My favorite Wolverine series of all time is Mark Millar and Steve McNiven’s Old Man Logan. With the new ridiculous Secret Wars event from Marvel that sees all of the universes collide in a frenzy of silliness, apparently Old Man Logan is coming along for the ride.
I like my Marvel runs short, sweet and not bogged down by the thousands of other tie-ins that you have to read in order to understand what the hell is going on. I loved the initial Old Man Logan run because you could read it without having to pick up a thousand other issues from series I couldn’t give two shits about. Now before I rant anymore on this, I will say that Old Man Logan from Brian Michael Bendis and Andrea Sorrentino looks amazing even though it is quite the departure appearance-wise from its predecessor. There was only one time that I had trouble following the action because I’m not a big fan of close-up panels that only show one hand or foot in order to convey chaos. I prefer the larger money shots and Sorrentino delivers a couple big ones in the opening pages which I loved.
The problem with a sequel to Old Man Logan is coming up with a story that is just as captivating and I’m not sure what that’s going to look like. In the initial run, Logan was trying to protect his family and I was invested in that mission. In the sequel, all we know is that Ultron’s head falls out of the sky and Logan is investigating why while returning to his hero roots and killing thugs. Do you know why Ultron’s head popped off? I sure as shit don’t but I’m assuming it has something to do with what happened simultaneously in a hundred other Marvel books that have ‘Secret Wars’ or whatever tacked onto the front. I could also be horribly wrong too and maybe this is a new mystery for this series alone, but if that’s the case I’m not sure having a ‘mystery’ is a good jumping off point from a series that was built on vengeance and redemption as major themes.
I’m not sure I dig the ‘Warriors’ aspect of the Old Man Logan universe either. In the first series we had the Ghost Riders (a biker gang dressed up like the hero) and already in the new run we get a bunch of meth-head Daredevils AND a violent pack of Punishers. Give me actual villains – I heard that this world should have a ton of them since they wiped out most of the heroes.
The star of Old Man Logan #1 is Sorrentino because his style is fantastic and really makes this series pop as a Western. That’s what Old Man Logan should be – a post apocalyptic Western. The use of reds from colorist Marcelo Maiolo is brilliant and truly sets the correct feel for this new version of Old Man Logan. I should probably calm down because I know there is more in store for this sequel; I just have little patience and no time to embrace a giant cross-over event like Secret Wars. Old Man Logan #1 is a set-up issue that looks gorgeous but I’m not sure I’ll be as invested this time around. Yet…