Words: Paul Salamoff

Art:Philip Simpson

Bluewater Comics, out now

Logan and his wife Jessica are living free in the outlands with their infant son, Jaq. Everything seems to be going just fine for the pioneering family until baby Jaq gets sick and Logan must return to one of the ruined cities in search of lifesaving medicine. Unfortunately, while he’s away a band of vicious criminals come to their remote home and make off with Jessica and Jaq. Returning with the medicine, Logan must once again don his Sandman armour and set out to rescue his abducted family.

The thing I enjoyed the most about these first three issues of Logan’s Run: Aftermath is undoubtedly Phillip Simpson’s art. It’s not classic comic book style but rather has a wistful, dreamlike quality that reflects the uncertainty of the situation Logan and Jessica find themselves in. The art has an eerie energy and makes good use of stillness. There is one particular panel in issue one in which Logan is flying into the distance to look for medicine for Jaq and Jessica is watching him go. Her clothing is being tugged in the breeze, as is her hair, and the very evocative image neatly sums up her anxiety and her vulnerability in Logan’s absence. This of course neatly foreshadows the fact that she and Jaq are abducted while Logan is away.

Writer Paul Salamoff doesn’t pull any punches in the story either and, as in the original Logan’s Run comic Last Day, he certainly doesn’t shy away from violence. The atmosphere of wild, frontier, post-apocalyptic lawlessness, with bands of outlaws roaming the countryside doing as they please, reminded me of the Mad Max films. In issue two, while questioning local townspeople about their involvement in the disappearance of his wife and child, Logan doesn’t hesitate to deliver a savage kick to the midsection of the boy he’s just finished questioning. And in issue three Jessica suffers some pretty terrible treatment at the hands of her captors. Aftermath definitely doesn’t try to hide the brutal side of a broken society.

A couple of the writing choices seem odd: when Logan confronts the kidnappers in issue two I thought some of their dialogue was a little incongruous. One of them refers in passing to ‘ravaging’ a woman and I thought that particular term felt wrong for the character. Also I thought it was strange that Logan’s first act is to identify and kill their leader. What if only the leader knew where Jessica and Jaq had been taken? It seemed like a risky move just to try and intimidate them into co-operating. Which it didn’t anyway.

Verdict: Aside from these minor criticisms I really enjoyed these first three issues of Logan’s Run: Aftermath and I’m definitely looking forward to finding out what happens in the upcoming fourth issue. 7/10

Bernice Watson

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