Loki is back in Nail Gaiman’s Norse Mythology #3 from Dark Horse Comics. And of course, all the other gods blame him for when everything goes horribly wrong. Regardless of whether it was actually his fault or not.

Warning: spoilers for Norse Mythology #3, so stop here if you plan on reading it. If you already know your actual Norse mythology though, you can keep going. You’re already spoiled, anyways.

Norse Mythology #3 boring cover.
Funnily enough, Thor isn’t even in this issue.

There’s actually no need for any recap in Norse Mythology #3. The story it begins is self-contained, and entirely separate from what happened in the previous issue. The only constant is Loki. And yes, Loki is at it again, although not for the reasons you think it is.

Norse Mythology #3: Thor’s Fault This Time

Norse Mythology #3 awesome cover.
The variant cover by David Mack, and arguably the better one.

This time, it’s actually Thor who’s the cause of Asgard’s problems, albeit indirectly. In this issue of Norse Mythology, he has actually run off somewhere to fight some trolls. His absence both delights the other gods, and terrifies them. The delight is from how peaceful it is in Asgard now. The terror is from how the strongest god in Asgard is now out to war, as it were. It’s kind of like a love-hate relationship here.

Which is probably why all the Asgardians decided to accept a random stranger’s offer to build a great big wall for them. The catch? He wants Freya’s hand in marriage (a bit problematic considering that she’s already married), and the Sun and Moon in the sky (very problematic for a bunch of reasons). The gods aren’t too happy about this, but thankfully, Loki proposes that they simply give the guy an impossibly short time to complete the wall, give him nothing for when he fails, and then complete the partially completed wall themselves, with at least some of the work done already.

What could possibly go wrong?
Answer: everything.

Well, turns out, the random builder guy is apparently Superman with a Superhorse. He builds the wall in record speed despite the gods only giving him a fraction of the build time he’d wanted. By the time he’s close to his deadline, he’s actually almost complete. The gods are both in despair and furious. And of course, they all blame Loki for it, despite the fact that they’d all agreed to the plan at the time. Thus, they give Loki the task of ensuring that the builder doesn’t complete the wall on time, or off with his head. Yeah, Loki keeps getting the short end of the stick here, doesn’t he?

Conclusion

All in all, Neil Gaiman’s Norse Mythology #3 from Dark Horse Comics is a very accurate and beautifully drawn depiction of this particular scene from the actual Norse mythology. All of you who are familiar with this story, you probably know what’s coming in the next issue. Hint: it involves a lot of hot horse-on-horse action. Yeah, I’ll just leave you and your imaginations at that.

Source: Dark Horse Comics