Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Comic Panel Wednesday: Keepin' It Low Key


This page is From Seige: Loki. A bit of background: In the Marvel Universe, the Norse Gods are real, and spent centuries locked in a cycling of Ragnorak. Recently, they broke free of that; now, they live in the real world; they still have a kingdom, but some members have lost their old places. Hela, for example, no longer has a hell to rule. She's made peace with the loss, because while Asgardians may still die, they just won't go anywhere, they will just wander the earth until she finds a new alternative. But to Loki, that's not enough. They're still clinging to old patterns, and he's still condemned to end up in Hel. So, he tricks the Green Goblin into destroying Asgard to create massive Asgardian deaths, resurrects a coterie of soul-devouring women, marries the group of women, trades them to Mephisto for a corner of hell, threatens Hela with the soul-devouring women, and trades her the corner of hell so she has somewhere to keep the souls, just so he can be free of his destined fate. Which is all a very complicated, very bad-ass plan.

But mostly, I liked the way the artist, Jamie McKelvie, puts so much expression into the characters' faces. Loki's reveling in his own schemes, and Mephisto is entirely "well, I'm the worst being in Creation, and you just sold me your wives, so, yeah, I'll see where this goes."

And the writing keeps up to the art. Here's the dialogue for when Loki wins his brides' hands in combat:
"It will be as you wish. You are the victor."
"No. Victory is a small thing. Thor wins. I want more than that."

Mr. Gillen and McKelvie get the most important part of writing mythology-based characters: in any pantheon, the most interesting being is the trickster.

Later Days.

2 comments:

Ryan said...

I giggled at the typo in the middle of the first paragraph..."Butt to Loki..." Tee hee.

Person of Consequence said...

...well, as long as you're going to err, you might as well amuse someone. I guess.