Review: “Loki: Agent of Asgard” #5

At long last, I’m back with another Loki: Agent of Asgard review! It’s been three months, and I was already behind. Issue #5 will finish off the first arc. Then I’ll read the intervening Thor & Loki: The Tenth Realm, their Original Sin tie-in. That’s already out in collected form — I don’t know yet if I’ll do individual reactions or the whole thing in one go. By the time I review that, there ought to be about five more Loki issues out, so I’ll do a theme week and get all caught up!

I do my Loki reviews in the form of live reactions as I go along, paying special attention to Loki’s possible genderfluidity/bisexuality/etc. Skip to the Final Thoughts to avoid spoilers!

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First panel of the comic. BAHAHAHA…

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Okay. Loki’s busting into Asgard to break Sigurd out. He’s got Lorelei with him, and Thor is helping because Loki called in the favor from the first issue. “Remember when I saved you from becoming the god of anger, boorishness and misogyny?”

We have Lorelei saying “Trust me” several times, also hearkening back to the first issue. Plus this is another heist issue, so it resembles #2 and the overall Leverage-like feel of that issue. (In case you’re wondering, my memory is terrible — I just went back and read my other four reviews as a refresher).

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In this issue, we have explicit confirmation that Loki considers his female form to be “himself” — and I believe that third form is a fox. I kind of like this idea that transforming takes a lot of energy in general, but apparently no energy at all if it’s something Loki “really” is. I like how that plays in to the meta-story of this comic, that Loki has an intrinsic nature but he’s also whoever he’s written to be.

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Another weird “girl” reference from Old Loki. (He’s being sarcastic about being injured).

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Oh wow. We all knew the “twist” that Old Loki was still alive, he’s been appearing since the beginning. I really didn’t see THIS twist coming though. Turns out Loki’s the only one who worried about becoming Old Loki again. Everyone else not only expects it, they want it.

But, and hopefully Loki realizes this, the all-mother isn’t actually “everyone.” Thor doesn’t want Loki to change back, and I’d guess a lot of others don’t either.

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Final Thoughts:

Okay, that was a really good first arc and I’m sorry it took three months to read the final issue. Once again, the writing is just top-notch. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen such skillful characterization in comics, and I’m not sure I’ve seen such an effortless meta-story EVER. I wish Verity’d had a stronger role here after she’d been so great in her other issues, but hopefully she’ll be back. Looking forward to Original Sin!