The Binding thread has given me my next selection.
No, not The Blonde, smart guy!
(Although those are fun little stories, depending on your tolerance for bondage and foot fetishism)
Nope, I am talking about Logan's Run.
So, a little backstory for the youngin's out there. Logan's Run began life as a novel, by William F Nolan and George Clayton Johnson. Nolan was a prolific writer of sci-fi and other material (including poetry) and had written for tv (Wanted Dead or Alive, a segment of Trilogy of Terror) and film (Burnt Offerings). Johnson had written quite a bit of notable material for television, including for Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Twilight Zone and Star Trek, as well as lighter fare, like Honey West and Route 66, The pair teamed up to write a dystopian novel, inspired by the youth culture of the time (1967) and socio-political events. It was the time of Vietnam and the Baby Boom Generation coming of age, with anti-war protests on campuses and talk of a population explosion that the Earth could not sustain. We weren't yet at the height of the unrest of this period, which would come in 1968, with youth riots around the globe, including the US anti-war riots and demonstrations and the May Riots in France. The novel would explore some of these themes that were smouldering.
In the novel, population is strictly controlled, with a new birth balanced by a death. Everyone has a Lifeclock crystal embedded in the palm of their hand, which changes color every 7 years, until the end, at age 21. On Lastday, it blinks from red to black, before turning black completely, signifying the end. Citizens then report to a Sleepcenter, where they are euthanized. Some, however, decide to rebel and cling on to life and go on the run, looking for a whispered place, Sanctuary. The system has enforcement officers, known as Deep Sleep Operatives, or Sandmen, in coloquial terms, who enforce the laws of the system, including tracking down and "terminating" "runners." In the novel, Logan 3 is such a Sandman; and, on his Lastday, he decides to have one last adventure and go on the run, to find Sanctuary, and destroy it. He meets Jessica 6, whose brother was a runner he terminated, from whom he heard the word "Sanctuary." Together, they progress across the country, on a sort of Underground Railroad (literally, in reference to the Maze Cars, which transport them, and figuratively, in reference to the network that aided slaves in their escape from Southern plantations, in the 1800s). They learn that the system is crumbling and the way stations along the Sanctuary route are all "dead areas," no longer controlled by The Thinker, the super-computer which supposedly runs things. In the end, Sanctuary proves to be something they never imagined, and Ballard, the legendary old man, who runs the network, is not who they think he is.
The book was optioned not long after publication and George Pal worked, for a time, to adapt it, with James Bond screenwriter Richard Maibaum writing the script. Pal and Maibaum were at odds over the concepts and budgeting the project. MGM owned the screen rights, hoping to make something as successful as 2001: A Space Odyssey of Planet of the Apes. American International Pictures offered to buy the rights, for $200, 000; but, MGM wanted $350K. Pal bowed out and went off to do Doc Savage. Saul David, who produced Fantastic Voyage and the Derek Flint spy spoofs (with James Coburn) took over and hired David Zelag Goodman, screenwriter of Soylent Green, to do the script. In adapting the material, they decided to raise the final age from 21 to 30, to have a better pool of actors, for casting. Casting and production commenced in 1975, with Michael York cast as Logan 5 (number changed from the novel), Jennie Agutter as Jessica 6, and William Devane as Francis 7. Devane withdrew from the film and was replaced by Richard Jordan and Peter Ustinov was cast as The Old Man.. Filming commenced and the movie was released in 1976, with a heavy marketing campaign.
The film ended up a moderate success, earning $25 million on a budget of about $7-8 million. The novel was reissued with a movie tie-in cover and insert photos, from the film. Marvel Comics, which had done a couple of tv and film adaptations, at this point, licensed the property to do an adaptation and continuation, if successful. That is our topic.
Aside from the change in the ages of the characters, the film deviated from the book on several other points. In the novel, Logan decides to run and destroy Sanctuary, in his own mind. In the film, he is assigned by the computer which runs "The City." Also in the novel, the route to Sanctaury ranges across the country and the populace lives in several places and there are tourist attractions, such as the battlefield, at Gettysburg, and the Crazy Horse Monument (where The Thinker is located). Logan and Jessica encounter some wild youngsters, in the Southwest, who live like Native Americans, after a fashion, and ride jet powered "devil sticks>" They capture the couple and force them to undergo a ritual of sex, with various members of the tribe, one after another. Needless to say, the film skipped that, entirely (and mostly edited down a scene in a "love shop.") In the film, the only society is within the domed city. Ballard doesn't appear in the film and is replaced by Peter Ustinov's Old Man, who lives in the ruins of the Capitol Building, with his cats, quoting from TS Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats (the basis for the musical Cats....which is part of why it has no real story, at its heart). Logan and Jessica return to the city to try to bring the truth back to the populace and are captured, with Logan interrogated by the computer, which ends up blowing up from the conflict between the truth and its programming (I guess.....it's pretty unclear why the computer is exploding, just because of that).
One of the other big departures is the concept of Carousel, a ritual where those on Lastday engage in a ritual where they float into the air, towards a giant Lifeclock, and attempt to "renew." Most appear to "flame out," and burts into a shower of sparks and disintegrate, while the crowd cheers them on, for sport. In the novel, there was only death, at the Sleepcenter. One of the lies that Logan uncovers is that no one renews, on Carousel...it is just a lie to give the populace a reason not to rebel, as they might be able to renew and live longer.
The film, in my estimation, kind of acts as a bridge between the more cerebral and message-laden sci-films of the 60s and early 70s and the more action and spectacle-oriented sci-films that followed, in the wake of Star Wars. It is a blend of high concepts, and special effects wizardry (horribly dated, now, but pretty awesome, at the time, barring a few opticals) which kind of finds a middle ground between something like, say Colossus, The Forbin Project and Star Wars. The acting, from the leads is pretty good to great (Michael York is a bit bland, at times and some small roles are pretty mixed....Farrah Fawcett wasn't going to win awards, except for her hair). The city miniature looks like a miniature, like the Futurama exhibit, at the 1939 World's Fair.
As the letters page in issue #1 details, Gerry Conway, Marv Wolfman, Len Wein and Steve Englehart all attended the 1971 World Science fiction Convention, in Boston, where they met George Clayton Johnson and learned of the novel, which was in development for the George Pal movie. They thought the concept of the novel was cool and look forward to the movie. Move ahead a few years and Marvel is wrapping up negotiations to adapt 2001 and one of the MGM people tells them they have another sci-fi property in the works that might interest Marvel, which was Logan's Run.
Gerry Conway writes the first issue, with George Perez on art and Klaus Janson inking. The story much like the film, with a look at the domed city complex, from a distance, before moving inside. It then shows us a Sandman, chasing a runner....
This is the first deviation from the film. Conway was working from the film script, which included an opening scene of Francis hunting and terminating a runner. The runner is given a generic description, in the script, but the choice of making him an African-American, here, both gives this a somewhat chilling effect and also serves to provide a thematic link to the Underground Railroad. Bounty hunters and lawmen hunted for escaped slaves, as rewards were often given, as they were considered valuable property (rather than human beings). This adds a racial undertone not really seen in the film, as the majority of the cast and extras are portrayed by white actors. The scene was filmed and included in a sneak preview, in San Diego (this was a screening, not at Comicon, since Hollywood didn't come out to it, to sell films, as in later years), from which an audio recording existed. Other deviations between the film and the script were shot and cut, based on descriptions of the audio recording, from the screening, including longer sequence with Holly, identifying her as Holly 13 and explaining that "ancients" used to consider the number unlucky. The opening runner sequence was cut for violence, to keep a PG-13 rating.
The death of the runner is pretty brutal.....
The issue continues as in the film, with Francis meeting up with Logan, in Nursery and their viewing of the possible Logan 6. They then head to Arcade, to view the night's Carousel event. There, they encounter a female friend of Francis, who is on Lastday and will go on Carousel, to renew.
Again, this is a deleted scene, from the script.
The scenes on Carousel follow, with Perez adding tons of Kirby Krackle and effects and Logan gets the alert of a runner and goes to find him, soon followed by Francis. They spot the runner and chase him, cornering him and killing him. Logan finds an ankh among his possessions and has his handheld computer identify it and reports the termination, calling for a clean-up crew. This is followed by the scene of the crew, in hovering craft, reducing the body to ashes, then vacuuming them up. It moves to the scenes in Logan's quarters, as he activates the link to the Circuit, looking for a partner, for the evening, which brings him in contact with Jessica 6. He notices the ankh symbol on her gold collar and she is sad, for the loss of a friend, on Carousel. Logan suggests he might have renewed but she says he was killed, like all of the others. Logan is puzzled by her terminology. Impending sex is implied, but is never overt, as the dialogue doesn't include the related lines, from the film and Jessica breaks off things just as Logan moves in close to her. They debate the system and Logan makes his implied threat, about the "misfits" who run. Jessica leaves and Francis enters with two women, to have a party. The scene of him tossing a narcotic container into the air, creating a powder burst, is not there.
The character's are drawn in a more generic fashion, as Marvel most likely didn't have the rights to use the likeness of the actors (which are usually negotiated with the actor's, rather than the studio). Richard Jordan's 1970s sideburns are closer to muttonchops, in the comic, and Logan has a beefier physique and longer blond hair than Michael York. Jessica is portrayed with longer hair, with more body to it, than Jenny Agutter's style, in the film. Perez also draws her as far bustier than Agutter, which is no surprise, if you have followed his career.
The comic continues as the film, with Francis and Logan meeting up at the Sandman HQ and seeing a wounded comrade, who was attacked by "Cubs", in "Cathedral (Chicago fans are pretty rough!
). There follows the remote termination of a runner, which Perez fleshes out, from the film scenes, adding electronic images of the runner. Then, Logan goes in for his debriefing of the previous night's termination and the subject of the ankh, Sanctuay and runners. Perez has to depict a rather static scene and juxtaposes different angles of Logan with the computer screen, with its questions and answers to Logan's queries. It then reprograms Logan's Lifeclock to Lastday and assigns him the mission to find and destroy Sanctuary and it ends on a cliffhanger of Logan running out, conflicted by his lost years, the things that Jessica said, his assignment and the ambuguity of what happens to him if he achieves his mission.
By issue #2, Gerry Conway is out, as both EIC and the writer of the adaptation. David Anthony Kraft takes over, while Archie Goodwin assumes the editorship.
We pick up the story in the training areas, as Francis ties to shake off his hangover/drug stupor with a soak in a jacuzzi, where Logan catches up and questions Francis about if he ever knew anyone who renewed, on Carousel. Francis notices the anxiety present in Logan and is troubled by his obsession with renewal.
There is a departure, as a scene between Logan and some comrades, with a medicine ball, is inserted, to allow a recap of the first issue....
Logan uses a very Kirby-esque machine to identify and locate Jessica, leading to her coming to his apartment, as in the film.....
In the film script, Logan uses his handheld device to locate Jessica and a younger Sandman brings her to his apartment. In the film, he is seated at a console and she just walks in, saying she had been compelled to come there.
Jessica sees her friends and discusses things with them and they decide that Logan is too dangerous to trust and must die. The female member of the group is depicted rather like Natasha Romanoff, in the comic. The scenes are similar to the film, except Perez depicts the would-be assassins being far closer to strangling him with a necklace, when he receives a runner alert.
Logan and Jessica take a Maze Car into Cathedral, followed by her friends. Francis sees the alert, at HQ and goes to aid Logan and watch him. Logan and Jessica enter the forbidden area of Cathedral, where wild Yellows, those between ages 8 and 16, called Cubs, live. They are the rejects, those too wild and rebellious for society, put out into Cathedral, until they have matured or been killed off....mostly the latter. Logan and Jessica are cornered and their leader, Billy taunts them, while Logan responds, in kind, noting Billy's age. No Cubs over 15. He unnerves Billy and he orders use of Muscle, a drug, in some kind of impregnated pad. In the film, Logan pulls out his Gun and drives them off; Perez draws Logan fighting free to get to his Gun, lying further away, on the ground. After the Cubs are gone, they find the runner, a woman, who knows nothing about the ankh and Sanctuary. Logan passes her a gas pellet, from his utility belt, to help her escape, if she is discovered. Francis witnesses this and terminates the woman, after Logan and Jessica depart. Jessica's friends follow, at a distance, while Francis reports the termination of the runner and the issue ends.
The comic has Logan give the woman the key he took off the previous runner. In the film, he retains it, as is shown in the script, as well.
The comic leaves out the encounter with the little girl, Mary 2, who steals Jessica's armband.
In the script, Jessica confesses that she was leading Logan to an ambush, then confesses she has no actual knowledge of Sanctuary or the route. Logan then decides to follow the lead of the New You shop, where the earlier runner got a new face. The comic picks things up there, in issue #3. In the script, Logan and Jessica witness Francis terminating the woman and flee, after Francis and Logan lock eyes. There follows a scene of Francis reporting for debriefing and placing the objects he took off the dead woman and the computer commands him to IDENTIFY, which he does, then the word REJECT comes on screen and an alarm sounds. Francis starts to leave, hesitates, then scoops up the items and puts them back into his pouch. When he goes outside, the other Sandmen ask what happened and he claims he grabbed the wrong bag and they tell him he should report for reliefcall. He moves off, as the scene switches to the New You shop.
Logan and Jessica meet Holly, the receptionist, and then Doc, the man who performs the procedure. They set up Logan for his face change. In the comic, Logan has a wound, from Billy's knife. Doc questions why Jessica brought him there and she responds that he insisted. Doc tries to kill him, using the lasers of the reconstruction machine. Logan fights him off and knocks Doc onto the table, where he is killed by the lasers. Francis turns up and confronts Logan, telling him what he saw, but Logan punches him and he and Jessica run off. In the comic they emerge into the stairwell, leading to the lower levels of the city. In the script and the film there is a chase through Arcade and into the Love Shop, where Logan and Jessica are separated, pulled into orgies with the brothel workers, before they extricate themselves, link up and go out a door and find the stairwell. In the film, there is less detail than in the script, though more explicit scenes were filmed and cut, to keep a PG rating.
In the comic, as they go below and run into the crowd of conspirators, Logan activates his handheld device....
In the film, Francis leads them there, using the chaos to confront Logan. Logan and Jessica escape and come to the door, to the next segment of the route, where a voice tells them to use their key. The script says each key can only be used once. Jessica takes off her necklace and they try to maneuver the key, but drop it in a pool of water, where they can't locate it. Logan takes out his key, from the dead runner and uses it to open the gate. In the film, Francis follows, after finding Jessica's key. In the comic, he uses the key Logan gave to the woman in Cathedral. They find what appears to be a derelict processing center for plankton and other marine protein, for the City's food. Francis fires on them, bursting a tank, unleashing a torrent of water that sweeps them down the pathway. They survive and get to an elevator, that takes them to another chamber. There, they discover extreme cold and the robotic Box.
During the confrontation with the conspirators, Perez depicts the same people as we see earlier, when Jessica consults with her friends, including the Natasha Romanoff doppelganger. In the film, they appear to be different actors, with Richard Kiley voicing the leader, though the actor is not seen. Kiley did a lot of voicework, but can be seen in an episode of Columbo, as a deputy commissioner who helps a fiend cover up the accidental death of his wife, then uses the faked scenario to murder his own wife and gain control over her money.
The issue has plenty of action, for Perez and he uses a lot of his visual tricks that would become signatures, expanding beyond a lot of what he had done before.
Issue 4 picks up as Logan and Jessica see the sculptures created by Box he asks to sculpt them and they agree and don furs, to get out of their wet clothes. As Box sculpts them, they see the secret of this place, as there is cell upon cell of frozen humans...
Box completes the sculpture and they learn the truth, that Box used to process marine protein for food, but the arrivals stopped. Then, when people turned up, in the form of the runners, he continued, using them as protein for processing. The city has been eating Soylent Green (same screenwriter, remember). Logan battles with Box and fires his gun into hi, destroying him. Explosions rip through the refrigeration plant and they escape. They go through rock passages until they emerge from a cave and see the sun, in the sky. Then, they experience the outside world...and love.
Francis finds the ruins of Box and the facility and the passage outside, where he sees the son. he continues to hunt his friend.
Logan and Jessica move on and find the ruins of Washington DC....
They explore and come upon the Capitol building and hear sounds, inside, and find an old man, cracking walnuts, surrounded by ruins, hundreds of cats and thousands of books. They question each other and share information, though the old man is a bit senile and child-like. The Old Man takes Logan aside to show him a portrait which shares the same hair color he once had and Jessica is grabbed from behind and silenced, by Francis, who intends to kill them both.
Logan defends himself and kills Francis, who finally acknowledges Logan's "renewal, with his dying breath.
In the script, Francis stumbles around, outside, in fear of everything, including a rabbit. He is hungry and finds the same berries that Logan and Jessica eat, but is too afraid to eat them, too conditioned to what he knew. In the battle, Francis' dying words are delirious ramblings about shooting runners.
Logan, Jessica and the Old Man return to the city, intent on bringing the truth to people. He and Jessica enter the city via a water intake and then try to alert a crowd, in Arcade, but are grabbed by Sandmen. Logan is then interrogated by the computer....
The computer explodes in the face of Logan's information and the city itself starts going up. Logan finds Jessica and leads her and others outside the city, to the Old Man, to face the future.
In terms of an adaptation, it does a phenomenal job of conveying the film, both in story and visual; plus, it has the added bonus of including material cut from the film, which expands some elements...mainly Francis and how deadly an adversary he is. Sadly, it doesn't include enough of the later material which would expand upon how his world has been shattered by Logan running, for real. The script's scenes of Francis being in near terror, at the outside world, yet still following through on pursuing Logan and Jessica, really adds a lot to the character that was lost in the film (though enough is there and Jordan was a really good actor, who conveyed a lot, with just a look) and not picked up here. The comic falls under the Comics Code, so they had to tone down even the PG-level of sex and nudity, though it is funny that they didn't really have to tone down the violence. You can kill people, you can punch the crap out of them, but depict an act of love or show a boob and out you go.
The comic doesn't pursue the food element as much as the film emphasizes it, though even the film drops it, once Box and Logan are fighting and it never comes up again.
Reading the script and the comic, I started to wonder if the film script hadn't pursued an idea that had been lost from the novel. Both mention that the New You shop had only ever done work on one other Sandman, which seemed significant, but nothing comes of it in either form, the script, the comic or the movie. I half wondered if the idea was started of following the novel to reveal that Francis was Ballard, the legendary old man. In the novel, he had a defective Lifeclock, which never signaled Lastday and his face was disguised to hide his aging. It is he who directs Logan to the final stage of the Sanctuary line, which turns out to be an orbital space station, with rocket launches from the former Cape Canaveral. If Francis was Ballard, then he might have gone to New You to hide the effects. Doc is a Red, who looks younger, because of his own work, as detailed in dialogue, so the idea was at least planted. My guess is that Goodman had toyed with the idea, but dropped it in rewrites, but felt the references were minimal and could just act as a general statement, rather than a leading one. Of course, it might just me reading into the work, based on having read the novel. Ballard morphed, slightly, into Ustinov's Old Man, in terms of someone older than the legal limit, encountered at the end of the journey. In the novel, there was no change to the Lifeclocks, as the citizens lived across the country, not just in the one metro complex. They played outside and inside, unlike the film world and Logan and Jessica go to several locales within the US.
David Anthony Kraft and George Perez had worked together on Man-Wolf and work together well, here. Conway gets the ball rolling pretty well, though, given his history when he took over as EIC, I have to wonder who he took the assignment from, as happened on other books. Maybe he didn't; but, as they say on The Sweeney, he had form.
Marvel wasn't done with Logan's Run, though. They continued on, with a new story. Kraft and Perez were gone, though, and John Warner too over writing, while Tom Sutton & Terry Austin picked up the art.
Now, at the same time, William F Nolan published a sequel, called Logan's World. Within it, Logan, Jessica and their son have returned to Earth, along with other residents of Sanctuary, because the station was dying and its orbit became unstable. In that story, their son becomes ill and Logan is forced to return to the city, to locate medicine, which brings him in conflict with the remaining residents, who are controlled by the Sandmen. Logan is perceived as a traitor, to them, and they want his head. I don't know if it was parallel thinking or whether John Warner was aware of the novel's plot, as his story follows somewhat similar lines, but different paths.
Issue 6 opens with the fallout of the ending of the film. The mob, scared of the uncertainty of the future, reacts in violence, though mostly directed at the Sandmen, including Logan, as representatives of the old corrupt order.....
They are imprisoned in a section of Arcade, and then the other Sandmen turn on Logan, for causing all of this. He is forced to fight off a couple, before another, calmer head puts a stop to it and they just leave Logan to himself and look for a way out of their situation.
Further conflict arises as the citizens experience their first storm, as lightning strikes a city spire, through the shattered dome, and rain pours into it. The city wasn't built with rain in mind and it shorts out electrical systems and causes flooding, since it has no outlet (though the scale of it, as presented, would have to be more on a hurricane scale, than a thunderstorm, for that level of flooding). There is no organization to the city and the residents panic. Jessica makes her way to Arcade and finds Logan, then makes a plea to the mob to free him, to see if he can help. The Sandmen start organizing things and move the crowd to higher ground, taking back up their Guns. Logan works on search & rescue and tries to use his Gun to blast away debris, but pierces a wall that unleashes a torrent of water down the passage, sweeping them away. He tries to get people to swim, as they are carried along the current, then uses the Gun to blast out of a section, after they have been sucked under, into some kind of conduit. Logan gets a small group to safety.
Priest 7, the cooler headed Sandman, continues to bark orders and basically tells the populace that they must follow the order set forth by the Sandman, in absence of the computer. Logan challenges him as an absolute authority, as it is clear he is using the situation to establish power, for himself and the Sandmen, as an elite force, much like fascist everywhere.
Unbeknownst to Logan or the others, the calamity has broken barriers to Cathedral and Billy sees an opportunity to kill Sandmen. Meanwhile, as Priest organizes things at Sandman HQ, they see isolated power readings, showing some parts of the city still have power. Logan and Jessica discover the same and deduce that the source is something isolated from the central power, and realize it is Carousel. They go there and stat ripping up the base platform and discover a shaft, descending beneath the city floor. Logan uses the anti-gravity field to safely descend the shaft, but is puzzled that it would be operational, when everything else isn't (well, except whatever is powering the Sandmen equipment, which is giving them readings, on monitor screens). Logan doesn't see a shadowy figure observing him....
Logan finds a burnt out unit, so there was damage, but, the story ends as he realizes the significance, while we see Billy and the Cubs lurk in the shadows of Arcade, ready to attack the Sandmen and Jessica.
Then, we get Scott Edelman and Mike Zeck's Thanos story, as Thanos and Drax do battle.
The gist of the story is that Thanos has come to a planet, where the last living plant is flowering, to destroy it, while killing the caretakers. Drax has been hunting him and tracks him there and attacks. A mother and child try to stop Thanos from destroying the plant and are hurled over a cliff, by Thanos, but Drax saves them, lest they be killed like his wife and child (though he would learn his child survived and became Moondragon). Thanos still squishes the flower, because he is an A-hole.
So, Marvel's continuation isn't the same as Logan's World, but both hit upon the idea of a return to the city and a fight with Sandmen, who try to hang onto their position in society, via Priest 7's attempt to take full authority and the populace being scared enough to forget their hatred of the Sandmen and the lies built up, which they defended. The level of water coming into the city, even with the lack of an outlet, is ridiculously high, speaking as someone who has lived through a major hurricane, where it rained for 3 or 4 days straight, as well as multiple Midwest thunderstorms and tornadoes. Cities can flood faster, due to concentration and lack of proper storm drains, or blocked drains, but, to reach the levels depicted, so quickly, is ridiculous. Still....comics.
The Thanos story is slight and has nothing to do with the series; but, it was ready and could fill in a page gap.
Issue 7 finds Logan trying to avoid a defensive system around Carousel's core, while Billy and the Cubs launch their attack. A girl named Angel tries to focus Billy, but he just wants to cut Sandman. Angel has a head for tactics and strategy and is a born leader.
The citizens fight back, but they have no training and have had soft lives. Angel forces a Sandman, at knifepoint, to lead them to food dispensers. When they get there, they discover them inoperative, because of the dead computer. They start rioting, until Jessica and the Old Man come on the scene and the Cubs see the future and are afraid. Then, the Sandmen arrive, in force, with Guns blasting. Billy and Angel grab Jessica and use her as a hostage. the cubs hurl Muscle (the drug that speeds their reflexes, but is dangerous to anyone over 13) and the Sandmen lose control, in the gas haze that results. Angel is hit, in the retreat.
Logan returns to find Priest and the others and learns about Jessica, but is frozen out of their effort to tame the Cubs.
Priest 7 is in HQ, contemplating a show of force, as a deterrent to the Cubs, but has no real plan, when a strange voice begins speaking to him....
Logan goes to Sandman HQ and retrieves a replacement uniform, with the intent of restoring some dignity and pride to the position of Sandman and retrieves an old school Gun, which has six chambers, each carrying a specific round: Web, Drill, Rip, Cloud, Flash and Seeker. he believes it will give him an edge, with the Cubs. He does not see that he is followed, by Modar, one of the Sandmen he fought in the cell.
Billy tries to bandage Angel's wound and hurts her and Jessica takes over and redoes it properly, based on her experience helping wounded runners. Billy threatens to kill her and Angel threatens to kill him, if he tries.
Priest organizes his attack force, but says he needs Logan and Modar returns, with knowledge of his whereabouts.
Logan goes into Cathedral and bluffs Billy into moving away from Jessica and throws a gas pellet. he gets Jessica below the gas and retrieves his modern Gun. he and Billy face each other, without weapons. Billy, on Muscle, has the edge in speed and agility, but Logan has extensive combat training, which compensates for Billy's lack of experience and Billy makes mistakes. Logan is able to throw and injure Billy, but Billy lands near the blaster Gun and grabs it. He is topped from using it by Angel, who allows Logan and Jessica to leave. Soon afterwards, the Sandmen attack. Logan realizes that Priest will try to kill them and they run deeper inside. Priest finds Logan's blaster Gun and believes he is unarmed and intends to corner him and the issue ends....never to be completed.
Unfortunately, Marvel did not outright license the property of Logan's run, just the film...or, at least, that is how MGM saw it and they were busy launching the tv series. Marvel was forced to stop the series. They had two backup stories in the works, for issues 9 and 10, which went unused, until they were repurposed as a complete story in Bizarre Adventures #28 (the issue with the Elektra story, from Frank Miller), titled "Huntsman. It is a basic story about a Sandman...er Huntsman, named Ballard. We see him and another cadet, Cable, in training, where they are taken to a slum area, for an exercise, and run into Cubs....Ratpackers, who get Cable's gun, beofe being driven off by the instructor. They continue after their target, a woman, who turns out to be an android, for the test. Ballard hesitates to shot, but Cable hits it. Later then instructor tells them they are the best and if they follow his lead, they can retire at 35 and avoid the Body Banks, for 10 years and get the inside track on joining the Golden Circle of the privileged. They find themselves against real targets and Ballard continues to hesitate, but not Cable. They here there is a new inside track to joining the Golden Circle, but, in the end, find themselves hunting a runner, who turns out to be their instructor. The inside track turned out to be going into the Arena, where no one seems to survive. He ran, instead and was killed by his star pupils.
The story would likely have been a backstory of a young cadet, possibly young logan, who finds out the system is corrupt. The rewriting adds elements that kind of match the tv series, where it turns out the city is ruled by a hidden Council of Elders, who offer Francis membership to destroy Logan and Jessica, after they escape from the city. Francis rejects what he sees outside the city and continues to hunt Logan and Jessica. They encounter civilizations outside the city, for good and ill, in the basic Fugitive template, where they travel around, with the android, REM, helping people, while Francis hunts them. Other Sandmen joined Francis, yet no one else rebels, which was one of several failings of the series (that and the whole template, which gets repetitive and lacks the scope of the film). Same basic idea, here.
And that was all, from Marvel, Later, Malibu, under their Adventure imprint, published a new adaptation of Logan's Run, based more directly on the original novel, written and drawn by Barry Blair. Sadly, although it was a nice idea, Blair wasn't up to the task, artistically, and it looks like every other Blair comic, right down to generic character designs, making it hard to differentiate people, without dialogue. It includes stuff from the novel not adapted into film, like the "peeping party" that Logan attends and the travel across country, and the forced sex with the pseudo-Native tribe. It was followed by an adaptation of Logan's World. If you can get past Blair's art (which is a major "if,") they adapt the material faithfully and are a cheaper alternative to buying the books, if you can find them.
I used to own this omnibus edition of the novels....
...published by Dell. Love the cover image, as it captures the flavor perfectly; and, the use of the Calico 9mm machine pistol for the Sandman Gun, was an inspired choice, by the artist. The Gun in the novel was based on a Colt Peacemaker 6-shooter, with six chambers, housing six unique rounds. The Calico was notable for a magazine that was a cylinder, with a helical feed mechanism, that could hold more rounds that an average stick magazine, in a compact package and was less prone to jamming or having spring issues, like drum magazines, as used on the Thompson "Tommy Gun." That magazine makes a nice futuristic cylinder for the Sandman gun. Plus, the design was so advanced that it looked like something from the future, which made it perfect for a sci-fi prop.
That book sells for around $50, these days. I really wished I had kept mine. I had both Logan's Run and Logan's World, before that, bought on the cheap, but never found a copy of Logan's Search. When I saw that edition, in a Waldenbooks, I snapped it up. A couple of moves later and I purged a lot of books, including, sadly, that one (and several other I wish I had kept, but space was necessary).