Old, Gruff, and Gritty: Old Man Logan #46

The following is my review of Old Man Logan #46, which was posted on PopMatters.com.

It's never easy watching a beloved friend or family member succumb to the ravages of age. It's an inescapable fact of life, but if there's anyone who has a chance to escape, it's Wolverine. He's not supposed to age, decline, or lose his sex appeal. This is a man who survived having the adamantium ripped from his bones by Magneto, endured multiple battles with Apocalypse, and kept his dignity after the Punisher ran him over with a steamroller. However, it's because he's not supposed to get old that Old Man Logan has such unique appeal.

He's a version of Wolverine who is losing his battle against the ravages of time. He can still heal, but he can't be the same hero he's always been. Moreover, he can never be that hero again. His body and his spirit just won't allow it. That version of Wolverine is buried in the past. This version is looking less and less capable with each passing day.

Since taking over the series, Ed Brisson has been guiding Old Man Logan into the proverbial twilight of his story and there's a growing sense that the end is near for him. He can't heal like he used to. He can't fight with the same ferocity that once made him so dangerous. He's an old man and there's only so much he can heal from. On top of that, the adamantium in his bones is poisoning him so his clock is ticking faster than most.

It's a rare and difficult story to tell, an iconic hero getting older and less capable. Old Man Logan tells that story well and with Old Man Logan #46, Brisson takes him one step closer to the inevitable, but not before putting him in position to be the best there is at what he does. That also includes him teaming up with old allies, such as Alpha Flight. It's one of Wolverine's oldest affiliations that doesn't involve clones or other living weapons. It's somewhat fitting because Alpha Flight prepared him for the X-men. Now, they're helping him prepare for his final days.

The tone of the story is not as somber as it could've been. Old Man Logan is not necessarily broken up about his declining health. He's not dreading the dwindling time he has left or that the mainline version of Wolverine is coming back to take his space. Brisson presents Old Man Logan as a man resigned to his fate, but not in a way that feels grim. He's still Wolverine. He'll still throw himself into the middle of a battle and stab things, as only he can.

It does, however, create a unique backdrop for the part of the story that requires fighting and claws. It's a fairly generic situation by Alpha Flight standards. There's a small town in Canada that has been overrun by some purple alien plant monster. Not much is known or revealed about it, but it gives Old Man Logan and Alpha Flight a reason to team up. It has the common themes of an old school monster movie, complete with mysterious origins for the monster and brutal deaths for innocent townspeople.

By Wolverine standards, it's basically a typical Tuesday. However, a good chunk of the story is dedicated to reinforcing just how little time Old Man Logan has left. There's even one revealing scene between him and Puck where he reveals something that few versions of Wolverine would ever admit without the influence of powerful psychics.

It's not just that he can't heal and the adamantium in his body is killing him. He's tired. His exact words are, "I'm just so tired." He knows he's not the man he used to be. He also knows that if he keeps fighting like a young man version of Logan, people are going to get hurt, namely those cares about. He's at a point in his illustrious, brutal life where he's just ready to go. It's one of those things people expect old men to say, but not Logan.

Puck and the rest of Alpha Flight don't have a chance to respond, which is understandable when they're fighting an alien plant monster. Damian Couceiro manages to include some solemn reactions through a dark, but appropriate art style. There's a clear sense that Alpha Flight isn't just brushing Old Man Logan's dire condition off. They just don't get an opportunity to confront him about it and Old Man Logan makes clear that he doesn't want to talk about it.

This does have a meaningful impact on the battle against the alien plant monster. If a younger, less tired version of Wolverine were involved, then the drama just isn't there. Old Man Logan #46 isn't just Wolverine fighting another space monster with his fellow Canadian heroes. Brisson creates a predicament where every growl, slash, and grunt is pushing Old Man Logan closer to the brink. He can't win they day by just going into a berserker rage and stabbing everything with a feral grin on his face. He has to fight knowing that he's not going to heal from the wounds he incurs like he used to.

That makes Old Man Logan #46 and every subsequent issue more dramatic beyond the alien plant monsters. This isn't just another tease about a major hero dying and setting up a subsequent resurrection story. This is a character who is ready to die and doesn't want to come back. He wants to fight whatever battles he can before walking off into the light to rejoin his family. It's sad on some levels, but refreshingly real in a way that is atypical of superhero comics, especially those involving Wolverine.

There are many times in Logan's vast, convoluted history where his healing factor has been damaged and his ability to survive any battle is in question. However, Old Man Logan sets himself apart by conceding to his vulnerabilities to some extent. There's no certainty that he'll heal from his condition because it has less to do with his powers and more to do with juts being an old man. It's solemn, but it's not tragic in the sense that Old Man Logan is ready to die. He's just not done stabbing things yet.

Final Score: 7 out of 10

Tenuous Temporal Deconstruction: Extermination #1

The following is my review of Extermination #1, which was posted on PopMatters.com.

There comes a point in every time travel story where the damage to the timeline become untenable. Sometimes, it takes too long to get to that point and when functional time machines are involved, that's saying something. It's debatable whether the original five X-men that, as ripped from the earliest issues of Uncanny X-men, have gotten to that point, but the circumstances surrounding Extermination #1 make a pretty convincing case that their time has come.

The details are unavoidable. The reasons why the time-displaced X-men came to the future and stayed there are obsolete. Cyclops never causes a mutant genocide. Jean Grey doesn't stay dead. Angel doesn't permanently lose his mind. Iceman doesn't stay in the closet. Everything that once horrified them about the future no longer applies. It makes their continued presence both superfluous and confusing. Ed Brisson and Pepe Larraz promise to resolve that with Extermination.

That necessarily requires more time travel and all the timeline-twisting machinations that come with it. As Back to the Future so eloquently demonstrates in 1985, the source of the temporal disruption must also be the solution to some extent. The events of Extermination #1 just add more urgency, as well as a new threat that promises to step up the time tables, literally and figuratively.

The nature of that threat is vague, but it involves familiar names. Things happen fast and suddenly. Big messy battles unfold, giving Larraz plenty of chances to create stunning visuals. There are also multiple casualties, each of which have weighty implications. However, since casualties in a time travel story are often tenuous at best, the drama is limited. Despite this temporal barrier, Brisson and Larraz find plenty of ways to inject it into the plot.

The stakes go beyond the integrity of the timeline. They get personal very quickly and hit the time-displaced X-men right in the proverbial heart. Some get hit harder than others and the emotions from characters like Cyclops and Jean Grey are palpable. For a time travel story, which often relies heavily on sub-plots laden with sci-fi technobabble, this kind of heartfelt anguish is refreshing. It makes Extermination #1 feel like something other than a time travel story, of which the X-men have many.

However, some of that melodrama comes off as forced. In between the destructive battles, the personal dimensions of the conflict emerge from outstanding side-plots that have been unfolding among the time-displaced X-men in recent years. The overall structure of Extermination #1 doesn't rely too heavily on it, but it doesn't complement it, either. There are even moments that don't entirely mesh with recent developments in the books that precede it.

The moments between Teen Cyclops and Bloodstorm don't really match with what has been going on with them in X-men Blue. There's an implied connection between them, but one that comes off as contrived for the sake of increasing the impact. The moments between Teen Jean, Rachel, and Cable also assume a lot about the relationship they have. While past issues of All-New X-men and X-men Gold establish that they are aware of one another, there's little indication that they've fleshed it out to any meaningful extent.

This doesn't make the events in Extermination #1 less coherent, but for anyone who has been following the journey of the time-displaced X-men, it feels disconnected from their over-arching story. To some extent, this keeps the story from getting bogged down by continuity. At the same time, it also overlooks the larger implications of the original five X-men's presence in the future. 

That's not a requirement to making the plot work, though. The time-displaced X-men don't need to have a deep, well-developed relationship with every character involved. Just knowing who Rachel and Cable are is enough to understand why the events that unfold are a big deal, both for original five X-men and the integrity timeline. It effectively shoves the cold, hard truth in their face in a way they can no longer ignore. Their presence in the future cannot continue. This is the end of the line for them and there's no scenario in which they can stay without incurring greater losses.

That's the underlying message of the story and Brisson effectively belabors that. Some characters, namely Teen Cyclops, openly acknowledge that they have to go back to their own time at some point. They even understand that has to happen soon, but there are a lot of factors keeping them in the future, including the unpleasant fact that one of their future selves is still dead. Like any approaching time paradox, though, they don't get much say in the matter.

When the past, present, and future finally catches up to the time-displaced X-men, it feels abrupt, yet necessary. There's a sense that there has to be consequences to them being in the future for as long as they have. Some characters suffer more than others and it weighs heavily on the time-displaced X-men. It also sets the stage for a much bigger, much more personal confrontation with two familiar characters who have a tendency to show up in dystopian futures.

Even with all these personal and temporal connections, there isn't a sense that what happens in Extermination #1 is a culmination of everything the time-displaced X-men have done. There's no critical mistake that puts them past the point of no return. Forces they neither control nor know about simply catch up to them and make them pay for daring to have personal attachments in the future. It's a common consequence of time travelers, but one that has just enough depth to work.

Extermination #1 certainly succeeds in firing the first shots in the conflict that will ultimately send the original five X-men back to the past. There's little mystery as to who is behind it. Brisson doesn't drag anything out and still leaves room for plenty of intrigue. The situation is dire, but it isn't hopeless and since the X-men are always one misstep away from creating another dystopian future, that counts for a lot.

Final Score: 6 out of 10