"Old Man Logan", by writer Mark Millar and artist Steve McNiven, was a 2008 storyline appearing in Wolverine #66-72 and Wolverine Giant-Size: Old Man Logan that told the story of an alternate future where the villains had defeated all the heroes. A pacifist Wolverine, needing money in order to pay off the Hulk and his gang, agrees to go on a road trip with Hawkeye and what followed was a story that captured readers' imaginations.
The story was so popular, its version of Logan would be brought over to the main Marvel Universe and it would start a franchise, with characters getting the "Old Man" treatment, and more to follow. A perennial fan favorite, does "Old Man Logan" hold up? Let's take a look.
10 Aged Well: The Art
Steve McNiven's art on "Old Man Logan" is easily some of the best of his career. He captures everything the story needs him to- the desolation of the Wastelands, the broken-down nature of the world, actually makes the Moloids terrifying, and, most importantly, the sheer emotion of the story. The action scenes are also top-notch, as should be expected from peak McNiven.
There's a chance this story still would be as well remembered if McNiven didn't draw it but the fact that he did is one of the things that gives it the staying power and has made Old Man Logan himself such a beloved part of the X-Men mythos.
9 Hasn't Age Well: The Venom Tyrannosaurus
At one point in the story, Hawkeye and Wolverine are chased by a giant Venom infected Tyrannosaurus. It's honestly a great visual but it doesn't really serve any other reason in the story. In fact, the whole thing is pretty anti-climactic as it only serves as a well to bring the Inhumans into the story for a little bit.
The Venom symbiote has infected lots of people over the years and a Venom infected Tyrannosaurus feels like it should have played a bigger role in the story. It's a great visual but it should have been more than that.
8 Aged Well: The Desert Of The Now
Mark Millar does a great job of giving readers glimpses into the wreckage of the villain controlled world of the Wasteland. It's all so tantalizing- from the people worshiping Mjolnir at Hammer Falls, hoping for a hero to come again, to the rabid crowds in the Kingpin's territory, glorying in the lawless nature of the new world.
At the time, readers didn't know that they would ever see any of it again, so Millar's glimpses into the realities of this alternate universe did a great job of setting things up, adding it to the pantheon of memorable alternate Marvel Universes.
7 Hasn't Aged Well: Some Of It Feels Redundant
Millar does a remarkable job setting out the rules of the world but there are times when the whole thing kind of feels like misery porn. The world under the villains is a bad, dog eat dog kind of place and Millar does a great job of setting that up. The problem comes in that it often feels like he's beating the reader over the head with it.
Old Man Logan's enemies in the story have all of the power and that has changed how people act but sometimes it feels like Millar is reveling in the shock value of the world. For example, a betrayal in the middle of the book foreshadows a later one and that sort of takes away from the surprise of that later betrayal.
6 Aged Well: The Villains' Plot
One of the weird things about comics is that the villains often outnumber the heroes. If all of the villains were to team up, there would be no stopping them and that's what happens in the universe of Old Man Logan in a nutshell. The villains team up and blitz the heroes, overwhelming them.
This is an ingenious plan because it takes advantage of the way the heroes of the Marvel Universe usually operate- they stay in their own lanes until a big threat comes along. In the universe of Old Man Logan, the villains took advantage of this, striking all at once and decimating the heroes, a plan fitting for some of the greatest villains in comics.
5 Hasn't Aged Well: Wolverine Killing The X-Men
So one of the keys to the storyline is Wolverine being manipulated into killing the X-Men as part of the villains' attack. On the surface, this is a great plot point and works well to explain his later pacifism-after being responsible for his friends' deaths, it makes sense for him to never want to pop his claws again. Everything he sees his claws would be a reminder of what he's done.
However, the more one thinks about it, the less sense this makes. Could Wolverine kill some of the X-Men? Sure. Would he be able to kill them all? No. When they saw he wasn't pulling his punches and killing them, they'd go all out to stop him. Wolverine has won a lot of fights he shouldn't have over the years but this one is a bridge too far.
4 Aged Well: Hawkeye
Wolverine is very morose in this book, which makes a lot of sense because of all of the trauma of killing his friends and the way his life has changed. He was never a barrel of sunshine to begin with but this Wolverine is cowed by circumstances. He only agrees to go along with Hawkeye because he's desperate.
Hawkeye serves as the comic relief for the book, the person who lightens everything up. He's still pretty grim- life has been bad for everyone in this future- but he has a gallows humor to him that makes the whole thing more palatable. This can be a very dark comic and Hawkeye lifts it out of that with his sardonic sense of humor.
3 Hasn't Aged Well: The Final Fight
The last part of the book pits Wolverine against the Hulk Gang, one last showdown which sees Logan going after them for revenge, forgetting his pacifistic ways. This is all well and good but things get a little strange at the end when he finally fights the Hulk. There's a kind of glaring plot hole to the whole thing- it seems like Hulk forgot Wolverine had a healing factor.
The two fight and Hulk gets the upper hand and eats Wolverine. Later, Wolverine regenerates and rips out of him. First, Hulk should have known that Wolverine would regenerate; they've fought each other a lot. Secondly, Hulk swallowing Wolverine whole instead of eating the flesh off his bones is also kind of dumb. Finally, Hulk also has a healing factor and this shouldn't have killed him. Great ending, just full of plot holes.
2 Aged Well: Logan
This story wouldn't work at all without its titular character and Millar delivers here. A critique of his writing has been that he sometimes tailors characters to the situations, ignoring who they are for who the story needs them to be. While there is some of that here, everything he does makes sense from the standpoint of the story he's telling and does fit Logan.
Logan is the broken down gunfighter in this Unforgiven pastiche and it works brilliantly. His pacifism is a shock to readers until they learn the whys of it and then it makes sense. The moment it ends is cathartic, what readers had been waiting for the whole time and it's a wonderful moment.
1 Hasn't Aged Well: Logan's Pacifism
Here's the thing about Logan's pacifism- would he have become a pacifist after killing the X-Men? It's not like he doesn't know Mysterio made him do it after it happens. He knows and what's more, he knows about his other friends getting slaughtered. There's no Wolverine that wouldn't spring into action and kill everyone he could to get vengeance.
Would he become a pacifist eventually? To an extent, but it's doubtful he would have let the Hulk Gang run roughshod all over him and his family the way he does. The story demands it but it doesn't make a lot of sense.