Writer: Dan Watters / Penciller: Germán Peralta / Colour Artist: Mike Spicer / Letterer: VC's Travis Lanham / Editors: Will Moss, Michelle Marchese / Covers: Dustin Nguyen / Collects: Loki (2023) #1-#4 / TP / Marvel Comics
Review by: Paul Dunne
15th April 2024 (Released: 20th December 2023)
The Pitch: The fate of the Marvel Universe lies in the hands of...Loki?! He may be the "benevolent" God of Stories now, but his past as the God of Lies returns to haunt him when something ancient and powerful that he once built ends up scattered across the Ten Realms! Now, setting sail on a ship made of fingernails, the Trickster must track down its fragments to stave off Ragnarok! His epic journey begins in the ruins of Nidavellir, where the relic has been crafted into a devastatingly powerful weapon! Then, on a distant planet, will Emperor Hulkling and Wiccan put aside old grudges against their former Young Avengers teammate to aid Loki's quest? And what happens when the third shard ends up in the hands of Earth's deadliest assassin? There's a target on Loki's back, and Bullseye never misses!
What has Loki been up to? This is a question that could be asked a bunch of different ways and you may or may not like the answer, depending on who you are and why you're asking. Loki, for the record, is now the King of Jotunheim, land of the frost giants. He's also the God of Stories (which seems to be a self-appointed and self-aggrandising title). Wait. Stories... Doesn't that make him... The God of Marvel?
Certainly if you were to ask Disney, then yes. He is the God of Marvel. The MVP.
He's also a liar. So when he tells you he's the God of Stories, can you really trust that. And lies themselves are interesting things. They are technically stories. We dress them up in pages and sell them in stores, film them and play them back on screens that we gather 'round, so the lies become 30 feet high and made of light. We are comforted by lies all the time. We believe them. So I guess if Loki says' I'm the God of Stories', we can buy into it, right? If everyone believes it, how can it really be a lie? And also, isn't the God of Stories just the God of Lies in different boots?
Beliefs play a part in this book. What's interesting is that Loki is called a liar throughout, yet often doesn't lie. Does he omit key details? Definitely. Does he give truth to beings he knows won't really ingest it properly? Well, he teaches the Frost Giants to read knowing that literal, war-like beings probably won't be blessed with the intellectual capacity to fully understand what they're reading, so... Yes. But he doesn't really seem to lie all that much. Loki is a changed man. And sometimes a changed woman. Shifting identities and how we respond to a person's search for identity are key themes here. Loki shifts gender for much of the book, which irks some. But not us, dear reader. We're better beasts than that. No matter what, Loki stays relevant. Ego is important when you're a God. Loki wants to be better. Wants to be viewed differently.
The book also starts to play with the idea of how we weaponise misery and suffering. This is a grim fad that seems to be a product of the modern era, but is shown here to have been with us since the dawn of time. The book is turned over from the start to the voices of those who may have an axe to grind against Loki, the voices of the damned whose fingernails have built the ship to used in Ragnarok the next time it rolls around. They suffer and want to spread their suffering. Loki sets in motion the things that will allow these souls the chance to bring that suffering to others. The question is, did Loki know what the outcome of his actions would be? Was he just being true to his first identity, the God of mischief? It's a question the book leaves up to you.
Watters is a terrific writer, who creates intelligent, literate pieces that have something to say, not just about the characters he's essaying, but about the world they - and we - inhabit. He wants us to look at the ramifications of the choices we make, not just the in the immediate, but in the long term. What happens when the last domino falls? The ship of fingernails, built for the Ragnarok careens on the waves of the now, creating tiny Ragnaroks that risk expanding to new Apocalypses. What he's saying is 'Think on your decisions. Think about who you want to be and how you want to be perceived.' I'm not sure I've encountered German Peralta's work before, but he creates nicely textured close-ups and witty, epic wide shots that sell the idea of a God who enjoys playing dice with the cosmos. You can feel his excitement at getting the chance to draw Spider-Man and Bullseye in the final chapters. Mike Spicer's colours are well-chosen, adding to Peralta's textures with a rusty, burnished look that speaks to the flames everyone gets their fingers burnt with in this. Whilst Loki's green marks him out, even he knows deep down that one day, everything must burn. VC's Travis Lanham gives us a style that echoes back to Walt Simpson, but also makes us aware of the modernity of the story. You could take my word for how good this book is, or go find out for yourself. After all, this could just be mischief. I might just be a liar.
Loki: The Liar is available at your local comic shop now.
