“Old Man Logan” has been an arc with some serious ups and downs, and ridiculous delays. Months after the last issue in the series, Mark Millar is back to deliver the penultimate issue of “Old Man Logan.” For the most part, I’ve been a fan of Millar’s story so far, but the wait for this issue almost completely removed my interest for the arc. The real question is if this issue is the incoherent mess I expected it to be?

"Old Man "Logan" Top "Future Imperfect" Bottom

 This is one of those few times that the delays were worth it. Millar pays homage to Peter David’s classic Hulk story “Future Imperfect” throughout the issue. In Millar’s world, the Red Skull is now the President and bears Captain America’s costume. The similarities between “Future Imperfect” and “Old Man Logan” can be seen within the Red Skulls lair, both in story and design. Skull has trophies displayed of all the fallen heroes that died fighting against him and the other villains. In “Future Imperfect,” Rick Jones had many of the same things displayed, like the Silver Surfer’s board, Captain America’s shield, and Thor’s helmet. The difference is that Rick does it to commemorate past heroes, while the Red Skull has a more perverse display. The battle that takes place in this issue continues to reference “Future Imperfect.” Even without saying what happens, I would guess that fans of David’s Hulk story can guess how it all ends.

 Once Logan escapes New Babylon, he is forced to return home. This is when the issue started to fall apart. It felt rushed and I was overall unimpressed by the flimsy excuse on how to quickly get Logan back to the other side of the country. Both the dialogue and plot points that Millar used on Logan’s return journey have a completely different feel from the rest of the issue and take away from the its overall impact. However, once Logan makes it to his farm the issue returns to its previous tone. The ending was not surprising, but very exciting as it gave readers what they’ve wanted to see for this entire arc.

 I consider this issue to be the best of the “Old Man Logan” so far. While I do not believe to be on par with other future storylines like “The Dark Knight Returns” or “Future Imperfect”, Millar has delivered a story that will be remember as one of Wolverine’s classics.