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* FromTheAshes: The final issue ends on a huge moment that changes everything. The aftermath of this event leads directly to Creator/KieronGillen's next book, the second volume of ''ComicBook/YoungAvengers''. And the finale of that is a launching point of Creator/AlEwing ''ComicBook/LokiAgentOfAsgard''.
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* TheModernGods: The Manchester Gods are a race of mythical beings that spontaneously appeared in Otherworld who embody the Industrial Revolution and urbanization. They are treated as an existential threat to the other inhabitants of Otherworld, though it's later revealed that the Manchester Gods were hoping to usurp Otherworld's governing body politically, viewing the likes of Camelot and the Celtic Gods as antiquated and backwards.
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-->-- Conversation between Thor and kid Loki.
to:
-->-- Conversation between Thor and kid Loki.
Kid Loki
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* RageAgainstTheAuthor: played with - it's actually rage against the StatusQuoIsGod that is assumed to be the demand of fanbase. Somewhat averted in that this new version of Loki has largely stuck.
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* CrazyPrepared: The final issue reveals [spoiler: Original Loki correctly foresaw his Kid self might try to ScrewDestiny at the beginning of the run. So, he set up a XanatosGambit to ensure the Resurrection-by-GrandTheftMe would still come to pass.]]
to:
* CrazyPrepared: The final issue reveals [spoiler: [[spoiler: Original Loki correctly foresaw his Kid self might try to ScrewDestiny at the beginning of the run. So, he set up a XanatosGambit to ensure the Resurrection-by-GrandTheftMe would still come to pass.]]
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* CrazyPrepared: The final issue reveals [spoiler: Original Loki correctly foresaw his Kid self might try to ScrewDestiny at the beginning of the run. So, he set up a XanatosGambit to ensure the Resurrection-by-GrandTheftMe would still come to pass.]]
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Up To Eleven is a defunct trope
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%%* BreakTheCutie: UpToEleven.
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%%* BreakTheCutie: UpToEleven.
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* TheBusCameBack: The Celtic god Caber makes his first appearance in since 1990 in the ''Manchester Gods'' arc. Herne the Hunter reappears in the same arc after an even longer gap - his only previous appearance was in 1980.
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* ShootTheShaggyDog: Despite everything he accomplished, the friends that he made and the respect and trust that he earned, kid Loki ends up being annihilated and replaced by old Loki with no one the wiser to his fate. Sure, he won in that he was good, but it still means nothing in the long run. [[MetaFiction Because status quo is God in mainstream superhero comic books.]]]]
to:
* ShootTheShaggyDog: Despite everything he accomplished, the friends that he made and the respect and trust that he earned, kid Loki ends up being annihilated and replaced by old Loki with no one the wiser to his fate. Sure, he won in that he was good, but it still means nothing in the long run. [[MetaFiction Because status quo is God in mainstream superhero comic books.]]]]]]
* ShoutOut: The Manchester Gods arc has a few.
** Master Wilson quotes Music/TheSexPistols
--> '''Master Wilson:''' As some dear friends of mine once said, [[Music/NeverMindTheBollocksHeresTheSexPistols there's no future in England's dreaming]].
** One of the Manchester Gods' holy places is "some greenhouse in Northampton", a reference to Creator/AlanMoore mentioning in interviews that his initial work on ''ComicBook/SwampThing'' let him buy a greenhouse for his dad.
* ShoutOut: The Manchester Gods arc has a few.
** Master Wilson quotes Music/TheSexPistols
--> '''Master Wilson:''' As some dear friends of mine once said, [[Music/NeverMindTheBollocksHeresTheSexPistols there's no future in England's dreaming]].
** One of the Manchester Gods' holy places is "some greenhouse in Northampton", a reference to Creator/AlanMoore mentioning in interviews that his initial work on ''ComicBook/SwampThing'' let him buy a greenhouse for his dad.
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* RealPlaceBackground:
** When Loki, Leah and Hellstrom meet in Camden they're in the World's End pub, a real venue that's a long-standing part of London's goth and alternative scene.
** Loki's initial retaliation against the Manchester Gods is to blow up [[https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/cragside Cragside]], a real historic house.
** When Loki, Leah and Hellstrom meet in Camden they're in the World's End pub, a real venue that's a long-standing part of London's goth and alternative scene.
** Loki's initial retaliation against the Manchester Gods is to blow up [[https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/cragside Cragside]], a real historic house.
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Cut trope. Can't tell if replacements or others applicable.
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* BigBad: First arc of Kid Loki's run starts with [[Comicbook/FearItself Serpent]] as BiggerBad and sets up Surtur and Mephisto for rest of the story. [[spoiler: Turns out they all were pawns of Old Loki]].
to:
* BigBad: First arc of Kid Loki's run starts with [[Comicbook/FearItself Serpent]] as BiggerBad and sets up Surtur and Mephisto for rest of the story. [[spoiler: Turns out they all were pawns of Old Loki]].
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* SuicideForOthersHappiness: The story concludes with young Loki discovering he wasn't really an reincarnation of the original Loki, only an innocent ''clone'' of sorts, whom the original intended from the start to eventually erase from existence and take the body of, with his good name restored, in order to get back to backstabbing everyone whose trust Kid Loki had re-earned. Kid Loki is horrified- but Loki had also manipulated him into creating a MacGuffin currently causing a multiverse-endangering civil war that will only exist as long as Kid Loki does. Kid Loki ultimately agrees to be erased from existence so that his family- particularly Hela and Thor- don't get dragged down in the war and are allowed to be happy.
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* WalkingShirtlessScene: "Hellstrom! What's wrong? Do you need anything? A shirt perhaps?"
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* WalkingShirtlessScene: "Hellstrom! What's wrong? Do Hellstrom. The fanservice is both pointed out in the letters column and a RunningGag in the actual story.
-->'''Kid Loki:''' So...why the leather trousers and lack of shirt?
-->'''Leah:''' [[FemaleGaze I like the lack of shirt.]]
-->'''Hellstrom:''' A guy's got a certain reputation, youneed anything? A shirt perhaps?"know.
-->'''Kid Loki:''' So...why the leather trousers and lack of shirt?
-->'''Leah:''' [[FemaleGaze I like the lack of shirt.]]
-->'''Hellstrom:''' A guy's got a certain reputation, you
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* NoShirtLongJacket: Hellstrom. "A guy's got a certain reputation", after all.
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* ReformedButRejected: Kid Loki, who was genuinely determined to be good, was universally distrusted and the general assumption was that it was all a scheme. [[spoiler:And the assumption was right. But it wasn't Kid Loki's scheme: he was just its victim.]]
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* SdrawkcabName: Loki transforms the spirit of his old self into a magpie companion, which he calls Ikol.
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* SnicketWarningLabel: The book tells you it is "comedy in 30 parts, and tragedy in 31" which also has the courtesy to tell you in the narration to stop reading around the end of the 30th issue (and express its disappointment that you won't).
* SocialMediaBeforeReason: Kid Loki knows he needs to escape through a portal fast after he's summoned [[spoiler: Surtur]]—but he can't resist snapping a picture of the rampaging, now freed [[spoiler: fire giant]] first. (Probably for the skeptical followers of his Instagram, which we've seen earlier in the series.)
* SocialMediaBeforeReason: Kid Loki knows he needs to escape through a portal fast after he's summoned [[spoiler: Surtur]]—but he can't resist snapping a picture of the rampaging, now freed [[spoiler: fire giant]] first. (Probably for the skeptical followers of his Instagram, which we've seen earlier in the series.)
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* MetaphoricallyTrue: Loki, as part of his reform, tries to get through his schemes without lying. He mostly succeeds, through the use of this trope. ("I said I'd let you destroy Asgard. I didn't say ''which'' Asgard.")
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%%* GuileHero: Kid Loki.
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* CreatingLifeIsUnforeseen: Loki wrote [[spoiler:Leah]] into the Serpent's biography, thus creating a copy of her accidentally.
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* CreatingLifeIsUnforeseen: Loki wrote [[spoiler:Leah]] into Young Loki, in an effort to humanize [[Comicbook/FearItself the Serpent's biography, thus creating Serpent]], an unbeatable enemy, [[RewritingReality added a copy of her accidentally.romantic sub-plot to his biography]]. Said sub-plot, [[spoiler:who was modelled after his best friend Leah,]] later appeared basically to go RageAgainstTheHeavens / RageAgainstTheAuthor on his ass. [[spoiler:At the end it was revealed that she grew up to become the goddess Hela.]]
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* AlmostKiss: Kid Loki and Leah have one near the end of ''Everything Burns,'' as [[NowOrNeverKiss they're both about to be violently killed by Surtur]]. They get interrupted by [[BigDamnHeroes Thor and his army]], complete with a lampshade from Loki about how perfect the timing was. [[spoiler:Sadly, it's one of the last moments Leah and Loki have together before everything turns to shit, which would have made this both their FirstKiss and LastKiss, had they actually been allowed to do it. While it's obvious they care deeply for each other, this Almost Kiss is the closest they get to expressing it.]]
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A 2010 "revival" of Creator/MarvelComics's ''ComicBook/JourneyIntoMystery'' line by Creator/KieronGillen, who had previously written for ''ComicBook/TheMightyThor''. It began in 2011 and ran for 23 issues.
to:
A 2010 2011 "revival" of Creator/MarvelComics's ''ComicBook/JourneyIntoMystery'' line by Creator/KieronGillen, who had previously written for ''ComicBook/TheMightyThor''. It began in 2011 and ran for 23 issues.
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[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/journey_into_mystery_623_6495.jpg]]
->"''You are not as wicked as they think."\\
"I'd have to try terribly hard to be '''that''' terrible.''"
-->-- Conversation between Thor and kid Loki.
A 2010 "revival" of Creator/MarvelComics's ''ComicBook/JourneyIntoMystery'' line by Creator/KieronGillen, who had previously written for ''ComicBook/TheMightyThor''. It began in 2011 and ran for 23 issues.
''ComicBook/FearItself'' looms across the Marvel Universe, and the fate of the universe seems to lie in Thor's trickster brother Loki, reincarnated into a child ("Kid Loki") following the events of ''ComicBook/{{Siege}}'', himself wrestling with his own morality and destiny.
After issue 645, the focus of the book shifted to the other Asgardians -- for tropes in this run, see ''ComicBook/JourneyIntoMysteryImmonen''. Kid Loki's story continued in ''ComicBook/YoungAvengers'''s second volume, also written by Gillen.
----
!!Tropes:
* AdmiringTheAbomination: When Loki releases [[spoiler: Surtur]], he makes sure to take a photo of him with his Starkphone.
* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: Leah makes no secret of her attraction to Daimon. Her reasoning is that ''everyone'' likes a bad boy.
** It includes Hel-Puppies too!
--> '''Kid Loki''': I'm a bad boy!
--> '''Leah''': Not ''actual'' boys.
* AlwaysSaveTheGirl: Surprisingly, Loki actually plays this trope straight for Leah. [[spoiler: Well, for Leah, at least]]
%%* AmnesiacsAreInnocent
* BelligerentSexualTension: Loki and Leah have a bit of this dynamic
* BigBad: First arc of Kid Loki's run starts with [[Comicbook/FearItself Serpent]] as BiggerBad and sets up Surtur and Mephisto for rest of the story. [[spoiler: Turns out they all were pawns of Old Loki]].
* BookEnds: Kid Loki's arc of the series begins and ends with a confrontation between old Loki and young Loki in the space hidden in the dot of the question mark.
** Also, the covers of Journey Into Mystery 623 and Journey Into Mystery 645 (the second and last issues of the run) are inversions of one another.
** Journey Into Mystery 622 starts with the line, "In the end, many of the answers ended up being 'Loki'." Journey Into Mystery 645 starts with the same phrase, only [[TheEndOfTheBeginning "the end" is replaced with "the beginning".]]
* BreakingTheFourthWall: At one point, Loki grabs the narration boxes and tears them up [[spoiler: but this is actually a subversion, as later it's revealed that the narrator of the story is an actual character in-story]].
** Loki also directly addresses the audience a few times in the last chapter.
%%* BreakTheCutie: UpToEleven.
* BrickJoke: Early in the run, there is a bit of narration that refers to Leah as Hela's left hand, in contrast to Tyr being Hela's right. [[spoiler: Turns out that she is ''literally'' Hela's hand, although the artists never seem to agree on whether it's her left or her right]]
** In ''Journey Into Mystery'' 625, Loki is dealing with the aftermath of bringing some dire news to Hela. When he recives worse news, he reports to her handmaiden Leah, who tells him he "already brought" dire news, so he corrects himself with "Dire-er news!" Almost at the end of the issue, he runs up to Hela and Mephisto, who are having Parley, and loudly declares "DIRE-EST NEWS!" and Hela looks exasperated.
* ButForMeItWasTuesday: In the recap of issue #632, Ikol and Loki are the ones in charge of giving a summary of past events in the series:
-->'''Ikol:''' What about Odin's brother, the Serpent, attempting to rule the world through fear itself? And Odin almost killing everyone to stop him?
-->'''Kid Loki:''' Fixed it. A Tuesday afternoon trifle.
* CentralTheme: Change is good. The new is good. [[spoiler: But this is a single run in a single series that is part of a huge mainstream comic continuity, so it's never going to last.]]
%%* ChekhovsGun: The Fear Crown
* ChekhovsGunman: [[spoiler: the Leah that Loki wrote into the Serpent's ''story'' in issue 629]]
** Also, [[spoiler: remember the Teller from the 626.1 issue that didn't seem to have anything to do with anything? Yeah, he's actually super important to the plot]]
%%* ChronicVillainy: [[spoiler: Old Loki / Ikol in the end]]
* ContinuityNod: Hela explicitly references the time she sent adult Loki into the past to engineer his own adoption.
* CreatingLifeIsUnforeseen: Loki wrote [[spoiler:Leah]] into the Serpent's biography, thus creating a copy of her accidentally.
* CreatorCameo: Gillen himself appears in one panel while Loki and Leah are meeting Daimon Hellstrom in a pub during the "Manchester Gods" arc.
%%* DiabolusExMachina: [[spoiler: The Teller, i.e. the narrator of our tale.]]
%%* DownerEnding: To kid Loki's story.
* EatTheEvidence: Facetiously suggested in the first issue.
-->'''Volstagg:''' I could ''eat'' Loki. There would be no evidence. A perfect crime!
* EtTuBrute: When [[spoiler: Thori]] betrays Loki, Loki gets pretty broken up about it.
* FacePalm: Leah slaps her hand across her face in frustration frequently around Loki.
%%* FakeDefector: Loki does this a few times.
* FateWorseThanDeath: [[spoiler: What happens to kid Loki in the end.]]
* {{Foil}}: Loki identifies quite a bit with the hel-puppy that he names Thori since they're both supposedly unalterably evil beings. The difference between them is [[spoiler: Thori loves being what he is and happily reverts to form the first chance he gets, while Loki does everything he can to avoid his fate.]]
* GainaxEnding: [[WordofGod Gillen]] had to post an explanation of what had happened in the ending on his tumblr, because at least half the fanbase didn't understand what had just occurred.
* GambitPileup: There are a variety of different factions competing against one another in Journey into Mystery.[[spoiler: However, this is notable as probably being one of the few cases where a character competes against HIMSELF. Which became his new status quo of questionable godliness after this series.]]
%%* GuileHero: Kid Loki.
* HeroicSacrifice: Subverted with [[spoiler: Thori]], played straight with [[spoiler: the Manchester Gods]] and later [[spoiler: kid Loki]]
* HeroicSuicide: [[spoiler: What Kid Loki does to save everyone from Mephisto]]
* HopeSpot: At the end of the Everything Burns crossover with The Mighty Thor, [[spoiler: they've succeeded in defeating Surtur, Loki's been definitively given Thor's trust, the Nine Realms know that it was Loki who saved them, Leah's back (sort of) and they're all going to live happily ever after. JUST KIDDING Mephisto has the Fear Crown and Loki has to annihilate himself to get rid of it.]]
** [[spoiler: Loki's "Damn me" on the final page could be seen as a hope spot. As far as character development goes, being able to admit that he is at fault is absolutely huge for Loki and it indicates that Kid Loki's final words have achieved something significant. Unfortunately he quickly follows it up with a more standard "Damn you all" indicating a return to his old self. Later series confirmed that: no, he didn't return to his old self, and is quite determined to ''not'' become like that again, for his misfortune many ''many'' people want him to.]]
%%* LittleMissSnarker: Leah
* MagpiesAsPortents: The magpie rhyme is an overarching theme - the run begins with a group of magpies on a quest through the Nine Realms after old Loki's death, and the remnant of evil Loki takes the form of a magpie to follow Loki around.
* MemoryGambit: Loki's reason for creating kid Loki via his resurrection without his memories in the first place. [[spoiler: He sets himself up with a new, baggage-free life in order to regain trust among those that wouldn't before for one of his own schemes that would allow 'him' to change, all the while setting things up to create a situation that would force kid Loki to take on his personality. Kid Loki claims victory in that he "dies" knowing he ''did'' change, while the original Loki setting up this scheme in the first place proves he never will. And it later turned out that the scheme resulted in a ''new'' Loki, who takes after both of them, but is neither of them. Shouldn't the guy be called Loki Lokison by this point?]]
* MetaFiction: Very much so.
--> '''Loki: We all know how this story ends.'''
* MoodWhiplash: This quote about sums it up:
-->'''Journey Into Mystery: A comedy in 30 parts (or a tragedy in 31)'''
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: This is Loki's reaction after seeing the [[spoiler: Manchester Gods]] working with Surtur.
** [[spoiler: After taking over his younger self's body, Loki's last lines in 645 of "Damn me." seem to imply this. Unfortunately, he follows it up with "[[WhamLine Damn you all]]." Later series confirmed that: Yes, he really does blame himself for this.]]
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: In the Everything Burns arc, everything that Loki did in the earlier arcs comes around to bite him in the ass. "My predicament has become ''terribly'' on the nose."
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Master Wilson, the leader of the Manchester Gods, is a fusion of famed Manchester music scene personality [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Wilson Tony Wilson]] and Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson.
* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: Every good thing Loki does ends up screwing him over down the line.
--> '''Ikol: ''Humans'' see groups of magpies. Magpies don't. Magpies know they stand alone. ... There is only ''ever'' one for sorrow.'''
* NoShirtLongJacket: Hellstrom. "A guy's got a certain reputation", after all.
* RewritingReality: Loki created a chance to win against the Serpent by forging his biography. Not only did he need to get access to said book but [[spoiler:also required a special pen (the shadow of Surtur's sword), and ink (Leah's blood)]] to pull this stunt off.
* RunningGag: Daimon is never going to put on a shirt, Loki.
* ScrewDestiny: What kid Loki is trying to do in being a hero instead of a villain. [[spoiler: It's what adult Loki's trying, too, even though it is very heavily implied he is destined to fail.]]
* ShootTheShaggyDog: Despite everything he accomplished, the friends that he made and the respect and trust that he earned, kid Loki ends up being annihilated and replaced by old Loki with no one the wiser to his fate. Sure, he won in that he was good, but it still means nothing in the long run. [[MetaFiction Because status quo is God in mainstream superhero comic books.]]]]
* StableTimeloop: [[spoiler: the second Leah was sent back in time and became Hela.]]
* StatusQuoIsGod: Kid Loki ceases to exist and the original Loki comes back.
* TalkingToThemself: Loki and Ikol, since Ikol doesn't really exist in the physical world.]]
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: Everything always comes back to being Loki's fault.
* WalkingShirtlessScene: "Hellstrom! What's wrong? Do you need anything? A shirt perhaps?"
* WhamEpisode: Issue 641 [[spoiler: Leah's goodbye and Surtur being revealed behind the Manchester Gods that Loki just helped.]]
** Issue 643 [[spoiler: Leah is revealed to be the Leah that Loki wrote into the Serpent's story, and then Loki tells her that he's sick of being hated and mistrusted by the Asgardians, that he resents Thor for bringing him back to them, that he honestly is upset about what happened to Leah and wants to help her, and that he wants to let everyone burn in Surtur's fires. And ''then'' he dumps Thor into a lake of lava. It turned out later he hadn't really switched sides, but he still dumped Thor in the lava and (probably) wasn't even lying about most of what he told her.]]
* WhamLine:
** When the Herald of Surtur reveals their identity to the readers. [[spoiler: "Leah of Hel knows Loki's character better than her own."]]
** And a few issues later, from the same person no less: [[spoiler: "Ikol. The bird. You know he doesn't exist outside your head."]]
* WithFriendsLikeThese: Loki and Leah. In fact, he once figured out when someone was impersonating her due to the fake Leah being too nice.
* XanatosGambit: [[spoiler: Loki/Ikol's is kind of the most brilliant]]
* XanatosSpeedChess: How kid Loki and some of his enemies usually do battle.
* YouBastard: In the final panel of Gillen's run, Loki [[spoiler: looks directly at the reader while saying "Damn you all."]] This is very much in line with the book's {{Deconstruction}} of StatusQuoIsGod.
----
->"''You are not as wicked as they think."\\
"I'd have to try terribly hard to be '''that''' terrible.''"
-->-- Conversation between Thor and kid Loki.
A 2010 "revival" of Creator/MarvelComics's ''ComicBook/JourneyIntoMystery'' line by Creator/KieronGillen, who had previously written for ''ComicBook/TheMightyThor''. It began in 2011 and ran for 23 issues.
''ComicBook/FearItself'' looms across the Marvel Universe, and the fate of the universe seems to lie in Thor's trickster brother Loki, reincarnated into a child ("Kid Loki") following the events of ''ComicBook/{{Siege}}'', himself wrestling with his own morality and destiny.
After issue 645, the focus of the book shifted to the other Asgardians -- for tropes in this run, see ''ComicBook/JourneyIntoMysteryImmonen''. Kid Loki's story continued in ''ComicBook/YoungAvengers'''s second volume, also written by Gillen.
----
!!Tropes:
* AdmiringTheAbomination: When Loki releases [[spoiler: Surtur]], he makes sure to take a photo of him with his Starkphone.
* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: Leah makes no secret of her attraction to Daimon. Her reasoning is that ''everyone'' likes a bad boy.
** It includes Hel-Puppies too!
--> '''Kid Loki''': I'm a bad boy!
--> '''Leah''': Not ''actual'' boys.
* AlwaysSaveTheGirl: Surprisingly, Loki actually plays this trope straight for Leah. [[spoiler: Well, for Leah, at least]]
%%* AmnesiacsAreInnocent
* BelligerentSexualTension: Loki and Leah have a bit of this dynamic
* BigBad: First arc of Kid Loki's run starts with [[Comicbook/FearItself Serpent]] as BiggerBad and sets up Surtur and Mephisto for rest of the story. [[spoiler: Turns out they all were pawns of Old Loki]].
* BookEnds: Kid Loki's arc of the series begins and ends with a confrontation between old Loki and young Loki in the space hidden in the dot of the question mark.
** Also, the covers of Journey Into Mystery 623 and Journey Into Mystery 645 (the second and last issues of the run) are inversions of one another.
** Journey Into Mystery 622 starts with the line, "In the end, many of the answers ended up being 'Loki'." Journey Into Mystery 645 starts with the same phrase, only [[TheEndOfTheBeginning "the end" is replaced with "the beginning".]]
* BreakingTheFourthWall: At one point, Loki grabs the narration boxes and tears them up [[spoiler: but this is actually a subversion, as later it's revealed that the narrator of the story is an actual character in-story]].
** Loki also directly addresses the audience a few times in the last chapter.
%%* BreakTheCutie: UpToEleven.
* BrickJoke: Early in the run, there is a bit of narration that refers to Leah as Hela's left hand, in contrast to Tyr being Hela's right. [[spoiler: Turns out that she is ''literally'' Hela's hand, although the artists never seem to agree on whether it's her left or her right]]
** In ''Journey Into Mystery'' 625, Loki is dealing with the aftermath of bringing some dire news to Hela. When he recives worse news, he reports to her handmaiden Leah, who tells him he "already brought" dire news, so he corrects himself with "Dire-er news!" Almost at the end of the issue, he runs up to Hela and Mephisto, who are having Parley, and loudly declares "DIRE-EST NEWS!" and Hela looks exasperated.
* ButForMeItWasTuesday: In the recap of issue #632, Ikol and Loki are the ones in charge of giving a summary of past events in the series:
-->'''Ikol:''' What about Odin's brother, the Serpent, attempting to rule the world through fear itself? And Odin almost killing everyone to stop him?
-->'''Kid Loki:''' Fixed it. A Tuesday afternoon trifle.
* CentralTheme: Change is good. The new is good. [[spoiler: But this is a single run in a single series that is part of a huge mainstream comic continuity, so it's never going to last.]]
%%* ChekhovsGun: The Fear Crown
* ChekhovsGunman: [[spoiler: the Leah that Loki wrote into the Serpent's ''story'' in issue 629]]
** Also, [[spoiler: remember the Teller from the 626.1 issue that didn't seem to have anything to do with anything? Yeah, he's actually super important to the plot]]
%%* ChronicVillainy: [[spoiler: Old Loki / Ikol in the end]]
* ContinuityNod: Hela explicitly references the time she sent adult Loki into the past to engineer his own adoption.
* CreatingLifeIsUnforeseen: Loki wrote [[spoiler:Leah]] into the Serpent's biography, thus creating a copy of her accidentally.
* CreatorCameo: Gillen himself appears in one panel while Loki and Leah are meeting Daimon Hellstrom in a pub during the "Manchester Gods" arc.
%%* DiabolusExMachina: [[spoiler: The Teller, i.e. the narrator of our tale.]]
%%* DownerEnding: To kid Loki's story.
* EatTheEvidence: Facetiously suggested in the first issue.
-->'''Volstagg:''' I could ''eat'' Loki. There would be no evidence. A perfect crime!
* EtTuBrute: When [[spoiler: Thori]] betrays Loki, Loki gets pretty broken up about it.
* FacePalm: Leah slaps her hand across her face in frustration frequently around Loki.
%%* FakeDefector: Loki does this a few times.
* FateWorseThanDeath: [[spoiler: What happens to kid Loki in the end.]]
* {{Foil}}: Loki identifies quite a bit with the hel-puppy that he names Thori since they're both supposedly unalterably evil beings. The difference between them is [[spoiler: Thori loves being what he is and happily reverts to form the first chance he gets, while Loki does everything he can to avoid his fate.]]
* GainaxEnding: [[WordofGod Gillen]] had to post an explanation of what had happened in the ending on his tumblr, because at least half the fanbase didn't understand what had just occurred.
* GambitPileup: There are a variety of different factions competing against one another in Journey into Mystery.[[spoiler: However, this is notable as probably being one of the few cases where a character competes against HIMSELF. Which became his new status quo of questionable godliness after this series.]]
%%* GuileHero: Kid Loki.
* HeroicSacrifice: Subverted with [[spoiler: Thori]], played straight with [[spoiler: the Manchester Gods]] and later [[spoiler: kid Loki]]
* HeroicSuicide: [[spoiler: What Kid Loki does to save everyone from Mephisto]]
* HopeSpot: At the end of the Everything Burns crossover with The Mighty Thor, [[spoiler: they've succeeded in defeating Surtur, Loki's been definitively given Thor's trust, the Nine Realms know that it was Loki who saved them, Leah's back (sort of) and they're all going to live happily ever after. JUST KIDDING Mephisto has the Fear Crown and Loki has to annihilate himself to get rid of it.]]
** [[spoiler: Loki's "Damn me" on the final page could be seen as a hope spot. As far as character development goes, being able to admit that he is at fault is absolutely huge for Loki and it indicates that Kid Loki's final words have achieved something significant. Unfortunately he quickly follows it up with a more standard "Damn you all" indicating a return to his old self. Later series confirmed that: no, he didn't return to his old self, and is quite determined to ''not'' become like that again, for his misfortune many ''many'' people want him to.]]
%%* LittleMissSnarker: Leah
* MagpiesAsPortents: The magpie rhyme is an overarching theme - the run begins with a group of magpies on a quest through the Nine Realms after old Loki's death, and the remnant of evil Loki takes the form of a magpie to follow Loki around.
* MemoryGambit: Loki's reason for creating kid Loki via his resurrection without his memories in the first place. [[spoiler: He sets himself up with a new, baggage-free life in order to regain trust among those that wouldn't before for one of his own schemes that would allow 'him' to change, all the while setting things up to create a situation that would force kid Loki to take on his personality. Kid Loki claims victory in that he "dies" knowing he ''did'' change, while the original Loki setting up this scheme in the first place proves he never will. And it later turned out that the scheme resulted in a ''new'' Loki, who takes after both of them, but is neither of them. Shouldn't the guy be called Loki Lokison by this point?]]
* MetaFiction: Very much so.
--> '''Loki: We all know how this story ends.'''
* MoodWhiplash: This quote about sums it up:
-->'''Journey Into Mystery: A comedy in 30 parts (or a tragedy in 31)'''
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: This is Loki's reaction after seeing the [[spoiler: Manchester Gods]] working with Surtur.
** [[spoiler: After taking over his younger self's body, Loki's last lines in 645 of "Damn me." seem to imply this. Unfortunately, he follows it up with "[[WhamLine Damn you all]]." Later series confirmed that: Yes, he really does blame himself for this.]]
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: In the Everything Burns arc, everything that Loki did in the earlier arcs comes around to bite him in the ass. "My predicament has become ''terribly'' on the nose."
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Master Wilson, the leader of the Manchester Gods, is a fusion of famed Manchester music scene personality [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Wilson Tony Wilson]] and Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson.
* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: Every good thing Loki does ends up screwing him over down the line.
--> '''Ikol: ''Humans'' see groups of magpies. Magpies don't. Magpies know they stand alone. ... There is only ''ever'' one for sorrow.'''
* NoShirtLongJacket: Hellstrom. "A guy's got a certain reputation", after all.
* RewritingReality: Loki created a chance to win against the Serpent by forging his biography. Not only did he need to get access to said book but [[spoiler:also required a special pen (the shadow of Surtur's sword), and ink (Leah's blood)]] to pull this stunt off.
* RunningGag: Daimon is never going to put on a shirt, Loki.
* ScrewDestiny: What kid Loki is trying to do in being a hero instead of a villain. [[spoiler: It's what adult Loki's trying, too, even though it is very heavily implied he is destined to fail.]]
* ShootTheShaggyDog: Despite everything he accomplished, the friends that he made and the respect and trust that he earned, kid Loki ends up being annihilated and replaced by old Loki with no one the wiser to his fate. Sure, he won in that he was good, but it still means nothing in the long run. [[MetaFiction Because status quo is God in mainstream superhero comic books.]]]]
* StableTimeloop: [[spoiler: the second Leah was sent back in time and became Hela.]]
* StatusQuoIsGod: Kid Loki ceases to exist and the original Loki comes back.
* TalkingToThemself: Loki and Ikol, since Ikol doesn't really exist in the physical world.]]
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: Everything always comes back to being Loki's fault.
* WalkingShirtlessScene: "Hellstrom! What's wrong? Do you need anything? A shirt perhaps?"
* WhamEpisode: Issue 641 [[spoiler: Leah's goodbye and Surtur being revealed behind the Manchester Gods that Loki just helped.]]
** Issue 643 [[spoiler: Leah is revealed to be the Leah that Loki wrote into the Serpent's story, and then Loki tells her that he's sick of being hated and mistrusted by the Asgardians, that he resents Thor for bringing him back to them, that he honestly is upset about what happened to Leah and wants to help her, and that he wants to let everyone burn in Surtur's fires. And ''then'' he dumps Thor into a lake of lava. It turned out later he hadn't really switched sides, but he still dumped Thor in the lava and (probably) wasn't even lying about most of what he told her.]]
* WhamLine:
** When the Herald of Surtur reveals their identity to the readers. [[spoiler: "Leah of Hel knows Loki's character better than her own."]]
** And a few issues later, from the same person no less: [[spoiler: "Ikol. The bird. You know he doesn't exist outside your head."]]
* WithFriendsLikeThese: Loki and Leah. In fact, he once figured out when someone was impersonating her due to the fake Leah being too nice.
* XanatosGambit: [[spoiler: Loki/Ikol's is kind of the most brilliant]]
* XanatosSpeedChess: How kid Loki and some of his enemies usually do battle.
* YouBastard: In the final panel of Gillen's run, Loki [[spoiler: looks directly at the reader while saying "Damn you all."]] This is very much in line with the book's {{Deconstruction}} of StatusQuoIsGod.
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