Old Man Logan #1 Comic Book Recap/Review

Old Man Logan #1 Recap/Review – Liberty (Secret Wars Tie-In)

 

Old Man Logan #1 Recap

The multiverse was destroyed.  Now, all that remains… is Battleworld.  A massive, patchwork planet composed of the fragments of worlds that no longer exist, maintained by the iron will of its god and master, Victor Von Doom.  Each region is a domain unto itself!  Among these domains is one left decimated by a war between it’s heroes and villains.  In this barren wasteland walks a shadow from the past, a man known as…

Our story begins with New Vegas, built on the ruins of the old city and among the wreckage of old SHIELD helicarriers.  Two men dressed as Daredevil are discussing business over a poker game with their boss, a man going by the name Gladiator, who wears one of Iron Man’s old helmets.  They talk about how the entire Hulk gang has disappeared.  Rumour has it that one man took them out all by himself.

When Gladiator demands to know who could do this, Logan enters the room and takes credit.  He says that Gladiator is stealing and selling children, and it’s time for him to stop.  When Wolverine taunts the gang members, they attack Logan, and… well, the obvious happens.  Pretty soon the entire gang, who are all dressed as the Daredevil, are wiped out – save for one member.  Logan asks why he wears Matt Murdocks old outfit, but the criminal doesn’t even know the significance of the costume.  Frustrated, Logan impales his victim.

[Related: Click Here For More Marvel’s Secret Wars 2015 Complete Reading Order Checklist]

Some of the young women under Gladiator’s captivity ask what they are supposed to do now, but Logan simply says they are free.  Wolverine is then shot in the face by a young man who claims to be the son of Gladiator.  Logan is sympathetic and assures the kid that he just did the young man a huge favour, but his attacker is hostile and swears he will get revenge on Wolverine one day.  The rest of the community is also unmoved by Logan “freeing” them, as it is clear none of them remember a time when the world wasn’t broken.

Realizing this, Wolverine leaves them with one final sentiment – it doesn’t have to be like this.  He will be back.  And if things aren’t better… he will burn New Vegas to the ground…

Travelling across the desert Wasteland, Logan comes across an all too familiar head.  The Ultron remains are inactive, and there is nothing else of interest in the area.  Logan takes the head home, where he is greeted by his babysitter, a young woman named Danielle.  She says the baby Hulk is doing well, and he seems to have some affection for Logan.  Dani asks about the Ultron head, and Logan says it is something he’s going to have to figure out.  Hopefully the Thors already took care of this, as it is unlikely this Ultron head came from the Wasteland.

Wolverine leaves to investigate this and talk to the only other functioning Ultron model he knows of over in Hammer Falls.  He leaves some money and food behind for Dani, who is revealed to be the daughter of Luke Cage and Jessica Jones.

It does not take long for Logan to get to Hammer Falls, but the mutant is disturbed to find this once busy city is completely empty.  He finds one person alive, and is greeted by a young Jean Grey.  Logan sees through this illusion immediately, and tells Emma Frost to cut it out.  She reveals herself, but Logan says this still isn’t the real her.  Emma creates illusions of her younger self, and insists on continuing to do so.  After all, a lady has her pride, and her ageing process isn’t slowed down by any healing factor like Logan.

Emma explains she is here because with the Kingpin and the Hulk clans dead, a power vacuum is opening up in the Wasteland.  But she wasn’t the only person interested in this place, and a gang called the Punishers also came to Hammer Falls.  They slaughtered everyone, including Tonya and Ultron-8.  Whatever answers Logan came for here are long dead.  Emma tried to stop them but her psychic powers aren’t what they used to be, and only served to throw the gang into a blind fury.

[Related: Click Here For More Marvel’s Secret Wars 2015 Complete Reading Order Checklist]

Wolverine is still interested in the Ultron head, which both mutants are quite certain came from another domain of Battleworld.  Emma says that the other parts of the world on the other side of the walls are not their problem – that’s Doom’s job, but Logan is still unsettled.  He asks for the mutant’s help – but it is too late for her.  She reveals her true appearance – as that of an elderly woman who was badly wounded by the Punishers.  Logan comforts his former teammate and watches her die.  He leaves his hat behind out of respect, and sets out onto the desert wasteland once more.

He comes across one of the walls, and thinks on what Emma told him.  Logan tried to live out the rest of his days in peace once.  It didn’t take.  He begins to scale the walls.

Old Man Logan #1 Review

Hello and welcome to Comic Island!  My name is Arden, and this is my recap, and review, of Old Man Logan #1.

So after I did the Old Man Logan complete story, it felt like a pretty good set-up to cover this tie-in for Secret Wars.  After all, I happen to like Old Man Logan for what it was – a crazy Western road trip with some phenomenal art and pretty interesting ideas.  So maybe this new story could add something new or fascinating to this universe, and I was pretty excited for this issue.  Who wrote this thing anyway?

Oh… no…. no, no, no, no… well, okay, when I found out Bendis was writing this thing, I’m not going to pretend I wasn’t a little worried.  The writer of the first volume of Old Man Logan was Mark Millar, a crazy, off-the-walls author who has a focus on brutal action and a strong sense of nihilism.  Bendis, on the other hand, tends to be a lot more grounded and focused on character driven dialogue.  So I was a little concerned that Marvel gave Bendis the wrong project with Old Man Logan – I like Brian Micheal Bendis well enough, but I just wasn’t sure he’d be a good fit for a crazy story like Old Man Logan.

So you can imagine how pleased I was to find that I really liked Old Man Logan #1.  Bendis did a great job writing this story, and thankfully shows a lot of restraint with his dialogue.  He’s adapted to this story’s setting quite nicely and did a good job making the story feel like a real continuation of the Old Man Logan story.  There’s lots of quiet moments where he lets the story’s art do all the talking, and the artist – Andrea Sorrentino – does a truly amazing job at this with her artwork.

[Related: Click Here For More Marvel’s Secret Wars 2015 Complete Reading Order Checklist]

Her style is quite different from the original Old Man Logan, which was masterfully done by legendary artist Steve McNiven.  Unlike McNiven, whose art was very well defined and detailed,  Sorrentino’s art is much more surreal and stylised.  But both these artists capture a certain… vividness that fits with the atmosphere of Old Man Logan.

It’s quite remarkable, actually.  In every way, this story feels like a natural continuation of Old Man Logan, picking up right where the original story left off, and capturing the tone and feel of the first story quite nicely.  But, and this is the most impressive part, this volume of Old Man Logan, thus far, also feels unique and suitably different from the original story.  And that’s what I find so great about this story.  So far the Secret Wars Old Man Logan feels like the perfect sequel – keeping the plot and the tone similar to the original, while also being distinct enough that it isn’t just telling the same story all over again.  It’s a tough tightrope for a sequel to walk and one that all too often winds up with the plot teetering off the metaphorical edge in one direction or another, but this creative team achieves this feat easily, and in the end, I find myself really impressed.

So yes, I recommend you check out Old Man Logan #1 for yourself.  Even if you didn’t like the first Old Man Logan, this volume seems quite promising and I’m looking forward to seeing what happens to Logan next.  It will be really, really cool if he winds up spending the rest of this miniseries exploring other domains of Battleworld.  This is a dark character with a brutal past, and I’d love to see how he interacts with others in the Marvel Universe.  So I’ll be sure to see you all for issue two, which I await quite eagerly.