Loki: Agent of Asgard #2 – Review

By: Al Ewing (story), Lee Garbett (art), Nolan Woodward (colors)

The Story: Loki was born for the modern dating scene.

The Review: I’ve heard people elsewhere criticize this series as an attempt to drive Loki towards his on-screen portrayal, and I wonder at that.  Certainly there’s a rakish, snarky element to him now that’s reminiscent to his appearances from The Avengers onward, although Elwing is really just following Kieron Gillen’s lead there.  Anyways, this is ostensibly a new Loki for a new age of Marvel comics—for Marvel NOW, so to speak—so why not rejigger him in the process?

What I personally find suspect is this issue’s focus on Lorelei in the very same week she made a guest appearance in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.  Now, this may just be fortuitous coincidence, but I tend to think otherwise.  What are the chances that a high-profile comic book and TV show would simultaneously feature a minor Asgardian character who is really the poor man’s Amora?  Sounds a lot like business synergy to me, rather than original thinking.

The Mighty Thor #14 – Review

by Matt Fraction (writer), Pepe Larraz (art), Frank D’Armata (colors), and Joe Sabino (letters)

The Story:  Thor finds himself trapped in his own nightmare, while Enchantress takes more pounds of flesh from Donald Blake than he expected.

The Review:  It’s always an annoying situation when you get issues like this that are divided into two separate plots, with one of the plots being much more interesting than the other.

Don’t get me wrong, the other plot (Thor stuck in a “collective dream”) isn’t at all bad.  However, it’s not especially remarkable either.  The idea of Thor ordering no one to think of anything was humorous and, certainly, the setting has loads of potential, where things are constantly changing and unpredictable and determined by no one’s person psyche.  We’ve seen plenty of stories with characters lost in their dreams, but the idea of a “collective dream,” an amalgamation of the psychology of several dreamers’ dreams, all of whom are lost in the same location, is fresh and promising.  It also leads to a great moment; the dwarfs worst nightmare, as pre-eminent builders, was a great touch by Fraction.  That said, the Mares still don’t quite make sense to me.  So…they kill you just to send you to a their dreamworld, which is of your making?  Or do you just get sent to dreamworld if they render you unconscious?  And what’s the purpose of this, given that it seems like an awfully roundabout way of dealing with your enemies?  Some of the details are a bit befuddling if you spend to much time thinking about them, which has been something that has plagued Fraction’s run on Thor.

The problem is, however, that the other story involving Blake and Amora is much better.  It feels smarter, more brooding and psychological.  Fraction’s Enchantress oozes malevolence and is great to read while Blake seems just a little unhinged, just enough that it’s compelling, without ever going over the top.  Admittedly, there are similarities to Jason Aaron’s recent arc on Incredible Hulk, but this is a much more ominous, tighter narrative, without Aaron’s excesses.  Blake and Amora have a strong dynamic, with Enchantress being a great black hat, and Blake being nutty enough to be ominous while still being sympathetic.