The Old Man Made Me Cry
I haven't read comics seriously since the Age of Apocalypse story arc, and the last comics I tried to follow were the Civil War ones. I had just gotten paid one day in May 2010, so I decided to drop by a comic book shop in Virginia Beach. To my delightful surprise, comic book writer Mike Federali was digging through the bargain bins and I recognized him. I explained to him that I fell into a comic book coma of sorts, and I just came to 15 years later. I needed to be caught up with what's going on. Federali gladly volunteered his services and asked me what my interests were. I told him that I like dystopian future concepts like the "Mad Max Beyond the Thunderdome" and "Blood of Heroes" movies, my favorite character is Hulk, and I grew up reading and watching the X-Men. He spent over 20 minutes pulling must-read books and trades for me, and then put the icing on the cake with the over-sized " Wolverine: Old Man Logan" hardcover. I was grateful that the story arc was set over 50 years in the future because I didn't have to do any extra research on continuity that I might have missed in my absence from the Marvel universe. The front and back flaps to the hardback's cover gave me a good idea of what is going on in the story with their plot summary, and further insight into the creators of the story. Since I knew the events that had transpired in the Civil War, and I loved the work that the dynamic duo of Mark Millar and Steve McNiven dished out, I figured that I'd think that Old Man Logan would be decent. Boy, was I in for a surprise!
The first chapter of the story started with a perfect first page. It gave the back story (or future story... however you wanna state it) of the superheroes of the world falling and the evil bad guys rising to power. What was different is that the bad guys actually held that power -- they finally beat the good guys! McNiven's beautiful blend of sequential art in the panels and visage of full page art (which is extra awesome in this over-sized collection) complimented Millar's painting with his words. I was hooked from page one! The next thing I did was turn the page. Wow... Federali hit it on the head when he matched a book to my interest in post-apocalyptic futures. In the next pages, the creative duo introduced me to the old puss Logan -- the same man that used to be the once feral Wolverine. They continue to torture my curiosity when the Hulk Gang comes looking for Logan and his family's overdue rent. Logan pops his claws for the first time in nearly 50 years, and my jaw dropped. Not even recovered from that, I'm hit with another surprise - the man who once donned the mantle of Hawkeye is now blind. How the heck did he survive and nobody else?! McNiven drops another bomb in his depiction the route the two have to travel across the United States, now split into 6 main territories. I was shocked to read "The Kingdom of the Kingpin (formerly the Domain of Magneto)." What happened?!
Wow, all that was only the first chapter?! I couldn't stop reading... One of my favorite panel sequences is when the blind Clint Barton drives the Spider-Buggy off a cliff and laughs like a little kid on a roller coaster while his passenger Logan looks like he just soiled his pants. More surprises... Ghost Riders, Mole People, Logan's flashbacks of the villains breaking him 50 years ago... The first one-panel depiction of Logan's traumatic event had Omega Red choking Wolverine with his tendrils and Mister Sinister, Sabretooth, and another villain about to gut him. Seeing McNiven's page of the people praying at a shrine stopped my heart for a second. I had to take a break and let my imagination run rampant for a couple of minutes when I thought about what happened at " Hammer Falls." Ultron threw me for another loop, then the creative duo left me with a cliffhanger at the end of the second chapter!
My eyes teared up when I found out what happened to Wolverine 50 years ago. I laughed my butt off when I found out about the origins of the Hulk Gang. If you're simply familiar with basic Marvel continuity, you should have no trouble following this story. If you're a long-time Marvelite, you will experience a full range of memories, thoughts, and emotions. I'm not going to spoil any more of the story because it's a non-stop page-turner! I was delighted to see that the back section of the book was filled with variant covers and original concepts and pencils. After reading this trade, I had a sense of epic win run through my entire being. I feel confident to say that this is the best Marvel story of 2009 and pretty much pwns all. If you haven't yet, do yourself a favor and read the giant-sized "Wolverine: Old Man Logan."
'Nuff said, bub!
