"The Last Ronin, Part 2: The Well"
Writer - Jeff Lemire
Artist - Andrea Sorrentino
Color Artist - Marcelo Maiolo
Letterer - VC's Cory Petit
Release Date: 08.10.2016
Cover Price: $3.99
When last we left Logan, he was in the middle of a solo reconnaissance mission in Japan... his target for rescue: Lady Deathstrike. Little did he know he would run afoul on a not-so-unfamiliar foe... one he'd met a world ago... one he'd killed a lifetime ago.
Sohei of the Silent Order may have gotten the jump on our (old) man Logan, but this wily veteran is anything but down and out.
Picking up a bit after where we left off Logan is awakened by a vision of a love long lost. He pulls himself together only to realize he's currently slumming it in the bottom of a pretty deep well. Have claws, will travel... Logan pulls himself out, only to find himself staring into the eyes of his captor... who fires an arrow through his torso sending him careening back to the bottom of the cold dank pit.
As we've become accustomed to in reading Old Man Logan, Jeff Lemire makes great use of flashback to tie into the ongoing narrative. Here, we learn that this ain't Logan's first rodeo with big bad Sohei... in fact, on his Earth... he'd killed him!
We get more information on Logan's lady, Maureen here as well... at least insofar as how much she knows about the man she's been sharing a bed with... which is quite little. During the flashback, Logan is stabbed through the throat. Knowing what we know about Wolverine, we're not shocked to discover that he can (and has) survived such a thing. To Maureen, however, this is brand new information.
For those who hadn't read the original Old Man Logan, this may require a bit of explanation. Over there, our main (old) man murdered the X-Men (while under mind control)... we would every now and again see flashbacks with Logan sitting among the bodies, claws covered in blood. When that was behind him, he vowed to never again "pop" the claws. Which made it all the more amazing when he finally had to. Here, Maureen doesn't know from healing factors and probably couldn't spell Adamantium with an eight-letter head start... and I really, really like that.
What's so impressive about this issue... this series, really... is that in several of these issues, not a whole lot happens... yet, it doesn't really feel drawn out, decompressed, or "written for the trade". I'm definitely not claiming that it isn't written in such a way, mind you... but under Lemire's pen, it's hardly noticeable... which is a true testament to his talents.
We end up with Logan finally clawing his way out... and finding he's likely in for a bigger battle than he'd planned. Ol' Sohei ain't planning on going one-on-one! Next issue, I imagine we're going to see some juxtaposed battle scenes... and honestly, I'm quite looking forward to it!
Bits & Pieces:
Another fantastic chapter in the saga of Old Man Logan. I'm never unimpressed by the intriguing narrative and top-notch dialogue. Sorrentino turns in some wonderful pages, making even scenes of Logan at the bottom of a well come off as dynamic. This book is rapidly moving to the top of my read-list.
9/10
The cover for the issues caused I jumped into this the same way I jumped the Green Arrow Outsider story from the same creative team. A little late in the game but a good time to start.
ReplyDeleteWhile OML #9 was a pretty good, this really hit out of the park. Not often do you feel like the 2D dimensional space in a comic book is encompassing the way that well that did around myself while reading this.