Old Man Logan #16 Review

While it wasn’t as intense as “The Last Ronin” the two-issue arc involving Logan saving Jubilee from Dracula was a good change of pace for the series. With Andrea Sorrentino returning after taking the previous arc off it looks like we will be getting a similar story as Logan heads to space. While he has done his fair share of space exploration with the X-Men, this is not a setting that you think of Logan having solo adventures in. But like the previous monster-centric story arc, this has a lot of potential for a character like Logan to do something different that he is not used to. Let’s see how challenging space is for the X-Men’s wandering samurai with Old Man Logan #16.

Writer: Jeff Lemire

Artist: Andrea Sorrentino

Colorist: Marcelo Maiolo

Story Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10

Art Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10

Overall Rating: 8.5 Night Girls out of 10

Synopsis: Logan suddenly wakes up in the middle of the desert with his horse next to him. He is suddenly attacked by the Venom T-Rex.

As he is swallowed by the Venom T-Rex Logan realizes he is back in his timeline. Logan is able to quickly cut himself out of the Venom T-Rex’s stomach before he is fully digested.

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Logan grabs his hat and coat and thinks back to his last memory. The last thing he remembers is going to space to help Puck.

Sometime ago Logan uses an X-Jet to fly to a space station where Puck sent him a broken distress signal from. He goes there alone after convincing SHIELD to give him 24 hours to save Puck and Alpha Flight on his own.

While exploring the abandoned space station, which was formerly owned by Reed Richards, Logan spots Alpha Flight’s cruiser docked outside it. A member of the Brood (not Gangrel, Edge or Christian unfortunately) suddenly comes out of the shadows and attacks Logan.

Back in the Old Man Logan timeline, Logan makes his way to what remains of Las Vegas. As he makes his way through the wrecked city Logan thinks about how this is the last place he remembers being in before going to the other Marvel Universe.

Logan soon arrives at Danny Cage’s place, where he left Baby Banner. Logan notices that Danny and the baby aren’t anywhere to be found. He starts calling out Danny’s name and soon finds her tied up inside a closet.

After untying her, Danny reveals that Kang has taken Baby Banner.

Logan then thinks back once again to his fight with Brood in the abandoned space station. Logan is overwhelmed by the Broods numbers. He decides to make a run away in order to survive.

As he is running through the space station Logan is attacked by Sasquatch, who has been infected by the Brood. Sasquatch throws Logan across a hallway, slightly breaking his helmet in the process. Agent Brand, who is also infected by the Brood, suddenly appears next to Sasquatch.

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Puck appears in a nearby room and calls out to Logan to get in with him. Logan is able to enter the room Puck is in. Puck locks the door just before the Brood can get in. (Anyone else expect Goliath to appear anytime Puck makes an appearance?)

Back in the Old Man Logan timeline, Logan learns from Danny that Kang’s gang wiped out the Masters of Evil, Black Bolt and his people. She goes on to say they then proceeded to invade her house and take Baby Banner from her.

Logan assures Danny that he will get Baby Banner back. Danny wants to go with Logan but he tells her that she is no shape to fight right now. Logan promises he will get Baby Banner back.

Logan gets ready to set out to save Baby Banner. As he is making his preparations he suddenly feels cold.

Back in the normal Marvel Universe, Puck tells Logan that some time ago Alpha Flight got reports of a crash on the satellite. He goes on to say that with everything going taking place on Earth (Civil War II) he, Agent Brand and Sasquatch decided to respond to the report themselves.

When they got to the station they realized the crash was from a Brood vessel and Sasquatch was immediately infected. He and Agent Brand were able to find hiding but she was eventually infected as well and he has been locked up in this room since then.

Emergency lights start going off. Logan in the Old Man Logan timeline continues to feel cold.

Back in the normal Marvel Universe, a door to space opens up in the room Logan and Puck are in. Puck is able grab a hold of something but Logan isn’t lucky enough and gets sucked into space with his helmet still broken.

Logan suddenly remembers something as he floats in space. End of issue.

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The Good: When it comes to telling stories involving two distinct timelines Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino have been able to nail the balance between the two. What has been most impressive about the balance between the two timelines is how they are able to complement one another. This has added further depth to Logan to separate this version of the character from the younger Wolverine.

Old Man Logan #16 is a strong showcase of this complimentary balance. Initially the flashes to Logan walking through the “Old Man Logan” timeline felt separate from his present day space adventure to save Puck. As the issue continued to move forward with both stories you begin to realize that there is a similar tone of Logan venturing out even if he doesn’t know what is going on.

With the present day story Lemire is able to accomplish this by making you feel like Logan is entering an unknown situation to save his friend. This sensation is enhanced by the mix of the “Alien” movie horror vibe as Logan makes his way through Reed Richard’s abandoned space station. The Brood makes an excellent threat for this type of story as they become even more visually threatening in this setting.

Logan’s search for Puck also continues Lemire’s overarching story of this version of the character reconnecting with characters he has lost. While Alpha Flight hasn’t been a big presence in the Wolverine franchise they have always been a cast of characters that he has a different relationship compared to his X-Men teammates. Lemire shows this with how Logan tries to save Puck on his own rather than with any sort of back-up. This decision quickly establishes how personal this mission is for Logan.

The story from the Old Man Logan timeline was yet another personal story with how he went directly to check on Danny Cage and Baby Banner. Even though Logan was clearly confused at what was going on he had a natural instinct to go to what little family he has left in this world. How that idea family ties into the narrative with the present day story creates greater sense of mystery of how the two stories relate to one another.

Revisiting the Old Man Logan timeline was also good reminder of how unique the setting is with things like the Venom T-Rex immediately showing up. Opening the story up this way instantly reminds us at how dangerous this setting is. Kang’s involvement in the kidnapping of Baby Banner was an interesting one as he was one villain that wasn’t in the original story. Seeing how Kang and his gang operate in the Old Man Logan will be interesting, as well as their purpose for kidnapping Baby Banner.

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As with his previous work on this series, Andrea Sorrentino’s artwork for Old Man Logan #16 was phenomenal. From drawing Logan’s escape from the inside of Venom T-Rex to the Alien-esque nature of the Brood hunting Logan, there was a sense of dread throughout the issue. Sorrentino was able to capture the cramped nature of the space station perfectly as you felt Logan was in danger even before the Brood appeared. He is also does a great maintain its post-apocalyptic western setting that is unique to the Old Man Logan world.

The Bad: While it is explained why Logan went to save Puck and Alpha Flight on his own, it does seem odd he made that decision to go it alone. With how his recent adventures have gone and this being a setting Logan isn’t familiar with it could have been a good opportunity to bring along someone like Beast. Given Beast’s own connection with Alpha Flight it would have been a good opportunity for Lemire to explore the relationships he has with the present day X-Men. This would help add further depth to the series since we don’t see how Logan is doing as part of the X-Men.

Overall: Old Man Logan #16 was another excellent entry one of Marvel’s best ongoing comic books. Jeff Lemire continues to push Logan to go beyond what he is normally involved with. That has created stories that are refreshing to read. The space centric story was nicely balanced out by Logan’s mysterious return to his timeline. It’s still unknown how these stories are linked but learning that link provides plenty of intrigue for the rest of this new story arc.