Old Man Logan #2 Recap/Review (Secret Wars Tie In)

Old Man Logan #2 Recap/Review – On the other side of the wall…

 

Old Man Logan #2 Comic Book Recap

Logan emerges on the other side of the wall.  He is shocked to find a version of New York City in ruins.   But before he can act, the man is stopped by a Thor, who informs Wolverine that what he is doing is forbidden, and should be impossible.  Logan asks why the woman is dressed like a dead man, but she has only one response.  She raises her hammer, and lightning comes down on Wolverine, vaporizing half his body in an instant.  Logan tumbles down to the other side of the wall, landing in a jungle.

[Related: Marvel’s Secret Wars 2015 Complete Reading Order Checklist]

He successfully manages to hide from the Thor until she leaves.  Logan goes to get some water, only for him to run into a tiger.  In spite of his pleas, the great cat attacks Wolverine, who is forced to defend himself.  Logan is frustrated, but before he can do anything else, Sabretooth, Horseman of the Apocalypse, emerges from the jungle.  The old enemies are both furious and confused to see one another, but their battle is interrupted when lightning strikes once again.

Logan looks on in shock, as the Age of Apocalypse version of the X-Men appears before him.  They rescue Logan, who they are surprised to see looks like their old ally Weapon X, except much older.  Before Wolverine can speak to them, he passes out.  Logan wakes up in a the Charles Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters.  He is telepathically told that he doesn’t need to fight here and that he is safe, but Logan is sceptical.  Emma Frost reveals herself.  Both mutants are baffled to see one another, as Logan just watched Emma die, while Emma is quite certain that she is alive and well.

She doesn’t understand Logan’s memories, but put him here in the X-Men’s old school, because this place was once a good memory for Wolverine.  But Logan’s memories make no sense – he remembers things that never happened and could never happen in this domain.  She wonders if what she is reading telepathically is the result of insanity, time travel, or cloning, and cannot seem to grasp the idea of other X-Men existing in other domains.  Logan is equally baffled, and can’t believe that the X-Men who he once killed are all alive and well.  He doesn’t understand the significance of all this either.

[Related: Marvel’s Secret Wars 2015 Complete Reading Order Checklist]

Suddenly, there is a massive explosion, and Apocalypse’s horsemen have arrived.  Magneto blames Logan for giving away their position, so Erik flings Logan clear out of their hiding place.  Outside, Logan sits in disbelief.  This can’t be real.  How could it be real?  But this doesn’t matter, for as he looks up, he sees none other than Apocalypse himself.

Old Man Logan #2 Comic Book Review

Hello and welcome to Comic Island!  My name is Arden, and this is my recap, and review, of Old Man Logan #2.

Oh man, this tie-in just keeps getting cooler and cooler.  Yeah, for an issue where not a lot of story really happens, I find myself really blown away by a fun comic overall.  For those of you confused, Logan crossed over the wall last issue, travelling from his home in the Wasteland to the Domain of Apocalypse a story that, unsurprisingly, is based of off the Age of Apocalypse timeline.

In doing so, we have learned a lot about Battleworld.  First, this confirms that most resident’s of Doom’s world have no idea that multiple versions of themselves exist over the different domains.  This also explains why travel is so restricted in Battleworld.  Second, we learn that Logan crossing borders is something most people, for whatever reason, should not be capable of doing.  The Thor in this story refers to this as being impossible.

So that is all very interesting, and it is cool seeing Wolverine and the X-Men trying to figure each other out.  I like how the tie-ins actually do a good job at showing different facets of Battleworld, as I honestly learned as much in this issue as I would in a core series Secret Wars title.  For example, while Logan is perfectly well aware that Doom is the one and only god that matters here on Battleworld, he apparently has no knowledge of the Thors.  But others characters do.  It seems like the mutants in particular are not treated well on Battleworld either, with most domains involving their subjugation and so on, so maybe the mutants lack of knowledge of the outside world reflects this.  I’m not sure what the story is here, but it seems that, for whatever reason, Doom has it out for the mutant race.  My guess is we will learn more about this in the future.

So that’s all well and good, and I feel this comic answers a lot of questions people have been asking me about Battleworld.  And as for this issue itself, well, it was, in my eyes, very well put together.  Like I said, from a story perspective, not a lot happens in this issue.  But everything I said in my review for issue one applies here.  Bendis is remarkably restrained when it comes to dialogue, the feeling of the original Old Man Logan story is nicely preserved, and the story feels dramatically heavy as would be appropriate for a story like this.  The art is also amazing in this comic, and it feels so surreal and vivid.  Look at some of these panels here.  They are so rich and well done, and that is consistent in pretty much every single page of this comic.  Now I admit, this art won’t be for everyone.  Just like the story, this is a comic that is very heavy on style, and if you don’t like that particular style, well then the tie-in has nothing to offer you.

[Related: Marvel’s Secret Wars 2015 Complete Reading Order Checklist]

But if you can buy into it like I can, well then this comic is really amazing and highly recommended.  I love the idea that the next leg of the story is going to take place in the Age of Apocalypse domain, and am eager to see what happens next.  Yeah, technically, there are mistakes here.  Like, Sabretooth is supposed to be a good guy in this story, and Emma Frost is supposed to be powerless, if I recall correctly.  So clearly there are aspects of the Domain of Apocalypse that do not correspond with the original Age of Apocalypse as I remember it.  But that shouldn’t bother you.  It certainly doesn’t bother me all that much, after all, this is a separate story with a different plot.  It doesn’t have to match any of the original content perfectly – just look at the Planet Hulk series.  So let me know what you think of all this in the comments section below.  And, as always, don’t forget to like, subscribe, and keep reading comics.