a woman or the act of recieving, although these things would be usually deemed outrageous.
Both in the mythology and the comics, Loki, as the transgressor, does not care about the borders and restrictions of gender.
I am not religious, but hey, if I had choose a deity, that would be reason enough to give Loki (and others of his kind) my respect.
TL;DR
But that's what I did for the last few weeks, immersing myself in Loki-related stuff until I couldn't tell anything apart anymore, and I kind of felt that I had to sum it up somewhere (and wanted to share my thoughts, although I don't know if anyone will appreciate them).
I just needed to get that out of my head to focus on some more urgent and important stuff.