Comic Book Herald

A Comic Book Reading Order Guide For Beginners & Fans

Loki

Wherever You Go, There You Are: Loki, Agent of Asgard Review!

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Many of Marvel’s most notorious villains have gone through changes that added layers to their personalities, transforming them from mustache-twirling fiends to complex figures in their own right. Be it Doctor Doom’s relationship with his mother to Magneto’s lost family, superhero comics have given the genre world many of its most nuanced characters with supervillains.

Still, none of Marvel’s baddies have quite achieved the antihero status of Loki. Making his first appearance in Journey Into Mystery #85 in 1962, Loki spent several decades experiencing relatively little in the way of depth. Yet in recent years, his movie counterpart and a handful of dedicated comics writers have somewhat helped redeem the irredeemable God of Lies. To find this new, heroic Loki at his very best, we have the Loki: Agent of Asgard complete collection. [Read more…] about Wherever You Go, There You Are: Loki, Agent of Asgard Review!

Genderfluid Characters in Marvel Comics: Xavin, Loki, Sprite & the Eternals

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Genderfluidity in Marvel Comics is a complicated subject. Historically, it constitutes most of, if not all, non-binary representation in Marvel’s comics. Yet all of Marvel’s genderfluid characters seem to have similar characteristics that have become clichés on the way genderfluidity is portrayed in superhero fiction. These characteristics are :

  • Shape-shifting, or at the very least a physical and/or biological change to express the change in gender
  • Some kind of story reason to explain why their gender changed
  • Portrayals where characters have one “main” gender, and another gender they only take on rarer, more specific occasions (whereas real-life genderfluid people often oscillate between more than the binary male/female genders)

Some characters like Mystique or Jacob Gavin have also been described as genderfluid by fans, and while I do not want to invalidate the way these characters have been interpreted by fans, their actual portrayal in-universe doesn’t match the definition of genderfluidity. Despite the changes their bodies go through, they seem to identify to one specific gender (Mystique only taking on other gender identities as a disguise, and Jacob Gavin actively seeking to go back to their initial body and the gender they were assigned at birth).

Check out Part 1 of Trans Representation in Marvel here: https://www.comicbookherald.com/a-guide-to-trans-representation-in-marvel-comics/

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The Best Loki Comics!

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If there’s anything I love more than a good villain, it’s a good redemption story. Throughout their comic book history, Loki has had some of the Marvel Universe’s best moments of villainy and treachery, plotting behind the scenes in most of Thor’s adventures, as well as in events such as Acts of Vengeance and Dark Reign. But more recently, since the 2010s and the character’s introduction to the MCU, the God of Lies has been reborn as a more heroic figure (or at least, trying to be) in stories written by acclaimed creators like Kieron Gillen and Al Ewing.

Because Loki comes from the world of Thor and Asgard, their stories are obviously driven by their mythological inspiration. But that notion of gods being myths and stories is all the more crucial for the God of Lies, as although they are a trickster and a magician, supposedly unpredictable and chaotic, in truth, they play the role they’ve always been assigned. They are the God of Evil, eternal enemy of Asgard, and they never seem to be able to break away from that old story… which makes it very interesting to see what happens when they do manage to change and become something new. [Read more…] about The Best Loki Comics!

Loki: God Who Fell to Earth Review!

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Marvel’s Loki deserves so much more.

To understand why I say this, it is important to know how I was introduced to the character in the comics. I had originally met Loki as a guilt ridden yet mischievous Kid Loki in Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie’s Young Avengers. Loki became one of my favorite characters because they were a fun “Stepford Smiler,” someone who cracked jokes and smiled while hiding immense personal issues.

In Young Avengers, Loki magically grew older and was slightly wiser by the end of the series. From there, I followed Loki to their solo series Agent of Asgard where Loki truly came into their own as a character. Learning that Loki’s character development appeared to be retconned after Agent of Asgard made me unwilling to read more until I learned about Loki: The God Who Fell To Earth. [Read more…] about Loki: God Who Fell to Earth Review!

The Road to MCU Phase 4! Reading Companion For Every Movie & Show!

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For the first time since Avengers: Endgame we know what the outline of the Marvel Cinematic Universe will look like through 2021. In a blend of unmitigated excitement and reaction to 8 million requests for related reading orders (which I have for every Phase 4 movie outlined! Planning!), I’ve put together a reading companion for all of Phase 4.

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