Loki: Agent of Asgard – Trust Me #1

I’ve been reading comics off and on since I was six years old and Superman died. The thing about being a female comic book fan is that even from an early age, you’re made very aware that superhero books are not necessarily geared towards you. There’s a common style of many comics, especially if you grew up reading in the 90s, that emphasizes the sexuality of female characters and the male power fantasy of big buff dudes in capes. Most main characters are guys, teams are dominated by male characters and they’re almost always led by dudes. Then there’s the whole Women in Refrigerators thing.

I can love comics, I can read tons of them, and I can be as knowledgeable as any fan, but superhero comics, especially from Marvel and DC, are geared towards the male fan. I’ve, and many other lady comic fans have been aware of this for pretty much the full extent of our nerdy lives. In the last few years, comics have been way less obvious about this, but there hasn’t been a big shift to which demographic that superhero comics are aimed at.

So imagine my surprise when I picked up the first issue of Marvel’s Loki: Agent of Asgard, and discovered a comic book that was aimed at me, the 20-something female comic nerd.

Also: he’s singing. FANSERVICE OVERLOAD.

Tom Hiddleston’s Loki was something of a surprise. Marvel Studios chose a very attractive, young actor to play the long-time Avengers/Thor villain, who was, in the classic comics, not so much of either of those things. The character was well written and Hiddleston’s performance was great. Loki made Tumblr explode with gifs, mostly from female fans, who found the character nuanced in comparison to the movie’s more traditional superhero, Thor. Movie-Loki is witty, clever, funny, and troubled. Loki’s nuance, Hiddleston’s great acting and the story of a character with some major daddy issues, torn between good and evil, was an excellent non-traditional comic character.

Marvel, who’s been doing a pretty good job parlaying their movie success into comic success, apparently paid attention to the majorly female fandom that’s grown around this character and I can’t believe how much it shows in Loki: Agent of Asgard. From Loki’s black fingernail polish to the implication he’s written slash fic, this comic really is geared to anyone who’s ever posted a reaction gif from Tumblr or participated in a conversation about what 90s pop song best fits a character.

The plot behind the comic is fairly simple so far, though considering the excellent end of the issue, I don’t suspect it’ll stay simple for long. Loki has gained a young adult form after being ‘Kid Loki’ for some time. He had died during the post Civil War event “Siege” but, being Loki, schemed his way into cheating death, and was able to come back as a kid. It was better than it sounds. Now in his own title (Kid Loki was a Young Avenger for a period of time), Loki is sort of a secret agent for the All-Mother, rulers of Asgard.

Loki’s agreement to do this job is entrenched in his desires to rid the world of the memory of the crimes he once committed, of the memory of that evil, backstabbing, bitter, scarred-face villain he used to be. I really like this characterization –  though he’s trying to be someone different now, he’s still got a very Loki scheme on how he’s going to get there, and it’s not particularly heroic, but still very understandable and very human. His internal monologue talking about who he used to be (“The Loki that was. The Loki that burned.”) is excellently written and provides a great look into the head of a very enigmatic character.

From the Marvel Now! preview. He’s cheating at space-poker, unsurprisingly.

This is a strong first issue with a lot of style; the art is solid and takes some visual design cues from the very popular Hawkeye book but still manages to put its own twist on it. While I do love the idea of gearing a comic towards a female audience, I’d like to see it avoid the same fanservice pitfalls that traditional comic books fall into – the shower scene made a statement that I appreciate, but let’s not have too many of them or scenes in that vein. Comics don’t need to have sexualized fanservice, be it aimed at any gender.

This should be an interesting title to follow, Al Ewing, the writer, has talked about Loki’s gender identity or lack thereof; the mythological version of Loki was a regular shapeshifter who both fathered and mothered children. Ewing also stated that Loki is bisexual, and the comic is going to explore that. Gender identity and bisexuality in a superhero comic? So awesome – if it’s handled smartly and sensitively.

All in all, the first issue of Loki: Agent of Asgard is really promising. The stylish trappings are a great framework for deeper substance and exploration of a breakout character. I’m going to be excited to pull this title every month and I really recommend picking it up.

It’s also worth noting that Marvel is rolling out a woman-centric initiative called “Characters and Creators” that is designed to target the often ignored female comic book fan demographic. While I don’t think Loki was necessarily intended to be one of these titles, it easily could be. While I am constantly happy to see new female-led books (such as the new and awesomely diverse Ms. Marvel, look for a review of that soon), books targeted at women don’t necessarily have to be about women. Generally? They just have to not be filled with traditional and nasty tropes. Keep all of your characters out of refrigerators please, creators.