Writer: Brian Bendis
Artist: Andrea Sorrentino

Marvel’s latest universe altering crossover event, Secret Wars has hit the ground running. At last, the die is cast and we are in the thrown into the universal patchwork that is Battleworld. Jonathan Hickman has created a world that allows for other writers to create their own playgrounds with only a small handful of rules to abide by. Brian Michael Bendis takes his turn at bat with Old Man Logan.

Where you have some tie-in books that take a famous tale, turn it on its ear and tell a whole new story that builds on similar themes such as Planet Hulk or The Infinity Gauntlet, here you have Bendis penning more of a sequel to Mark Millar’s classic (that word really only applies depending on how you feel about the ever divisive Millar, but still…). We find Logan as a moody, unwanted dispenser of clawed justice in the dystopian wasteland where the bad guys won ages ago. We get small tastes here and there of what’s happened to some of the good guys, but much like Millar’s original, it’s rarely anything good. The thing about this book that’s unique to Bendis’ style is that there’s almost NO fat, plot-wise. Old Man Logan gets right down to business with only the necessary dialogue that plunges us into the mission at hand without completely forsaking character development. His usual work is notoriously talky, but here, Logan’s word count is dwarfed by his body count. Visually, Andrea Sorrentino hits the mark with an assassin’s precision, telling as much of the story as Bendis (if not more) via spot-on body language and clear cut, expressive faces in every panel. The color palette, reminiscent of some Sorrentino moments during the Black Vortex event, is perfect for the book’s sepia/technicolor Old West vibe.

Bottom Line: Old Man Logan is off to a tightly written, gorgeous looking start. If every issue goes like this, Bendis’ sequel will end up surpassing Millar’s original.

 

4.5 SNIKTs out of 5

 

Reviewer: Oz Longworth Jr.