Comic Book Review: Old Man Logan #43

Review by Gregg Katzman

• Ed Brisson (writer)
• Juan Ferreyra (artist)
• VC's Cory Petit (letterer)

Bullseye has always been one of the scariest Marvel villains, and that's made him one of my favorite bad guys. He may not look terrifying like Sabretooth and he may not be powerful like Carnage, but there's nothing more frightening than a highly skilled and intelligent person who loves to kill. Sabretooth can sometimes be reasoned with; Carnage can be outsmarted. But Bullseye? He won't change his mind, and he has a twisted gift for murder - he adores it. He's the best there is at what he does, and what he does is horrifying.  Old Man Logan #43 does a superb job portraying Bullseye as a spine-chilling and formidable foe. Before I talk about this issue's story, take a look at Mike Deodato Jr. and Carlos Lopez's cover below - the look in Bullseye's eyes and that sick smirk tells you everything you need to know about the crazed character.

Can anyone help me understand why artist Juan Ferreyra isn't attached to regularly illustrate a comic series? How has no one picked up this guy to consistently provide artwork for an ongoing title?! His work on Green Arrow Rebirth was brilliant, and now he's brought that same level of talent to the pages of a Marvel comic. If Marvel doesn't lock him on a title, another publisher should sweep in and put this vastly underrated artist to work on a consistent basis. 

Just look at the examples of his artwork on the right and below. These are two completely different scenes, yet both are done masterfully. The one on the right is quiet and relies 100% on character and atmosphere. It's literally just Logan entering an apartment and looking at the damaged window - it's that simple. But the way we follow Logan makes everything flow so well. That's all thanks to keeping the perspective engaging and putting a tremendous amount of passion into making both the character and the environment feel real. Nothing feels glossed over. The establishing shot makes you feel the warm day outside before pulling you into the haunting and dark crime scene. Ferreyra's pencils are topnotch, but his consistently astonishing use of color and shading really elevates every single panel in the issue. Don't believe me? Take a little more time to appreciate every single panel on the right. Seriously, it's time well spent.

Ferreyra's an expert visual storyteller. He can deliver the intimate nature of those quiet character moments and the dialogue-heavy moments, but his handling of action is a total blast. Something as ordinary as Bullseye throwing a card at someone could be shown in two simple panels: the card being thrown by Bullseye, and then the card either hitting or missing its target. Instead, take a look at the action scene below and analyze how it plays out across both pages. The establishing shot sets up the entire conflict and the distance between Bullseye and Old Man Logan and Vendetta - it's a cool way to really appreciate the scale of the battle. But then we pull in to see how Bullseye responds to the gunfire. Instead of a close-up of Bullseye throwing the card and then a close-up of Logan shoving Vendetta out of the way, we get two panels that are dedicated to Bullseye's perspective while he throws the card directly at his target - we get to appreciate how he effortlessly throws it with such accuracy. Then we get two more panels as we follow the card (complete with a bullet zipping under it) as it heads straight towards Vendetta. Way better than a simple pair of "throw and dodge" panels, right? To top it off, I also enjoy how each onomatopoeia stands out and enhances the chaotic scene without getting in the way of the action. The same could be said for the use of "snikt!" in the page above.

Okay, I've praised Ferreyra enough at this point, right? Let's talk about Brisson's writing. Just like the artwork, this issue flows really well - I've read the issue twice now and there isn't a dull moment. There's a decent amount of exposition to make sure Old Man Logan #43 is new reader-friendly, but that's because this story relies pretty heavily on his previous work - not just in Old Man Logan, but also his Bullseye limited series. 

Obviously, Brisson knows that not everyone has followed along, so he's got to sprinkle in some mandatory exposition about who key characters are and what has gone down in previous stories - this is the first issue in a new story arc, after all. Exposition is unavoidable, but it's the handling of it that truly matters. Thankfully, Brisson's got a gift for dialogue - he knows how to make dialogue feel natural instead of just informative. The exposition doesn't weigh down the issue, especially since the art is so engrossing and everything moves pretty quickly. Under another writer, this issue definitely could've dragged and only used Bullseye as a teaser on the cliffhanger page. As you can tell by now, that wasn't the case at all.

Respectfully, I wasn't the biggest fan of Brisson's handling of action scenes in some of the previous Old Man Logan issues (this is assuming he didn't leave the choreography completely up to the artists, of course). This was surprising since I think he did an impressive job with action sequences over in his Iron Fist run and Bullseye limited series. I think he does great work with personalities (I especially liked Kraven's dialogue), but previous Old Man Logan conflicts had me feeling a little skeptical about round two of Old Man Logan vs. Bullseye. That said, I'm always happy to be proven wrong! Clearly, Brisson's having a lot of fun with this clash. It's not just Bullseye rushing at Logan - it's Bullseye toying with his target, which is much more in character for the bloodthirsty Daredevil villain. As for the debut of "Vendetta," I'm reserving judgement until we see more of her, but she does have a cool design. Let's see where she goes from here.

Old Man Logan #43's got just the right amount of twisted horror that any good Bullseye story should have - he's a psychotic monster, after all. Making this clash unpredictable instead of straightforward (e.g. Bullseye throwing stuff, Logan dodging and lunging at Bullseye) makes it far more memorable and exciting. After all, once Logan gets close to Bullseye, it's tough to swallow the villain lasting very long without blatantly downplaying the elderly X-Man's capabilities. We all know Logan will eventually get his hands on Bullseye, but the creative handling of the story and the intensity of the action definitely leaves me wanting more.

If you haven't been following Old Man Logan or haven't read Bullseye's limited series, you won't have that strong of an emotional connection to Old Man Logan #43. Despite that, Brisson's fast-paced script and Ferreyra's phenomenal artwork will make up for that and then some - it can definitely be enjoyed by new readers. Part one of "Bullseye Returns" is massively entertaining and delivers just about everything I could want from Bullseye setting his sights on Old Man Logan. Give it a read, bub.

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