Loki: The Liar

Loki (2023) #1-4

by Dan Watters, German Peralta (Artist), Mike Spicer (Colorist)

The fate of the Marvel Universe lies in the hands of…Loki?! He may be the "benevolent" God of Stories now, but his past as the God of Lies returns to haunt him when something ancient and powerful that he once built ends up scattered across the Ten Realms! Now, setting sail on a ship made of fingernails, the Trickster must track down its fragments to stave off Ragnarok! His epic journey begins in the ruins of Nidavellir, where the relic has been crafted into a devastatingly powerful weapon! Then, on a distant planet, will Emperor Hulkling and Wiccan put aside old grudges against their former Young Avengers teammate to aid Loki's quest? And what happens when the third shard ends up in the hands of Earth's deadliest assassin? There's a target on Loki's back, and Bullseye never misses! Collecting LOKI (2023) #1-4.

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Mythology, Fantasy, Superheroes, Graphic Novels Comics

112 pages, Paperback

Published December 19, 2023

About the author

Dan Watters is a UK based comic book writer. His first book, LIMBO, was released through Image Comics in 2016. He has since written THE SHADOW at Dynamite Comics, and ASSASSIN’S CREED and WOLFENSTEIN for Titan Comics.

Currently he is writing the relaunch of LUCIFER for Vertigo’s Sandman Universe, as well as DEEP ROOTS for Vault Comics. Deeply rooted in London Town, and firmly of the Devil's party.

Reviews

[Jim Ef · Rating 4 out of 5]

7.7/10

Very good Loki story. There is a lot to the character and i think that Dan Watters did a great job showcasing that. Not only when it comes to Loki but also with the other characters. How they feel and how they react to Loki, because of his complex personality and past.

The plot overall is interesting but issues #2 & #3 ( particularly #3 ) are top tier.

Short yet impactful, i believe Loki: The liar does worth your time.

[Always_Tired · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loki being Florida man is hilarious

[k · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loki is a character that is more complex than just a hero or a villain, and that’s something this comic gets. The overall plot is fairly simple, but Dan Watters did a great job of crafting this story and making it interesting. Germán Peralta is a very talented artist, and I adore the Loki design(s) he brought to life. Though I felt the ending was a bit weak, I really enjoyed this run and I definitely recommend it to both fans of Loki and people who want to get a feel for the character

[Tyler Jenkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ll be fully honest. There’s only one reason I picked this series up. Wiccan and Hulking. There was a free comic book day story that said it would continue in this series so I’ve been reading it and they were only in one issue. But I did have fun with the story. I’ve never found Loki a particularly interesting character in the comics because I’m tired of the back and forth with the character. Make him bad or make him good. I can’t keep track of what kind of person he is this month. But I enjoyed these stories that stem from a “weapon” Loki made long ago that had come back to haunt him and pieces of it are being wielded across the cosmos, realms, and time. It does reveal some sympathy for the character that I appreciate and related to a lot honestly. So for that I did end up enjoying the series. I just wish it had more Wiccan and Hulking haha

[Adam Fisher · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars.
This very quick side story covers Loki retrieving parts of Naglfar, a ship Loki built to sail to war. Since mending his way and becoming much less warlike, the ship was stored in Asgard's vaults. When two frost giants steal it, 3 pieces (one to a dwarf on Nidavellir who made an axe from it; one to a Kree Warrior who became trapped on a sun with it; and one to Bullseye on Earth) break off and Loki must retrieve them.
A very quick read, and a decent enough story.
Read if you are a fan of the character.

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loki: The Liar served as a very welcome book-end to my recent reading of Neil Gaiman's Complete Norse Mythology as its storytelling beats could easily have been another old Norse tale. In The Liar, one of Loki's old gambits comes back to haunt him as ship made of fingernails (weird, I know!) breaks apart, gifting various beings across the realms objects of supernatural power.

Loki's mission is pretty straightforward: track down the ship fragments and deal with the newly-powerful individuals (who run the gamut from human villains to vengeful dwarves to alien heroes). There's a twisty nature to the tale, though, in which Loki as the former God of Lies must reckon with telling the truth.

The Liar feels perfectly proportioned as a one-and-done volume, though I was certainly sad to not have another Loki tale to pick up immediately after this one.

[☮ morgan ☮ · Rating 5 out of 5]

"stories are cruel things. just another kind of lie."

kind of obsessed with loki being the infamous florida man

[Munch · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

[Casi Hamilton · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very quick read. But a good one. A good, funny ride, with a couple of gut punches of sad which is kind of par for the course with Loki, at least in the MCU. This was my first actual Loki comic and it didn't disappoint. If anything, it's made me really want to check out more of them.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Has everything I could possibly want in a Loki series - consistent art detailing the rather lightweight, fun adventures in avoiding actually kinging. LOL, the bit about getting the frost giants to read was particularly adorable.

[ami · Rating 3 out of 5]

MYSHAYLAAA can he crack a smile like damn rue happy moments 1:01

[Roman · Rating 3 out of 5]

У вас бувало таке, що от прочитали комікс і вроді у нього немає якихось проблем з сюжетом та й намальований він дуже добре, але от не зачепило? От лімітка Дена Вотерса про Локі стала для мене як раз такою.

Зав'язка серії полягає у тому, що спроба двох льодяних велетнів викрасти корабель Локі зазнала невдачі в результаті від нього відкололося три фрагменти й тепер Локі змушений шукати їх до того як вони потрапляють в чиїсь руки.

Лімітка триває 4 номери, новий стандарт для ліміток Марвел як я розумію, і починаючи з другого все йде за схемою в якій Локі знаходить фрагмент корабля, Локі наштовхується на конфлікт, Локі розв'язує конфлікт і дістає фрагмент, повторити в наступному номері, що не є проблемою оскільки перепони на шляху Локі вийшли різноманітними.

З хорошого виділю те, що написано все добре і читається серія досить швидко, діалоги Вотерса теж не те щоб погані. Якщо говорити про малюнок, то він тут реально хороший, Перальта видав дуже приємну роботу.

Що викликало у мене дуже суперечливі враження це кінцівка. Суть у тому, що Локі тут відкотили до ролі трікстера з не дуже хорошими намірами, як я розумію це і було основним завданням серії і було зроблено для того, щоб він був у такому образі у "Безсмертному Торі" Юінґа. Що з одного боку трохи обідно і я б напевно горів якби це був хтось інший, але враховуючи, що Локі навіть коли був добрим примудрявся бути головним болем для героїв то відкат був тільки питанням часу, плюс він такий персонаж якого пізніше можна спокійно знову зробити добрим.

Загалом лімітка "Loki" від Вотерса не змогла мене зачепити, нехай і якихось проблем у неї немає і я скоріше можу її порадити ніж ні.

[Alex Sarll]

On one level, this comic is a cog in the service of other, more important moving parts: a handy piece of product to coincide with the character's new MCU series, a way to get him out of his kingdom (and indeed his 'he') in line with the requirements of the latest relaunch of the Thor comic. But wriggling through that gap is deeply Loki, isn't it? And Dan Watters, having already written a Lucifer series that was mostly excellent despite the fact that it really shouldn't have existed, has the past form with trickster figures to make him a perfect guiding hand. The plot has a simple enough pitch, a gaggle of Loki's more gormless ice giant subjects getting it into their heads to try twocking the Naglfar, the ship of the nails of the unloved which Loki long ago had prepared for Ragnarok. Ice giants not being notable sailors, they promptly crash into Yggdrasil, and three malign fragments of the craft spiral off into the cosmos, sowing destruction wherever they land. Loki's quest to retrieve them throws up what could have come as a slightly pat reversal - the sometime god of lies confronted with how often the truth can be just as damaging. But Loki is god of stories too, and with stories it's about the details along the way, not the summary. Details which are here in suitably sinuous and seductive form, and rendered on the page by German Peralta, who has the crucial knack for wry expressions, plus the ability to drop our divine antihero into any corner of the Marvel Universe without looking out of place in the wrong way.

[Christl Bücher NewsWelt · Rating 4 out of 5]

💥𝓒𝓸𝓶𝓲𝓬 𝓡𝓮𝓿𝓲𝓮𝔀
Loki
Ｉｎｆｏｓ: 📖
•𝗕𝗮𝗻𝗱 Einzelband
•𝗦𝗲𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗻 108
•𝗕𝗲𝘄𝗲𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗻𝗴 4/5 💥💥💥💥

🖤Ｍｅｉｎｅ Ｍｅｉｎｕｎｇ
Wie ihr ja wisst liebe ich Loki. Also war’s nur klar das ich diesen Comic unbedingt brauche.
Der Einstieg in den Comic erfolgt rasch, man ist sofort in der Story drinnen und bekommt die volle Ladung Nordische Mythen ab. Und oft - wo Loki ist, ist Thor nicht weit. Der Zeichenstil hat mir auch sehr gut gefallen, es ist hier alles etwas kantiger. Die Story ist spannend und auch für welche die sich vl nicht so gut mit der Mythologie auskennen geeignet. Da wir hier nicht nur über den Weltenbaum, nordische Beerdigungen und Sitten, aufgeklärt werden sondern auch zb über Ragnarök. Also definitiv auch ein Comic für Neueinsteiger. Ich liebe Loki einfach, seine ganze Art und hier bekommt man wieder seine volle dröhnung, denn wenn Loki im Spiel ist, ist nichts so wie es scheint.

💬Ｋｌａｐｐｅｎｔｅｘｔ
DIE NÄGEL DER VERDAMMTEN In einer Zeit, als der Gott der Geschichten noch der Gott des Bösen war, schuf Loki aus den Fingernägeln verlorener Seelen Naglfar. Am Tag der Götterdämmerung wollte er auf diesem Kriegsschiff gegen Asgard in die Schlacht segeln. Als nun zwei Frostriesen bei dem Versuch scheitern, das Drachenschiff zu stehlen, werden Fragmente davon in den Zehn Welten verstreut. Gelingt es Loki, die verzauberten Bruchstücke zu bergen, bevor sie unumkehrbaren Schaden anrichten? Ein packendes Abenteuer der aufstrebenden Talente Dan Watters und Germán Peralta mit vielen Überraschungen, Gaststars und aufregenden neuen Charakteren. ENTHÄLT: LOKI (2023) 1-4

Xo 🖤
Christl
#read #reading #bookstagram #book #buch #lesen #bookish #büchernewswelt #buechernewswelt #rezension #kritik #lesetipp #comic #comics *Rezi exemplar. Könnte Spuren von Werbung enthalten.

[Sandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Der Lügner muss Loki Fragmente seines Drachenschiffes Naglfar, das aus Fingernägeln (ja, ernsthaft!) verlorener Seelen gebaut wurde, aufspüren und sich daraufhin mit Mächten auseinandersetzen (die von menschlichen Schurken über rachsüchtige Zwerge bis hin zu außerirdischen Helden reichen), die sich diese zerbrochenen Teile zunutze machen wollen. Die ganze Sache hat aber auch ihre Tücken, denn Loki, der ehemalige Gott der Lügen, muss zwangsläufig auch der Wahrheit ins Auge blicken.

Zwischen den Zeilen versteckt elaboriert der Autor den Charakter von Loki, denn er ist hier sehr eindeutig moralisch zweideutig. Ist er gut? Böse? Beides? Das macht ihn als Figur sehr interessant, denn er ist komplexer als ein gewöhnlicher Held oder Schurke, und das liefert Dan Watters mit seiner Erzählkunst einwandfrei ab.
Germán Peralta als sehr talentierter Zeichner schafft es, die verschiedenen Loki-Versionen zum Leben zu erwecken, aber auch bei den anderen Figuren sieht man hervorragend, wie sie auf Loki reagieren aufgrund seiner oft schwer zu durchschauenden Persönlichkeit.
Auch wenn ich das Ende etwas schwach fand, hat mir diese Miniserie sehr gut gefallen und ich empfehle sie sowohl Fans von Loki als auch Lesern, die ein Gefühl für die Figur bekommen wollen.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 5 out of 5]

There's something about British writers getting their hands on Loki that always seems to produce something I really enjoy. Kieron Gillen's Journey Into Mystery, Al Ewing's Loki: Agent Of Asgard, and now Dan Watters' Loki: The Liar are all different depictions of the God Of Stories, and all equally as fun.

Loki sets out across the worlds in order to track down the broken pieces of Naglfar, the ship he built out of toenails to sail into Ragnarok (Norse mythology is wild), which have taken on lives of their own. Loki does as Loki does, saving the day in a distinctively Loki way at every turn, and the ending reminds us that even though he's the 'good' guy these days, he's still coming to grips with what that actually means.

German Peralta's art is decent, but it's not really the draw here, at least not for me. Watters' story and depiction of Loki himself is what you'll come here for, and I doubt you'll be disappointed.

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was pretty great. Watters doesn't always hit the mark for me, but he certainly did here. I like when Loki isn't just a mustache twirling bad guy. He's best when he's just looking out for himself or trying to do something good but in the worst way possible. I love how Watters brought more Norse mythology into the story, making this about the ship made of dead men's fingernails, Naglfar. I also like how Loki is portrayed as androgynous, switching physical personas with each issue. All of this is pulled from mythology. And the Florida Man stuff was just genius. After seeing this, I'd be curious to see what he could do with Thor when Al Ewing is done.

[Joey Nardinelli · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m sure I’ve read something else Peralta has illustrated before, and I love his work here. I would really have liked if this built to a better conclusion, as it sort of just ends suddenly and without a terrible amount of provocation for a further volume in this series. I feel like a series of tales about Loki’s many names might accomplish most of what happens here but keep that sort of serial-storytelling aspect that wouldn’t require some big culmination. I’ve been pretty busy in the week where I started and finished this, but it just never really got hooks into me beyond Peralta’s art — I love his line work and how he conveys action and body language.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very nice melding of Norse myth with the Loki that has been living and growing for the last few decades. It's a pity this didn't make it into the God of Stories omnibus because it feels like it could be a cap on that era of Loki's life. (Will it be? It depends on the next author!)

The actual plot is a big MacGuffin hunt, but Watters uses it well to allow Loki to interact with a variety of elements in the Marvel universe, including some of Young Loki's old friends.

It's wonderful to continue to have skilled people writing Loki. If only we could get a regular series again!

[Loki · Rating 2 out of 5]

And now, all these years after Gillen first wrote the character, we arrive at the point where Marvel's narrative inertia attempts to return Loki to their original, villainous nature. Fortunately, the book is written in such a half-arsed manner (ever single problem in it is resolved by a deus ex machina) that it's easily ignored, and Al Ewing's Immortal Thor can continue to do interesting things with the character. One for the completists only - I'd have given it one star, but that would be unfair to the art team.

[Colleen Villasenor · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first in this story arc. The beginning made me laugh opening with Loki relaxing in Florida reading a newspaper and hinting that he is the infamous "Florida man" in all of the jokes and stories. Loki's hubris causes problems as usual, fomenting problems in other realms and possibly beyond his universe. The cliffhanger ending leaves the reader anxious for the next installment. And the artwork is excellent

[Reading Through the Lists · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am too new to the world of comics (and especially Marvel comics) to know if Loki: The Liar is good as a comic, but I enjoyed reading it nevertheless. The narration of the damned souls of Naglfar and their connection to Loki provides a good throughline for the run, and the art is also good.

I look forward to reading more Loki!

3.5 stars.

[Kat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely devoured this story and am craving more! I love how it followed right from Agent of Asgard and continued with the God of Stories arc—i cannot get enough of it tbh. Very much hoping for a continuation.

[Sanna-Mari · Rating 3 out of 5]

A "jolly" trip around the realms with Loki during which he tries to fix and recover and collect one of his past endeavours wrecking havoc. There might be some references to past happenings that went over my head as it has been quite awhile since I have read any Loki or Marvel comics.

[Sesana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic miniseries. Really more of a character exploration of Loki, though there is indeed a coherent plot as well. Loki is very firmly morally ambiguous here. Is he good? Bad? Both? I love that ambiguity, and I think that's when he's at his most interesting as a character.

[Rhiannon Grant · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bought this on a whim in the comic book shop and finished it within hours - well-told, absorbing, mostly self-contained story which gives Loki a challenge and shows how he responds. An excellent read.

[Sami Davidson · Rating 3 out of 5]

The art work is amazing. Loved the Spidey appearance. Loki just seemed a bit too animated, in terms of his personality, in this one. I found myself more interested in other characters in the story more than Loki.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun Loki story in which the God of stories (and what are stories, if not lies?) must track down missing pieces of the ship he created eons ago for Ragnarok before they cause too much chaos.

[Daniel Butcher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maybe a transition for Loki?

Interesting take in his nature and past.

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

It feels like every Loki mini-series is trying to break down the essence of what makes the character tick, with diminishing returns. There is nothing wrong here but nothing truly great here