Writer: Mark Millar Penciler: Steve McNiven
On Fridays my reviews will have a flashback feel to them. In other words, I will take stories that are not current, but are worth talking about. I like to call it Flashback Fridays. To start my Flashback Fridays review, I am reviewing the storyline known as Old Man Logan.
Old Man Logan takes place in Wolverine issues #66-72 and the Giant-size one shot Old Man Logan In Old Man Logan, we find ourselves 50 years in the future. 50 years from the night the heroes fell and the villains took over. We first see a battle-damaged Wolverine, walking away from a fight; walking in the woods never to be seen again. Wolverine is dead, only Logan remains.
Logan has now taken a vowel of peace and will not give in to the animal known as Wolverine. He wants to live a life of peace and not violence. He has seen too many deaths in his lifetime and he has had enough. He is bullied by the Banner clan and yet he keeps the animal at bay. The Banners wanted their rent, but Logan didn’t have it so they took it out of his hide. Logan just let them beat him. While he is recovering from his wounds, an old friend comes by to offer him a job. That friend is Hawkeye and the job is to help him deliver a package.
Logan takes the job but reminds Hawkeye he will not use the claws. Well, the go on their journey and come across a gang known as the Ghost Riders, they fight the Kingpin and his men as well as the new Kingpin, they escape only to fall into the earth with carnivorous mole men, and barely escape with their lives. After all this occurs, they take time to breathe a little and Hawkeye asks Logan why did he walk away 50 years ago. Logan says because he was a beaten man. He tells Hawkeye the story about how a group of villains ambushed him at the X-men. He held off the villains while the children left the school. He sliced and diced and when he was done they were all dead. Only thing is, he killed all the X-men. Mysterio got into his head and made him think he was being attacked when truthfully, he was killing his friends. That broke Logan, and he walked away.
Well, when day broke they got back on the road and ran into a few bumps in the road but they made it to the delivery point. Bad thing is they were double crossed and both men were shot several times. Hawkeye is dead, and Logan is believed to be dead. The shooters take the bodies to their boss and that is when they found out that Logan was very much alive. He killed them all without using his claws. How bad ass is that?
Anyway, Logan makes his way back home only to find that the Banners had killed his family anyway. When the neighbors try to calm him down, the claws came out. Simply put, Logan is dead and Wolverine lives. He goes after every Banner until they are all dead. The story doesn’t end there though. We see Wolverine thinking about getting a group of heroes together to take on the villains that now rule the world, who knows there just may be a sequel.
I know I left things out of my review but that is because there are just too many good things in this book. I did not want to give a way too much because I want you to be shocked like I was. If you are a true Wolverine fan, you will enjoy this book. Hell, even if you are not a fan of Wolverine, you will enjoy this book. It is written that well. Mark Millar is a genius!
