The LOGAN Trilogy

Despite the fact that the world portrayed in William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson's original Logan's Run novel bore little resemblance to that realized in the 1976 MGM motion picture adaptation, the film's iconography - specifically the costuming and hardware - was certainly pervasive.

Not only were they used in the 1977 CBS television series (although that was probably more a case of budget-conscious recycling by MGM than any deliberate aesthetic choice) but the two sequel novels written by Nolan - Logan's World (1977) and Logan's Search (1980) - both had initial paperback printings fronted with artwork clearly and undeniably based on the movie's designs.

Of course, none of this really means much - I just wanted an excuse to post scans of these books from my childhood library.

The Logan's Run paperback at top is one of two variant movie tie-ins that I have. The other was a book club edition I picked up in school; the cover was nearly identical but for a few minor changes to the main figures of Logan and Jessica. Logan's shirt was no longer ripped and Jessica wore the silver dress with art lifted directly from the film poster.

I've read all three novels several times, and while I'm a fan of Nolan's writing - and even corresponded with him for a while in the 90's when he penned a couple articles for a magazine I edited - I have to say that I actually prefer the movie (and even the TV series) over the books. The books are undeniably more original and imaginative, but I saw the movie & TV show before I ever read any of the books, and that's the Logan's Run that fixed itself in my head.