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Loki: Agent of Asgard #1-3
Loki: Agent of Asgard - The Complete Collection
As Asgardia's one-man secret service, Loki is ready to lie, cheat and steal his way through the most treacherous missions the All-Mother can throw at him - starting with a heart-stopping heist at Avengers Tower! Loki takes on Lorelei in Monte Carlo's casinos, heads to the ancient past on a quest for a magical sword and puts together a crew to crack the deepest dungeons of Asgardia itself! Axis pits him against the brutish Thor, god of evil! But who is King Loki? What vile scheme has he been brewing all this time? And what does this shadowy king's very existence mean for our Loki? Collecting AGENT OF ASGARD (2014) 1-17, ORIGINAL SIN (2014) 5.1-5.5, material from ALL-NEW MARVEL NOW! POINT ONE (2014) 1.
504 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2015
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1113 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 203 reviews
January 22, 2020
Still probably the best thing Al Ewing's written to date (though Immortal Hulk is up there, obviously), it's amazing how this book managed to juggle so many editorial plates (torn between Axis, Original Sin and Secret Wars crossovers pretty much for the entire duration of the book) and continuity shenanigans (this is basically a sequel to Kieron Gillen's Journey Into Mystery and Young Avengers, but it also takes into account A LOT of Marvel continuity of the last few decades) and at the same time told a coherent, self-contained, affecting, emotionally charged and just plain brilliant story that I still consider one of the best Marvel stories ever written. Al Ewing is an amazing writer, and Lee Garbett is an amazing artist, and together they created something truly special and character-defining. It's a great thing to have the entire run under one cover, and it was a joy to revisit it all these years later.
September 5, 2021
Let’s get it out of the way: I am a fairly shameless Loki fan-girl, whether it’s from Norse mythology or MCU, he’s my man. Or you know, whatever. If you watched the Disney+ series and are not over it and wanting more, this lovely collected edition of the “Agent of Asgard” series is for you!
First, of all, I must say that I was pleasantly surprised by how layered this collection turned out to be: I figured at first that this might be a simple attempt by Marvel to cash in on the huge fan-base the character ended up gathering, but there is substance to this story, and more coherence than I have come to expect from mainstream comic books. This story is an interesting reflection here on what makes characters good or bad, and on their capacity to change.
Loki wants to turn the page. He doesn't want to grow into the old, evil version of himself who has been pulling the strings for a long time. But change is not easy, and it requires support - something that is not easy to come by when you've spend your entire existence being notoriously treacherous. In order to redeem himself, he puts his wit at the service of Asgardia's rulers, the All-Mother. He will work as their agent across the nine realms, slowly earn their trust and become a trusted and honorable Asgardian... But of course, it can't be that simple or straight-forward. Loki may want to be a good guy, but he is still Loki, and that involves a natural tendency to be, well... tricky and hard to trust.
I loved this struggle, this honest and painful attempt at breaking free from the script that everyone constantly imposes on him: I wouldn't be surprised if the writers of the Disney+ show had been fans of this collection, as it runs along similar lines in some respects. I also loved Verity: what better foil for the Father of Lies than a human lie-detector? The fact that she is a pink-haired, bespectacled and extensively tattooed nerd makes her extra-endearing as far as I am concerned...
The artwork is beautiful through all 17 issues, the characters beautifully rendered and expressive. It is definitely a must-have for Loki fans, but for fans of good, meta story-telling as well.
-
I accidentally read things in the wrong order all the time, and this is exactly what happened here: for the record, if you are interested in these comics, read “Agent of Asgard” before “The God Who Fell to Earth” (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...). There, PSA done!
First, of all, I must say that I was pleasantly surprised by how layered this collection turned out to be: I figured at first that this might be a simple attempt by Marvel to cash in on the huge fan-base the character ended up gathering, but there is substance to this story, and more coherence than I have come to expect from mainstream comic books. This story is an interesting reflection here on what makes characters good or bad, and on their capacity to change.
Loki wants to turn the page. He doesn't want to grow into the old, evil version of himself who has been pulling the strings for a long time. But change is not easy, and it requires support - something that is not easy to come by when you've spend your entire existence being notoriously treacherous. In order to redeem himself, he puts his wit at the service of Asgardia's rulers, the All-Mother. He will work as their agent across the nine realms, slowly earn their trust and become a trusted and honorable Asgardian... But of course, it can't be that simple or straight-forward. Loki may want to be a good guy, but he is still Loki, and that involves a natural tendency to be, well... tricky and hard to trust.
I loved this struggle, this honest and painful attempt at breaking free from the script that everyone constantly imposes on him: I wouldn't be surprised if the writers of the Disney+ show had been fans of this collection, as it runs along similar lines in some respects. I also loved Verity: what better foil for the Father of Lies than a human lie-detector? The fact that she is a pink-haired, bespectacled and extensively tattooed nerd makes her extra-endearing as far as I am concerned...
The artwork is beautiful through all 17 issues, the characters beautifully rendered and expressive. It is definitely a must-have for Loki fans, but for fans of good, meta story-telling as well.
-
I accidentally read things in the wrong order all the time, and this is exactly what happened here: for the record, if you are interested in these comics, read “Agent of Asgard” before “The God Who Fell to Earth” (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...). There, PSA done!
October 4, 2020
[3.5] This is so obviously for, and inspired by, an audience of MCU-Hiddleston-Loki fangirls in their teens and early twenties - but it can still be an interesting pop-culture artefact to a an older reader who prefers comics with plenty to analyse, especially if you have also read about the fan culture. There are dimensions to Agent of Asgard way beyond fanservice, including friendly satire of fandom; a canon creator taking up and/or subtly critiquing fan ideas, in a way that is ripe for academic analysis; and a countering of online culture's tendency to black-and-white thinking, by a writer my own age. By the end I was thinking that if I had kids, I'd be very happy for them to be reading this.
I was also pleased by the detailed references to historical mythology and how they go beyond the names, approximate character sketches and famous concepts like Ragnarok that also appear in the films. (There is yet more Ragnarok stuff here too, albeit it was published before Thor: Ragnarok was released, and Ewing goes for the cyclical interpretation of the myth instead.) I read the first few issues shortly after The Saga of the Volsungs, and part of that story (in which Loki figures) is adapted here, with Sigurd the dragon slayer, his magical sword Gram, and the treasure of Andvari the dwarf all playing important roles at one point or another. Marvel's Sigurd is called 'the first hero of Asgard' in a manner that feels reminiscent of the Greek custom of having heroes as demi-gods. I'm not sure how much, or if, he figures in other Marvel comics, but here he seems designed to respond to a few modern ideas about mythology. Other characters consider him an asshole, which chimes with recent feminist re-evaluations of mythology including what constitutes a hero, and actions of male deities and other celebrated characters. These are most visible re. Greek myths, however. In an apparent subversion of Sigurd's association with German nationalism and the Nazis, he is darker skinned than the other Asgardian characters. (It is never mentioned verbally, but with him being called 'the first hero' I ended up thinking about it as a reference to how Europeans probably mostly had darker skin c. 10 000 years ago.) The combination of these traits is potentially awkward, however, as there aren't other dark-skinned major characters.
Depsite these promising beginnings, it doesn't totally work as a standalone for a reader who hasn't read a lot of other Marvel Asgard comics, as it suffers from way, way too many references to other comics, especially, though not only, in the middle section which is part of a superhero crossover event. (The lower ratings for volume 2 of the 3 collected volumes show how much this was a problem.) I've only actually read a couple of big crossover events - this and the Crisis of Infinite Earths in Alan Moore's 1980s Swamp Thing - but already I am finding them and their clichés tedious, as do the seasoned comics readers whose reviews I've been reading for years on GR. (Surely the point of crossovers should be comedy, like drunken student conversations about which characters would beat who in a fight - but apparently the real thing in comics manages to be po-faced, overblown and insubstantial, and fails to take the piss out of itself even when the writers are top-notch, because they are constrained by management.) However, in a nod to the likelihood of Agent of Asgard attracting readers who aren't already steeped in years of this comics universe (with significant differences from the films), there are asterisked notes mentioning in which issue of which other title a referenced event happened. And there are *so many* other titles - the avid young fan wanting to get into Marvel's Asgard comics would emerge with a lengthy reading list if she noted down all of them.
However, one aspect of the crossover's theme - or rather some characters' comments about it - worked very well for me. The premise is pretty clichéd: some magical force unleashed by Dr Doom and Scarlet Witch (who is working with him, not the Avengers unlike in the films) causes heroes and villains to swap sides, villains become good and heroes evil. Young Loki and Amora/Enchantress begin working together as a duo. The two of them are described as smug and self-righteous, Loki no longer wants to have anything to do with his former friends who liked his slightly more morally ambiguous self, and the friends in return conclude "let's leave them to their cold nobility". At one point during this interlude Loki proudly turns himself into a rainbow tailed unicorn because he is so pure of heart. Back in 2014-15 when these comics were published, this could have looked like a typical, fairly uncomplicated moral message of the sort found in superhero stories (along with more fanservice in which Loki, for example, beats Ultron). But in the context of the last two or three years, it looks like a barbed, satirical warning to this comic's target demographic, pointing out what much of their online behaviour has become.
A lot of the wittiest stuff is in the first few issues, corresponding with vol 1 of the three-part collected issues. Other characters say about this Loki, who looks like he's aged 18-25 himself, "Are you sure this is Loki, he looks a bit One Direction-y?" The next issue, he says he had to move apartment because people kept mistaking him for Harry Styles. One of his powers is hacking - an excellent attribute for a writer to give an early 21st century trickster - and Thor (wearing an A-ha t-shirt and looking like He-Man, among the very few obvious pop-culture references more than ten years old) talks about one incidence of it by saying "You did create a most terrible slash upon their internet". This Loki's personality in the comics world is defined as being different from King Loki, the original older, villainous version who's been around in Marvel comics since the 1960s - but equally this young Loki, who describes himself as "a loveable scamp with a heart of gold" and who sincerely wants to atone for the wickedness of his past self, is a comment on how different in personality many young MCU fangirls' idea of Loki is from the character on screen. (aka the trope Draco in Leather Pants, whose name also arguably shows someone like me, already a legal adult when Harry Potter was first published, how big a trend this might be for slightly younger generations.) Ewing probably wasn't to know how de-powered Loki would be especially in the later films and how this became the subject of IMO the most justified fan complaints. (I think it looks a lot like laziness from the scriptwriters and directors, in not wanting to complicate the plot or work out how the comics character would deal with the likes of Strange) But that anomaly is covered here too: "My magic was earned through centuries of tireless study," Old Loki reminds everyone. The fangirls also get a reader-identification character: Verity, a gothy twentysomething who has the superpower to see the truth behind any lie. (Perfect for not being taken advantage of by Loki, and being able to see his "real self". Tropes of both trad comics and fanfic are subverted as she's not his lover, they're platonic friends although they met at speed dating. Glad that some types of book are finally catching up that this is a thing that happens.) There's even a storyline towards the end of Agent of Asgard where a lot of it isn't Loki's fault, the badness came from his creator. And Ewing made them a canon version - this is one subculture that must have been more than happy to be co-opted by a corporate creator.
Yet even whilst the fandom is serviced, it is satirised and critiqued. (And unlike the writers of, say, Sherlock, Ewing knows not to overdo the overt references to fan culture.) Just as fanfiction about Loki is predominantly written by fangirls, with a communal ethos, young Loki as 'Agent of Asgard' has his activities decided - is sent on missions - by the All-Mother, a team of three female rulers of Asgard who took over when Odin went into semi-retirement: Freya (she is Freya here not Frigga, the two appear to have been conflated), Idunn and Gaea. It is they who decide whether Loki can have his past misdeeds struck from the record, just as some fans want MCU's Loki to be forgiven or understood because they feel he's not that bad really, and/or to see him reform, creating scenarios about this. The All-Mother treat(s) heroes of old like truant children and, it soon emerges, are working towards a Golden Age which is subtly dystopian and authoritarian in its predictability and excess security. Young readers in 2014-15 - when these comics were published - may have seen their mothers and/or schoolteachers in this. (And it certainly reminds me how, in my childhood and teens the 'women as killjoys' stereotype was fully justified by my RL experience and by contrast men, especially those visible in the media, often seemed interesting and fun, i.e. in tune with the trickster archetype). To the typical card-carrying fourth-wave feminist reader of 2018-20, however, this could look suspect.
Though often, fandom opinions about characters seem to be compartmentalised from wider culture, or perhaps to remain in aspic - as in the insistence that Loki is just damaged, that he should be forgiven as other characters have been forgiven (e.g. Tony Stark as an arms dealer), in contrast with the way that forgiveness and redemption have been seen as in themselves problematic ideas in the social justice movement and especially #metoo. (It seems that sometimes the same people make these arguments for fictional characters whilst implying that real-life problematic public figures are essentially damned and should just go away. It seems like morally gray characters may only be acceptable in fiction.) Ewing adds to that several-years-old conversation the strangely rarely-made point that as a god, a character like Loki is an archetype, the source of certain qualities, so it's not the same as a human being changing. (Which seems obvious if you were familiar with the mythology long before Marvel films.) Young Loki in Agent of Asgard is then an existentialist figure grappling with this dilemma, and also arguably with the present versus the deep past: he wants to reform and be *good*, to be that loveable scamp who's acceptable to fandom and left-liberal culture of the 2010s, but in his metaphorical DNA he is the millenia-old embodiment of lies and mischief.
This is addressed partly via a fairly common young person's dilemma (at least it's one that also bothered me in my twenties), the way that everybody around you appears to have a fixed idea of you, formed in the past, and they always seem to see that rather than who you are at the time, several years later, and how you have changed. But for Loki, tied to Asgard by his ancient role, and detectable on Earth by superpower monitoring, it's not as easy as moving and making new friends, the way it is for a lot of young people. His/her - for Loki's female form makes an appearance in the second half - other solution is to play with the meanings of words (appropriately recursive) and be the god / goddess of stories instead, because what are lies but stories. Emerging from Eastern-influenced idea of ego-death, this particular reinvention is a little too glib (and neoliberal, like the 2010s corporate mindfulness trend?), as it suggests that such change is only about and down to the individual changing - whereas for humans in general (who don't have the complication of being living archetypes), other people's attitudes can be part of the problem too; even if you don't care what they think, they may still have influence over your life. And Loki is an example of someone who can't get away from them, the way some people are stuck with communities or families that constrain them.
Loki gets a lot of insults from Thor later in the comic, the usual things that can be used to highlight the character's outsider status: 'bastard' (adopted, a different race), 'preening half a man' (gender non-conforming, an outsider in a man's world) - another set of fan-favourite talking points. His relationship with Odin is more complex, and Odin himself somewhat more complex, than in the films. (Odin is redeemed here relative to those who interpret him in the MCU as an abusive parent.) Odin's warrior/kingly aspect still takes precedence, perhaps more so than in the mythology, but in #11 he appears briefly as the wise wanderer too, as he meets a desolate young Loki in a snowy waste: "My child who is both son and daughter … There are times I show little wisdom … I am the one who speaks for the tree. I am the king of all stories. And you are my child … Your hour of trial when the storm is at the door and all is darkest. Hold to yourself." Yet only a few issues later he is throwing his ego around in a bout of petulant international un-diplomacy.
The humour is never far away, from a dig at superhero clichés even whilst in the middle of one, "a conflagration on Midgard that threatens to doom us all and similar things have kept coming to nothing" (slight paraphrase) to a comment on one of Marvel's most awkward Asgardian characters, "Angela is still finding her place in the realms". (Even the name doesn't work… it so obviously makes her a creation of the later 20th century when it was a fashionable name), to Verity's jibe at Amora's old-school skintight costume, "What was her name again? Heteronormativa?" Odin actually gets to do some fighting for once, and a scenario in which the Asgardians need to use Midgard weapons is a great excuse to show Odin brandishing a rotary cannon and Freya with a machine gun in each hand. (I've always had a soft spot for action films featuring retired or elderly characters and the same goes for this.) There are some fantastic battle tableaux in #16. Elsewhere I don't rate the art in this as highly as a lot of GR reviewers seem to, it's fine but not amazing - these, however, are something else and convey a seriously impressive sense of energy and movement on the page.
At times the story dragged and felt routine, whether because of superhero stock scenarios, or the prolonged existential wrestling that, in manner of literary fiction, evokes boredom in the reader because it's so effective in communicating how the protagonist feels. But some of Agent of Asgard was a stellar example of how complex and clever comics can be, although it may take a bit of background knowledge, either of MCU fandom or the Marvel Asgard comics universe, to appreciate.
(read June & Sept 2020, reviewed Oct)
I was also pleased by the detailed references to historical mythology and how they go beyond the names, approximate character sketches and famous concepts like Ragnarok that also appear in the films. (There is yet more Ragnarok stuff here too, albeit it was published before Thor: Ragnarok was released, and Ewing goes for the cyclical interpretation of the myth instead.) I read the first few issues shortly after The Saga of the Volsungs, and part of that story (in which Loki figures) is adapted here, with Sigurd the dragon slayer, his magical sword Gram, and the treasure of Andvari the dwarf all playing important roles at one point or another. Marvel's Sigurd is called 'the first hero of Asgard' in a manner that feels reminiscent of the Greek custom of having heroes as demi-gods. I'm not sure how much, or if, he figures in other Marvel comics, but here he seems designed to respond to a few modern ideas about mythology. Other characters consider him an asshole, which chimes with recent feminist re-evaluations of mythology including what constitutes a hero, and actions of male deities and other celebrated characters. These are most visible re. Greek myths, however. In an apparent subversion of Sigurd's association with German nationalism and the Nazis, he is darker skinned than the other Asgardian characters. (It is never mentioned verbally, but with him being called 'the first hero' I ended up thinking about it as a reference to how Europeans probably mostly had darker skin c. 10 000 years ago.) The combination of these traits is potentially awkward, however, as there aren't other dark-skinned major characters.
Depsite these promising beginnings, it doesn't totally work as a standalone for a reader who hasn't read a lot of other Marvel Asgard comics, as it suffers from way, way too many references to other comics, especially, though not only, in the middle section which is part of a superhero crossover event. (The lower ratings for volume 2 of the 3 collected volumes show how much this was a problem.) I've only actually read a couple of big crossover events - this and the Crisis of Infinite Earths in Alan Moore's 1980s Swamp Thing - but already I am finding them and their clichés tedious, as do the seasoned comics readers whose reviews I've been reading for years on GR. (Surely the point of crossovers should be comedy, like drunken student conversations about which characters would beat who in a fight - but apparently the real thing in comics manages to be po-faced, overblown and insubstantial, and fails to take the piss out of itself even when the writers are top-notch, because they are constrained by management.) However, in a nod to the likelihood of Agent of Asgard attracting readers who aren't already steeped in years of this comics universe (with significant differences from the films), there are asterisked notes mentioning in which issue of which other title a referenced event happened. And there are *so many* other titles - the avid young fan wanting to get into Marvel's Asgard comics would emerge with a lengthy reading list if she noted down all of them.
However, one aspect of the crossover's theme - or rather some characters' comments about it - worked very well for me. The premise is pretty clichéd: some magical force unleashed by Dr Doom and Scarlet Witch (who is working with him, not the Avengers unlike in the films) causes heroes and villains to swap sides, villains become good and heroes evil. Young Loki and Amora/Enchantress begin working together as a duo. The two of them are described as smug and self-righteous, Loki no longer wants to have anything to do with his former friends who liked his slightly more morally ambiguous self, and the friends in return conclude "let's leave them to their cold nobility". At one point during this interlude Loki proudly turns himself into a rainbow tailed unicorn because he is so pure of heart. Back in 2014-15 when these comics were published, this could have looked like a typical, fairly uncomplicated moral message of the sort found in superhero stories (along with more fanservice in which Loki, for example, beats Ultron). But in the context of the last two or three years, it looks like a barbed, satirical warning to this comic's target demographic, pointing out what much of their online behaviour has become.
A lot of the wittiest stuff is in the first few issues, corresponding with vol 1 of the three-part collected issues. Other characters say about this Loki, who looks like he's aged 18-25 himself, "Are you sure this is Loki, he looks a bit One Direction-y?" The next issue, he says he had to move apartment because people kept mistaking him for Harry Styles. One of his powers is hacking - an excellent attribute for a writer to give an early 21st century trickster - and Thor (wearing an A-ha t-shirt and looking like He-Man, among the very few obvious pop-culture references more than ten years old) talks about one incidence of it by saying "You did create a most terrible slash upon their internet". This Loki's personality in the comics world is defined as being different from King Loki, the original older, villainous version who's been around in Marvel comics since the 1960s - but equally this young Loki, who describes himself as "a loveable scamp with a heart of gold" and who sincerely wants to atone for the wickedness of his past self, is a comment on how different in personality many young MCU fangirls' idea of Loki is from the character on screen. (aka the trope Draco in Leather Pants, whose name also arguably shows someone like me, already a legal adult when Harry Potter was first published, how big a trend this might be for slightly younger generations.) Ewing probably wasn't to know how de-powered Loki would be especially in the later films and how this became the subject of IMO the most justified fan complaints. (I think it looks a lot like laziness from the scriptwriters and directors, in not wanting to complicate the plot or work out how the comics character would deal with the likes of Strange) But that anomaly is covered here too: "My magic was earned through centuries of tireless study," Old Loki reminds everyone. The fangirls also get a reader-identification character: Verity, a gothy twentysomething who has the superpower to see the truth behind any lie. (Perfect for not being taken advantage of by Loki, and being able to see his "real self". Tropes of both trad comics and fanfic are subverted as she's not his lover, they're platonic friends although they met at speed dating. Glad that some types of book are finally catching up that this is a thing that happens.) There's even a storyline towards the end of Agent of Asgard where a lot of it isn't Loki's fault, the badness came from his creator. And Ewing made them a canon version - this is one subculture that must have been more than happy to be co-opted by a corporate creator.
Yet even whilst the fandom is serviced, it is satirised and critiqued. (And unlike the writers of, say, Sherlock, Ewing knows not to overdo the overt references to fan culture.) Just as fanfiction about Loki is predominantly written by fangirls, with a communal ethos, young Loki as 'Agent of Asgard' has his activities decided - is sent on missions - by the All-Mother, a team of three female rulers of Asgard who took over when Odin went into semi-retirement: Freya (she is Freya here not Frigga, the two appear to have been conflated), Idunn and Gaea. It is they who decide whether Loki can have his past misdeeds struck from the record, just as some fans want MCU's Loki to be forgiven or understood because they feel he's not that bad really, and/or to see him reform, creating scenarios about this. The All-Mother treat(s) heroes of old like truant children and, it soon emerges, are working towards a Golden Age which is subtly dystopian and authoritarian in its predictability and excess security. Young readers in 2014-15 - when these comics were published - may have seen their mothers and/or schoolteachers in this. (And it certainly reminds me how, in my childhood and teens the 'women as killjoys' stereotype was fully justified by my RL experience and by contrast men, especially those visible in the media, often seemed interesting and fun, i.e. in tune with the trickster archetype). To the typical card-carrying fourth-wave feminist reader of 2018-20, however, this could look suspect.
Though often, fandom opinions about characters seem to be compartmentalised from wider culture, or perhaps to remain in aspic - as in the insistence that Loki is just damaged, that he should be forgiven as other characters have been forgiven (e.g. Tony Stark as an arms dealer), in contrast with the way that forgiveness and redemption have been seen as in themselves problematic ideas in the social justice movement and especially #metoo. (It seems that sometimes the same people make these arguments for fictional characters whilst implying that real-life problematic public figures are essentially damned and should just go away. It seems like morally gray characters may only be acceptable in fiction.) Ewing adds to that several-years-old conversation the strangely rarely-made point that as a god, a character like Loki is an archetype, the source of certain qualities, so it's not the same as a human being changing. (Which seems obvious if you were familiar with the mythology long before Marvel films.) Young Loki in Agent of Asgard is then an existentialist figure grappling with this dilemma, and also arguably with the present versus the deep past: he wants to reform and be *good*, to be that loveable scamp who's acceptable to fandom and left-liberal culture of the 2010s, but in his metaphorical DNA he is the millenia-old embodiment of lies and mischief.
This is addressed partly via a fairly common young person's dilemma (at least it's one that also bothered me in my twenties), the way that everybody around you appears to have a fixed idea of you, formed in the past, and they always seem to see that rather than who you are at the time, several years later, and how you have changed. But for Loki, tied to Asgard by his ancient role, and detectable on Earth by superpower monitoring, it's not as easy as moving and making new friends, the way it is for a lot of young people. His/her - for Loki's female form makes an appearance in the second half - other solution is to play with the meanings of words (appropriately recursive) and be the god / goddess of stories instead, because what are lies but stories. Emerging from Eastern-influenced idea of ego-death, this particular reinvention is a little too glib (and neoliberal, like the 2010s corporate mindfulness trend?), as it suggests that such change is only about and down to the individual changing - whereas for humans in general (who don't have the complication of being living archetypes), other people's attitudes can be part of the problem too; even if you don't care what they think, they may still have influence over your life. And Loki is an example of someone who can't get away from them, the way some people are stuck with communities or families that constrain them.
Loki gets a lot of insults from Thor later in the comic, the usual things that can be used to highlight the character's outsider status: 'bastard' (adopted, a different race), 'preening half a man' (gender non-conforming, an outsider in a man's world) - another set of fan-favourite talking points. His relationship with Odin is more complex, and Odin himself somewhat more complex, than in the films. (Odin is redeemed here relative to those who interpret him in the MCU as an abusive parent.) Odin's warrior/kingly aspect still takes precedence, perhaps more so than in the mythology, but in #11 he appears briefly as the wise wanderer too, as he meets a desolate young Loki in a snowy waste: "My child who is both son and daughter … There are times I show little wisdom … I am the one who speaks for the tree. I am the king of all stories. And you are my child … Your hour of trial when the storm is at the door and all is darkest. Hold to yourself." Yet only a few issues later he is throwing his ego around in a bout of petulant international un-diplomacy.
The humour is never far away, from a dig at superhero clichés even whilst in the middle of one, "a conflagration on Midgard that threatens to doom us all and similar things have kept coming to nothing" (slight paraphrase) to a comment on one of Marvel's most awkward Asgardian characters, "Angela is still finding her place in the realms". (Even the name doesn't work… it so obviously makes her a creation of the later 20th century when it was a fashionable name), to Verity's jibe at Amora's old-school skintight costume, "What was her name again? Heteronormativa?" Odin actually gets to do some fighting for once, and a scenario in which the Asgardians need to use Midgard weapons is a great excuse to show Odin brandishing a rotary cannon and Freya with a machine gun in each hand. (I've always had a soft spot for action films featuring retired or elderly characters and the same goes for this.) There are some fantastic battle tableaux in #16. Elsewhere I don't rate the art in this as highly as a lot of GR reviewers seem to, it's fine but not amazing - these, however, are something else and convey a seriously impressive sense of energy and movement on the page.
At times the story dragged and felt routine, whether because of superhero stock scenarios, or the prolonged existential wrestling that, in manner of literary fiction, evokes boredom in the reader because it's so effective in communicating how the protagonist feels. But some of Agent of Asgard was a stellar example of how complex and clever comics can be, although it may take a bit of background knowledge, either of MCU fandom or the Marvel Asgard comics universe, to appreciate.
(read June & Sept 2020, reviewed Oct)
January 30, 2020
I cannot put into words how much this series meant to me. The way that Loki interacts with his own story and even the concept of narrative itself is masterful and unforgettable. I’ll be thinking about the “It’s all right” panel for years to come.
As Ewing says in his afterword, “LOKI started off as a book about being For Yourself, and I feel like it’s managed to end that way, too. Looking back, it’s been a series about trying to be better—about finding some way to care for yourself despite everything.”
As Ewing says in his afterword, “LOKI started off as a book about being For Yourself, and I feel like it’s managed to end that way, too. Looking back, it’s been a series about trying to be better—about finding some way to care for yourself despite everything.”
June 23, 2021
Me gusto mucho leer esta serie de cómics porque me sentía como si estuviera viendo una serie de reality shows algo super raro, Loki es muy carismático y me encariñe con él. En partes se me hizo un poco lenta la trama, but it's ok
July 29, 2021
This book started of great. The first arc, or first 5 issues were really well done. Great sense of adventure as the all mother has Loki running missions for Asgard. For everyone successful mission, Loki gets one bad thing stricken from his history. Great artwork and I had a lot of fun with this part. The Thor and Loki tenth realm part I had just read last week in conjunction with Original Sin. So you can check my review of that 10th realm trade for my thoughts on that. The next arc was ok. It was tied into the Avengers X-men Axis book which I haven’t read. So I don’t really know what that story is about but reading this part, I guess I have a small understanding of what might have been going on over in that book. Anyway, again this part was just ok, decent. The last arc is where this book really started to come apart for me. Wasn’t really feeling that final arc. Tried to get a little too philosophical for me. Too much current Loki, Future Loki and what could have been and the reasons why. Got kind of convoluted for my tastes. So this book starts off really great, moves into mediocrity and then finally ends on a whimper.
September 13, 2021
3,75 / 5
"Condenado a no ser nunca más que Loki, Loki el hijo malo. Loki, el villano, hasta el día en que murió. Así que... murió. Que fue, por supuesto, fue su mayor plan de todos". Así es como comienza Loki: Agente de Asgard, y no creo que haya mejor presentación. El Dios de las travesuras, al servicio secreto de Asgard, trata de labrarse un nuevo camino y reputación cambiando su historia. Para ello, lo único que tiene que hacer, es cumplir las misiones más traicioneras e insospechadas que la Madre de Todos le manda. Loki, o uno de ellos, se embarca en extrañas aventuras por todo el universo y en diferentes líneas del tiempo, sin saber todo lo que otro Loki había preparado para él.
Loki: Agente de Asgard se compone de 17 números donde engarza las historias de muchos Loki y varias tramas ramificadas en otros comics, como demuestra la cantidad de frustrantes asteriscos que plagan la narración. Sin embargo, su conjunto es comprensible y legible, suponiendo un gran punto de partida para investigar acerca del dios de las mentiras. Al Ewing consigue hacer malabarismos entre los planes editoriales (Axis, Original Sin y Secret Wars) y una historia conmovedora y emocionante sobre Loki. Es verdad que no funciona totalmente independiente, pero creo que Loki: Agente de Asgard tiene dimensiones suficientes para satisfacer al lector.
La variable de varios Loki es difícil que pille a alguien a pie cambiado tras el éxito de la serie marvelita, pero estos comics de Al Ewing llevan al personaje un paso más allá, donde las referencias a la mitología histórica van más allá de los puros nombres y los conceptos se tocan más a fondo. Sin embargo, al final de todo, este Loki: Agente de Asgard persigue lo mismo que el Loki televisivo: querer ser mejor en el mundo. Este Loki se siente capacitado y ansia liberarse de su pasado como villano, para poder redefinirse en algo mejor. Sin embargo, como bien puedes saber lector, hay más Loki pululando por ahí que no opinan lo mismo.
"Condenado a no ser nunca más que Loki, Loki el hijo malo. Loki, el villano, hasta el día en que murió. Así que... murió. Que fue, por supuesto, fue su mayor plan de todos". Así es como comienza Loki: Agente de Asgard, y no creo que haya mejor presentación. El Dios de las travesuras, al servicio secreto de Asgard, trata de labrarse un nuevo camino y reputación cambiando su historia. Para ello, lo único que tiene que hacer, es cumplir las misiones más traicioneras e insospechadas que la Madre de Todos le manda. Loki, o uno de ellos, se embarca en extrañas aventuras por todo el universo y en diferentes líneas del tiempo, sin saber todo lo que otro Loki había preparado para él.
Loki: Agente de Asgard se compone de 17 números donde engarza las historias de muchos Loki y varias tramas ramificadas en otros comics, como demuestra la cantidad de frustrantes asteriscos que plagan la narración. Sin embargo, su conjunto es comprensible y legible, suponiendo un gran punto de partida para investigar acerca del dios de las mentiras. Al Ewing consigue hacer malabarismos entre los planes editoriales (Axis, Original Sin y Secret Wars) y una historia conmovedora y emocionante sobre Loki. Es verdad que no funciona totalmente independiente, pero creo que Loki: Agente de Asgard tiene dimensiones suficientes para satisfacer al lector.
La variable de varios Loki es difícil que pille a alguien a pie cambiado tras el éxito de la serie marvelita, pero estos comics de Al Ewing llevan al personaje un paso más allá, donde las referencias a la mitología histórica van más allá de los puros nombres y los conceptos se tocan más a fondo. Sin embargo, al final de todo, este Loki: Agente de Asgard persigue lo mismo que el Loki televisivo: querer ser mejor en el mundo. Este Loki se siente capacitado y ansia liberarse de su pasado como villano, para poder redefinirse en algo mejor. Sin embargo, como bien puedes saber lector, hay más Loki pululando por ahí que no opinan lo mismo.
May 15, 2021
Binge-reading this book was an excellent way to start the new decade. (Very thematic too—new beginnings and all that.) I’ve been wanting to read this series for so long and it definitely did not disappoint. I only there was more of it.
Also, this was a fun read even though I have read few Marvel comics and fewer with Loki. As always, comics are confusing to me. This is not the first Marvel comic I’ve read but it is the most...interwoven? I guess is a good way to say it? Meaning there’s plenty of prequel stories I haven’t read (such as Kid Loki’s story) and branching plots that are finished in other comics. It didn’t make the reading less enjoyable or the story less understandable (but it is frustrating ngl). (I wish everything could have been included like the Orignal Sin bit.) But that’s part of reading comics. Just making a note of it to let others know that if you’re like me and haven’t read many Marvel comics before, this is still very readable and a good place to start in Loki’s story.
(Also the inside covers of this book have the list of comics needed to read the rest of the Goddess of Thunder story, for which I am very grateful, as that is next on my list. I’ve read the first two already 😊)
Also, this was a fun read even though I have read few Marvel comics and fewer with Loki. As always, comics are confusing to me. This is not the first Marvel comic I’ve read but it is the most...interwoven? I guess is a good way to say it? Meaning there’s plenty of prequel stories I haven’t read (such as Kid Loki’s story) and branching plots that are finished in other comics. It didn’t make the reading less enjoyable or the story less understandable (but it is frustrating ngl). (I wish everything could have been included like the Orignal Sin bit.) But that’s part of reading comics. Just making a note of it to let others know that if you’re like me and haven’t read many Marvel comics before, this is still very readable and a good place to start in Loki’s story.
(Also the inside covers of this book have the list of comics needed to read the rest of the Goddess of Thunder story, for which I am very grateful, as that is next on my list. I’ve read the first two already 😊)
February 26, 2022
Loki: Agents of Asgard is the rare comic book series that begins and ends on its own terms while also tying into at least two major Marvel events. It's an unqualified success in that it manages to tell a robust, convoluted story without getting bogged down in Marvel's baffling continuity. I can't imagine not reading this series in "The Complete Collection" - I found myself turning back to earlier issues quite frequently as future Loki's actions affected past Loki.
Admittedly, some of the head-spinning elements of Agent of Asgard spun right past me. Young Loki isn't Kid Loki because he...ate (?) Kid Loki, and to atone for that crime he's proclaimed himself an agent of the new triumvirate on Asgard's throne. Almost instantly, his actions result in the release of Future Loki, with whom Young Loki tangles later in the series. There are a lot of Lokis running around! Fortunately, I just finished watching the excellent Loki series on Disney+, so my brain was ready for the idea of "variants."
Agent of Asgard gets off to a slow start, spending time introducing characters like Verity (she can detect all lies) who will play a much larger role later on. The first "volume" is basically one big Ocean's 11 heist that only kinda works. Then we get the Original Sin tie-in, which is engaging, but not exactly critical to the larger plot. This is, of course, followed by the Axis tie-in, which is much more critical to the plot. Then finally, more than halfway into this 500 page collection, we get to the true plot: Future Loki has seeded Young Loki's path and there's nothing the God of Lies can do about it. Unless he discovers that lies are just stories and stories can be retold.
Ultimately, Agent of Asgard is a story about storytelling, which is catnip for an unrepentant English major like me. It's not always the most coherent series, but I respect the hell out of its ambitions. I can't wait to get my hands on more of this Loki - Journey Into Mystery and Young Avengers, here I come!
Admittedly, some of the head-spinning elements of Agent of Asgard spun right past me. Young Loki isn't Kid Loki because he...ate (?) Kid Loki, and to atone for that crime he's proclaimed himself an agent of the new triumvirate on Asgard's throne. Almost instantly, his actions result in the release of Future Loki, with whom Young Loki tangles later in the series. There are a lot of Lokis running around! Fortunately, I just finished watching the excellent Loki series on Disney+, so my brain was ready for the idea of "variants."
Agent of Asgard gets off to a slow start, spending time introducing characters like Verity (she can detect all lies) who will play a much larger role later on. The first "volume" is basically one big Ocean's 11 heist that only kinda works. Then we get the Original Sin tie-in, which is engaging, but not exactly critical to the larger plot. This is, of course, followed by the Axis tie-in, which is much more critical to the plot. Then finally, more than halfway into this 500 page collection, we get to the true plot: Future Loki has seeded Young Loki's path and there's nothing the God of Lies can do about it. Unless he discovers that lies are just stories and stories can be retold.
Ultimately, Agent of Asgard is a story about storytelling, which is catnip for an unrepentant English major like me. It's not always the most coherent series, but I respect the hell out of its ambitions. I can't wait to get my hands on more of this Loki - Journey Into Mystery and Young Avengers, here I come!
August 16, 2020
"Doomed to never be anything but Loki- Loki the bad son. Loki the villain- until the day he died.
So...he died.
Which was, of course, his greatest scheme of all."
With gorgeous illustrations, vibrant characters, and rich storytelling, the entirety of Agent of Asgard was a roller-coaster ride until the end. I originally picked up this book as a huge fan of MCU Loki, and though I still love him, he is beyond bland compared to the humorous, clever, and mischievous Loki. (
January 20, 2021
Al Ewing shows once again that he can write comics with the best of them. For a series centered on Loki (the god of evil? of mischief? of trickery? of lies? of stories?), this lengthy collection managed to keep me entertained and wanting to go back to it over and over (at a time when I've had 50+ other books checked out at any given time, waiting to tempt me away).
The Axis of whatever crossover and a few other issues were less interesting, but overall, this was smart, fun reading through and through.
The Axis of whatever crossover and a few other issues were less interesting, but overall, this was smart, fun reading through and through.
March 29, 2022
i love loki <3
April 22, 2022
5 stars
Enjoyed the telling of Loki being an agent of Asgard and how he tried to change his fate.
Enjoyed the telling of Loki being an agent of Asgard and how he tried to change his fate.
June 10, 2020
It had ups and downs. Sometimes I loved it, sometimes I thought it was meh... but it ended awesomely, so it gets 4 stars.
To be honest, the worst part was the AXIS tie in portion, and that’s not really Al Ewing’s fault, so he gets a pass.
Awesome characterizations, killer art... this was a really unique, fun and interesting series.
A good portion of the subtext was meta commentary about comics, and I dug that. I think you will too.
To be honest, the worst part was the AXIS tie in portion, and that’s not really Al Ewing’s fault, so he gets a pass.
Awesome characterizations, killer art... this was a really unique, fun and interesting series.
A good portion of the subtext was meta commentary about comics, and I dug that. I think you will too.
August 1, 2021
Vol. 1: Incredibly solid fun from start to finish. Loved the addition of some Nordic myths as background. Love the snark. Teenage Loki is just the right blend of mischief, charm, and disarming honesty and innocence. He’s always a step ahead and I love it. Or, I should say that he truly believed himself to be a step ahead until right at the end of this first part.
Vol. 2: It took me a little while to warm up to this one. The story didn’t start out nearly as fun and charming as the first installment, but it did eventually pick up. I loved the central theme of whether it’s ever too late for someone to change if they truly desire to do so. I also loved the emphasis on how important one true friendship can be in a person’s life.
Vol. 3: This one lost me. Maybe because I read it while sick, but it felt convoluted and incredibly muddled. I appreciate the whole “God of Stories” arc, but everything felt rushed and superficial. I think this entire last volume could have been much more. The best part was getting Verity’s background. And seeing Odin spraying bullets. That was fun.
Overall, this series started out really strong and then just kind of puttered out. I’m disappointed, but I still enjoyed the beginning.
Vol. 2: It took me a little while to warm up to this one. The story didn’t start out nearly as fun and charming as the first installment, but it did eventually pick up. I loved the central theme of whether it’s ever too late for someone to change if they truly desire to do so. I also loved the emphasis on how important one true friendship can be in a person’s life.
Vol. 3: This one lost me. Maybe because I read it while sick, but it felt convoluted and incredibly muddled. I appreciate the whole “God of Stories” arc, but everything felt rushed and superficial. I think this entire last volume could have been much more. The best part was getting Verity’s background. And seeing Odin spraying bullets. That was fun.
Overall, this series started out really strong and then just kind of puttered out. I’m disappointed, but I still enjoyed the beginning.
December 27, 2021
Minus a couple boring tie-in issues this was a good Loki series. Lots of cool characters and lots of good Loki moments with alternate versions of himself and other characters.
July 28, 2021
This is a love letter to the art of storytelling. It is about wanting to be better in a world that is better off with their version of you. It is about the end of everything. It is about the beginning of everything. It is about death and hope and what it really means to be yourself.
"Perhaps "who we truly are" is a cage, one we'll never be free of if we cling so damned tight to the bars..."
It is ALSO about heists, espionage, speed dating, sword fighting, and a fair amount of cooking.
What else can I say? I bought this to simp for Loki because the Disney+ show wasn't what I had wanted from series about a mischief maker, but this ended up really pulling on my heartstrings.
I will be thinking about some of these panels for a good, long, time to come.
"Perhaps "who we truly are" is a cage, one we'll never be free of if we cling so damned tight to the bars..."
It is ALSO about heists, espionage, speed dating, sword fighting, and a fair amount of cooking.
What else can I say? I bought this to simp for Loki because the Disney+ show wasn't what I had wanted from series about a mischief maker, but this ended up really pulling on my heartstrings.
I will be thinking about some of these panels for a good, long, time to come.
March 2, 2025
ok, *ehem* let's get started.
bye there is not a single nonchalant bone in my body when it comes to this character- 💀
yeah i dont know if you knowwww, but loki is my most favorite character of all time. ever. 😚🦋
this was actually insanely good. it was incredible at the start, and it kept getting better. loved all of the original characters, loved all of the plot twists, and loved loki. i adore loki's character design in this 🥹🥹 his fingerless gloves, his dramatic coat, his horns, and his disheveled hair>>>>>>>>> he's looking gorgeous 😋 additionally, his sassy and arrogant personality was perfect.
Now a quick run through of what happened in this collection: Loki is the adopted son of Frigga and Odin, the rulers of Asgard (you know this part i hope). He is in a new "younger" form (body), and Queen Frigga gives him tasks to complete as a method of redeeming the slightlynot slightly evil stuff he did in the past. the rest is spoilers i guess...
RAHHHHHH IM SO PROUD OF HIM OMG 😭😭😭😭 im so proud of my baby yall ☹️ he tried SO hard to be good, while everyone around him was telling him he could never be anything but a liar and a cheater. even his OWN FUTURE SELF told him it was useless. but he still did it 😭😭☹️☹️ the way he was able to recognize that he was the one that decided who he got to be. the way he called out his family>>>>>>>>> even when his own brother accused him and TRIED TO KILL HIM, he didnt give up on being better. it actually broke my heart when he was desperately apologizing and begging thor not to leave him 😭💔💔 he actually deserved so much better from his family, but ThAts A dIsCuSsIoN fOr AnOtHeR tImE. i genuinely cheered--AND I WOULDVE STOOD UP AND STARTED TO PHYSICALLY CLAP MY HANDS AND JUMP AROUND BUT I WAS IN PUBLIC SO--when he lifted mjolnir OHMGOSHHHH ADHJGFKSJHGLAKDBLA IM SO PROUD OF HIM AGHHHH 😭😭😭😭😭 and NOBODY believed he did it after thor lost all memories of when he was corrupted 🤧🤧 ugh ITS THE FACT THAT NOBODY EVER BELIEVED IN HIM.
Surprisingly i didnt despise how odin was portrayed in this one. in fact, he was encouraging loki, which was DEFINITELYYYY a first for me, coming as a movie enjoyer 🤦🏼♀️🤦🏼♀️🤦🏼♀️ when he told lokes to be worthy of his OWN power, and not of thor's>>>>>>> he def earned some points for that one.
It made me so happy seeing the parallels between loki season 2 and agent of asgard. obviously loki becoming the god of stories is the biggest one there. his character development throughout this was so amazing <3 i loved how he was still arrogant, but he went from being arrogant because he was always told he wasnt good enough, and because of his own insecurities, to a humble kind of pride. while writing about characters for school, ive always been told that heroes should be prideful. idk to what extent i believe that, but in this case for sure it was necessary for loki to remain arrogant, because for once he knew that he was powerful.
if you read all of this, here's a star 🌟 lol. this was a 5/5 ☆ read. im really glad i asked for this for christmas. it was so worth it. i love loki laufeyson too much. THATS LITERALLY MY HUSBAND OK- alright, alright. bye. i love loki. ✌🏻
bye there is not a single nonchalant bone in my body when it comes to this character- 💀
yeah i dont know if you knowwww, but loki is my most favorite character of all time. ever. 😚🦋
this was actually insanely good. it was incredible at the start, and it kept getting better. loved all of the original characters, loved all of the plot twists, and loved loki. i adore loki's character design in this 🥹🥹 his fingerless gloves, his dramatic coat, his horns, and his disheveled hair>>>>>>>>> he's looking gorgeous 😋 additionally, his sassy and arrogant personality was perfect.
Now a quick run through of what happened in this collection: Loki is the adopted son of Frigga and Odin, the rulers of Asgard (you know this part i hope). He is in a new "younger" form (body), and Queen Frigga gives him tasks to complete as a method of redeeming the slightly
RAHHHHHH IM SO PROUD OF HIM OMG 😭😭😭😭 im so proud of my baby yall ☹️ he tried SO hard to be good, while everyone around him was telling him he could never be anything but a liar and a cheater. even his OWN FUTURE SELF told him it was useless. but he still did it 😭😭☹️☹️ the way he was able to recognize that he was the one that decided who he got to be. the way he called out his family>>>>>>>>> even when his own brother accused him and TRIED TO KILL HIM, he didnt give up on being better. it actually broke my heart when he was desperately apologizing and begging thor not to leave him 😭💔💔 he actually deserved so much better from his family, but ThAts A dIsCuSsIoN fOr AnOtHeR tImE. i genuinely cheered--AND I WOULDVE STOOD UP AND STARTED TO PHYSICALLY CLAP MY HANDS AND JUMP AROUND BUT I WAS IN PUBLIC SO--when he lifted mjolnir OHMGOSHHHH ADHJGFKSJHGLAKDBLA IM SO PROUD OF HIM AGHHHH 😭😭😭😭😭 and NOBODY believed he did it after thor lost all memories of when he was corrupted 🤧🤧 ugh ITS THE FACT THAT NOBODY EVER BELIEVED IN HIM.
Surprisingly i didnt despise how odin was portrayed in this one. in fact, he was encouraging loki, which was DEFINITELYYYY a first for me, coming as a movie enjoyer 🤦🏼♀️🤦🏼♀️🤦🏼♀️ when he told lokes to be worthy of his OWN power, and not of thor's>>>>>>> he def earned some points for that one.
It made me so happy seeing the parallels between loki season 2 and agent of asgard. obviously loki becoming the god of stories is the biggest one there. his character development throughout this was so amazing <3 i loved how he was still arrogant, but he went from being arrogant because he was always told he wasnt good enough, and because of his own insecurities, to a humble kind of pride. while writing about characters for school, ive always been told that heroes should be prideful. idk to what extent i believe that, but in this case for sure it was necessary for loki to remain arrogant, because for once he knew that he was powerful.
if you read all of this, here's a star 🌟 lol. this was a 5/5 ☆ read. im really glad i asked for this for christmas. it was so worth it. i love loki laufeyson too much. THATS LITERALLY MY HUSBAND OK- alright, alright. bye. i love loki. ✌🏻
June 21, 2022
Ho sempre amato Loki, sin dalla sua prima apparizione sullo schermo quel bono di Tom Hiddleston. Da amante della mitologia, col tempo mi sono informata sulla sua vera storia, le sue origini, arrivando solo in fine a leggere i fumetti della Marvel .
Agent of Asgard è la serie da cui prendono spunto moltissimi punti della serie tv Loki , che trovate su Disney+ , è consigliabile leggere però la serie dopo aver recuperato Loki Journey Into Mystery (ahimè attualmente però nessuna ristampa in vista e quasi introvabile in italiano), poiché Agent of Asgard riprende subito dopo le vicende avvenute in quel fumetto e, precedentemente ancora, a quello di Thor e Loki fratelli di sangue.
Insomma, direte voi, allora perché parlare prima di questo? Perché potete capire la storia anche leggendola partendo da qui ma io sono pignola e vi consiglio di seguire l'ordine, magari in questo modo:
• Le fatiche di Loki
• Fratelli di Sangue
• Journey Into Mystery
• Agente di Asgard
La storia ci porta davanti un giovane Loki che dopo le sue marachelle nelle scorse storie, deve pagare il suo debito con Asgard facendo da suo "agente segreto". Ma Loki è Loki e per quanto provi a redimersi, ogni cosa che fa seppur per la migliore delle azioni finisce per combinare guai.
Sono felicissima di aver visto in questo volume il ritorno di Lorelei, un personaggio secondo me calcolato troppo poco dalla Marvel ma davvero bellissimo ed importante per Loki, così come precedentemente lo era Sigyn, gestita ancora peggio.
Successivamente a questo volume che è concluso come vi dicevo, non c'è nulla seppur abbia un finale si, ma aperto, però qualcosa sembra starsi muovendo e forse voci di corridoio mi dicono che Loki sia apparso dalla stessa porta in cui entra nell'ultimo volume di questa serie, nel nuovissimo volume di Thor. Collegamento? Non collegamento? Finalmente la serie sta continuando? Lo scopriremo solo vivendo e speriamo di sì.
Se volete però seguire voi un "seguito" a questa serie, vi suggerisco poi di leggere:
• Loki il Dio che cadde sulla Terra
• Vota Loki
• Doctor Strange Il Dio della Magia
Uno più bello dell'altro e imperdibili! Ne parleremo prossimamente, restate connessi.
Agent of Asgard è la serie da cui prendono spunto moltissimi punti della serie tv Loki , che trovate su Disney+ , è consigliabile leggere però la serie dopo aver recuperato Loki Journey Into Mystery (ahimè attualmente però nessuna ristampa in vista e quasi introvabile in italiano), poiché Agent of Asgard riprende subito dopo le vicende avvenute in quel fumetto e, precedentemente ancora, a quello di Thor e Loki fratelli di sangue.
Insomma, direte voi, allora perché parlare prima di questo? Perché potete capire la storia anche leggendola partendo da qui ma io sono pignola e vi consiglio di seguire l'ordine, magari in questo modo:
• Le fatiche di Loki
• Fratelli di Sangue
• Journey Into Mystery
• Agente di Asgard
La storia ci porta davanti un giovane Loki che dopo le sue marachelle nelle scorse storie, deve pagare il suo debito con Asgard facendo da suo "agente segreto". Ma Loki è Loki e per quanto provi a redimersi, ogni cosa che fa seppur per la migliore delle azioni finisce per combinare guai.
Sono felicissima di aver visto in questo volume il ritorno di Lorelei, un personaggio secondo me calcolato troppo poco dalla Marvel ma davvero bellissimo ed importante per Loki, così come precedentemente lo era Sigyn, gestita ancora peggio.
Successivamente a questo volume che è concluso come vi dicevo, non c'è nulla seppur abbia un finale si, ma aperto, però qualcosa sembra starsi muovendo e forse voci di corridoio mi dicono che Loki sia apparso dalla stessa porta in cui entra nell'ultimo volume di questa serie, nel nuovissimo volume di Thor. Collegamento? Non collegamento? Finalmente la serie sta continuando? Lo scopriremo solo vivendo e speriamo di sì.
Se volete però seguire voi un "seguito" a questa serie, vi suggerisco poi di leggere:
• Loki il Dio che cadde sulla Terra
• Vota Loki
• Doctor Strange Il Dio della Magia
Uno più bello dell'altro e imperdibili! Ne parleremo prossimamente, restate connessi.
October 6, 2023
Loved this side of loki and seeing his internal conflict with himself. It was such a great series. Recommend it if you like loki, had a great time reading it.
December 8, 2025
Loki is literally Sauron if he was a tsundere
September 21, 2024
I really miss my marvel era
October 11, 2023
I don’t know what the fuck I just read but I know I liked it. :)
December 15, 2023
"Such debauchery. Thor was always a boor, but..."
"Take heart, dear Amora. If my brother is in the city of Vegas, I will find him...And--I swear--I will save him from himself. I will teach him the lesson I have learned--that while our destinies may seem harsh--even cruel--we can always find a way to escape them."
Brave words. And perhaps Loki would have felt as confident if he'd known who was watching. But...perhaps not.
"Ha ha ha ha ha haaa"
His name is King Loki. He is Loki's future self. And, brother--he hasn't changed at all! But that's a story for another time.
from Loki--Agent of Axis: "I Cannot Tell a Lie!"
Well, what can I say--Al Ewing takes the character of Loki and moves him from a minor imp of mischief to a striving hero--an "Agent of Asgard," one could say. In the process, the characters of Thor, Odin, and a slew of others are put through the wringer in order for the protagonist to shine more brightly. The plot is fascinating and varied, but I struggled to keep up with who was who and what was what and why. For me, there isn't much here that's new--no alarms and no surprises. Ewing takes a page from Neil Gaimon's playbook and grafts it onto the Asgardian universe. The result works but doesn't dazzle.
"Take heart, dear Amora. If my brother is in the city of Vegas, I will find him...And--I swear--I will save him from himself. I will teach him the lesson I have learned--that while our destinies may seem harsh--even cruel--we can always find a way to escape them."
Brave words. And perhaps Loki would have felt as confident if he'd known who was watching. But...perhaps not.
"Ha ha ha ha ha haaa"
His name is King Loki. He is Loki's future self. And, brother--he hasn't changed at all! But that's a story for another time.
from Loki--Agent of Axis: "I Cannot Tell a Lie!"
Well, what can I say--Al Ewing takes the character of Loki and moves him from a minor imp of mischief to a striving hero--an "Agent of Asgard," one could say. In the process, the characters of Thor, Odin, and a slew of others are put through the wringer in order for the protagonist to shine more brightly. The plot is fascinating and varied, but I struggled to keep up with who was who and what was what and why. For me, there isn't much here that's new--no alarms and no surprises. Ewing takes a page from Neil Gaimon's playbook and grafts it onto the Asgardian universe. The result works but doesn't dazzle.
September 5, 2021
Thank you, “Loki” tv show, for sending me down this glorious rabbit hole of Loki comic books. I’ve been enjoying Marvel’s many comic book iterations of Loki for a variety of reasons, but this one is undoubtedly my favorite so far. I loved this collection for the same reason I love the tv show: the way it features a gray, morally complex Loki who truly wants to be better, who struggles against his nature and against a destiny determined to box him into the villain role. (Also, the irony of Loki’s best friend being a human lie detector was a great touch.) The writing and storytelling hit me hard at times, offering beautiful and sometimes tragic ideas about human nature, the purpose and truth of stories, and the lies we tell ourselves to survive. The last issue was particularly emotional — the image of Loki embracing his broken self, comforting the boy behind the anger and vengeance who just wanted to be loved, isn’t likely to leave my head anytime soon.
The story got hard to follow at certain points because of how it mixed with comic crossover events; I wish this had been more of a standalone. I also would have liked to have seen a little more resolution at the end — what exactly happened during that climax? Where are Loki and Verity going? But perhaps those are questions for another comic series. I’m looking forward to further misadventures from the God of Mischief who’s so much more than he seems.
The story got hard to follow at certain points because of how it mixed with comic crossover events; I wish this had been more of a standalone. I also would have liked to have seen a little more resolution at the end — what exactly happened during that climax? Where are Loki and Verity going? But perhaps those are questions for another comic series. I’m looking forward to further misadventures from the God of Mischief who’s so much more than he seems.
January 2, 2021
I read this book at the recommendation of my dear friend Clara.
I'd never picked up a Loki book before, although Norse mythology in general has been an interest of mine for a number of years. Loki just never really spoke to me that much in the MCU adaptations of the Marvel comics that I read, so I never thought to read him. Thor, likewise, isn't a title that I've really spent reading. So, this was my first real deep dive into the Asgard portion of Marvel's universe (outside of the brief references made to it all in Marvel 1602, and man was it an interesting one. This book tapped into my love of storytelling and the power that it holds.
This book didn't strike me as being overly influenced by the MCU's take on things. For instance, Ragnarok remains the cyclical nature of creation and destruction within the Norse universe rather than the event/character it later became in Marvel titles. Also, the actual Norse stories rear their ugly heads here and there throughout the telling of the book. God of Lies? Yes. That also makes Loki the God of Stories and in this title we see the stories that he tells about himself, about others, and about what he may want to eventually become without the confines of all others make of him.
I'm not certain how this stacks up against traditional Loki comics, or if this is one of the better regarded titles or not. All I know is that it spoke to me, I enjoyed it, and it makes me curious to read more about the Mischievous Loki who can only ever turn into something that is also himself. He's a fascinating character, especially when one is digging into the questions of personal identity. Wish he'd gotten a better treatment on screen.
I'd never picked up a Loki book before, although Norse mythology in general has been an interest of mine for a number of years. Loki just never really spoke to me that much in the MCU adaptations of the Marvel comics that I read, so I never thought to read him. Thor, likewise, isn't a title that I've really spent reading. So, this was my first real deep dive into the Asgard portion of Marvel's universe (outside of the brief references made to it all in Marvel 1602, and man was it an interesting one. This book tapped into my love of storytelling and the power that it holds.
This book didn't strike me as being overly influenced by the MCU's take on things. For instance, Ragnarok remains the cyclical nature of creation and destruction within the Norse universe rather than the event/character it later became in Marvel titles. Also, the actual Norse stories rear their ugly heads here and there throughout the telling of the book. God of Lies? Yes. That also makes Loki the God of Stories and in this title we see the stories that he tells about himself, about others, and about what he may want to eventually become without the confines of all others make of him.
I'm not certain how this stacks up against traditional Loki comics, or if this is one of the better regarded titles or not. All I know is that it spoke to me, I enjoyed it, and it makes me curious to read more about the Mischievous Loki who can only ever turn into something that is also himself. He's a fascinating character, especially when one is digging into the questions of personal identity. Wish he'd gotten a better treatment on screen.
July 1, 2022
"That's the thing about stories - they have to have an end to mean anything."
This was my first foray into the Loki comics, and it was much more than I bargained for. This edition collects Loki: Agent of Asgard #1 through #17, as well as Original Sin #5.1 to 5.5. As with all collected editions (or, rather, all full comic arcs) there are some stories that hit, and some that are misses. I think what's most important is that the overall arc is good, and though Agent of Asgard was so much different than I had anticipated, it was phenomenal for what it was.
Now, I'd forgotten a little bit about this when reading comics, but as someone who isn't a die-hard, read-every-comic-known-to-man person, it gets a little confusing when every other page has a 'see [other comic series/number] for more!', but I understand that that's how you have to maintain continuity across different series of comics - particularly in Marvel, when you need to find a way to link all of them together. On a similar note, I think that my one big grievance with this comic/arc is that you don't really fully understand what's going on until the very last set of comics. I was iffy going through the first three-quarters of this collection, because I had just assumed I might've missed context by not reading an older comic series - but no, I was just as in the dark as everyone else. Don't get me wrong, having a build-up to finally having the reader understand what's going on is great, but I think it would've been better to sprinkle in little pieces of backstory here and there through the first ten comics instead of just infodumping all of the context in eleven through seventeen.
Something that I've always liked about Loki's character - whether that be in the comics or in the MCU films - is the idea of a fractured identity or a broken sense of self. Loki's character is always struggling with who he is, where he came from, what he's supposed to be, what he should be, and what he wants to be. Loki: Agent of Asgard was an incredibly insightful look into questions like those, but instead of having Loki grapple with all of those ideas all at once, the comic actually divides him up into several different versions of himself, with each of them exploring one of those ideas. And, of course, the climax of every comic comes when those ideas clash together, when you have two or more Lokis trying to figure out their place in the world when each of them have very different ideas about how they're supposed to be behaving. At times, though, it all comes off a little bit... dry, for lack of a better term. All of the talk about ego is something out of Freud's wet dream.
I absolutely loved Verity and Freyja in these comics, though. They're so quick-witted, smart, and totally badass. What I liked about Verity and Loki's relationship was that it was so clearly just friendship, and that Verity wasn't used as some love interest when neither her nor Loki were interested in each other that way. I know that's a low bar, but it really is refreshing to see strong female characters not reduced to 'love interest of main character.'
And, speaking of low bars but things I loved, the queer representation in this is lovely. Odin addressing Thor, Angela, and Loki respectively as "my son, my daughter, and my child who is both" made me cry. It's just perfectly accepted in the story that Loki is genderqueer, shifts between male and female forms, goes by 'brother' sometimes and 'sister' others, and it's not a big deal. Good. Loki's canonically genderqueer, and I'm really glad that this adaptation didn't go into a whole explanation of why that's okay, as a lot of queer rep written by straight writers tend to do.
All in all, I really enjoyed this series of comics, and I think I'll actually like it more re-reading it now that I know exactly what's going on, and what to expect. Although, I could read this collection a thousand times, and Loki hugging and comforting his other self at the end is still going to get me emotional every single time.
This was my first foray into the Loki comics, and it was much more than I bargained for. This edition collects Loki: Agent of Asgard #1 through #17, as well as Original Sin #5.1 to 5.5. As with all collected editions (or, rather, all full comic arcs) there are some stories that hit, and some that are misses. I think what's most important is that the overall arc is good, and though Agent of Asgard was so much different than I had anticipated, it was phenomenal for what it was.
Now, I'd forgotten a little bit about this when reading comics, but as someone who isn't a die-hard, read-every-comic-known-to-man person, it gets a little confusing when every other page has a 'see [other comic series/number] for more!', but I understand that that's how you have to maintain continuity across different series of comics - particularly in Marvel, when you need to find a way to link all of them together. On a similar note, I think that my one big grievance with this comic/arc is that you don't really fully understand what's going on until the very last set of comics. I was iffy going through the first three-quarters of this collection, because I had just assumed I might've missed context by not reading an older comic series - but no, I was just as in the dark as everyone else. Don't get me wrong, having a build-up to finally having the reader understand what's going on is great, but I think it would've been better to sprinkle in little pieces of backstory here and there through the first ten comics instead of just infodumping all of the context in eleven through seventeen.
Something that I've always liked about Loki's character - whether that be in the comics or in the MCU films - is the idea of a fractured identity or a broken sense of self. Loki's character is always struggling with who he is, where he came from, what he's supposed to be, what he should be, and what he wants to be. Loki: Agent of Asgard was an incredibly insightful look into questions like those, but instead of having Loki grapple with all of those ideas all at once, the comic actually divides him up into several different versions of himself, with each of them exploring one of those ideas. And, of course, the climax of every comic comes when those ideas clash together, when you have two or more Lokis trying to figure out their place in the world when each of them have very different ideas about how they're supposed to be behaving. At times, though, it all comes off a little bit... dry, for lack of a better term. All of the talk about ego is something out of Freud's wet dream.
I absolutely loved Verity and Freyja in these comics, though. They're so quick-witted, smart, and totally badass. What I liked about Verity and Loki's relationship was that it was so clearly just friendship, and that Verity wasn't used as some love interest when neither her nor Loki were interested in each other that way. I know that's a low bar, but it really is refreshing to see strong female characters not reduced to 'love interest of main character.'
And, speaking of low bars but things I loved, the queer representation in this is lovely. Odin addressing Thor, Angela, and Loki respectively as "my son, my daughter, and my child who is both" made me cry. It's just perfectly accepted in the story that Loki is genderqueer, shifts between male and female forms, goes by 'brother' sometimes and 'sister' others, and it's not a big deal. Good. Loki's canonically genderqueer, and I'm really glad that this adaptation didn't go into a whole explanation of why that's okay, as a lot of queer rep written by straight writers tend to do.
All in all, I really enjoyed this series of comics, and I think I'll actually like it more re-reading it now that I know exactly what's going on, and what to expect. Although, I could read this collection a thousand times, and Loki hugging and comforting his other self at the end is still going to get me emotional every single time.
July 7, 2025
This is the first comic I have ever read and I'm so incredibly glad I decided to pick this up. It went completely above and beyond my expectations (which were already high). I struggled putting it down, my eyes were glued! I read the latter half of the book for six hours straight. It was so perfect.
I adore the character Loki so much, if you're thinking about reading this book even a little bit, DO IT! You will not be disappointed. This book truly solidified Loki as my all time favorite character. He was already up there for sure, but the growth in this book is just so incredibly phenomenal. He surpassed my favorite character I have loved for YEARS because of this comic.
I adored seeing the character growth, how they all interacted with each other, how they all played into each others stories. The struggles felt so raw, and real. I could relate to Loki myself many times, it made me want nothing but the best for him, and hope fir their growth even more. The books all played into each other so very well. I was worried it would feel like filler at times but it never, ever did. I loved the ending. The buildup to it was fantastic and kept me on the edge of my seat. I found it so perfectly written, so LOKI, it was the perfect ending. This comic book convinced me to read more comics. It was beautiful. I wouldn't change a single thing.
This comic made me laugh many times, and I cried by the end of it.
Also, before reading this, if you don't want to read the beginning of this Loki's story, at the very least read up on what happens before the events of this comic. I did that before reading it and I'm so very glad I did, it made things make a whole of a lot more sense in the beginning. It isn't necessary as you CAN put the pieces together by reading through, but it will help.
I adore the character Loki so much, if you're thinking about reading this book even a little bit, DO IT! You will not be disappointed. This book truly solidified Loki as my all time favorite character. He was already up there for sure, but the growth in this book is just so incredibly phenomenal. He surpassed my favorite character I have loved for YEARS because of this comic.
I adored seeing the character growth, how they all interacted with each other, how they all played into each others stories. The struggles felt so raw, and real. I could relate to Loki myself many times, it made me want nothing but the best for him, and hope fir their growth even more. The books all played into each other so very well. I was worried it would feel like filler at times but it never, ever did. I loved the ending. The buildup to it was fantastic and kept me on the edge of my seat. I found it so perfectly written, so LOKI, it was the perfect ending. This comic book convinced me to read more comics. It was beautiful. I wouldn't change a single thing.
This comic made me laugh many times, and I cried by the end of it.
Also, before reading this, if you don't want to read the beginning of this Loki's story, at the very least read up on what happens before the events of this comic. I did that before reading it and I'm so very glad I did, it made things make a whole of a lot more sense in the beginning. It isn't necessary as you CAN put the pieces together by reading through, but it will help.
August 24, 2021
"We should introduce ourselves, Loki. These are fair maidens indeed."
"Well, so am I sometimes. It doesn't mean I'm safe to talk to."
I absolutely ADORED this collection (ok not that I thought I wouldn't). Loki is hilarious, the graphics are awesome and the writing is badass. I mean cmon, Loki's a unicorn at one point, what's not to love
Loki simply deserves the world and will be my Marvel favorite forever no matter what crappy stuff happens
I have a friend who believes in me. I have a brother whom I love. I am my own, and will not sit long in any box built for me."
AHHFHHSHSDFFF I have too much love for this character I can't
July 2, 2022
WOWOWOWOWOW!!!! This is clearly a 5 stars from me!!! I literally loved this book so much that I changed my goodreads profile picture to one of the illustrations from this series!!! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I don’t even know how to put my thoughts into a coherent sentence, I’m still reeling from everything I just read!!! But basically this series did Loki justice 👏👏👏 the complexity of Loki and his growth as a character were portrayed SO WELL and I couldn’t have asked for anything more!!! The artwork was really amazing as well!!! I mean I literally made it my profile picture what more can I say 😤
I need a ton of merch and a new Pinterest board focusing on this series alone 😩💞 I would love to reread this one day and I will be hyper-fixating on this for a very long time 💫
I don’t even know how to put my thoughts into a coherent sentence, I’m still reeling from everything I just read!!! But basically this series did Loki justice 👏👏👏 the complexity of Loki and his growth as a character were portrayed SO WELL and I couldn’t have asked for anything more!!! The artwork was really amazing as well!!! I mean I literally made it my profile picture what more can I say 😤
I need a ton of merch and a new Pinterest board focusing on this series alone 😩💞 I would love to reread this one day and I will be hyper-fixating on this for a very long time 💫
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