Old Man Logan

[cyberghostface]

"You know, I’ve always loved the Old Man Logan story. That’s a beauty. Maybe in 20 years time I’ll just pop up and do that one." - Hugh Jackman, 2014

As you may or may not have heard, the upcoming 'Logan' film is loosely inspired by the storyline 'Old Man Logan', a comic that Hugh Jackman had been hoping to adapt for years. Everything indicates that the similarities will likely be thematic for obvious reasons (99% of the major characters couldn't appear in a Fox film) but if you wanted to see the launching pad for the film here it is.

Warning: This is pretty gory.

It starts with #66...





Logan is now trying to raise a family at an old farm but they're low on money.



Logan says there's no such thing as superheroes and asks her to pass the bread rolls.

Bruce Banner's grandchildren arrive the next day. They're expecting rent.



Logan pops his claws and skewers them but it turns out to be just a daydream.



"Double next month or everyone dies."



Hawkeye tells him he has a business proposition for Logan a delivery job. Logan asks if it's illegal, and Hawkeye asks him if an old Avenger like him would ever break the law.



#67...



They ride off a cliff.



That night they're attacked by a gang of 'Ghost Riders' but Logan refuses to raise his hands.









In Hammer Falls, Nevada (called for Thor's hammer which is a tourist attraction). Hawkeye takes Logan to see Tonya, his third ex-wife and Peter Parker's youngest daughter.





#68, they go to rescue her from the new Kingpin.













#69, Logan comes to the rescue.













Some other guys start a fight with them and Logan almost pops his claws but stops himself.





#70...

Fifty years ago, the Xavier Mansion is attacked by a group of organized supervillains.









It turns out the whole thing was an illusion by Mysterio to goad him into murdering the X-Men.



Wolverine is broken and wanders through the woods, wanting to punish himself. He waits for a freight train. 

At this point in the story, Hawkeye tells him that a train couldn't kill him with his healing factor.

"No, but it hurt... An' sometimes, that's enough."





#71...

Hawkeye and Logan arrive in New Babylon.















#72...





Now:



Of course, Logan isn't quite dead...





Wolverine manages to escape with Iron Man's suit of armor and is able to fly back home with the money.

He returns to his house and finds one of his neighbors standing outside. The Hulk Gang has already arrived, two weeks earlier. They were bored.





SNIKT!



The Giant-Sized Special (which was double-sized)...

Wolverine picks off the Hulk Crew one by one...









Wolverine impales Bruce on his claws...





Later...

Comments

[lordultimus]

Between this story and the Ultimates 1 & 2, one gets the feeling that Mark Millar is not a fan of the Hulk.

[captainbellman]

Way back when Brevoort was trying to blog, he put up Millar's original ending pitch for Civil War - that it would transition right into World War Hulk without a break, and have the Hulk landing with a bunch of alien "Hulk babies" to kick Iron Man's @ss.

The dregs of that idea were put into the above storyline.

[thehood]

Especially since he mad Hulk look so weak here.

Also, as far as evil Banner's go, the Maestro is far better than Old Man Hulk here.

[thatnickguy]

Good lord, the gore in this is ridiculous. Even Robert Kirkman's Invincible would look at this and think, "You're going a bit too far, pal."

[dcbanacek]

Guess Millar never read "Acts of Vengeance" because I really can't see a reason Magneto or even Dr. Doom would work with the Red Skull and NOT kill the fucker.

[beyondthefringe]

This was one heck of a story... but it raises so many questions.

Like how could Mysterio get the better of Logan long enough for him to murder -all- the X-Men in his delusional state?

And as for Spider-Girl... great design, but who the hell did Peter Parker marry to end up with Tanya as his daughter? And the thought of Hawkeye, already older than Peter, waiting until he had an adult daughter to marry so they could have Ashley... ye gods, it feels skeevy.

Of course Bruce Banner going nuts and having inbred kids with She-Hulk is just a nasty bit of business no matter how you slice it.

All the shock value, omgz. And then this ties in with Millar's Fantastic Four run -and- 1985 because why not.

[mastermahan]

Like how could Mysterio get the better of Logan long enough for him to murder -all- the X-Men in his delusional state?

I mean, it's not like Logan has superhuman senses that could tip him off to the illusion. Or the X-Men have any telepaths. Or Polaris, Iceman, or Storm could incapacitate Wolverine without hurting him. Or...

[astrakhan42]

Yeah, the math on how Hawkeye and Spidey are related in this story never made sense to me.

[thehood]

And considering Banner has a superior healing factor to Wolverine, how was he able to kill Banner?

[squirle]

I like this story, but I do think the impact of the SNIKT! moment is lessened when Wolverine has already decapitated the Skull at that point. He clearly has already accepted that violence is sometimes necessary, making the popping of his claws more a formality than anything.

I would either have him realize he needs to become a hero again while facing the Skull, or have him flee even from that, only to take the fight to the Skull after the death of his family. Either way, keep the SNIKT! moment as the point where he gets violent for the first time.

[gnarll]

They didn't actually have to be married. She could have been the result of a brief liaison in the ashes. I wondered if she had spider-powers?

I found the fact that Wolverine managed to take down all the X-men a bot of a strech. He is popular, not powerful. As well a Jubilee lasting 90 minutes, and no psychic snapping him out of it.

[mastermahan]

So does the original story ever touch on She-Hulk's fate? Did she also turn evil and crazy? Was it consensual, did Millar go for more shock value, or did it even come up?

EDIT: ...and according to Wikipedia, the Old Man Logan ongoing reveals Jenn was killed in the initial villain attack. Which is either a continuity goof, an attempt to sweep away the creepy hillbilly Hulk incest, or Jenn was active superhero simultaneously raising her incest babies.

[informationgeek]

Let's go with Jeff Lemire deciding to retcon things.

[cyberghostface]

Banner mentioning She-Hulk here is the most mention she gets.

[thehood]

Until the current book, which did away with the creepy incest stuff.

Also, this Hulk really doesn't stack up to other examples of evil Hulk or Evil Banner.

[cyberghostface]

Until the current book, which did away with the creepy incest stuff.

Are you just assuming that because She-Hulk appears in a flashback during the final battle?

[captainbellman]

Another reason I can't wait for "Logan", where the story will be handled by someone competent.

[cyberghostface]

A story like this has to be more than competent to have the level of staying power that it does.

[thehood]

If that was true, the current ongoing wouldn't have had to undo a lot of the creepy and juvenile elements that were in Mark's story.

It also wouldn't be treated as a joke. Since people always point out the ridiculousness of the Hulk incest, or Clint marrying someone far too young for him.

[cyberghostface]

It is true. It's considered to be one of the definitive Wolverine stories. How many "future" superhero stories are there and how many are actually remembered a decade later?

And we have no idea how much older Clint was during the timeline given that Pete had three daughters. Or what happened between them. Saying it's inherently skeevy is like saying the Dale/Andrea relationship in The Walking Dead was inappropriate. They're consenting adults.

[strejdaking]

And it being a story about highly prolofic character, written by a highly prolific writer that relies heavily on coolness factor surely didn't help a bit.

Look, I am not saying it's a bad story, at least I don't think I have any more authority to pass judgement on it than you, but this "it's well-recived, therefore it is a FACT that it's great" stuff pisses me off. As if that ever stopped anyone from complaining about stuff they find under-appreciated or vice-versa.

[cyberghostface]

"And it being a story about highly prolofic character, written by a highly prolific writer that relies heavily on coolness factor surely didn't help a bit."

If that was the case then Millar's "Enemy of the State" would also be considered a classic but it's not.

[strejdaking]

Yes, it is.

And besides, you called Tom King's handling of Victor in The Vision crap, even though the story is critical darling.

[cyberghostface]

And?

[strejdaking]

Seriously?

[cyberghostface]

I'm not sure what point you're hoping to prove.

[thehood]

The current ongoing has also pretty good, even undoing some of the tasteless stuff from this book.

[lb_lee]

I like the art, but sadly didn't really enjoy the story. (Which is too bad--I LIKE the idea of geriatric superheroes!)