Superheroes are usually all about flying around, big fights, and being larger than life. In Old Man Logan, the outgoing creative team of Andrea Sorrentino, Jeff Lemire and Marcelo Maiolo mixes that with a slightly different approach.

In this series, Logan remains pretty grounded. His costume becomes a brown leather jacket, and most of the time his fights are pretty brutal, and mostly involve people getting straight up punched in the face. And it all hinges on Sorrentino's take on Wolverine. It's leaning heavily on realism, with sharp blacks that add a noirish vibe.

 

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Marvel Comics
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There are a couple of approaches that always stand out when going through an issue of Sorrentino's Old Man Logan, in particular his approach to the portrayal of the character. He's almost like a "Tommy Lee Jones in No Country For Old Men"-type; out of place, out of time, and with a particular broodiness about him.

One fun way Sorrentino highlights this is by almost never showing Logan's eyes. Showing the eyes is always a way to connect an audience with readers, but we rarely get that with this take, so he remains this distant, cut off figure.

The other touch is that Sorrentino routinely places the camera at eye level, almost like we're just walking along this weird and wonderful journey with Logan. It means a lot of those punches hit harder, and his version of Logan is more human, more vulnerable. That's a pretty tough balance to achieve for a character like Wolverine, with his whole shtick being that he's practically invincible, but Sorrentino achieves it.

 

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Marvel Comics
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The other worthy note about his work on Old Man Logan is that this art team has been on nearly all the issues for 18 issues. That means that there's a real consistency throughout the run. Short runs by artists are common in modern books, and it's rare even for just this many issues to have an artist keeping the visuals together.

Though when it comes down to it, it's just stunning, stellar art that you can't help get excited about with each issue. There's a visceral feeling to it; it hits you hard and fast; but there's a truth and reality that exists beyond the story approach. It sits specifically in the art, in the panels, in the lines and shadows. With Sorrentino and team bringing their run to an end, it's worth a moment to appreciate the outstanding work they've done.

 

In Good Thing we celebrate something we love from comics or pop culture, because every day could use something good.

 

 

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