New Pictures And Story Details From Thor & Loki: Blood Brothers!

What were your favorite parts of the first episode? Were they different from your favorite parts of what you wrote?

I thought the transitions were astonishing, the melding from flashback to the present. And of course Hela’s entrance was a knockout. That was the visual highlight of the first issue, and in the first episode it just takes on added scope and dimension.

Also, I have to say the panoramic shot at the beginning, based on Esad’s two-page spread, is a small masterpiece on its own; there’s a lot going on in that spread, and the animators gave every last element its own integrity. Watching that scene was when I first realized, okay, this story is in very good hands.

The obvious answer is that he’s such a wonderful painter; his gift for color and texture is unparalleled, which is so vital for a story of this nature, where you’re veering between, say, palace throne rooms and prison dungeons. Esad knows how to stage a scene, how to dress it for maximum effect, and his figure work is unmatched as well. Like I said, most of this story is talking heads, but in Esad’s hands it takes on the dramatic intensity of pitched battle. Everything he does shimmers with electricity and power.

I don’t see Thor the way Loki sees him, not at all. And in fact by the end of the story Loki sees him entirely differently, too. Thor’s a good guy, he’s a hero. He’s not a complex character, he’s not [filled] with contradictions or subtleties. Loki is, however, and that’s why he sees what he needs to see when he looks at Thor. He interprets Thor’s behavior in the way that best suits him--whether it’s to fire his ambition or salve his wounded pride.

I do have to say, however, that the picture of Odin I present here is pretty much the way I see the All-Father. Loki lays a pretty heavy accusation on Odin in this story, and I think he’s right on the money. But then I’ve never really trusted the big, bearded, fiery-eyed sky-god types who rule like tyrants over their constituencies. Thor’s an open book, but Odin’s a seething maze of questionable imperatives. He’s a great character, but not a likeable or a dependable one. I’d trust Thor with my life. I wouldn’t trust Odin with my dry cleaning.

Simple, no one had ever done it before. And to me, that’s always the most interesting question in drama: When a character has sacrificed everything to satisfy his ambition--honor, integrity, morality--what happens when he achieves it? Is it worth it? Think of Macbeth. I wanted to make Loki a character on that level--a villain of Shakespearean dimensions. Once he’s triumphed, it all turns to ash in his mouth because he never really asked himself why he wanted what he wanted, or if he really wanted it at all. And by the time he finally does, it’s too late.

Loki’s never thought past the initial triumph of gloating over Thor and the other gods. Whenever he fantasized about being lord of Asgard, that’s all he saw, himself looming over Thor and Odin and Sif and Balder in chains, taunting them. But once that’s done, there’s the whole matter of, y’know, being lord of Asgard. Of running an actual freakin’ empire, with disparate nations and races and peoples and factions. And Loki has absolutely no interest in doing that. It bores him out of his skull. But it is in fact the very thing he’s spent several millennia striving for, so he has to stop and wonder, “Wait, was this what I really wanted? And if so, why?”

And then there’s the whole matter of Thor. As soon as Loki wins and takes the throne, everyone stars pestering him about when he’s going to execute Thor. And Loki’s like, “Wait a minute--I never said I was going to do that.” And everyone laughs, “Yeah, like you’ve got a choice. So seriously, when?” And Loki has to think hard about who he’ll be once Thor is gone, and the answer is he doesn’t know. He’s spent thousands of years being defined by Thor. Executing Thor will be like executing himself. It’s all a wonderfully complex and frustrating dilemma. I loved getting into Loki’s head and forcing him to face up to all this. And leading him, slowly and by inches, to the realization of what all his actions have really been about, and what he really wants to do with his power--but realizing it too late. That was exquisitely sadistic of me. But it makes, I think, for a really powerful story.