Avengers: Loki Unleashed #1

Sep 2019
Roger Stern, Ron Lim

Story Name:

Loki Unleashed


Synopsis

Avengers: Loki Unleashed #1 synopsis by Peter Silvestro
Rating: 3.5 stars

Loki is in his castle pondering his scrying sphere and looking for a new source of magical energy. He is also trying to ignore Lorelei who is nagging him to pay attention to her, so he banishes her to far Alfheim. No sooner is she gone than Loki’s wife, Sigyn, enters, wanting to help him any way she can. Loki proposes that she be his anchor as he quests for the distant planet Yann….

In the wake of the new Masters of Evil’s assault on Avengers Mansion (AVENGERS #273-277), Captain America, Iron Man, Wasp, and Thor are dealing with the rebuilding while Captain Marvel (Monica Rambeau) visits Jarvis’ mother to assure her that he’s getting the best medical care. The five Avengers have a meeting where Wasp explains that she has leased temporary quarters at the Four Freedoms Plaza. Sigyn suddenly appears looking for Thor, explaining that she held a Norn Stone to maintain a link to Asgard as Loki quested for Yann but the link was broken and Loki was lost. Thor reluctantly promises to find him—but then Doctor Strange appears before them. He explains that there is a mystic disturbance across the cosmos, caused by a conflict on Yann between Loki and another sorcerer Sise-Neg. The Avengers agree to join the Sorcerer Supreme in his mission to Yann. A combination of Strange’s Crimson Bands and Thor’s hammer teleports them to the distant world. Captain Marvel flies ahead to find the two villains in combat; on their way to join her, the other Avengers fight giant monster bats. Thor reaches Loki and Sise-Neg and demands that they stop; instead they blast him together and Loki proposes a team-up. But they know they can’t trust one another and go back to fighting. Cap M steps between them and Sise-Neg’s attempt to trap her goes awry and ends up with Loki encased in a mound of earth. The Avengers explain that they just want to take Loki and go home but the arrogant Sise-Neg refuses, insisting no one can tell him what to do. There ensues a brief battle, ending with the arrival of the Living Tribunal. LT announces that while he has godlike power, Sise-Neg lacks divine wisdom and so sends him back in time to grow and learn his destiny. LT also decides to let the Avengers take Loki home as Yann has been saved, restoring the cosmic balance. LT teleports the heroes back to Earth. Meanwhile, Loki is returned to his castle where Sigyn reveals that she called on the Avengers to rescue him. Loki goes off to sulk about this latest development.  


 

Review / Commentaries


Avengers: Loki Unleashed #1 Review by (March 30, 2020)

Review: Stern and Lim return to the Avengers in a story that seems a little too big for the limited page count as we go from the Avengers dealing with housing troubles to the cosmic judgment of a divine being sent back in time to learn how to be a god. Okay but nothing all that spectacular. And Sigyn and Lorelei comes off as cartoonish stereotypes of women, so it’s nice that Monica Captain Marvel fares a bit better in her scene with Mrs Jarvis. Ron Lim’s art also appears a bit too much like an all-ages comic to feel all that satisfying. Oh, and the dumbest part of the tale: Living Tribunal mentions having to maintain a balance between Good and Evil—so does that mean the good guys have to lose as often as they win in order to preserve the universe? Try explaining that to Superman.

Comments: One of a series of new stories reuniting favorite creative teams to celebrate Marvel's 80th anniversary. Story takes place after the events of AVENGERS #277. Sise-Neg (Genesis spelled backwards) was introduced in MARVEL PREMIERE #13-14 as a foe of Dr. Strange; not counting WHAT IF? Vol. 2 #35, this is only his second appearance. Iron Man refers to the three bat-monsters as Keaton, Kilmer, and Clooney, three actors who have played Batman—it could be an anachronism as this story presumably takes place in 1987, before any of those Batman films were made; it’s not because of Marvel’s sliding time-scale that would have allowed Christian Bale (but not Ben Affleck) to be mentioned as well. Collected in LEGENDS OF MARVEL: AVENGERS in 2020.




> Avengers: Loki Unleashed comic book info and issue index

Elektra

Excelsioring your collection:
DIAMOND SELECT TOYS Marvel Premier Collection: Avengers Endgame Captain America Statue, Multicolor
Holy smokes, Batman!
(The Boy Wonder)

Ron Lim
Scott Hanna
Espen Grundetjern
Patrick Zircher (Cover Penciler)
Patrick Zircher (Cover Inker)
Matt Yackey (Cover Colorist)


Characters

Listed in Alphabetical Order.

Captain America
Captain America

(Steven Rogers)
Captain Marvel
Captain Marvel

(Monica Rambeau)
Doctor Strange
Doctor Strange

(Stephen Strange)
Iron Man
Iron Man

(Anthony Stark)
Loki
Loki

(Loki Laufeyson)
Thor
Thor

(Odinson)
Wasp
Wasp

(Janet Van Dyne)

Plus: Living Tribunal, Sigyn, Sise-Neg.