4 out of 5

Yes, maybe Loki got a facelift to make him look closer to his film counterpart, and maybe the gambit has worked – if the letters pages are any indication -for attracting a larger (female) audience.  If the book is written as charmingly as ‘Agent of Asgard,’ do I care how much marketing determined the new direction?  (Answer: no.)

So the quick recap, that Ewing might’ve setup in his ‘Mighty Avengers’ series: the mean ol’ Loki died, and he was reborn as innocent young Loki.  Then the mean ol’ Loki sneaked into the young Loki body, but, determined to re-establish himself as a trickster (and not so much a villain), entered into a pact with the All-Mother: quests completed for single records stricken from the history books.  A little confusing perhaps, but explained cheekily by Ewing within the first few pages (and hilarious ‘The story so far…’ opening text page) and a totally satisfying setup for an ongoing.

Moreso than his straight hero Marvel stuff I’ve read, ‘Loki’ seems to grab from Ewing’s 2000 AD schooling, allowing him to mix up fantasy with snarky, which is a pretty ideal blend for our lead.  He obviously enjoys casting Loki as the rogue, frequently cheating his way through deals to achieve the greater good toward his goals.  The book does the time-jumping that seems to be popular nowadays (quick cut to ‘Earlier…’, then quick cut back to present day for punctuating a gag), but Ewing’s humorous timing is so on point that it works, and doesn’t feel like an aside strictly for humor, but rather fitting in how Loki would relate his story.  The book gets a little wayward in its final twists and turns, requiring a bit too much current-Marvel knowledge to keep things straight, but it’s somewhat charming (and makes me think of Steve Gerber) how Al seems to be referencing his own storylines pretty heavily.  It creates an internal sense of world-building that can continue to exist beyond whatever overall plans the publisher may have.  …Though that issue 5 bends backwards a bit to fit into an upcoming ‘Original Sin’ tie-in min-series – and causing the Loki series to take a couple month break – might cause me to reevaluate that when we return for the next volume.  (But there’s no doubt I’ll be returning, and, granted, the writing here is overall so much fun that I’ll be interested in picking up that tie-in, dammit.)

Equally giving the book its slick and easily digestible flow is artist Lee Garbett: he can somehow balance drawing the muscular heft of Thor with the svelt Mr. Loki, talking heads with swordfights on clotheslines, cosmic battles with conversations in dumpsters, and make all of the above seem like they belong in the same book and are a joy to look at, to boot.  His layouts are very clean; his sense of when to break panel borders, when to overlap panels, when to alter camera angles, are all on point, and absolutely seal the deal for making Ewing’s dialogue and jokes hit home.  Ably assisting: Nolan Woodard’s color scheme sits in a cool range of greens and oranges for most of the book, but it never seems like a forced lens, and it’s manipulated well to cast evil Loki in shadow or to transition an eve at home from lazy to crazy.  And wonderful lettering from Clayton Cowles to top it off: the Asgardian fancy font is a staple by now, but the word layout here is again important for Al’s pacing.  Plus, we’re in the era of using the panel boxes to title introductions or settings with a wink, and Cowles has chosen a distinctive, classy font that mixes perfectly with the vibe.

Yet again, Marvel has lured me in to their world-at-large by hiring writers who’ve earned their time in the trenches of books I happen to dig.  While a lot of these guys and gals end up adopting a house style for the major titles, the books where their identity is allowed to come through have been surprisingly solid.  Hopefully ‘Loki’ doesn’t get too trapped by crossovers and extras, and continues to be a place for Ewing to unwind a bit.