By Svetlana Fedotov
Over the past few years, the name Loki has stayed more times on comic geeks’ lips than the previous several decades combined. Thanks to Marvel’s huge success with the Thor and Avengers franchises, the God of Mischief has found himself basking in the spotlight (with no small contribution by the devilishly handsome Tom Hiddleston and his legions of fangirls). It is perhaps in part to the sudden interest in all things Norse, or just to mess with fans’ heads, but BOOM! Studios has released its own tale of Loki’s travels among the Midgardians. Sharply funny and filled with pop-art satire, Loki: Ragnarok and Roll pits the Trickster as the frontman of a Goth band and explores the subsequent troubles his new found fame brings him.
In this newest incarnation of Asgard, Thor and Loki are once again full brothers, living for an unnumbered series of millennia answering the demands of their father Odin. If the Marvel comics leaned in favor of Thor, this comic definitely leans in favor of Loki, making his older brother a muscle-headed punk a few fries short of a full Happy Meal. After a failed attempt at a peace talk in Jottenheim, they come back to the castle right as Odin is throwing a party for all the major gods; for you see, all the gods exist in this universe, from saints to spirits to the flying spaghetti monster, god of the Internet. Thor immediately lies to cover his ass about the Jottenheim failure and, by placing all his blame on his brother, gets Loki kicked right the fuck down to Earth. Wandering around an unknown city, Loki soon finds himself in front of a Goth club and after a few choice words and action panels later; he becomes the singer of a band. The second issue continues six months later, after he has raised the band to glorious fandom only to piss off the gods with his announcement of being an actual god. Having had enough of his actions, the collective holy group decides to take the guy down a peg, come Hel or high water.
Loki: Ragnarok and Roll is a pretty goofy comic, which is actually part of the appeal. Loki spends most of his time dissecting human reaction to celebrities and idols and the comic helps bring that around with the jealousies of real gods and their falls from grace. They read like caricatures of their mythologies and really, in our current age of sex and technology, that’s really all they are. Loki’s character realizes that and by dropping to Earth, he slowly becomes aware that the only gods left are gods like him, silver-tongued and adaptable to the lowest common dominator, something he then takes in his stride. It’s really more of a testament to our spirituality, or lack thereof: how the only ones left to worship are celebrities. You know, in retrospect, have you ever read Neil Gaiman’s American Gods? It’s a lot like that. But, if overtly obvious philosophy on our trashy society isn’t your thing, there are still some great jokes and action scenes as well, which work beautifully with this over-the-top comic. Also, if you ever wanted to watch Thor get kicked down a notch, this whole comic is about kicking Thor down a notch. I mean, what a cock, amirite?
The series is fronted by the powerhouse of Eric M. Esquivel and Jerry Gaylord (I feel like they made up their last names). Esquivel has spent a lot of his career penning indie and small print comics, which has allowed him a lot of freedom to write from a well of his own ideas. His unique take on the popular mythology does really well without turning into a Goth circle-jerk, which it could’ve very easily. The artist Jerry Gaylord, most recognized for his work on Fanboys vs Zombies, takes his quirky illustrations and blends them seamlessly with Esquivel’s words. Gaylord’s cartoony pop art makes the whole thing jump off the page, like a Saturday morning cartoon come to life.
If you ever get tired of Marvel’s Thor holier-than-thou attitude, then grab this comic and check out the view from the other side.