Wolverine: Old Man Logan #1

Since returning to the world of comic books I have read almost universal praise for this story arc but have myself only just recently read "Old Man Logan". I weighed my love for "Superman: Red Son" against my disdain for "Marvel Civil War" (the only two Mark Millar-penned stories I am familiar with), factoring in my love for future stories and What If’s, and finally relinquished the requisite $29.99 to my local comic book shop before sitting down and reading this in a single sitting. I went in happily unspoiled as to the contents prior to reading, knowing only that this was set in a dystopian alternate future in which the villains had somehow defeated the heroes, Wolverine was an old man and that it had a kind of western vibe.

Before coming to my grievances, let me first state that I loved this premise and setting of this book. I also immensely enjoyed the story itself almost all the way through.

Old Man Logan is set 50 years into an alternate future (that I assume diverged from the mainstream Marvel universe) in which Logan is one of very few super heroes to have survived what looks to be an Acts of Vengeance style uprising of super villains. Since the “day the heroes fell” Amerika (and I presume the rest of the world) has been carved up into regions run by different super villains. Logan has retired the Wolverine and become a pacifist following an unknown incident having to do with the extermination of the super heroes, settling with a wife and two children on a farm in Sacramento. The area of California inhabited by Logan (Hulkland) falls under the jurisdiction of Bruce Banner’s descendants, who after decades of inbreeding amongst themselves are a clan of amoral savage hillbillies.

One day Logan is unable to make rent when the Hulk boys come collecting. After administering a brutal beating unto Logan, who refuses to defend himself, the cousin-lovin’ landlords threaten the former X-Man’s family if he does not pay double in thirty days. This, fortuitously, coincides with a visit from an aged and blind Hawkeye, who offers to ease Logan’s financial worries if he will join him on a journey across the country, through the domains of various villains, to deliver a mysterious package. Logan agrees to accompany Hawkeye but insists he will not commit any acts of violence.

The tale that follows this introduction is an exploration of Logan as his Wolverine persona slowly reasserts itself, a very dark and probably excessively violent adventure and an exhibition of the various features of the future Amerika. Hawkeye acts as a sort of tour guide for the reader (as well as for Logan, who has maintained an isolationist stance with his head planted firmly in the soil of his farm and therefore knows little about the fate of the rest his country) while at the same time we begin to form a picture of the events that twisted both Wolverine and Amerika into their current states. I found most of this to be a fantastic if somewhat gloomy ride, compulsively turning the pages to see what happened next, each chapter intensifying toward the ultraviolent conclusion. Then came the final issue, at which point the story takes an ugly turn that I did not care for at all, nearly all of which involves Millar's excremental characterization of Bruce Banner and the Hulk.

But before coming to the end let me just geek out for a moment regarding what I felt were the most interesting parts of this book for me...

First, Steve McNiven's artwork is gorgeous throughout the book. His characters are remarkably consistent from panel to panel, the action is clear and easy to follow, the gore effects are amazingly visceral and jump off the page. The whole look of the book is very cinematic and many of the fantastic reveals utilize incredible two page spreads that satisfy immensely. For such an ugly story the art is simply beautiful.

NO JOKE, READ NO FURTHER IF YOU'VE NOT READ "OLD MAN LOGAN" BECAUSE I AM ABOUT TO SPOIL THE HELL OUT OF IT!

Chapter One sets the stage for the events to follow, and while I'm not the first to point out that the premise is nearly identical to that of Clint Eastwood's "Unforgiven" but dressed up as a superhero story, this is not necessarily a complaint. The reader is teased with the mystery of Wolverine's "retirement" and the general air of menace permeating this world is established. I'm not sure why Hawkeye was chosen to be Logan's companion in this tale; perhaps his non-superhuman status is the reason (this is touched on in the book), but I did enjoy his characterization, unfamiliar as I am with Clint Barton in general.

It is a treat to see that the Fantasticar (though ghettofied) and the Spidermobile have survived into the future.

The introduction of the red, or rather green-neck Banner clan left me with many questions, none of which are anwsered to my liking later, but I enjoyed them a lot at this point in the story.

In Chapter Two we learn that the Moloids have been sinking the cities of man, which is great, but I don't know if we are supposed to take Hawkeye's claim that they are a way for Earth to control its human population as truth or simply his opinion; I prefer the latter, as the former seems pretty silly.

We meet the Ghost Riders and learn that Logan is not bluffing when he says he will not fight.

Hammer Falls, where Mjolnir has rested since the villains prevailed, being worshipped by people praying for the return of superheroes to the world, is a nice touch.

We also get to meet Peter Parker's granddaughter who we learn, after having had a child with Hawkeye years ago (his aim was true, the cradle-robber) is now shacked up with Ultron Eight! Yikes.

Here begins an interlude that seems like so much padding and takes shape in Chapter Three. Ashley, Hawkeye's daughter and Spiderman's great granddaughter, has gone to Fisk Lake City as ostensibly to defeat the new Kingpin of Crime with her newly formed superhero team comprised of her as Spiderwoman alongside her friends who have adopted the identities of the Punisher and Daredevil. The team is easily put down and captured by the Kingpin, who makes them fight each other in gladatorial combat, and Logan reluctantly agrees to help Hawkeye rescue Ashley. Ashley, however, is actually out to take over Kingpin's territory. She kills Kingpin and betrays her father, who is rescued by Logan at the beginning of the next chapter. This is all rather pointless except to say that it does nicely forshadow the S.H.I.E.L.D. bust that occurs in Chapter 6.

For my money the best part of this chapter is the moment when our "heroes" utterly disregard the plight of the Cedar City man who has climbed atop a church steeple to avoid the Moloid's consumption of the town. I thought Hawkeye wanted to help people?

After Chapter Four addresses Chapter Three's cliffhanger and Logan and Hawkeye escape from Ashley we move on from this diversion, which seems to exist solely so Logan is compelled to do something heroic, beginning his transformation back into the Wolverine. The pair manage to escape Ashley's pursuing underlings when Moloids collapse the earth and everyone involved finds themselves below ground to be feasted on by the subterranean cannibals...everyone but our protagonists, that is.

They return to the surface and we are then told by Hawkeye about how dinosaurs were imported from the Savage Land to the U.S. as upscale pets that were eventually abandoned and now roam the countryside; Hawkeye even apparently has some Dinosaur Repellent Spray (Batman 66 anyone?) to keep the depressing duo safe (perhaps this same spray is effective against the Moloids, who inexplicably refrained from devouring Barton and Logan).

While passing through Electroville, near the border of Wyoming and Colorado, and in one of the best WTF moments in the whole book, we see the giant corpse of Loki buried beneath the remains of the Baxter Building. Just imagine for a moment the insane scope of a battle in which an entire skyscaper is flung over 1000 miles! Big grins from me while reading this part.

Another great two page spread shows us Mount Rushmore, modified since the villains victory to include the chilling visage of President Red Skull, beneath which Hawkeye teases a sequel to "Old Man Logan" by casually mentioning that no one knows exactly what became of Reed and Sue Richards of the Fantastic Four...they may still be around, preparing to save the world yet again.

The chapter ends with Logan nearly attacking a civilian that was making fun of he and Hawkeye in a bar before storming outside and being asked point blank by Barton what it was that finally broke Wolverine.

Chapter Five opens with Logan recounting his memories of the final battle between the heroes and villains to Hawkeye. We learn that it was Wolverine himself who is responsible for murdering the entirety of the X-Men while under the influence of Mysterio, who made it appear to Wolverine as if his comrades were super villains. This incredibly graphic and powerful scene is followed by Logan trying to commit suicide by lying his head on railroad tracks and allowing a freight train to crush his skull, but his attempt ultimately fails due to his healing factor. All of this justifies in a completely satisfying if soul crushing way Logan's decision to never "pop his claws" again. Very well done.

This heaviness is lightened somewhat by a fun encounter at Dwight’s Toll bridge where the pair must pay a young boy in Henry Pym’s Ant-Man helmet a whopping eighty cents for the privilege of crossing lest they be devoured by ants.

That menace averted the end of the issue finds Logan and Hawkeye being pursued by a Tyrannosaurus Rex under the possession of the Venom symbiote.

In Chapter Six Logan and Hawkeye are rescued from Venomsaurus Rex when Black Bolt gently whispers at the beast. The three are then teleported to the Forbidden Quarter where they learn that Emma Frost dwells with the last remaining mutants. It is revealed that the White Queen married Dr. Doom in order to save both herself and what remained of mutantkind.

Back on the road following this encounter Logan and Hawkeye reach what should have been called Pym Cross but was instead referred to as Pym Falls. This is one of my favorite reveals, in which a two page spread shows us the massive decomposing skeleton of Giant-Man lying across the road. Absolutely amazing! This is only diminished slightly by the fact that we already saw “Hammer Falls” earlier in the book and this is very similar. Why they didn’t call it Pym Cross (as it is labeled on the map) I cannot fathom.

We then see, as our heroes reach New Babylon, an awesome monument to the Red Skull, a huge statue of the current POTUS with the struggling Avengers in the palm of his hand.

In New Babylon the intended recipients of Hawkeye’s mysterious contraband await their delivery. It is revealed that the package contained 99 vials of Super Soldier serum and that Hawkeye was delivering it under the pretext that it would be used to create a new team of super heroes; also, Hawkeye wants a vial for himself and a spot on the team.

This is not to be, however, as the recipients are in truth undercover S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives under the command of the Red Skull administration and this whole thing has been a government sting. The issue concludes with both Hawkeye and Logan gunned down.

Chapter Seven opens with a flashback of the Red Skull gleefully murdering Captain America and then catches us up to the present with the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents delivering the bodies of Logan and Barton to their Commander in Chief along with the Super Soldier serum and the money promised for the delivery. He awaits them in his trophy room which is adorned with various mementos of long defeated super heroes (Not unlike, no scratch that, exactly like the mementos of Rick Jones in “Hulk: Future Imperfect”).

Obviously Logan heals and awakens and a fight commences between he and the Red Skull. In another moment very reminiscent of “Future Imperfect” Logan blocks a potentially lethal blow from the Red Skull with Captain America’s vibranium shield; he follows this by decapitating his opponents head with the same shield.

As S.H.I.E.L.D. agents begin storming the building Logan escapes with the use of Iron Man’s suit, which he learns how to use remarkably, perhaps unbelievably quickly. He then flies home with his money to find that his family has been murdered by the Banner clan; it seems they got bored waiting the full month for Logan’s rent and came around two weeks early while he was away.

This chapter concludes with Wolverine’s re-emergence; Logan, in a quiet rage, extends his claws with a dramatic SNIKT and prepares for revenge.

So far so good, right? Up to this point I would say this is a five star book.

Now we come to the Final Chapter, which is basically one long and bloody battle between the renewed and vengeful Wolverine and the entire Banner clan. One by one Logan stalks and kills each of the gamma powered good ole boys, beginning with the ones that murdered his family. He steals the Fantasticar from them and crashes it into Banner’s Lair (trailer park) with a bomb on board. At last he comes face to face with Pappy Bruce Banner hisself, who has been waiting for him. The two begin to fight, Banner even in his human form giving Wolverine a run for his money. Bruce says that his entire clan of inbred descendants began with the incestuous union of he and his cousin, She-Hulk Jennifer Walters. Wolverine strikes a brutal blow and Banner transforms into a monstrous cannibalistic Hulk, who proceeds to savagely devour the former X-Man.

Hours later Billy-Bob Banner returns home to find that the Hulk has a tummy ache as he sits alone with baby Bruce Banner. Before the eyes of this cross-eyed descendant the Hulk doubles over in agony before Wolverine, his healing factor having prevented his being digested by Banner, slices him open from the inside and climbs out from his innards. He leaves the mess that was the Hulk’s body behind and takes baby Bruce with him. We don’t see the Hulk again, but I assume it goes without saying that he is not dead as a result of his own healing factor.

Following the burial of his family Wolverine, with baby Bruce strapped to his back, rides into the sun intent on taking down the remaining super villains.

This entire issue left me with a bad taste in my mouth. While I thought little of Bruce’s offspring interbreeding with one another this treatment of Bruce Banner himself is unforgivable. I can buy his aligning himself with the villains as he has historically walked the line between hero and monster. I can buy Banner being as strong as Wolverine while in human form after all this time. I cannot, however, accept that one of the most intelligent people in the Marvel universe has degenerated into a cousin lovin’ hillbilly cannibal; or for that matter that the intelligent and reasonably well adjusted attorney at law Jennifer Walters would bed her cousin Bruce.

Millar tries to justify this with two dropped lines. Banner mentions that it has been said of him that the radiation sickness affected his mind. I suppose this is a possibility. He also says that She-Hulk was the “only woman out there who could take the pace” of his sexual aggression. I’m not sure how valid this is seeing as how the Hulk has been with human women in the past (I don’t recall Marlo Chandler ever bemoaning having to have sex with Joe Fixit) but perhaps his sexual proclivities have darkened significantly since then?

This whole episode with the Hulk is, though beautifully illustrated, conceptually very ugly. Millar must be fascinated by deviant sexual practices (Hawkeye on Tonya Parker, Ultron Eight on Tonya Parker, Bruce Banner on Jennifer Walters, Banner on Banner) if this book is anything to judge by! Were it any other hero (or perhaps it could have been a villain) I might not be so turned off, so to speak, by this characterization; but I cannot abide this degrading treatment of Banner, who is easily my favorite character in the Marvel universe. After reading this I am tempted to propose that Millar should be prohibited from publishing stories involving the Hulk ever again. He’s obviously read the Hulk (at the very least Future Imperfect which is an obvious influence on this). What happened?

A friend of mine said that it does not matter as this is an alternate universe and not canonical so we do not know what Banner was like before the fall of the heroes. Nevertheless, there is nothing I found to indicate that this is an entirely alternate universe, but merely an alternate future that diverged from the Earth-616 universe (like “The Hulk: The End”, “Superman: Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow”, “X-Men Days of Future Past”, etc.). Perhaps this is meant to take place in the Ultimate universe, since Ultimate Hulk has demonstrated cannibalistic (if not incestuous) tendencies.

But I’ve done enough harping on that. It is really the only thing that I did not enjoy about this arc. Otherwise this book is pretty crazy (in a good way) and a thrilling read that I would recommend heartily to anyone not overly sensitive about how the Hulk is portrayed. I love the characterization of Wolverine in this book and it makes me want to read Millar’s “Enemy of the State” arc at some point in the future. I would also be receptive to a sequel to this story detailing the further adventures of Wolverine and baby Bruce (and the fate of Pappy Banner) or a prequel to flesh out the events that transpired prior to the beginning of “Old Man Logan”.

Maybe Rick Jones discovers the Red Skull’s trophy room and steals all the superhuman artifacts to place in his own museum in “Future Imperfect”. And maybe the Hulk of “Old Man Logan” is already halfway to becoming the Maestro and this is why his behavior seems so depraved (“Old Man Logan” is set 50 years into the future and “Future Imperfect” is set 90 years into the future). Perhaps this whole tale is a prequel to “Future Imperfect”. There. In my head this is now ret-conned to my satisfaction.

Four stars. Read this today!