Hello Enthusiasts,
Today I will be reviewing the comic series Y: The Last Man, published by Vertigo.
The basis of the story is that all males in the world, both human and animal, die in the same instant. The only male survivors of this epidemic are an escape artist name Yorick and his monkey, Ampersand. Society begins to crumble as nearly all of the world leaders pass and their positions become vacant. Factions of women start to form in this new society, and people begin to fear that, barring some miracle, this might be the end of the world.
With all of this going on, Yorick has one objective on his mind: get to his girlfriend in Australia (girlfriend from before all of the men died). Since Yorick lives near Washington DC, that means traveling across the country to get on a ship headed to the land down under. Because of the chaos (and to keep his presence discreet), Yorick travels across the country with slower methods of travel, such as walking and taking a train (a helicopter after this mess would surely draw attention). He makes his travels across the nation with his bodyguard, Agent 355, who his mother appointed (she was a U.S. Senator). There are several mishaps and adventures along the way before an unexpected conclusion to the 60 issue story.
This story is interesting, and it is executed wonderfully. Many of the factions of women believe that the men were killed for a specific purpose, so they are very violent to the faintest idea of men, which can prove challenging for our main character. This series really works to explore every possibility that could come with this, including having certain factions of women try to capture Yorick so they can have him as an asset. The book also takes a strong look at survivor's guilt and focusing on a goal to keep going in trying times. It's easy to see how hard this crisis hits certain characters, as well as how different people deal with the tragedy.
It's hard not to give away too much, it's fun just to talk about these books, so I will work to hold back. Let's just say the writing for both the story and the dialogue is excellent. It can be completely serious and depressing, but also incredibly funny. Yorick himself is such a lighthearted character that I laughed out loud a couple of times while I read the book, it all reads so naturally. Agent 355 also develops into a more fun character after she starts out as the strong, no-nonsense type. Another great positive to these book is the art,which has a very clean feel, while still looking like an Indie comic. The main artist for the series is Pia Guerra, who was also an artist for some of the Doctor Who comics by IDW.
As great as this story is, there is one big negative for me. Near the end they really gloss over a lot, several years in fact. I can't give away the ending, but they go from Yorick at the lowest of low to him being an old man, sitting in a room on a wooden chair. Keep in mind, he is young during the run of the comic, probably late 20's, early 30's, so the jump was frustrating to say the least. Also, along with this huge jump in time, it also seems that our main character doesn't get the ending that he was hoping for, though it's not exactly what you may think.
Overall, these books are great, and I would love to just ramble on about all of the fun things included in them. The story felt short, but that was mostly because of how good it was, I tore through the pages of this one. It starts off strong, stays that way, but ends on a bit of a sour note. Still, it's nice to see such a strong Indie comic, and it's one I would suggest to a lot of the people I know who are looking for something new.
I give Y: The Last Man an 8 out of 10.
Sincerely,
The Bored Enthusiast
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