Loki: Mistress Of Mischief

by J. Michael Straczynski, Jason Aaron, Peter Milligan

Loki reborn! When the Asgardian cycle of life begins again after Ragnarock, Thor’s brother Loki comes back as...Thor’s sister! Loki returns with a sense of purpose, seeking a fresh start to write her story anew. But her newest scheme could be the greatest trick she’s ever pulled. What secret lies behind her female form? What dread endgame does she have in mind for Thor...and for Balder the Brave? And with whom will she forge an alliance of evil? The answers may spell Asgard’s doom! Years before Jane Foster soared as the Goddess of Thunder, Loki first became the mistress of mischief in these epic tales from J. Michael Straczynski and Olivier Coipel’s legendary run!

COLLECTING: Thor (2007) #5, 9-10, 12, 600 (A story), 601-602 and material from Dark Reign: The Cabal (2009) #1

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

200 pages, Paperback

First published July 27, 2021

About the author

Joseph Michael Straczynski is an American filmmaker and comic book writer. He is the founder of Synthetic Worlds Ltd. and Studio JMS and is best known as the creator of the science fiction television series Babylon 5 (1993–1998) and its spinoff Crusade (1999), as well as the series Jeremiah (2002–2004) and Sense8 (2015–2018). He is the executor of the estate of Harlan Ellison.
Straczynski wrote the psychological drama film Changeling (2008) and was co-writer on the martial arts thriller Ninja Assassin (2009), was one of the key writers for (and had a cameo in) Marvel's Thor (2011), as well as the horror film Underworld: Awakening (2012), and the apocalyptic horror film World War Z (2013). From 2001 to 2007, Straczynski wrote Marvel Comics' The Amazing Spider-Man, followed by runs on Thor and Fantastic Four. He is the author of the Superman: Earth One trilogy of graphic novels, and he has written Superman, Wonder Woman, and Before Watchmen for DC Comics. Straczynski is the creator and writer of several original comic book series such as Rising Stars, Midnight Nation, Dream Police, and Ten Grand through Joe's Comics.
A prolific writer across a variety of media and former journalist, Straczynski is the author of the autobiography Becoming Superman (2019) for HarperVoyager, the novel Together We Will Go (2021) for Simon & Schuster, and Becoming a Writer, Staying a Writer (2021) for Benbella Books. In 2020 he was named Head of the Creative Council for the comics publishing company Artists, Writers and Artisans.
Straczynski is a long-time participant in Usenet and other early computer networks, interacting with fans through various online forums (including GEnie, CompuServe, and America Online) since 1984. He is credited as being the first TV producer to directly engage with fans on the Internet and to allow viewer viewpoints to influence the look and feel of his show. Two prominent areas where he had a presence were GEnie and the newsgroup rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated.

Reviews

[Rod Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

To cash in on the female Loki featured in the Disney+ show, Marvel has pushed out this collection of a 2009 story arc of Thor wherein the comic book Loki is effectively in drag. The collection stops when Loki resumes his male form even though the story is far from over. The writing is fine, but I'm deducting a star out of disgust at the cynical nature of the marketing decision behind this.

I had read most of these comics previously, and it was nice to revisit the wonderful art of Olivier Coipel and the start of the cute little side story romance between Asgardian Kelda and human Bill Cobb.

[Garrett · Rating 2 out of 5]

A boring lengthy collection of Thor comics featuring a lady Loki. There’s a lot of better Loki titles out there

[Bryce Perry · Rating 3 out of 5]

An incomplete story with neither a beginning nor an end. Strangely sliced out of a Thor storyline that begins in Oklahoma and ends in Latveria but never really leaves Asgard, this was an odd collection. Some really fun moments and a lot of really dull ones lead to a sadly average read. I was hoping for more from JMS and maybe if I were reading Thor trades I would have it.

[tay · Rating 1 out of 5]

not gay enough

[Public Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly not as much fun as I had hoped. Loki switches into a rockin' sexy lady body, but he's still the same old Loki. Yet somehow this new form allows Loki to buffalo the Asgard gang, same as she always does. They never see it coming when she engineers Thor's banishment and the installation of rookie-royalty Balder as the new king of Asgard. Before you know it all of Asgard has picked up stakes and relocated to Dr. Doom's kingdom. I'm sure that will all go just swell.

I feel some disappointment because it seems there should have been more fun transforming Loki into a sexy lady. But there was not a ton of playfulness. The tone was dour and serious. To me, Loki is not meant to be pure evil. There was an opportunity for a sense of fun and mischief (as indicated by the subhead to this book) that was missed here.

[Linda · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

As much as I love palace intrigue, this ain't it chief. Loki may have found a new body but in exchange lost all of her personality after being resurrected. I struggled to finish this since dull, uninteresting political machinations with obvious results were not holding my attention. There was no humor or wit to the seemly endless exposition of a fairly obvious plot with little depth or surprise to it.

[Kris Tyler · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the art work, however “Mistress of Mischief” implied that there is some fun to be had. “Ms.” Loki was just kinda evil. And not in a fun kinda way. Plus, Loki really wasn’t a solo dominant character here. It still overtly all about Thor.
Good thing they only based Slyvie loosely on this reiteration, because the show ,Loki, would have been painful to watch.

[Marielle Evans · Rating 2 out of 5]

Whilst Loki's scheming is impressive and there were a few other favourite cameos in this story, I'm just not fond of Classic Loki and his/her focus on pure power and evil. I also find classic Thor himself pretty dull. Much preferred the Agent of Asgard Loki era and the Aaron runs for Thor. Interesting plot though for the characters as they are!

[Lani Baclian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought it was a great portrayal of Loki as a strategist. There were some parts that were unexplained or quickly glazed over. But overall I enjoyed it!

[Francine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Y'know what? This was pretty fun. I prefer Loki from Young Avengers/Agent of Asgard, but sometimes it's nice to have a story with a sneaky snakey villain, like Classic Loki.

I've never been big on comic!Thor before, but I didn't mind this. I liked Balder - and I was actually invested in the Asgardian plight, which is a new experience for me!

The lil subplot with (human) William and (Asgardian) Kelda was adorable.

I didn't like that Loki stole a woman's body instead of, y'know, actually being a woman; felt like false advertising. The book blurb uses she/her pronouns but in the comic it just felt like Loki was "dressing up for a scheme" moreso than that it was a gender thing (it wasn't even his body..!). But eh, this was 2007. 🤷‍♀️ AoA handled this theme better, but that series is newer, so: growth? Hoping future writers will remain mindful of this aspect of the character.

Also: she's not mischievous in this book, she's evil. Clearly. The title is such a misnomer. Allitereert wel lekker, though.


Sooo I have one Loki book left on my TBR, which is Journey Into Mystery. Wish me luck..!

[Marilia D. Oliveira · Rating 3 out of 5]

Na verdade, esse quadrinho é a compilação / encadernado dos volumes dos quadrinhos do Thor nos quais a Lady Loki apareceu pela primeira vez. É interessante e importante pra estruturar o personagem do Loki, mas estranho de ler pq os volumes compilados não são números seguidos e não são focados no Loki. De tudo que li do personagem, esse foi o “chatinho”.

[Ikayuro · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this quite a bit! Unfortunately it dumps you right into the middle of a plot, but that happens with these I've noticed. Still, the story holds up on its own fairly decently and as always, the amazing artwork is always a plus!

[Marsha · Rating 3 out of 5]

i love it when loki is evil and sexy

[Jay · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was so irritating on so many levels. I’m genuinely shocked that this was released (in its collected form) in 2021. First of all, there was nothing terribly compelling about the story in the first place. Second, I didn’t like the art at all. Someone please explain to me why Asgardian women are tall, skinny, and hypersexualized while the men have lumpy cubes with faces for heads? I didn’t find it at all appealing to look at, and while that could certainly be forgiven or even appreciated if it interacted with the story appropriately, but it didn’t. It was just there. But by far my biggest problem with the book is the way it dealt with Loki having a female form (note: I’m going to refer to Loki with he/him pronouns in this review due to him expressing continued identification with maleness, something I’ll discuss in a moment. I can’t really explain my problems with this without getting into spoilers, so: you’ve been warned, spoilers ahead. Basically, the idea here is that after the destruction of Asgard the cycle of Ragnarok has been broken and the Asgardians have been reborn scattered across Earth. And Loki has ended up in a female body. He promises Thor and the other Asgardians that he’s ready to turn over a new leaf, that he is now free from his role in the cycle of Ragnarok. But all the while he’s manipulating people left and right in an elaborate plot to gain control of Asgard. And it turns out specifically that he deliberately took a female form as a way of tricking everyone into seeing him differently. Also, the body he took belonged to Thor’s girlfriend Sif. So I hope everyone can already see why this is deeply problematic in terms of what it says about genderqueer people and trans women in particular: that their existence is a trick and a manipulation, that they are not who they say they are, and that they’ve stolen from ‘real women’ to become who they are. And I want to be super clear here: this isn’t implied or written between the lines. Loki very specifically references using a female form to trick people and expresses relief when he returns to his ‘real’ form. To see a character who has long been associated with queerness and gender fluidity treated this way is honestly heartbreaking. I am pretty sure the only reason this series was written was to draw Loki with big boobs. There is literally nothing I can think of to recommend it. I don’t like writing harsh reviews like this, but there is no excuse to release a comic book this steeped in transphobia and misogyny, especially in the current political climate where trans people are having our rights legislated away on the basis of the ideas expressed in this book.

[Jack Markman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Decent art, servicable story, but the authors do absolutely nothing with Loki being female. In truth, he's not really female; he's just dressed in drag. It's disappointing because in Norse myth, Loki is very queer. There's a great deal of potential for expanding on that thematically here, but they do nothing at all, rushing quickly back to the status quo. This book is jarring because of it's awkward positioning within a larger story, disappointing because of missed potential, and craven because Disney compiled the "female Loki" collection after introducing female Loki in their Disney+ show. Missed potential. Two stars.

[Matt Sautman · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don’t understand why Marvel publishes books like this where the storyline may be well-executed but the volume lacks the material necessary for a complete meaningful arc to be present. I like what I read, but I don’t understand much of what it means when the central plan these issues pertain to is not explicitly provided to the reader through the present issues. Mistress Loki has a neat concept but concepts alone do not always make books amazing.

[Mel]

This was a strange collection because it ends in the middle/buildup of the story not the end. Why not make this longer and provide a coherent ending? It's a mostly fun and readable collection, but the parts with Bor and Balder having daddy issues drag. Kelda and Bill are great tho, hope things work out for those two.

[rosa :) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable read overall (mostly due to the artwork) but there isn’t much of a consistent storyline considering this is mostly just a collection of Loki whilst they inhabited Sifs body. I hope to see a lot more of fem presenting Loki in the future. Especially after Agent of Asgard

[Whatcha Reading Heather? · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cliffhanger aside, I think this did a great job and filling in the blanks of whatever happened before the events in this collection and also succeeded in making us care about ALL the characters no matter how small a part they played in the story.

[Danny R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5*

[Bridgette · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars

Weird spliced together single issues without a conclusion and a bunch of other storylines I just didn't care about.

[Brianna · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was okay. The story wasn't that entertaining, and even reborn female Loki lost her charm once certain revelations were made.

[Anasara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating: 4.5 stars

[Alyssa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I want more Loki arcs, not just uncontextualized snapshots pulled out from other stories.

Give a sequel to The God Who Fell to Earth!

[Cresta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Peak Loki being a master manipulator. Fun ride, and great art (Though Thor looks like an extra wide version.)

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok but it seems to be the same story retold with slight variations. Graphics good.

[Kiana · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too much damn Thor. AND SHE WASN’T EVEN A WOMAN!!!!

[Jocelyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Where are her eyebrows?

[KinkedNitemare · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is my second Marvel comic book and my first Loki-focused comic book.
This story happening after Ragnarok is very interesting and I'll have to get the next comic to see how it ends, but thus far it has mystery, romance and battling ones own self worth. Honestly they could have made the Thor movies out of this one comic and be more interesting.

[Ripple · Rating 1 out of 5]

Was actually just a bunch of thor comics, and didn't even resolve anything at the end :(