Open Mike Night: Old Man Logan (2016) #1 & Uncanny X-Men (1963) #172-173

Open Mike Night by Mike Maillaro and Mike Weaver

Old Man Logan (2016) #1

Written by: Jeff Lemire
Art by: Andrea Sorrentino
Colored by: Marcelo Maiolo
Lettered by: VC's Cory Petit

Published by: Marvel
Cover Price: $4.99

Maillaro: I didn’t read the original Old Man Logan story by Mark Millar, so my first exposure to the character and his world was during Secret Wars.  This version of Logan is from a future where all the villains started teamed up, and Mysterio used his powers to make Logan kill all the X-Men.  During Secret Wars, Old Man Logan ends up travelling through a few domains.  He ends up joining the heroes in the final battle with Doom.  After the fight, he wakes up in modern day Marvel New York with no memories of Secret Wars.

In this first issue, Logan decides that he was sent back in time to modern Earth for a reason.  And that reason is to kill these villains before they can work together and turn the world into a Wasteland.  I thought this was actually a real clever hook for the series.  And it is a total Wolverine thing to do that his priority is not to take down the big names first, but to start with a D-Lister like Black Butcher who just happened to slap Wolvie’s son in the future.

Weaver: Typical Wolverine style indeed.  It’s not about who’s at the top.  It’s about who pissed him off the most.  Although I’d think Mysterio would rate pretty highly there, given the mind control massacre and all.

This is my first exposure to Old Man Logan, having not read the Secret Wars issues involving him.  And yet, this is typical Wolverine story.  Somewhere between beast and man, prowling the streets looking for vengeance, and for bonus points, a flashback to his past that explains enough that we understand his motivations but not so much that we’re significantly closer to knowing him.  We do know that at some point after Black Butcher slapping his son, the Hulk gang kills his whole family (which puts Banner at number 2 on the list, presumedly because it wasn’t Banner alone).  But given how atypically subdued he acts talking to the Butcher, I’m curious what causes him to snap to the level that the Hulks track him down.

Maillaro: The cover of issue 2 seems to show him fighting Amadeus Cho, not Banner (who we still don’t know the status of).  So I am thinking that Old Man Logan’s brain is not quite in mint condition.  Which I think could make for a real interesting take on a Wolverine story.  On a good day, Wolverine is a bit crazed, add in some severe trauma and you have the potential for something real unique here.

One thing that bugged me about this story is we still don’t quite know exactly how he got here.  Old Man Logan doesn’t seem to remember his time in Secret Wars.  Actually, really the only person we’ve seen have any kind of awareness of Secret Wars is Ms Marvel, and it was real vague.  But this isn’t really a complaint about this issue as much as Marvel’s “post Secret Wars problem.”  It is not at all clear who remembers what in regards to Secret Wars and how Marvel Prime (don’t call it 616 ::roll eyes::) came about.  

Weaver: I don’t think we’ll ever get an answer who knows how Marvel Prime came about definitively, I believe instead they’ll toss us a bunch of hints and have people know if it’s important to a story for them to know.

I’m wondering if Cho was part of the Hulk gangs that Wolverine talks about, because they were always referred to in plural.  That would put him on the list, but not quite to Banner level since Banner was the cause of it all.  The other thing I wonder is if things like Cho Hulk were actually part of Old Man Logan’s backstory or if in that world, it was just Banner all along which gives him an excuse to hit the nearest large green dude.

I think it’s a given regardless that his brain isn’t screwed on quite right.  It took him a while to even realize that he was naked, and he does mention several times that he has difficulty remembering how to act in the civilized world, his distant past.

Maillaro: From what I know, the Hulk Gang are a bunch of hillbilly grandchildren of Bruce Banner and have no connection to Amadeus Cho.  But, I have not read the original story yet, just some articles about it.  Granted, there is no reason they can’t retcon him in.  

Wolvie might also think that Amadeus could lead him to Hulk, so that could be a simple excuse to have them fight.  Besides, back in the day, Wolvie and Hulk fought all the time. I think it’s just tradition that the “new” Wolverine has to fight the “new” Hulk.  Though I was kind of hoping X-23 Wolverine would get a shot at Amadeus first.

I will say that I thought this issue added a lot of great questions without feeling frustrating.  That is always a real tricky balance to pull off.  Jeff Lemire can be a bit hit or miss for me, but he seemed to have a real good feel for the story he wanted to tell here.  It’s a little odd that they did an Old Man Logan series without involving the two guys who wrote him before (Mark Millar and Bendis), but Lemire seems to have a fresh perspective for the character.  And I really enjoyed the flashback.  I can’t help but think of Old Man Logan as a old west gunslinger.  

Weaver: Honestly, I’m happy that they went with Lemire.  Millar tends towards the bloodsoaked shock value lowest common denominator stuff, which can work short term, but I prefer a more cerebral Wolverine.  Bendis...well, let’s keep something in the Marvel Universe away from him.  He’s a great writer, but I feel got spread out a little too much at a certain point.

The Old West feel is definitely there, it also reminded me of Rey in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which I guess also was an Old West reference.  Actually, as I think about it, I think about some of the old stock Westerns where somebody would refuse to answer with violence through being publicly humiliated, but the second their family or town was at stake, they’re shooting their way across town.  Wolverine gets the unique ability to do that before his family was killed.  I guess we also have to ask the “Would you kill Hitler?” question here, with Logan’s answer being a resounding yes.

Maillaro: I think eventually we will get to that question, with Mysterio.  At this point it was more, “Would you kill a guy who insulted you before he insulted you?” Old Man Logan brings a bazooka to a slap fight.  But I think it worked perfectly to set the series up, so that’s not a complaint, just an observation.

Andrea Sorrentino’s work here is tricky for me.  I think it gives the book a real distinct style, but I actually think they should do two artists here.  One for the flashbacks, which I think Sorrentino does brilliantly, and one for the modern Marvel Prime universe.  It’s just such a strange view of the Marvel universe, and I am just not sure it works for me.  It’s like Bill Sienkiewicz back in the day.  I always appreciated his work as something very different, but I never thought it was the right fit for New Mutants.  And I sort of felt the same way here about the “modern day” version of Old Man Logan.

Weaver: You’re proposing an “Alias” solution, and I think it would work just as well here as it did in that title.  I don’t know.  If I had to pick a character to have this gritty smudged feel to them in the normal Marvel Universe, Wolverine would be right up there.  Sienkiewicz was on a really odd job for his skill set.  I’m in favor of Sorrentino doing the full thing.  The interesting part is that the colors are actually darker in the modern Marvel setting.  That’s usually the code for “this place is worse.”

Maillaro: Scores for this one.  I think I would go for a solid 4.5 for the writing.  There wasn’t anything about the story and writing I didn’t like that could really be blamed on Lemire.  I would probably go a 3.5 for the art, but I will acknowledge that is just personal preference.  I grew up on Lee/Liefeld/Quesada.  Gritty art is great, but it will never really grab me as much as action-packed “cartoony” comic art.

Weaver: I’m going to agree on the writing, but with the art, I’m going to also give it a 4.5.  It really worked for this title.

Uncanny X-Men (1963) #172-173

Written by: Chris Claremont
Penciled by: Paul Smith
Inked by: Bob Wiacek
Colored by: Glynis Wein
Lettered by:Tom Orzechowski

Published by: Marvel
Cover Price: $1.99 each on Comixology

Weaver: This is one of my all-time favorite Wolverine stories.  The X-Men and their X-plots are background dressing to this, with the real story being a Wolverine quest for vengeance to protect his loved ones (where have we heard that before?) coupled with Rogue’s quest to show that she deserves to be considered a hero.  It’s a tough sell to Wolverine, since he was friends with Carol Danvers (who was nearly killed by Rogue in one of Rogue’s first appearances).

The X-Men are in Japan to celebrate Logan’s marriage to Mariko.  The Silver Samurai and Viper want to take over the clan that Mariko is now the head of (following Wolverine killing Shingen in the Wolverine limited series), and poison the X-Men in order to clear the way for assassinating Mariko.  Unfortunately, Wolverine and Rogue both manage to shrug off the poison, leading to Wolverine grudgingly accepting Rogue as a sidekick for the duration.  Meanwhile, Storm was saved from the poisoning by a last minute assist from Logan and spends her time tagging along with Yukio.  Envious of Yukio’s freedom, Storm adopts her mohawk costume at the end of this story.  

In the end, Rogue puts herself between Viper and Wolverine/Mariko in order to save Mariko’s life.  She nearly dies, but Wolverine insists she take his powers so that she can live because she has sufficiently proven herself to him.

Maillaro: One thing that really stood out for me is Wolverine constantly brings up Rogue basically “killing” Carol Danvers in her first appearance.  Carol was basically a bit player back then, sometimes used as an X-Men supporting character, or a kind of lame Avenger.  I actually am surprised that she’s managed to shake that reputation and become one of Marvel’s biggest characters.  I honestly think Busiek had helped get that ball rolling some when he wrote Avengers, though even he just seemed to want to give her a drinking problem to add some drama to the story.

ANYWAY, I always thought this was a real solid issue because it helps provide a lot of transition to a lot of storylines going on, but you still get plenty of action and characterization here at the same time.  I have always believed that Claremont had intended to basically “redo” the Phoenix story with Storm, and this issue is the one I always use as evidence.  Storm seems hesitant to use her powers (even claiming she has never used them offensively before, which I find hard to believe), but gets a flash of the Phoenix in her mind.  Wolverine’s friend Yukio also helps drive a shift in Storm’s perspective, ending with her taking on the mohawk look.  By the way, I always thought it was hilarious that Kitty ends up running off crying when she sees the “new Storm.”  But I am warped that way.

Weaver: Carol was intended to have her own title that would be Marvel’s answer to Wonder Woman demographically, but it fizzled really fast.  It was also written by Claremont at least some of the time, and Claremont hates his work to fall into obscurity, so she got seeded into X-Men for a while.  Rogue and Mystique also made the journey over from her title.  They really tried to push her forward in the late 70’s, but the moment they realized it wasn’t working, she was relegated to being Wolverine’s old friend/the voice in Rogue’s head.

They hinted they were going to Phoenix Storm several issues before this, with the X-Men captured by Dr. Doom and Storm going kind of crazy about that.  I think it was intended to be a long term tease.  And yet, there’s also some implication that some of the Phoenix appearances are due to Mastermind, who also causes the wedding to be called off.  Way to be a jerk, Mastermind.

Maillaro: Yeah, I thought the Mastermind manipulation was the perfect way to end this issue.  Wolverine’s doubts at the beginning of the first issue made it real easy for Mastermind to swoop in and convince Mariko that Wolvie wasn’t right for her.  Wolverine isn’t even in any position to argue what she says, “You are not worthy” because he feels the exact same way.  Mastermind doesn’t get nearly enough credit as being one of the true badass X-Men villains.

You know who I really feel bad for?  Kitty!  Before this issue, she basically was Wolverine’s go-to sidekick.  After this, it became Rogue and later Jubilee.  Poor Kitty sort of ends up in a weird Limbo.  Not quite an X-Men.  Not a New Mutants.  Eventually, she gets bad shoulder pads and ends up on Excalibur. Though I will say she became a MUCH better character there.  I always found her real annoying in X-Men.

Weaver: Claremont pulled Mastermind out of the scrap heap for the first Phoenix/Dark Phoenix story, and made him into the kind of sadistic planner that Purple Man later became, but with slightly different powers.  Previous to that, he was basically a Brotherhood flunky, right along with Toad level.  He really made the guy formidable and fleshed him out.

This also breaks Kitty’s longstanding relationship with Storm as a sort of mother figure.  That always felt odd to me because Kitty’s parents were still alive, but hey, whatever.  I guess that’s another part of what annoyed me during her initial X-Men stint.  She was so often the MacGuffin that a story revolved around rescuing, she was almost a Wesley Crusher.  Yes, I went there.  Much like Mastermind in Claremont’s run, though, Kitty was brought into prominence for Excalibur, with actual personality and everything.

Maillaro: Yeah, Kitty’s need for acceptance always felt odd to me.  She came from a loving family.  Actually, that is one thing unique about Kitty, unlike 99% of fictional characters, she’s still got both parents.  And yes, I am exaggerating, so don’t send me emails correcting that number.

One thing about this comic is that over the years Silver Samurai sort of evolved more into a more moderate character.  He’s total evil villain here, and I kind of liked that version much better.  He is a character that should be a little ridiculous, but somehow they made him work into something badass. And then over the years, they dialed that back some.  I just wish he threw those giant ninja stars like he did in the X-Men fighting game…

Weaver: I was thinking the same thing!  He also doesn’t seem to be able to change his sword into fire or ice types here.  What a rip off.

Marvel likes redemption stories, heck, they’re interesting in all forms of fiction.  Theoretically Viper is the Black Widow to Samurai’s Hawkeye, the evil villainess seducing him to the dark side.  However, this issue shows that isn’t the case at all.  If anything, Hamada is calling the shots for Viper.  I agree, Silver Samurai should have stayed as the evil wannabe crime boss that he is here.  I think that changing perceptions of Japan really shaped what Marvel did with Japanese characters, though.  In this day, it was all mysterious and focused on honor.  Now, the basic perception of Japan is heavily anime and video game influenced.

So the scores on this.  I’m pushing the story at a 5.  It’s not easy to balance all the ongoing X-Men plots, plus drag in Mastermind, plus the redemption story, and while it’s a two issue story, each issue could easily function on its own.  The art was alright, occasionally really nice such as the new Storm concept, but occasionally difficult to decipher, especially with Yukio.  I’ll give that a 3.5

Maillaro: Yeah, I agree with you about the writing.  There was a lot of balls to keep in the air here, and I think Claremont handled it brilliantly.  I actually liked the art.  It was a nice clear style.  Nothing that was going to shake up the industry, but I still liked it quite a bit. I think a 4 is a good score for it.

Maillaro: Hmmm...next week,  Miles Morales gets his new series.  You know, as much as we’ve reviewed random Spider-Man issues over the years, we’ve never actually done Amazing Fantasy 15…  

Weaver: I’m down for Miles and Spider-wrestling.  Sold.

Final Scores