Old Man Logan has been one of my favorite comics Marvel has been publishing since All-New, All-Different relaunch started. Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino have been able to seamlessly transition Mark Millar and Steve McNiven’s Old Man Logan version of Wolverine into the current Marvel timeline. This latest story arc, “The Last Ronin,” has given us a greater look at Logan’s unseen history in the Wasteland while giving him a new set of villains, the Silent Order, in the familiar setting of Japan. So far The Silent Order has done quite the number on Logan and Lady Deathstrike. Let see if Logan can get himself and one of his greatest villains out of this situation in Old Man Logan #11.
Writer: Jeff Lemire
Artist: Andrea Sorrentino
Colorist: Marcelo Maiolo
Story Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 10 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10
Synopsis: Somewhere in Japan a bloodied and beaten Logan faces Sohei and the Silent Order while Lady Deathstrike continues to be caged up. Sohei tells Logan that to fight him he also has to fight the entire Silent Order. Logan does not hesitate to get his claws ready and jumps right into a sea of Silent Order monks pointing spears right at him.
Understanding the type of fight he is in Logan fights his way near where Lady Deathstrike is being held and is able to set her free. Lady Deathstrike begrudgingly agrees to team-up with Logan and the two begin to fight through a wave of Silent Order monks.
Sometime in the Wasteland future in Japan both Logan and Maureen have been taken to a building owned by the Silent Order. Logan apologizes to Maureen and says that when he says so for her to put her head down.
Sohei and the Silent Order’s leader suddenly walk into the room with Sohei telling Logan and Maureen to be quiet. The Silent Order’s leader tells Sohei to calm down and then shows off his collection, which includes Silver Samurai’s armor and Sunfires costume. The Silent Order’s leader then uses his powers to take a look at Logan’s history.
What the Silent Order’s leader finds completely horrifies him and calls Logan a monster. Logan powers himself free and tells Maureen to close her eyes. He then charges right after Sohei and the Silent Order’s leader.
Back in the present, Logan and Lady Deathstrike have been able to hold their own and kill a good number of Silent Order monks. Sohei gets enough of his monks failure and decides to take on Logan and Lady Deathstrike personally. Lady Deathstrike charges at Sohei looking for revenge but is quickly struck down by Sohei’s blade.
Logan tells Sohei to leave Lady Deathstrike alone. Sohei complies by throwing Lady Deathstrike down the hole that Logan was previously thrown into. As he does this, Sohei explains that he learned his place in the world a long time ago and that Lady Deathstrike just learned hers. He continues to say that Logan is at the center of their game.
Logan says he will gladly kill Sohei again. Logan lunges but Sohei catches Logan’s claws with his hand.
As Logan and Sohei clash in the present we see that they had the same type of fight in the Wasteland future. As the two trade blows in both timelines it is shown that while Logan was able to quickly kill Sohei in the Wasteland future, he doesn’t have the same luck in the present. Instead all of his old moves that worked on Wasteland Sohei are completely useless and Logan in the present is overwhelmed by the younger Sohei.
As Sohei is about to deliver the finishing blow Logan uses his remaining strength to kick Sohei send him flying over the cliff they are on. Before Sohei can land on the ground below he is caught by someone uses telekinesis. That same person uses his telekinesis power to capture Logan.
It is then revealed the person is a younger version of the Silent Order leader seen in the Wasteland future. The Silent Order leader tells Logan to stop hurting his friends. End of issue.
The Good: Seeing Wolverine in Japan has always been a special given how one his greatest stories took place there. Jeff Lemire continues to tap into that nostalgia with the third part of “The Last Ronin” in Old Man Logan #11. This helps elevate the history that Lemire weaves into this issue as he further expands on the history of this older version Logan.
One of the best things that Lemire has done with his run on Old Man Logan has been how he has expanded on the history between Logan and Maureen. This is something that we didn’t get a lot of given how the relationship was already well established by the time of Miller and McNiven’s Old Man Logan. So given that, it is nice to see how Lemire has decided to flesh this relationship out to further Logan’s character development in the present.
Seeing how much Logan’s relationship with Maureen helped shape who he was by the time of the original Old Man Logan has been refreshing. It adds to how much it hurts Logan to return to being Wolverine not only because of what he did but because he doesn’t want Maureen to see him that way. This sort of depth gives further weight to why we see Logan so driven to stop the Wasteland future.
Even Logan resorting to having a team-up with Lady Deathstrike felt different as he was doing it as an act of survival. Already entering the battle severely beaten down made Logan understand that he needed help against the younger Sohei. The dynamic between Logan and Lady Deathstrike, while short, was also a good reminder of the type of adversarial relationship they share. And even in a near death scenario I enjoyed how Lady Deathstrike was keeping score of kills just too somehow “defeat” Logan. With how well Lemire has written Lady Deathstrike thus far I hope we get to see more of her once this arc is done.
That same interest carries over into Sohei and the Silent Order. Lemire has done a fantastic job creating a new set of villains for Logan to face and makes them a natural fit in the world. Old Man Logan #11 does spectacular job building up Sohei’s character as a badass fighter with how he was able to overpower Logan during their present day fight. What made the fight even more fun is how Lemire weaved the Wasteland future fight between the two with the present day one. It provided a good show of skills as in each fight Logan and Sohei swapped who was the younger, faster fighter in each.
What I will be interested to see is how the Silent Order’s leader works into the story as Sohei implied that they know all about this version of Logan. The way that the Silent Order was extremely prepared for Logan at just about every step makes me wonder what their actual plan is. Because as we saw in the Wasteland future, Logan didn’t meet the Silent Order in his timeline until he went to Japan with Maureen and the group wasn’t aware of what Logan did. But now in the present they seem to be well aware of this version of Logan. So it’ll be interesting to see what the present day’s version of the Silent Order has planned if this is the case.
As well written as the Jeff Lemire’s story is what makes Old Man Logan #11 a must buy is Andrea Sorrentino phenomenal artwork. The intensity that Sorrentino adds to every panel is just a sight to see. He makes even the little moments feel intense such as when Lady Deathstrike finally escapes her captivity it felt like Logan let out a wild animal into the battlefield. It was simple visual that was enhanced by Sorrentino’s art and the red background color that Marcelo Maiolo choose for that panel.
That said, my favorite of Sorrentino’s artwork in this issue was his two double splash page sequence that when combined makes a dragon. It was wonderfully done with how Sorrentino was able to mix in the present and Wasteland future fight between Logan and Sohei into the body of the dragon he drew. It added to the physicality of both fights we were being shown.
The Bad: Nothing
Overall: Old Man Logan #11 is another great example of how Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino continue to create the best comic book Marvel is publishing on a monthly basis. This issue in particular delivers everything a Wolverine can ask for as we get a lot of fast-paced ninja action. The action sequences that show Logan going up against The Silent Order is beautifully illustrated by Sorrentino. Add in the compelling story that Lemire continues to weave for Old Man Logan with each issue and you have yourself a comic book series that no Wolverine fan should miss out on buying.
