When Steve McNiven and Mark Millar wrote Old Man Logan starting way back in June 2008, I highly doubt they could have anticipated the impact the story would have. The story, detailing the life of a Logan in a world where the villains have won, inspired James Mangold and Hugh Jackman’s final Wolverine film; the title character was even brought into the proper Marvel Universe. So good was the concept and the world Millar and McNiven established, that other survivors have had their own stories told, and now, collected.
Old Man Hawkeye: The Complete Collection
Writer: Ethan Sacks
Artists: Marco Checchetto, Ibraim Roberson, and Francesco Mobli
Old Man Hawkeye serves as a prequel to the original Old Man Logan and deals with the guilt that Clint Barton is dealing with as one of the only surviving Avengers following the Red Skull’s master plan to take down all of our heroes. Barton is driven by revenge, but what he doesn’t seem to realize is his vendetta tends to bring trouble to everybody else around him.
The series does an excellent job of taking us back to the world of Old Man Logan, thanks in so small part to the superb writing of Ethan Sacks. I haven’t been familiar with his work, and he’s entering the domain that really has belonged to some heavyweights. Along with Mark Millar’s original story, Jeff Lemire spent time with the Old Man Logan character and his environment, but walking in their footsteps proves to be easy for Sacks. He nails the self-doubt and self-loathing that Hawkeye would naturally have in the face of his life, while also adding to the mythology of the the Old Man world.
The artwork throughout the Complete Collection is solid throughout the entire 12 issue series, though the switch between artists was a bit jarring. Marco Charchetto handles the majority of the work, issues 1-6, and 7-10, so it’s hard not to wish he had been able to complete the entire series.
Overall though, I found Old Man Hawkeye: The Complete Collection to be an excellent story; I finished volume relatively quickly and it left me eager to reread the other stories set in the world as well.
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