Once upon a time there was a novel. That novel sold well and eventually got made into a movie. The movie also did well, and it got turned into a comic book. I could be talking about any number of stories and characters but I’m actually describing the history of the strange dystopian tale about a man named Logan. Logan is the protagonist and the eponymous runner of Logan’s Run, originally dreamed up by William Francis Nolan and George Clayton Johnson.
Warner Bros. has been planning a Logan’s Run reboot for a few years now, and with the recent announcement that Peter Craig ('Hunger Games') is writing a screen play, it looks like this may actually happen. The original novel, of course, was turned into a successful film just before the release of 'Star Wars' in 1977.
That original film was based loosely on the novel published in 1967. Logan’s Run the novel was set in a future society where becoming old is a death sentence. A youthful population lives a life of hedonism and carefree delight. Delight, that is, until they turn 21. To maintain their lavish lifestyle, the state forces anyone over 21 to either willingly embrace a painless death or become a ‘runner’ and potentially make it to a place called Sanctuary. For those who choose to run however, there is also the real danger that, if caught, they will suffer a painful death at the hands of a Sandman. In the novel Logan was one of the ‘Sandmen’, a hunter of those that ran. Although the Logan’s Run novel was successful the story didn't really become a pop culture phenomenon until the 1976 movie version appeared.
Directed by Michael Anderson and starring Michael York and Jenny Agutter, the original movie by MGM was more or less faithful to the novel, except for pushing up the age limit allowed for citizens from 21 to 30 and changing other features (i.e. the Super-Computer that runs 'the Domes', dozens of cats?). Logan’s Run the film was basically like Hunger Games meets Brave New World and it will be interesting to see, if the reboot ever appears, whether it will be closer to the original novel or the 1977 film or neither. Although I personally don’t think a remake is necessary, apparently, when it comes to sci-fi and Hollywood, everything sci-fi and successful (from ‘Total Recall’ to ‘Bladerunner’) is eventually re-made.
As in the case of 2001 and Star Wars, Marvel obtained the rights to serialize the Logan’s Run story in the 1970s. It’s this comic book take on the Logan saga that I want to focus on here. This short-lived comic should by all rights be of limited interest, but for various reasons (including perhaps the imminent reboot but more likely the general upward trend of other Bronze Age Marvel comics), several issues of the original run are consistently sought out and fetch strong returns to this day. Those issues are:
Logan's Run #1 (January 1977) – First Issue of Ongoing Series
With scripts by Gerry Conway and pencils by George Perez (Perez would stay for issues 1-5, replaced by Tom Sutton for 6 and 7, and David Kraft would immediately replace Conway and he also stayed until issue 5), the original five issues of Logan’s Run offered a fairly faithful adaptation of the movie. So far as Marvel movie adaptations go, this was a good one, on par with their Star Wars or Planet of the Apes adaptations and, in my opinion, better than the 2001 comic. Unfortunately it would be cancelled through MGM’s refusal to allow new stories other than what was shown in the movie. That hasn’t stopped this comic from being sought out. Currently a 9.8 graded copy is worth $120.00 on the market which seems right for an old property like this. It will be interesting to see if a Logan’s Run reboot film does anything to that price.
Logan's Run #6 (June 1977) – First Thanos’ Solo Story
Due to the business difficulties with MGM studios (they wanted a Logan’s Run TV show and other sequels to the movie), the producers of the Logan’s Run comics faced real hurdles in releasing new material based on the movie. This led the entire series to be prematurely and abruptly cancelled with issue #7 (July 1977), but it also led to difficulties in finding enough original material for issue #6 - the first issue set immediately after the movie. To remedy this the editors at Marvel included a short solo story featuring the Mad Titan Thanos and his nemesis Drax the Destroyer. This back up story to Logan’s Run #6, besides featuring the first Marvel artwork by Mike Zeck, really made this comic sought out, especially after the release of the Avengers: Infinity War movie. Currently 9.8 graded copies sell for $280.00 with strong returns on all higher grades.
