What Makes Old Wolverine New Again?

by Vince Brusio

Anyone will tell you that no one ever truly dies in comics. You just go away for a while. It’s only a matter of time before someone comes along and realizes not everything that could have been done with a character wasn’t tried and realized. Before you know it, a new series is announced, and it might even be a character that’s been around since your grandparents listened to the radio. Or it might be an old man that refuses to die. Case in point: Old Man Logan. He’s back, folks, in a brand new series by writer Jeff Lemire and artist Andrea Sorrentino. And as the creative team tells us in the PREVIEWSworld Exclusive interview, Logan’s going to be put through the wringer simply because he can take it. Again. And again.

**********

PREVIEWSworld: What was the appeal to work on Old Man Logan #1 (NOV150733)? How did the character and story appeal to you enough to make you want to move the needle for the property? Do you feel like there are endless possibilities to explore in the Wastelands?

Jeff Lemire: Wolverine in general is an amazing character, and being a proud Canadian, he’s probably the most iconic Canadian super hero, so I was eager to put my stamp on him. But there have been SO many Wolverine stories at this point, that it was really the fact that I would get to write Old Man Logan that did it for me. I love the original story and the idea of bringing Old Man Logan back to the present day Marvel Universe allowed me to put a totally new spin on all of Wolverine’s relationships and all the tropes one might expect from a Wolverine story.

And The Wastelands element is also a very attractive one for me. Anyone who has read Sweet Tooth knows my love for that genre.

Andrea Sorrentino: Yeah, I’m also a great fan of the Wastelands elements. The fact that we’re expanding a world that we’ve seen so little about in the amazing Millar\McNiven series, but that has still an endless numbers of corners to draw about, is exciting.

Mix it with some urban atmospheres in the modern Marvel Universe, and i’d say this series is like a fitting dress for myself.

Also, Wolverine has always been one of my favorites and Old Man Logan is for sure my favorite story of his. So, well, this is really like a dream job for me.

PREVIEWSworld: Give us your take on Logan. What’s he mean to you? Why do you like him? How would you like to change him? Or did Brian Michael Bendis make you not want to change him?

Jeff Lemire: To me Old Man Logan is the most scarred character in the Marvel universe. He bears the most history and the most pain. And, despite all the pain and suffering he’s endures, he still chooses to be a hero. He still always gets up and keeps going. That is very appealing to me. He’s the guy you can put through hell and he just keeps coming, keeps trying to do the right thing.

Andrea Sorrentino: Ahah, I don’t think i could ever say it better than how Jeff just did. But yeah, the ‘survivor’ quality is what i like the most in Logan as well. He has had a long life, full of pain and suffering, but he still can step up and follow the right path. He’s going to be more grim, and more disenchanted each time, but you can bet he’ll always be on the good side. That’s what’s great him him (heard that, Cyclops..?)

And Jeff writes the hell out of him on this grim aspect, so I couldn’t ask for more.

PREVIEWSworld: Dystopian chaos, of course, can breed great villains for a comic story. But how did the two of you go about putting your brains together to come up with new bad guys? Can you describe the draft process? What ended up on the cutting room floor?

Jeff Lemire: The original story I pitched for Old Man Logan will now actually be the 2^nd storyline in the series, because the more I got into it, the more I realized I needed the first arc to really be about Logan experiencing the All-New Marvel U. Really seeing it through his eyes. As strange as it may sound, there is actually no villain in the first arc, yet there’s a lot of fighting. It’s a really strange opening and a really emotional one.  Logan is his own worst enemy when the series starts.

PREVIEWSworld: Will there be any familiar faces in this story like Emma Frost or Danielle Cage? Or is this a new direction for the character, and new history is the focus of the story?

Jeff Lemire: We will see a lot of unseen corners of the Wastelands and a lot of characters we have not yet seen in that future. Bendis really covered Emma in his Secret Wars series, so I’m going in a few different directions. And in the present we will see Logan forging new relationships with some unexpected allies and adversaries.

Andrea Sorrentino: Yeah, wanted to add that drawing Emma in the Secret Wars series has been awesome. But I’ve read some future script and i know for sure that we’ll be introducing one of my favorite Marvel characters ever. It’s going to happen in the middle of the first arc and I can’t wait to put my hands on him!

PREVIEWSworld: Without spoiling the book for anyone, can you leave us with your parting thoughts on what it’s like working on Old Man Logan? How is this a rewarding experience for you? What do you hope to bring to the table with your work?

Jeff Lemire: It’s pretty thrilling. I kind of feel like Logan when I’m writing the book. It’s like a race to find his place and to keep him moving. The first arc is really fast-paced. He never stops moving.

Andrea Sorrentino: On the art side, I’m really excited for everything concerning the Wastelands, and the dystopian scenery. Despite being very fast-paced and showing a lot of Logan’s integration into the new Marvel Universe, the fist arc will also be filled by lots of past memories. And the contrast between those two worlds is what I really want to bring to the table.

PREVIEWSworld: Andrea, can we get a look inside your studio? What references did you use when conceptualizing action sequences for the story? Were you using previous issues of the book? Photography?

Andrea Sorrentino: When I work on a new series, I usually read a lot of what came before. Some are arcs on the characters, and in general what readers loved and hated in previous incarnations. With Wolverine this wasn’t needed at all, as I’ve read Old Man Logan so many times in the past I already knew everything.

Speaking of my references, I think a lot in terms of storytelling and pacing from cinema, but i’m really influenced by everything I see around me. As I said once already, it’s a bit like Stanislavski's system. I try to be in the right mood for the scene I’m drawing. This may include watching the right movie, listening to the right songs, or reading the right books or comics. Or even going to visit some places if I’ve got the chance to it.

PREVIEWSworld: The story is grim, Andrea. No rainbows overhead anytime soon. How do you convey that ambiance? How do you reproduce the tone of the Wastelands?

Andrea Sorrentino: Well, as weird it may sound, there’s no ambiance I feel more at home in...then my home. Seriously, I live in a sunny and pretty noisy city in the south of Italy. I’m generally a ‘sunny’ person, but when it comes to drawing there’s nothing that makes me feel more comfortable than a devastated, sad, dystopian land. So I’d say for this book I just set on my best music and let the things go. Hope readers will appreciate the results!