Y The Last Man One of the more entertaining and interesting settings for a story in the world of creative

fiction is post-apocalyptic. It could be a world utterly devastated beyond repair and recognition thanks to a few nukes going Kablooie, an unnatural calamity of nature caused or a massive global invasion staged by destructive alien races, subsequently followed by the enslavement of mankind. It hardly gets any weirder than this one, though. Very strangely, very suddenly, and violently, in less than a blink of an eye every living thing with the Y chromosome falls dead. Except for Yorick Brown, along with his pet male monkey, Ampersand. Yorick leaves his apartment after a prolonged period of solitutde only to find death at his doorsteps. His neighbors lie in a bloody mess, and male corpses are scattered all over the streets. By the smell, it seems several days have passed. So, a good question is, why was Yorick and his pet monkey still alive? It doesnt take long for the world to recede into a state of utter chaos and anarchy with very few semblance of order left. Which of course does not mean that everythings gone down the drain. Womankind struggles on, attempting to rebuild their lives and their civilization in the absence of their male counterparts. The Secretary of Agriculture becomes the President of the United States and Yorick being the last man on the planet, the president feels that the last male definitely needs to survive. She assigns a personal bodyguard by the codename of Agent 355 who becomes a consistent companion, and sends Yorick to find Dr. Allison Mann (yes, its a good pun, we think.), whos made plenty of breakthroughs in the field of genetics, and who may also have the answer to this sudden eruption of male-doom. Things arent really as smooth as that, though. It seems that enemies are everywhere. Alter, an Israeli soldier of an unknown alignment, follows Yorick wherever he goes intent on capturing the largest bargaining chip in the world. Then theres the group of wild and violent Daughters of Amazon group. Led by an overly charismatic Victoria, these women believe that the Mother Nature has wiped out the Y chromosome because of its inherent aberration. Their sole intent, based on hate and anger, seems to be to wipe out anything male related, engaging in everything from vandalism to violent murder, and silly initiation rites like cutting off their own left breasts. GoodGodWhat? Yes. Yorick learns that his girlfriend Beth Deville is still alive and trapped somewhere in the outback of Australia, where she was for her anthropological work. Thusly determined Yorick embarks on a journey to seek her out and reunite their love, accompanied by the Agent 355 and Dr Allison Mann (whos lab has been burned to nothing).

Throughout the series, there are several theories presented as to how the males got eradicated, some mystical, and some quite scientific, but in the end, Brian K. Vaughan kinda leaves it up to the reader to decide which is most likely. Pia Guerras got a good style of artwork. The covers, like most comic book covers, are kinda awesome, naturally more pronounced than the actual comics, as it should be. The actual inside artwork, though, pretty nice isnt something to go amagadsoawesome over. Still, good work, nonetheless. Vaughan was very good at portraying the dystopian world, dark, gritty and kinda scary from a certain point of view. His writing skills are quite up to the task and provide good characterizations for his, ah, characters. As a Vertigo title (an imprint of DC), Y the Last Man is suggested for mature readers. The series isnt conserved in its depiction of blood, violence, and sexuality, and even less so with the ideas that Vaughan tried to convey. Overall, Y the Last Man is an addictive and suspenseful sort of experience, with a rush of action and mystery, but it has moments that leave the reader touched and moved. It is a must read for any comic reader who wants something different. Pick it up if you can, but you probably wont be able to lay it down until you finish the whole series. Youve been warned. By Emil