IN: Loki is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee, scripter Larry Lieber, and penciller Jack Kirby, a version of the character first appeared in Venus #6 (August 1949). The modern day incarnation of Loki first appeared in Journey into Mystery #85 (October 1962). He is the adopted brother and often the enemy of the superhero Thor.

With the Asgardian population other than Thor still wary of Loki, Loki revealed to his brother that he was attempting to learn more about Earth and humans, to which Thor approves. When a magpie exploded in his quarters carrying a key, it led to a chain of events where at the end, Loki was contacted by an echo of his former incarnation, who revealed he chose to sacrifice himself fighting the Void as part of a greater plan which would involve his death and return. The child Loki refused to follow this path, wanting to be his own person, and transformed the spirit of his former self into a magpie named Ikol. On returning to Earth, he witnessed Odin striking down Thor.  Odin prepared all of Asgard for an unknown battle and imprisoned Thor for attempting to protect Midgard from being scoured. Loki, who disagreed with Odin's actions, was put to work by Volstagg into cleaning the stables of Thor's goats to keep him out of trouble and danger. Using the wool of one of the goats, Loki descended into the roots of the World Tree at the advice of Ikol to ask questions from the Nornish women who live there. After receiving his answers, Loki wept but decided to turn to the imprisoned Thor for his opinion before making his final decision. Breaking into the prison by stealth, Loki asked his brother what he would do if he had to let something bad happen in order to prevent something worse from happening and what if it cost him everything. With Thor's answer, Loki decided to free one of the imprisoned Hel Wolves and bind it to him in servitude using the bridle of Thor's goats. He revealed he needed help from one more 'personage' before heading for the realm of Hela.  Having recovered Thor's hammer after he was killed and erased from memory following the war against the Serpent, Loki was able to work with the Silver Surfer to restore the hammer to its natural state and send it to Thor in the afterlife, restoring his memory and allowing him to fight his way back into the realm of the living. After Thor's return, Ikol would afterwards reveal that circumstances had been manipulated to force the young Loki to allow his former personality to subsume him and live again, his former slate wiped clean by the "new" Loki's actions. During his adventures, the young Loki had inadvertently helped create and was tied to a powerful artifact that was about to be used by Mephisto to conquer all the Hells and ultimately everything. However, if the new Loki ceased to be, the artifact would lose all power. Seeing no other option, Loki allowed Ikol to become Loki again, ceasing to be, but he warned beforehand that the Ikol personality was incapable of true change and believed this older persona would ultimately be stopped by those who always stopped him before, his brother included.

Did she do it?

OUT: Using the wool of one of the goats, Loki descended into the roots of the World Tree


IN: A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects. The word derives from the Italian burlesco, which, in turn, is derived from the Italian burla - a joke, ridicule or mockery. Burlesque overlaps in meaning with caricature, parody and travesty, and, in its theatrical sense, with extravaganza, as presented during the Victorian era. "Burlesque" has been used in English in this literary and theatrical sense since the late 17th century.

The word first appears in a title in Francesco Berni's Opere burlesche of the early 16th century, works that had circulated widely in manuscript before they were printed. For a time, burlesque verses were known as poesie bernesca in his honour. 'Burlesque' as a literary term became widespread in 17th century Italy and France, and subsequently England, where it referred to a grotesque imitation of the dignified or pathetic. Shakespeare's Pyramus and Thisbe scene in Midsummer Night's Dream and the general mocking of romance in Beaumont and Fletcher's The Knight of the Burning Pestle were early examples of such imitation.  In 17th century Spain, playwright and poet Miguel de Cervantes ridiculed medieval romance in his many satirical works. Among Cervantes' works are Exemplary Novels and the Eight Comedies and Eight New Interludes published in 1615. The term burlesque has been applied retrospectively to works of Chaucer and Shakespeare and to the Graeco-Roman classics.  Burlesque was intentionally ridiculous in that it imitated several styles and combined imitations of certain authors and artists with absurd descriptions. In this, the term was often used interchangeably with "pastiche", "parody", and the 17th and 18th century genre of the "mock-heroic". Burlesque depended on the reader's (or listener's) knowledge of the subject to make its intended effect, and a high degree of literacy was taken for granted.  17th and 18th century burlesque was divided into two types: High burlesque refers to a burlesque imitation where a literary, elevated manner was applied to a commonplace or comically inappropriate subject matter as, for example, in the literary parody and the mock-heroic. One of the most commonly cited examples of high burlesque is Alexander Pope's "sly, knowing and courtly" The Rape of the Lock. Low burlesque applied an irreverent, mocking style to a serious subject; an example is Samuel Butler's poem Hudibras, which described the misadventures of a Puritan knight in satiric doggerel verse, using a colloquial idiom. Butler's addition to his comic poem of an ethical subtext made his caricatures into satire.  In more recent times, burlesque true to its literary origins is still performed in revues and sketches. Tom Stoppard's 1974 play Travesties is an example of a full-length play drawing on the burlesque tradition.

What started the development of burlesque?

OUT:
In 17th century Spain, playwright and poet Miguel de Cervantes ridiculed medieval romance in his many satirical works.