3.5 stars ( )

At some point prior to the start of this volume, Loki was eaten by his father, King Laufey, and helped save Midgard by bursting from his father's stomach and becoming the new king of the Frost Giants.

There are lots of things going on in this short volume. The responsibilities of a king don't rest well on Loki's shoulders, so he avoids the job as much as possible. Still, someone's got to do it, and that someone is Frösti the snowman. Meanwhile, some being that I think might be called Nightmare is on the loose, Loki's trying to convince Tony Stark to let him be an Avenger, and Loki makes a deal that messes with his perception of time.

This had great energy and decent artwork, but it lacked focus and was exhausting to read. Although I used to read Marvel and DC comics a lot when I was a teen, that was a long time ago and I've mostly been reading Japanese manga since then. I had forgotten how much stuff you needed to know in order to properly orient yourself in most superhero comics, even something that's supposedly issue #1. My knowledge of Marvel's Loki is limited to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and even that's shaky - I've missed a bunch of the movies. The little "story thus far" bit at the beginning gave me something to work with, but it wasn't quite enough, and it didn't help that the volume's timeline was purposely jumbled.

This series has apparently been canceled, so I suppose it's a good thing it didn't work for me.

Extras:

An afterword by the writer and several pages of cover illustrations.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) ( )

I was torn between giving this 5 stars or 3 stars. Five stars because this version of Loki, King of Jotunheim and praised for his sacrifice at the end of the War of Realms, is bored out of his mind and looking for fun. And fun is what the story delivers. Loki shirks his responsibility as king to pay a visit to Iron Man, pulls one over on Nightmare, and fulfills his calling as God of Mischief.

Unfortunately, this is only a one shot and just sorta ends without getting a chance to really go anywhere. And I found the ending especially frustrating because Verity finally FINALLY returns and gets just a few pages at the end. Her relationship with Loki was the highlight of the Loki Agent of Asgard run and I have been looking forward to her return. I can't fathom why Marvel didn't give this a series order. This version of Loki has a better foundation to build from than the AoA version, which got seventeen issues.

Overall, it's a bit unsatisfying with only 5 issues, but it was a fun read and I do recommend it for fans of the character. However, buy it at a discount. The book only has 5 issues and yet has a retail price of $17.99. Marvel is getting close to pricing themselves out of business with so little content for such a high price. ( )