Loki’s cursed ship Naglfar has been scattered to the winds, and he’s on the hunt to put it back together. So far, he’s had to reclaim it by two different means, and now in the third issue, we learn the ship hasn’t just been lost to different spots in the universe but also to time. In Loki #3, Dan Watters and German Peralta explore what happened to a shard of the ship that may have changed an entire culture.
Similar to the last issue, but done in a new way, Watters and Peralta tuck a story within the story of this issue. It opens with a Kree warrior who is now treated like a long-dead boogeyman to be burned once a year. The customs came to this conclusion after many years of stories being told. Soon though, Loki reveals to Wiccan and Hulkling they may have it all wrong. It’s a creative way to show how stories have their own power, whether true or not. It’s also interesting to think about our world’s customs, many of which started as pagan holidays.
Watters cleverly hooks you into the past story of the Kree, which creatively ties into his search for Naglfar. No longer the god of lies but of stories. It’s also a nice way to touch upon his history of lies. In a key scene, Wiccan presses Loki after he does something to establish the culture’s beliefs on something true. It’s a neat way to show Loki’s growth as a character while also setting up a conflict between the characters.
The gang is back together.
Credit: Marvel
It’s also nice to see Loki, Wiccan, and Hulkling connect since they were going on their adventures once. It’s fitting Loki brings up their statuses are all now quite serious, which also ties into the relief Loki brings to a supposed villain.
My only gripe with this issue is it feels a touch unbalanced. It opens with this epic tale but is resolved relatively easily off-page. Then a chunk of the issue is spent setting up the next issue. It reads like a pit stop and could have used higher stakes.
Art by Peralta is fantastic and possibly better than the last issue. There’s a critical moment where a character is crushed in a sphere, and he pulls it off splendidly. The characters and their costumes look great too. There’s a bit of an emo goth thing going on with Loki’s make-up, for instance, and the Kree warrior looks all kinds of badass. A smash cut from his face to the puppet being burned in effigy is also well done.
Loki #3 continues the trend of a series rife with ideas, creative story structure, and fun character work. Though a miniseries, it proves Watters has an abundance of ideas well worth an ongoing series.
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