by Mark Millar, Steve McNiven (Penciler), Dexter Vines (Inker), Mark Morales (Inker), Jay Leisten (Inker), Morry Hollowell (Colorist), Christina Strain (Colorist), Justin Ponsor (Colorist), Jason Keith (Colorist), Nathan Fairbairn (Colorist), Paul Mounts (Colorist)
Publisher: Marvel
Format: Paperback
Genre: Superhero – Post-Apocalypse – Dystopia
Release Date: September 22nd, 2010
Goodreads
Rating: 5/5 Stars
This is the second time I’ve read this graphic novel, and it really was a great option for a reread. I first read it back in 2016, and I definitely think my appreciation for it has grown since then. For those unaware, Old Man Logan was the loose basis for the Logan film, but the graphic novel is darker and gorier, featuring an old man who has seen friends die and been absolutely broken in a world dominated by the villains.
The heroes fell. The bad guys took over the USA, splitting it up between them. Logan wants nothing more than to keep his family safe. Pushed to the edge by the Hulk Gang and in need of cash, he agrees to help Hawkeye drive across the country to deliver a package.
Things, of course, don’t go according to plan. During the journey, Logan sees how much the country has changed, and how so much has fallen to ruin with the absence of the heroes. This is, perhaps, one of the bleakest of Marvel graphic novels, matched in tone by things like Marvel Zombies and the Deadpool Killogy. It has its moments that absolutely rip the rug from under your feet – and Logan’s. Characters are built up as trustworthy only to turn around and commit a heinous act, Logan and Hawkeye come across plenty of graphic, gory scenes, and this world is well and truly hopeless. Personally, I find it an absolutely fascinating view of the Marvel Universe, with heroics and morals totally stripped away.
Logan refuses to participate in violence because of his own experience the night the heroes fell, and Hawkeye on the surface seems totally in it for himself, but as the layers peel away he becomes almost the only character who seems to have faith things might change. This isn’t just a more grey version of this world, but a dark shade, with death doled out easily and no hope for resurrection – unless you have healing powers.
There’s no real ‘good’ guys here, no heroes, disappeared completely in one night. The worldbuilding is fairly interesting, though I couldn’t help but wonder what the hell was happening in the rest of the world while the US was taken over and subsequently controlled by the villains. Logan’s journey allows us to see how different things have become, including dinosaurs escaped from the Savage Lands and attached to symbiotes, cites that have fallen and become something else entirely, and whole arenas built for entertainment (it’s really not a bleak, post-apocalyptic world without a brutal arena, right?). For Logan, it’s an eye-opening journey across a country he’s pretty much shut himself off from, and one where he’s put himself in a position where he can’t really do anything. It’s a core conflict of the book, but it adds an extra layer of tension, wondering if Logan’s ever going to get those claws out again.
I enjoyed re-reading this, and I definitely think I’ll pick it up again in the future.
Reading Challenge
The Disney Reading Challenge
Prompt: Beauty and the Beast – But you’ve read it twice – re-read a favourite book
Progress: 7/40 Completed
Unwrapping Words 
It must have been a very loose basis for the film then. Besides the trip across country nothing sounded familiar. I‘ve seen the film three times and like it a lot. I guess I have to look for this graphic novel after all.
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It’s very different – I can’t remember off the top of my head if there was anything else they used as the basis, but yeah, they mainly use the character’s particular iteration and his general bleakness
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