Comic Book Review: Loki: Agent of Asgard #2

In the first issue of the new ‘Loki’ series it was clearly established that he wasn’t going to be playing by the rules of the Loki that we’ve always known. In the second issue he’s already betraying the All-Mother to put together a group of individuals to make sure he can get what he wants.

The issue starts off with a woman who is having a horrible night at speed dating as she can see through any lie that is told to her – which makes things extremely interesting when Loki sits across from this tattooed, red-headed woman. He starts to tell her about his quest to hunt down another woman named Lorelei and while it almost feels like the woman he is sitting across from could be her, he’s just curious how she can see through his disguise when no one else can. The entire meat of this issue takes place in the ten minutes that he is telling her about this story, but as we all know the devil is in the details and Loki is even a bigger stickler for the details than Mephisto himself!

Speaking of details, Lee Garbett doesn’t leave anything out with his beautiful illustration of the title. Each scene is beautifully rendered and the emotion and magic flow through them exactly as you would want for each panel.

So at the event, Loki is explaining to his date why he is tracking Lorelei down, how he did it, who she is, and why Lorelei is at a speed dating event in the first place! From his tale we are painted a very Ocean’s Eleven theft/con styled story that I can’t really go into details as on the one hand it would really be too much to explain away to fit here and on the other it is so much more fun to read. Needless to say in the end Loki ended up alone with Lorelei to recruit her for his own wicked ends.

I’ve had a lot of complaints lately on issues that were bad setups for upcoming story arcs. In fact, this week’s ‘Uncanny X-Men‘ falls into that category. However, as annoying as the moving forward issues can be when done wrong to the point where they feel like filler issues – when they are done right they shine! Ewing has done right here and we get a fun story that is a great tale for a stand alone issue and is able to build into whatever greater story he wants to tell us. This is no filler issue here my friends!

Now the real question will be is he putting pawns together for a larger plan for the All-Mother or does he only have his best interests in mind? There are so many pieces in play that it will be hard to see how he’s juggling them. Though as the God of Mischief, the whole fact that he is a trickster and master of misdirection is the point, right?

Oh, and that girl that can see through lies? I’m pretty sure it’s a safe bet that we haven’t seen the last of her quite yet.