Marvel Announces ‘Thor & Loki: Blood Brothers’

At the Marvel: What's Next: Welcome to the Digital House of Ideas panel, the publisher debuted a brand new trailer for their latest motion comic, Produced in concert with animation studio Magnetic Dreams, "Thor & Loki: Blood Brothers." Timed to coincide with the "Thor" movie, the new motion comic will be released on April 2011.

Panelists John Dokes, John Cerilli, and Ryan"Agent_M" Penagos, emphasized that each new motion comic has been a testing ground to examine how fans read comics and what the best ways to turn comics page into something exciting to see in a motion comic are. Marvel's also debuting a new method of animation in "Thor & Loki," and they say that it allows for much more movement and dynamic action than most motion comics have had so far."Thor & Loki: Blood Brothers" is based on Robert Rodi and Esad Ribic's 2004 miniseries "Loki;" This fully-painted series took a different route than most stories about Thor. Rather than being cast as the villain of the series, "Loki" explored Marvel's Asgardian mythology from the trickster's point of view. He was a sad and melancholy character, and demonstrated a depth of character rarely seen in his usual appearances.

Releasing "Thor & Loki" in 2011 is an obvious move, given the proximity of the "Thor" film. Considering the take on Loki in the book, this may prove to be an inspired tie-in to the movie, especially if Loki is the big bad guy at the end. The teaser trailer is a San Diego Comic-Con exclusive, but there's a chance that it may end up online at some point, so stay tuned.