Old Man Logan #34 Review

Old Man Logan #34: Moon Over Madripoor (Part One)

Publisher: Marvel
Writer: Ed Brisson
Artist: Ibraim Roberson
Colorist: Carlos Lopez
Letterer: Cory Petit

Review by Michael Farris, Jr.

Old Man Logan #34: Moon Over Madripoor kicks off a new Old Man Logan story arc that brings Logan into a centuries-old turf war in Madripoor between the Hand and the Yashida clan. With the Yashida Corp. now under control of the Hand, Madripoor is used to control distribution of the Regenix serum. Logan and Mariko Yashida—having just been freed from Hand control—are out to see that the drug gets destroyed completely. But first, they have to get through Gorgon and—more importantly—there is the fact that Logan isn’t as young as he used to be.

The story picks up where Logan left off almost getting killed by Mariko before her sanity was restored. Now they’re working together and…I mean it really didn’t take that long to agree to that, did it? There are a few “you’re not the Logan I remembered” and “are you sure you’re yourself, Mariko” bits of dialogue, but they move on pretty quickly. I was disappointed by this as I wanted the regaining-of-the-trust bit to be drug out a little more. A lot of this comic felt rushed, from the investigation process to the fight at the end, but I’m hoping the story told in this one is just getting the small details out of the way for a bigger story the writer wants to tell. It was a decent read, and I’ve always loved the gritty Old Man Logan world.  

Speaking of gritty, the artwork is that. It feels dirty, it feels violent, and in the flashbacks, it feels old, so the tone that the art and colors were supposed to set are very successful in what they’re trying to accomplish. My only question: What happened to that guy’s hair in one panel?

Verdict: 
Buy it. Old Man Logan #34 is overall a pretty badass story that would be better with a little more depth to it. But, I’m going to give the writers the benefit of the doubt that that’s coming. The cliffhanger at the end has me waiting to see where the rest of this story arc will go.