For those who discovered Loki through the MCU, it might cause a bit of cognitive dissonance to read the early days of the Lee/Kirby collaboration that gave us his foundational comic book counterpart. The Loki of today is a more thoughtful and well-rounded character than in his early days, but there’s no way to get to one without the other. Looking back in Loki Omnibus Vol. 1, the relationship between Loki and his brother and father was always a little more complicated than could easily be defined, even in their first appearances.
Even at his most spiteful, Loki had a point in his outrage towards the Asgardians, who pigeonholed him as a malevolent force in his infancy and often refused to allow him to grow beyond the mistakes of his youth. It’s true that he’s a lot more complex today, but so is Thor, and each of their character’s development through over the years has gone in tandem with the other’s. Regardless, Loki’s stint as a ruthless villain comes with a lot of hijinks, tricks, and pranks all his own, and even his gestative era gave Thor a nemesis who was always more than meets the eye.
Collects: Avengers (1963) #1; Journey into Mystery (1952) #85, #88, #91-92, #94, #97, #100-104, #107-108, #110-125; Thor (1966) #126-129, #142, #147-157, #167, #173, #175-177, #179-181; Thor Annual (1966) #2; material from Strange Tales (1951) #123; Tales to Astonish (1959) #101; Silver Surfer (1968) #4 [Read more…] about (Very Little) Sympathy for the Devil in the Loki Omnibus
