March to AXIS: Loki, Agent of Asgard #6 On Youtube

Marvel Comic Books – Loki Agent Of Asgard #6 Recap

 

On the streets of Latveria, two construction workers are working on rebuilding the country after a battle with the Invisible Woman.  They soon begin to argue over the merits of having Dr. Doom as their leader.

[Related: Click here for the Comic Island Coverage of Marvel’s AXIS]

We cut to the far future.  Latveria lays in ruin.  Dr. Doom, visiting from the past, encounters a future version of Loki.  This Loki taunts him and implies he was the one who will one day destroy Latveria.  As Doom is attacked, his niece Valeria Richards pulls him back to the present.

Meanwhile, the present day Loki discussed recent events with his friend Verity.  Soon some energy begins to build up in the room, and Loki realizes he is being captured.  He finds himself in Castle Doom, and Doom says he wants to have a talk.

The construction workers continue to argue, to the point that it soon appears they will be resorting to violence.

Loki attempts to turn invisible but Doom quickly counters it.  He summons his Doombots, to which Loki asks why Doom makes robots in his image.

Doom explains it is a tactic he uses to deliberately confuse his enemies and make it always ambiguous whether or not they are dealing with the real Dr. Doom.

One of the construction workers falls to his death, but it is revealed that the same workers are having the same argument all over the same building.  Doom is more than a man, he is a symbol of his country, its will, and its strength.

Fearing for his country’s future, Doom then encases Loki in a prison designed to keep him permanently out of the space-time continuum.  Verity looks on, and is now the only person who can save Loki.

New Comics: Loki Agent Of Asgard #6 Review

So this was my first issue of Loki’s new series.  I’ve been enjoying the choices they’ve made for his character lately.  Confronted by his actions in the past, and his apparent destiny in the future, Loki struggles to redeem himself against all odds.  It’s a neat idea that grapples with the idea of destiny, redemption, and whether or not we are all capable of good and evil or if some people are simply born bad.  But this comic wasn’t really about Loki, and the focus was actually on Dr. Doom instead.

But I actually really enjoyed this comic.  The art is fine, the story is interesting, and the characters are both compelling and consistent with their established traits.  Dr. Doom in particular has a great story line here, and we get a nice explanation over some of his stranger behaviors in the ancient past of Marvel Comics.  We’re told in the comics of an event that really happened once long ago, where Doom LET Arcade light a match off his armor one time just to confuse people, as this isn’t something Dr. Doom would normally do without violence being involved at some point or another.

It’s a neat idea, but I think it’s unnecessary.  I’m guessing at this point most people don’t know or care about this moment in comics history, so this just feels like some fan service for those who like Dr. Doom, and as a means for building up some hype for the villain.  Still, this comic treats Dr. Doom exactly how they should have, which is great.

[Related: Marvel comic books presents AXIS Event]

The thing is, this is a classic Marvel villain and one of my favorites.  Yes, Dr. Doom is a bad guy.  He’s not misunderstood, he isn’t a villain because of some tragic past, he’s just not a good person.  But he’s a competent villain too.  Everything he does is for reasons you can understand and he’s good at what he does.  This makes him a real threat and a cool character.  And this comic does a very good job at taking advantage of this and it makes for a compelling read.

So far, this is a story about Loki and Dr. Doom, and doesn’t seem to tie into AXIS much.  You need to know quite a bit about both characters to really appreciate this comic.  That’s fine, but after going through the first batch of AXIS tie-ins, all of which I really have enjoyed, are nicely accessible, and tie into the upcoming event rather nicely, I do feel a little disappointed that there isn’t more to this story, compared to what I’ve gotten so far out of Magneto, Uncanny Avengers, and even Captain America.

Oh well, it will be interesting to see where things go from here.  And I really can’t complain if that means more Dr. Doom, because he’s a really cool villain who I always love seeing, and this comic did a great job showing why that is.

 

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