#comics loki has a lot going on mkay

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Loki (2004) & Blood Brothers Thoughts

Or: Why Does This Loki Look Like An Old Man?

I know Old Man Loki is meant to look:

Different than usual, because of the (overdue) revisionism going on in this mini-series

Visually-opposite to Thor & other Asgardians via an art-style/surface-othering extreme

Like someone for whom the reader is supposed to have the same off-putting, visceral, Asgardian-esque reaction (at first)

But I’d rather think narratively, Brent! ;\

So, how come Loki doesn’t shift out of his old man shape? (Note: “he” pronouns incoming throughout, since that’s how Loki identifies in this comic.) Does Loki not shapeshift because he’s simply over it, or is this how he thinks he actually looks? I feel like one could interpret it either way, as in: “This is me, bitches, and I also have less teeth thanks to y’all so deal with it/look upon it” (very Skyfall-esque), versus the alternative: “This story’s finally being told from my POV, so how I look outside is a metaphor for how I’m personally feeling inside” (aged and tired, emotionally broken, and giving no fucks except in secret) ...

Deeper pondering beneath the cut!

It’s just … after Loki has this “interaction” with Daia, he looks notably different for awhile. This Loki has finally been to the salon. This Loki has had a protein shake and applied some moisturizer.

So, were either the sexytimes just that good, or … well, does he shapeshift for the sexytimes, but not for anything else? Not even when appearing vengefully before the entirety of Asgard? He only reserves a more stereotypical aesthetic for the intimate sexings? Really?! It's not exactly unheard of, but ... maybe we should unpack that! Orrrrrr perhaps: is this actually how Loki looks, since he just woke up that way, and the entirety of the rest is a self-loathing, this-is-how-I’ve-been-taught-to-see-myself, roiling-emotions-unkempt theater? (Note how, above, the grizzlings return when he plops ye old helmet back on and starts thinking about his lot in life again. Which is it?)

TL;DR: Excuse me sir, is your old man look intentional or a styling issue?! ANSWER THE QUESTION SIR etc

Other thoughts that fit nowhere else:

Loki's drinking so much in here; no wonder his nose is red! Does alcohol age gods after awhile? How's Dionysus holding up?

Perhaps Asgardians feel that a leader should look old and grizzly and Odin-esque ... if Old Man Loki is shapeshifted, maybe he's meant to imitate/mock Odin and a paternalistic all-father idea itself by doing so (valid)

Loki's birth mother has a similar face-shape, and yet she doesn’t look nearly as aged and grizzly — so even if frost giants age faster in this worldbuild, something else seems up (esp since Loki mumbles to himself about how he thinks Farbauti looks awful, yikes, and also how suddenly-aware he is that he's been raised to feel thusly, double yikes)

P.S. This mini-series gave me flashbacks to the once-prevalent Star Wars sequels fic trope: “Kylo becomes Supreme Leader but it sucks because he doesn't actually like or want it;” I’m certainly not complaining, yet now I feel old and grizzly in recalling it :p

Tagging @yells-of-the-not-so-danged here so I don't ponder-hijack your post! What are your three theories?

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Loki (eventually) protec. Loki attac. But most of all, Loki smirk right bac.

loki is LITERALLY the knife cat meme i’ve been saying this for ages and this panel confirms

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Thor #175 featuring The Warriors Three, 1970

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I often see and enjoy that you add "comics loki has a lot going on mkay" to old timey comics!loki posts. What are some of the things that come to mind at the top of your head? ^_^

Heh, my yammertags and I thank you!

I'm honestly not suuuuuuper familiar with Loki's classic comics oeuvre or pre-MCU Thorverse comics stuff. Shallow dives only, I'm afraid. Behold: I doth gatekeep myself! :p

It's just, whenever I see any classic comics Loki around here, there's always something wild going on, mkay! Like perma-scowling, or vaudevillian-level declaring, or Machiavellian plotting, or being an actual gremlin, or tree, or whatever. It's like... wow, what a brightly-colored mess, what's his campy myths-based deal? Big mad and a big jerk? Literally Iago? What exactly is this mythic family dynamic? Sometimes he's wearing blond hair on his helmet because of reasons that they don't exactly delve into during the Silver Age? Good job being the absolute worst of your era sometimes; uh, a yikes icon? I guess I could say "well that's a lot of unpacked packing" instead of "has a lot going on" and that would probably make more sense.

On one hand, I find a character who routinely gnaws on the scenery funny — I do love camp; very Batman TV series. But on the other hand, I also tend to prefer fandoms that've been running for an extremely long time with multiple incarnations, grafted atop themselves over and over like some kinda unwieldy Mad Max structure. All the better for me to pick up/learn about shiny things as I go along, magpie-style! And when the canon is just tropes on tropes on tropes after multiple decades, it tends to change/evolve, like life! And like, I've never seen a more appropriately-shapeshifty character for this evolution. So, comics Loki has that Silver Age CURSES! vibe while at the same time has been re-envisioned with much more layered, pathos-inspiring takes. This characterization would've been more interesting in the first place, of course, but the Silver Age apparently could not even. I just like that kind of more-layered, character-evolving stuff. It neat.

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Silver Age Loki and Catwoman: A DYNAMIC DUO

More explanation under the cut.

After the Batman TV series came out, the 1967 comics attempted to put Catwoman in the Julie Newmar outfit ... however, they made it green. (Because, uh, reasons? Many villains were rendered in green during the Silver Age and I don't know why; likely something to do with inks popping brightly and such.) They even tried to render her sequins in comics form, but the effect came out looking more like snake scales.

Julie & the bottom-left panel are from fyeahbatcat.

Naturally, this makes one (jokily) wonder if Classic Comics Loki is supposed to be wearing sequins too. Here he is in his first 1952 appearance:

THE POWERS OF SPARKLE ARE MANY

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Oh, the withholding of golden apples/starving off Loki for a mortal death interpretation is dark, @yells-of-the-not-so-danged and @lokiinmediasideblog! Wow! And I think the take that this Loki has stopped caring about everything else in an obsessive Captain Ahab-style way is valid. And sad. I now require an apple of self-care for myself, thank you :p

You both have more anti-aging faith in lighting and angles than I, heh! Where are these lights that knock off hundreds of years? Fantasy airbrush lamp store where?! Of course there's also the assumption that the creative team simply declined to portray post-coitaltown as aesthetically-rough as the rest; I mean, it is a comic. But but THE NARRATIVE POTENTIAL

I think the why-didn't-Loki-shapeshift idea comes down to four options: if Loki can indeed shapeshift, then why would he choose to look like Old Man Loki? Thus, he either: (1) can't shapeshift, (2) won't/doesn't shapeshift, (3) is working this old man look on purpose, or (4) the whole look, and maybe even the whole story, is metaphorical the entire time. Maybe the whole thing is an illusion-scenario for Loki and the reader, who is indeed the only entity that can actually be appealed to for empathy-mercy here. (The reader's the only one who sees Loki’s suffering! Well, aside from Daia, who witnesses some of Loki's monologuing and appears to respond accordingly, supposedly!) Maybe Loki imagines his birth mother is alive, imagines he's an old man who's won, and even throws in an imaginary, unseen Pretty Woman scenario with Daia …

Yes, that's right. Lost footage of this scenario (under another cut because it's in a tub and it’s ridiculous ... but hey, where else are the she's-a-professional and he's-mad-at-his-terrible-adopted-dad tropes supposed to go):

Spoiler: It did NOT make him happy

Loki (2004) & Blood Brothers Thoughts

Or: Why Does This Loki Look Like An Old Man?

I know Old Man Loki is meant to look:

Different than usual, because of the (overdue) revisionism going on in this mini-series

Visually-opposite to Thor & other Asgardians via an art-style/surface-othering extreme

Like someone for whom the reader is supposed to have the same off-putting, visceral, Asgardian-esque reaction (at first)

But I’d rather think narratively, Brent! ;\

So, how come Loki doesn’t shift out of his old man shape? (Note: “he” pronouns incoming throughout, since that’s how Loki identifies in this comic.) Does Loki not shapeshift because he’s simply over it, or is this how he thinks he actually looks? I feel like one could interpret it either way, as in: “This is me, bitches, and I also have less teeth thanks to y’all so deal with it/look upon it” (very Skyfall-esque), versus the alternative: “This story’s finally being told from my POV, so how I look outside is a metaphor for how I’m personally feeling inside” (aged and tired, emotionally broken, and giving no fucks except in secret) ...

Deeper pondering beneath the cut!

It’s just … after Loki has this “interaction” with Daia, he looks notably different for awhile. This Loki has finally been to the salon. This Loki has had a protein shake and applied some moisturizer.

So, were either the sexytimes just that good, or … well, does he shapeshift for the sexytimes, but not for anything else? Not even when appearing vengefully before the entirety of Asgard? He only reserves a more stereotypical aesthetic for the intimate sexings? Really?! It's not exactly unheard of, but ... maybe we should unpack that! Orrrrrr perhaps: is this actually how Loki looks, since he just woke up that way, and the entirety of the rest is a self-loathing, this-is-how-I’ve-been-taught-to-see-myself, roiling-emotions-unkempt theater? (Note how, above, the grizzlings return when he plops ye old helmet back on and starts thinking about his lot in life again. Which is it?)

TL;DR: Excuse me sir, is your old man look intentional or a styling issue?! ANSWER THE QUESTION SIR etc

Other thoughts that fit nowhere else:

Loki's drinking so much in here; no wonder his nose is red! Does alcohol age gods after awhile? How's Dionysus holding up?

Perhaps Asgardians feel that a leader should look old and grizzly and Odin-esque ... if Old Man Loki is shapeshifted, maybe he's meant to imitate/mock Odin and a paternalistic all-father idea itself by doing so (valid)

Loki's birth mother has a similar face-shape, and yet she doesn’t look nearly as aged and grizzly — so even if frost giants age faster in this worldbuild, something else seems up (esp since Loki mumbles to himself about how he thinks Farbauti looks awful, yikes, and also how suddenly-aware he is that he's been raised to feel thusly, double yikes)

P.S. This mini-series gave me flashbacks to the once-prevalent Star Wars sequels fic trope: “Kylo becomes Supreme Leader but it sucks because he doesn't actually like or want it;” I’m certainly not complaining, yet now I feel old and grizzly in recalling it :p

Tagging @yells-of-the-not-so-danged here so I don't ponder-hijack your post! What are your three theories?