What if you were forced to relive the most important moments of your life–some wonderful, and others devastating? Maybe you’d welcome the opportunity to do things differently. Now imagine you’re powerless to change the past, and these moments play out just as you remember them. That theme is at the core of Old Man Logan #22, and boy does it make you feel for our hero.
Writer: Jeff Lemire
Artist: Eric Nguyen
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer Jeff Lemire and artist Eric Nguyen continue their "Past Lives" arc, dropping the time-traveling hero into the battle that introduced him to the Marvel Universe. You know the one, The Incredible Hulk #181. Okay, so the Wolverine that appeared in battle with Hulk and Wendigo wasn’t exactly the icon we all know today, and Lemire has fun with that.
Whatever Asmodeus did to send Logan’s consciousness through time prevents him from acting or saying anything differently while in his younger body. That means he has to listen to himself saying things like, "Heads up, Hairies! The Wolverine is coming through!" It’s funny, while also being respectful to Marvel’s classic stories.
But as soon as you get used to laughing along with Logan, Lemire breaks your heart, as we revisit the X-Men’s battle with Dark Phoenix from Uncanny X-Men #135. The moment before Wolverine and his fellow X-Men lost Jean … before she soared toward space (and we all know what she did up there).
Lemire takes you through Logan’s constantly changing thoughts, from his determination to change history to his resignation to the fact that he’s powerless to save Jean, and can only watch her leave him one more time. Solid writing!
It’s got to be a treat for Nguyen to draw Logan in not one but four of his iconic costumes throughout this issue. With his use of sharp angles and shadows, he’s definitely a good fit for a Wolverine story. Nguyen also gets a bit creative with his use of panels this issue, which is great, as that’s one of my favorite things about regular series artist Andrea Sorrentino’s work.
Overall, Old Man Logan #22 is a fast-paced read that’ll take you down X-memory lane, and pull at your heart strings along the way. Ultimately, it serves as a reminder of just how much Lemire was born to tell Wolverine stories. Two more issues of his run are left, so it’s not too late to see what I’ve been raving about!
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