Old Man Logan #2

By Jeff Lemire, Andrea Sorrentino and Marcel Maiolo

One of the biggest characters to survive Secret Wars was an older, alternate version of Wolverine known as Old Man Logan. He passed through several Battleworld zones and eventually found his way into the new Marvel Universe. After joining the Extraordinary X-Men, he also found some down time to take out all those who wronged him in his own timeline. His own series, simply titled Old Man Logan, had a good introductory issue, but in today’s comics, readers want consistency and quality. One good issue won’t cut it any more.

Jeff Lemire has been doing double duty on this character, he writes him here, as well as in Extraordinary X-Men. This issue builds off of the strong showing from last month. Lemire continues to give us panels from both of Logan’s timelines. This is effective in building up why these people are on his kill list to begin with, and also helps new readers who are unfamiliar with Old Man Logan. The fight with Amadeus Cho is very interesting. Lemire gives us an internal monologue the entire issue, so we get to see him go back and forth over whether or not he thinks this is Banner or not. We get to witness Logan realize that things are different in this world, and things he thought he knew are no longer true. Lemire also writes Amadeus Cho very well this issue. He comes off as very friendly and is even willing to help Logan, if he stops stabbing him. The characterization this issue was great and Lemire has really come up with a good concept for this title.

The pencils and ink this issue are handled by Andrea Sorrentino with colors by Marcel Maiolo. Before we get into any critiquing, it should be said that Andrea Sorrentino has the best panel setup in comics. This issue he uses the outline of cows for panels and it’s just sheer brilliance and awesome in every way. He’s so creative with every panel that it’s hard not to love any book he’s on. Even though this had the feel of a darker book, this issue is a little graphic as it shows cows getting ripped apart by Hulks. Sorrentino, as always, has an interesting way of showing this panel. The fight scene between Amadeus Cho and Old Man Logan is epic as well; the rain adds dreariness to the fight that is essentially two brutes duking it out. Almost all of Sorrentino’s panels are wide, making it seem like a movie. The pencils are helped out by Maiolo’s colors. He’s worked with Sorrentino for a while, and judging by the quality of the work, there’s a clear rapport between them. Maiolo has a pop art style that works extremely well. Colors are exaggerated, like red and green, but it is all necessary to make them stand out. The art team should be proud for turning in an outstanding issue.

Old Man Logan has been an impressive series so far. Jeff Lemire has come up with a good concept and has written everyone extremely well. There really isn’t much more you can say about the art. It elevates the story to a level rarely seen in comics.