Writer: Mark Millar
Pencils: Steve McNiven
Inks: Dexter Vines

The following review is excerpted from Comic Book Revolution (click here to read CBR’s full review)

Art: 9/10
Story: 7/10
Overall: 8/10

Nothing can kill a white hot story arc more than shipping problems. And that is what has happened to Millar’s Old Man Logan story arc. It seems like those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it. We had these same shipping issues the last time Millar and McNiven teamed up together and gave us Civil War. Wolverine #68 came out way back on August 27, 2008. Here it is two and a half months later and we are finally getting Wolverine #69. At any rate, let’s go ahead and do this review…

The Good

This issue starts out the box quick as the first nine pages are full of adrenaline pumping action. Millar then eases off the gas and gives the reader a chance to soak in more of the setting of this future version of America. Millar then ends Wolverine #69 with an excellent scene that focuses on character building. All in all, Wolverine #69 was a nicely balanced read.

I have been impressed with Millar’s world building skills as he has been able to give this future Earth plenty of depth and intrigue. The reader gets such a strong sense of the bleakness, lawlessness and hopelessness that permeates this future Earth. This dry and dusty future America reminds me of a Sergio Leone western and I can hear the music of Ennio Morricone as I read this issue.

Millar treats the reader to plenty of neat little throwaways as our heroes travel across the country. We see Loki’s giant body under the Baxter Building. There is Venom’s costume stretched across a canyon wall in South Dakota. There is Red Skull’s visage chiseled onto Mount Rushmore. We also see wild packs of dinosaurs from the Savage Land roaming the desert.

All of these little throwaways add plenty of flavor to this story and help to give this setting more depth and a real sense of history. They also help to pique the reader’s interest and get the reader’s imagination cooking over what happened during the great war between the heroes and the villains. It is obvious that Millar is having fun with fleshing out this bizarre future.

Despite the fact that the sense of hopelessness permeates every corner of this setting and that it practically overwhelms the reader at times, Millar still gives the reader a small flicker of hope when Logan mentions Sue and Reed. The mere fact that these two heroes from Marvel’s First Family of superheroes might still be alive shows that even jaded and broken people like Logan still have a small flicker of hope within their hearts.

Old man Logan is akin to Clint Eastwood’s character in Unforgiven. This is the Man with No Name when he became an old man. These are not complex characters given to loquacious soliloquies or inner narration. Each line is carefully chosen and has the weight of a hammer as it hits home.

Hawkeye’s short monologue in the final scene concerning his daughter was excellent. I have a feeling that we have not seen the last of Ashley. I enjoyed how Millar played with the concept of Hawkeye having been a killer and how he had extinguished the flame of life in many people. This is contrasted nicely with the miracle of birth that Hawkeye witnessed when Ashley was born. At this point the killer finally understands and experiences the joy of seeing the flame of life ignited in a newborn child.

Despite the killing and the drug dealing, the heart of a hero does still beat inside of Hawkeye’s chest and this scene proves it. This scene only serves to further emphasize that Hawkeye is a fallen hero. And with each issue the reader wonders just how much further Hawkeye can fall from the once heroic stature that he had as a mighty Avenger.

Millar continues to do a fine job handling Logan’s character. Again, less is more as Millar proceeds to show the reader instead of telling the reader how much Logan has changed and the conflict that is raging inside of him. In the final scene, Millar relies on an economy of words and some action in order to convey to the reader the sense of pain, bitterness inside of Logan as well as the raging conflict inside of him as he struggles to be a pacifist.

Millar has Logan exclaim that he loves his wife, kids and his little life that he has carved out for himself which is Logan listing the reasons why he should embrace his new life of pacifism. Logan’s unsolicited insistence to Hawkeye that Logan no longer is excited by death anymore immediately makes the reader wonder who Logan is trying to convince: himself or Hawkeye…

Throughout Wolverine #69, the reader begins to see some of the old violent Wolverine slowly bubble up to the surface. This all comes to a head in the final scene. Even though Logan does not pop his claws, the violence and the fury flashes itself. It becomes apparent to the reader that Wolverine is reaching the breaking point with the struggle inside of his soul.

Wolverine #69 ends with a great hook ending as it appears that the reader will finally find out exactly what happened to Wolverine during the great war with the next issue. Millar has spent much time; some might say too much time, in building up the mystery surrounding what happened to Wolverine during the war between the heroes and the villains. I am certainly curious to learn exactly how the villains managed to break Wolverine.

McNiven and Vines combine to deliver some absolutely phenomenal artwork. Wolverine #69 is simply a fantastic looking issue. McNiven is able to create such a grand scope and feel to the setting of this story. The double page splash shot of Mount Rushmore conveyed the overwhelming presence of such a massive structure. I continue to love how McNiven draws Logan. The reader can see the time, pain and loss etched on Logan’s face. McNiven also is able to deliver action scenes just as well as the dramatic scenes.

The Bad

Wolverine #69 is a thin read. And there is a lack of plot progression in this issue. While this might be a fast action packed read, the fact remains that not much really happens at all in this issue. I got the sense that Millar was stalling a bit for time in order to push off the reveal of what happened to Wolverine during the great war between the heroes and the villains.

I think that many readers would probably not be so irritated with how thin this issue is if it had come out on time. The lack of plot progression only becomes amplified and more noticeable by the two and one half month delay. Millar likely has his eye on Old Man Logan being released in trade format and that is to be expected. Decompressed storytelling rules modern day comic books and it can be tolerated to a point if the monthly issues actually stick to their monthly shipping schedules. Once that shipping schedule is missed then decompressed stories begin to grate on the reader’s nerves even more than usual.

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