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Y: The Last Man #1-2
Y: The Last Man - The Deluxe Edition Book One
Alternate Cover Edition for ISBN: 9781401219215
Y: THE LAST MAN, winner of three Eisner Awards and one of the most critically acclaimed, best-selling comic books series of the last decade, is that rare example of a page-turner that is at once humorous, socially relevant and endlessly surprising.
Written by Brian K. Vaughan (LOST, PRIDE OF BAGHDAD, EX MACHINA) and with art by Pia Guerra, this is the saga of Yorick Brown—the only human survivor of a planet-wide plague that instantly kills every mammal possessing a Y chromosome. Accompanied by a mysterious government agent, a brilliant young geneticist and his pet monkey, Ampersand, Yorick travels the world in search of his lost love and the answer to why he's the last man on earth.
Collects: Y: The Last Man #1-10.
Y: THE LAST MAN, winner of three Eisner Awards and one of the most critically acclaimed, best-selling comic books series of the last decade, is that rare example of a page-turner that is at once humorous, socially relevant and endlessly surprising.
Written by Brian K. Vaughan (LOST, PRIDE OF BAGHDAD, EX MACHINA) and with art by Pia Guerra, this is the saga of Yorick Brown—the only human survivor of a planet-wide plague that instantly kills every mammal possessing a Y chromosome. Accompanied by a mysterious government agent, a brilliant young geneticist and his pet monkey, Ampersand, Yorick travels the world in search of his lost love and the answer to why he's the last man on earth.
Collects: Y: The Last Man #1-10.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2008
About the author
Goran Sudžuka
213 books9 followersGoran is an Eisner award winning artist from Croatia who's worked for DC/Vertigo and Image/Skybound. Some of his work include Comixene, 9-11, A.D.D., Batman Eternal, Ghosted, Hellblazer, Negative Burn, Outlaw Nation, Saucer County, and Wonder Woman.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,106 reviews
July 30, 2020
(A-) 82% | Very Good
Notes: An addictive, offbeat Odyssean quest built on non-linear narrative, splash reveals and pop culture quips and banter.
Notes: An addictive, offbeat Odyssean quest built on non-linear narrative, splash reveals and pop culture quips and banter.
September 27, 2021
Later, boys.
So everything should be peace and love from here on out, right?
Um.
No?
That's coming from a chick so hardcore she cut off one of her own titties!
The premise of this one is pretty catchy. For some unknown reason, every single male on earth just suddenly drops dead. Why? Doesn't matter. It happens.
I can't even imagine the devastation, personally. Every husband, father, brother, boyfriend? Think of all the dead children! And every man is some woman's son, so...
Anyway, chaos rightly ensues.
Except.
This guy, Yorick, and his (male) monkey somehow survive. <--animals, too!
So this is sorta his story as the Lastish Man on earth.
The gist is that he's got to navigate this new (dangerous) world while on a quest to be reunited with his girlfriend in Australia. But first, he's gotta save humanity with a genetic scientist & a badass agent from some top secret organization. And along the way, he's going to meet all sorts of women. Some good, some bad, most somewhere in the middle.
Good luck, dude!
This was a pretty cool story. I'm not sure I was into it enough to seek out the rest of the story, but I did think it was interesting while I was reading it. This one is pretty much universally well-liked, so if you think this sounds like something you would dig, check it out.
2021
So upon re-read, I'd say I noticed a few things that I hadn't before.
1) The story itself is more interesting to me this time around.
2) Yorik is really dumb.
3) I have a theory about Beth.
Buddy read with Old Man Alex.
So everything should be peace and love from here on out, right?
Um.
No?
That's coming from a chick so hardcore she cut off one of her own titties!
The premise of this one is pretty catchy. For some unknown reason, every single male on earth just suddenly drops dead. Why? Doesn't matter. It happens.
I can't even imagine the devastation, personally. Every husband, father, brother, boyfriend? Think of all the dead children! And every man is some woman's son, so...
Anyway, chaos rightly ensues.
Except.
This guy, Yorick, and his (male) monkey somehow survive. <--animals, too!
So this is sorta his story as the Lastish Man on earth.
The gist is that he's got to navigate this new (dangerous) world while on a quest to be reunited with his girlfriend in Australia. But first, he's gotta save humanity with a genetic scientist & a badass agent from some top secret organization. And along the way, he's going to meet all sorts of women. Some good, some bad, most somewhere in the middle.
Good luck, dude!
This was a pretty cool story. I'm not sure I was into it enough to seek out the rest of the story, but I did think it was interesting while I was reading it. This one is pretty much universally well-liked, so if you think this sounds like something you would dig, check it out.
2021
So upon re-read, I'd say I noticed a few things that I hadn't before.
1) The story itself is more interesting to me this time around.
2) Yorik is really dumb.
3) I have a theory about Beth.
Buddy read with Old Man Alex.
April 13, 2018
I have a lot to say about this. I have basically two feelings, two minds and two reviews. The short, part of me was very entertained by this and part of me kept screaming this is stupid.
I actually wrote a story on this subject(obviously not published a few years back with something just like this premise. I didn't know this existed.) so I have thought a lot about this. There is a lot of questions about what is going on in the story and there are many answers to be had so I don't understand what is really happening. The story is very well written, well scripted and the artwork is nice. It is doing it's job well.
Here's the thing. Women hold life as sacred. They are not going to try and wipe out the species. They would not be trying to kill the last man. Women usually rule in groups in a matriarchy. They aren't as power hungry though that is there. There would be general bitchy-ness, but the roving groups of man hating women bent on killing off humanity. That is absurd. So the story is extremely entertaining yet stupid. Women would not be bent on self-destruction. The man hating in the book is ridiculous. Especially since all the men are gone but one or so. There is no reason for that anger any more.
Women would come together and help each other out. There would be little reason to compete with each other. They would be in danger of killing the man trying to get his attention and fall in love with him. That is more like it. This telling is silly and I don't think Brian is writing women well in this story. Too much physical conflict. Women's conflict is more passive aggressive and emotionally abusive. I know there would be women who were mentally crazy and they could cause harm and danger, but women would come together and bond I believe.
So, this novel is able to bring all this out and cause me to think, so it's doing it's job. I think it is very entertaining and I gave it a high score even while thinking the author has it all wrong and this is all wrong. I still got my money's worth, so I am excited to read more and see why the women want the last man dead and end the human race. I doubt he will be able to sell it to men, but it will be entertaining in the process.
The prostitutes and strippers were all out of jobs. Isn't that interesting to think about.
I actually wrote a story on this subject(obviously not published a few years back with something just like this premise. I didn't know this existed.) so I have thought a lot about this. There is a lot of questions about what is going on in the story and there are many answers to be had so I don't understand what is really happening. The story is very well written, well scripted and the artwork is nice. It is doing it's job well.
Here's the thing. Women hold life as sacred. They are not going to try and wipe out the species. They would not be trying to kill the last man. Women usually rule in groups in a matriarchy. They aren't as power hungry though that is there. There would be general bitchy-ness, but the roving groups of man hating women bent on killing off humanity. That is absurd. So the story is extremely entertaining yet stupid. Women would not be bent on self-destruction. The man hating in the book is ridiculous. Especially since all the men are gone but one or so. There is no reason for that anger any more.
Women would come together and help each other out. There would be little reason to compete with each other. They would be in danger of killing the man trying to get his attention and fall in love with him. That is more like it. This telling is silly and I don't think Brian is writing women well in this story. Too much physical conflict. Women's conflict is more passive aggressive and emotionally abusive. I know there would be women who were mentally crazy and they could cause harm and danger, but women would come together and bond I believe.
So, this novel is able to bring all this out and cause me to think, so it's doing it's job. I think it is very entertaining and I gave it a high score even while thinking the author has it all wrong and this is all wrong. I still got my money's worth, so I am excited to read more and see why the women want the last man dead and end the human race. I doubt he will be able to sell it to men, but it will be entertaining in the process.
The prostitutes and strippers were all out of jobs. Isn't that interesting to think about.
August 21, 2014
What if all the men, except one young man and his male monkey pet, were wiped out all over the world and nobody knew why exactly? That's the setup for volume one of this series that takes a look at gender issues and progressive science versus a natural order of things. I like that the explanation for the plague is not known and there are several possibilities. There's a fair amount of mischievous style humor in the first volume.
For instance, women commemorate the dead man at an obvious phallic symbol a la The Washington Monument. Extremists women take on the role of the ancient Amazons and tear off one breast and take to believing Mother Earth meant to eradicate the males. Hardcore GOPs may take offense when Republican wives of dead senators show up with guns, arguing they should have a voice in the new government. The main character, Yorick, is a putz and sometimes clueless but believable enough even though some might argue he is a passive character. The super model turned corpse collector who just got her implants is an obvious jab at how the fashion industry and of course female looks are intertwined with male desires.
VOLUME ONE
The crisis hits and shows male mammals biting it all over the world and women gradually adjusting. Some don't care to stick it out and check out by taking their lives. The focus is mainly on America and Yorick and his monkey are apparently the only males remaining and thus do the higher ups assign him a bodyguard, make him wear a disguise to appear to be a woman and send him off to a lab in San Francisco that might be able to figure out why he lived and others did not so that the species may continue. Along the way we see the mournings, the extremists, Yorick's dysfunctional relationship with his mother (who is high up in politics now that the men are all gone), what Yorick's sister is up to, part of the beginning trek to SF, the mysteries of a small town and other countries getting involved when they hear of one surviving male.
Overall, I'd say this is a very good start but if you're the nitpicking type you may not enjoy it as much because everything hasn't been explained. A good starting read, by the way, for people new to comics/graphic novels. The series has received 5 prestigious Eisner Awards. Hollywood has been trying to make this into a movie since 2007. Some say this series saved Vertigo Comics from financial problems.
CHARACTERS/DIALOGUE: B plus; STORY/PLOTTING: B plus to A minus; ARTWORK: B plus; THEMES: B to B plus; WHEN READ: early January 2012; OVERALL GRADE: B plus.
For instance, women commemorate the dead man at an obvious phallic symbol a la The Washington Monument. Extremists women take on the role of the ancient Amazons and tear off one breast and take to believing Mother Earth meant to eradicate the males. Hardcore GOPs may take offense when Republican wives of dead senators show up with guns, arguing they should have a voice in the new government. The main character, Yorick, is a putz and sometimes clueless but believable enough even though some might argue he is a passive character. The super model turned corpse collector who just got her implants is an obvious jab at how the fashion industry and of course female looks are intertwined with male desires.
VOLUME ONE
The crisis hits and shows male mammals biting it all over the world and women gradually adjusting. Some don't care to stick it out and check out by taking their lives. The focus is mainly on America and Yorick and his monkey are apparently the only males remaining and thus do the higher ups assign him a bodyguard, make him wear a disguise to appear to be a woman and send him off to a lab in San Francisco that might be able to figure out why he lived and others did not so that the species may continue. Along the way we see the mournings, the extremists, Yorick's dysfunctional relationship with his mother (who is high up in politics now that the men are all gone), what Yorick's sister is up to, part of the beginning trek to SF, the mysteries of a small town and other countries getting involved when they hear of one surviving male.
Overall, I'd say this is a very good start but if you're the nitpicking type you may not enjoy it as much because everything hasn't been explained. A good starting read, by the way, for people new to comics/graphic novels. The series has received 5 prestigious Eisner Awards. Hollywood has been trying to make this into a movie since 2007. Some say this series saved Vertigo Comics from financial problems.
CHARACTERS/DIALOGUE: B plus; STORY/PLOTTING: B plus to A minus; ARTWORK: B plus; THEMES: B to B plus; WHEN READ: early January 2012; OVERALL GRADE: B plus.
January 25, 2018
Wow. This was great. After an outbreak swiftly kills almost all of the mammals on earth with a Y chromosome, an amateur escape artist named Yorick and his pet monkey named Ampersand discover that they are inexplicably the only two males left on earth. Yorick goes on an odyssey to not only learn the truth behind this mysterious phenomenon, but also travel to Australia to find the love of his life, Beth. But it's easier said than done and the concept of being the Last Man On Earth isn't as fun as it sounds.
This is an endlessly addictive, fully entertaining first installment of a five book (60 issue) series. And from the intriguing concept, to the compelling characters (including a great villain), the memorable moments, and the simple, unadorned artwork, this series does everything right. And this is just the first book! I love how Yorick isn't perfect, he's not a saintly, valiant guy and not a ripped action hero either. He's also mouthy, obnoxious, and a little smug, but completely endearing. I'm also looking forward to learning more about 355, Dr. Mann, Hero, and Alter. I'm completely flabbergasted that this hasn't been turned into a tv show yet. It could be a stellar, binge-worthy hit series, similar to the way The Walking Dead was way back when it was actually good. I'm so excited to read more of this.
This is an endlessly addictive, fully entertaining first installment of a five book (60 issue) series. And from the intriguing concept, to the compelling characters (including a great villain), the memorable moments, and the simple, unadorned artwork, this series does everything right. And this is just the first book! I love how Yorick isn't perfect, he's not a saintly, valiant guy and not a ripped action hero either. He's also mouthy, obnoxious, and a little smug, but completely endearing. I'm also looking forward to learning more about 355, Dr. Mann, Hero, and Alter. I'm completely flabbergasted that this hasn't been turned into a tv show yet. It could be a stellar, binge-worthy hit series, similar to the way The Walking Dead was way back when it was actually good. I'm so excited to read more of this.
April 29, 2015
Bullet Review:
Pros: good look at how male-dominated our leadership and other key jobs are, that effing ending
Cons: straw feminism everywhere, the fact that one male still dominates a woman's story
I love Vaughan, but I doubt I continue. The love-hate relationship!! ACK!!
Pros: good look at how male-dominated our leadership and other key jobs are, that effing ending
Cons: straw feminism everywhere, the fact that one male still dominates a woman's story
I love Vaughan, but I doubt I continue. The love-hate relationship!! ACK!!
July 18, 2016
I had heard lots of great stuff about this and the premise sounded interesting. One dude left on the planet after all the other men die of some mysterious disease or something. The artwork is quite good but the dialogue is only so-so and honestly I was a little bored pretty quickly, like by page 3. I was also astounded at the direction the story went, found it heterosexist and homophobic. You'd think a world of mostly women would be pretty frank about lesbians; not this book. The only loud and proud lesbos were one breasted amazon biker chicks intent on killing the last dude on earth. Speaking of, I tried to like the protagonist and his quest for his lady love (who, I swear to god looks just like barbie) but mostly he was annoying and self-involved. Le sigh. I shoulda known. The plot threw in all sorts of ridiculous leads and red herrings, and between the magical ancient amulets, the random Israelis, the ultra secret spy network; and of course all the chicks throwing themselves at our hero...one of whom proclaims that not even the death of all the men on earth but one is enough to get HER to eat pussy...(I kid you not its in the book!!!!)well, I had assumed it would be post-apocalyptic and interesting. When I saw that it was a thinly veiled male fantasy, I hoped it might have some interesting campy moments, like old star trek episodes. In fact its poorly plotted, the dialogue is boring and there's just not enough action. Steer clear folks, or don't say I didn't warn you!
September 23, 2021
The embodiment of it's-okay-ness. Three stars in comic book form. It's not bad, but it also isn't that good.
If it shows anything, it's that Vaughan has really grown as a writer since this series. Yorick is annoyingly plot-stupid - half the world died, and he's quipping it up! There hasn't been an obviously dangerous yet easily avoidable situation yet, that Yorick hasn't barged right into. He is determined to go to Australia to find his girlfriend, in a world that's pretty much on fire, except when other women appear, he's pretty quick jamming his tongue in their mouths. Don't worry, it only reaffirms his love for Australian Beth, presumably until the next eligible lady presents herself.
Turns out Dr. Mann is Asian, which I wouldn't have known just by looking at Guerra's art. The art in general is capable, not great. Everything about this feels almost quaint, a bit old fashioned, a bit "look at what you narratively could get away with at the time".
Onward with Y: The Three Stars.
Buddy reading this with Anne (formerly The Best)
If it shows anything, it's that Vaughan has really grown as a writer since this series. Yorick is annoyingly plot-stupid - half the world died, and he's quipping it up! There hasn't been an obviously dangerous yet easily avoidable situation yet, that Yorick hasn't barged right into. He is determined to go to Australia to find his girlfriend, in a world that's pretty much on fire, except when other women appear, he's pretty quick jamming his tongue in their mouths. Don't worry, it only reaffirms his love for Australian Beth, presumably until the next eligible lady presents herself.
Turns out Dr. Mann is Asian, which I wouldn't have known just by looking at Guerra's art. The art in general is capable, not great. Everything about this feels almost quaint, a bit old fashioned, a bit "look at what you narratively could get away with at the time".
Onward with Y: The Three Stars.
Buddy reading this with Anne (formerly The Best)
September 8, 2014
Having read the first ten issues I'm only about one-fifth into the whole thing, but despite being rather conflicted about it I'll probably continue reading. On the one hand, "Y: The Last Man" is a well-written engaging story with some interesting moments and witty dialogues. On the other, it's sexist to the core. So far, the main villain of the story is an extremist group called Amazons who happen to embody all features of the stereotypical men-hating feminists. Their ultimate goal is to murder the last male human on the Earth, because fuck survival of mankind: reproduction, to them, is just another manifestation of masculine power and, thus, equivalent to rape. And although the author attempts to show various faces of femininity and essentially avoids objectifying women, it's difficult to read this crucial element of the plot as something other than a straightforward mockery of feminism (and a model example of straw feminism ). So, while at some points I am truly enjoying the story (and drawing too), the moment its crypto-chauvinist undertones re-surface in my consciousness I get irritated again. The author doesn't seem to know what he is trying to say about femininity, masculinity and men-women relations or, if he does, it certainly doesn't show. Also, the protagonist is an idiot and I have a hard time trying to symphatise with him (I usually fail). Nevertheless, I'll give it a shot; maybe it is all developing towards some totally anti-misogynist conclusion ;P
March 18, 2023
Interesting read...
August 18, 2021
Y the Last Man was basically my gateway book into indie comics. When this came out I was about 13-14 years old (There goes my age showing) and I was just getting into things like Ultimate Spider-Man, Amazing Spider-Man, Ultimate X-Men and more. And so when I picked up Y The last Man I had no clue what to expect but I was blown away.
Almost 20 years later and I'm still loving it.
Yorick is just a normal dude wanting to propose to his girlfriend over the phone but right before he can something horrible happens. Every creature with the Y chromosome dies suddenly. All but him and his pet monkey. So he must get to the love of his life but on the way he visits his mom and tries to survive Washington TV most dangerous people...REPUBLICANS!
Joking aside. There's alot of cool political intrigue. Doesn't really matter which side your views eventually fall on. It's interesting and makes you think what would a world filled with Women do different, and you start to see the changes here.
I love the setting, the characters from Yorick to 355 and so on. They're all rich with character development that matters, and in this book alone you meet so many characters in such a short time yet it works. The fights are brutal, people die, and you feel emotion already. The ending is like "Oh shit that makes sense they weren't here when it happened" and leads to something exciting next.
Anyway, all in all, this is one of my favorite comics of all time and reading it 20 years later I still love it.
Almost 20 years later and I'm still loving it.
Yorick is just a normal dude wanting to propose to his girlfriend over the phone but right before he can something horrible happens. Every creature with the Y chromosome dies suddenly. All but him and his pet monkey. So he must get to the love of his life but on the way he visits his mom and tries to survive Washington TV most dangerous people...REPUBLICANS!
Joking aside. There's alot of cool political intrigue. Doesn't really matter which side your views eventually fall on. It's interesting and makes you think what would a world filled with Women do different, and you start to see the changes here.
I love the setting, the characters from Yorick to 355 and so on. They're all rich with character development that matters, and in this book alone you meet so many characters in such a short time yet it works. The fights are brutal, people die, and you feel emotion already. The ending is like "Oh shit that makes sense they weren't here when it happened" and leads to something exciting next.
Anyway, all in all, this is one of my favorite comics of all time and reading it 20 years later I still love it.
May 27, 2014
I am a comic book junky. Someday when I win the lottery I will buy them all and spread them out over my bed and just roll around on them because I can. I love them. I haven’t encountered many as of yet, but I am slowly branching out. I have read all of The Walking Dead ones, most of The Dark Tower ones and The Sandman. I wants them all. When I have them all I will be like Sméagol. I’ll hide away somewhere where no one can find me, clutching at my comics and referring to them all as my precious.
When I first stumbled upon Y:The Last Man I remember thinking two things. 1.) What a cool concept for a story 2.) This will either be amazing or a sexist piece of shit. Well, I checked out a couple reviews online and saw that Stephen King had once said that it was: “The best graphic novel I’ve ever read”. Now, that should not be taken lightly. Stephen King talks a lot about his love of comics and I am sure he has read more of them in his lifetime than I ever will in mine (unless I win the lottery and have all the time in the world and fulfill my dream. See above.) For him of all people to say that….that is truly something. Of course I had to read them!
I was not disappointed. I borrowed the books from a buddy of mine and he had the collector’s edition for the first one which I guess is the first 2 graphic novels. I think it is written brilliantly and the artwork is quite impressive. I was afraid that it would be a man’s version of women’s thoughts, being that a man wrote it. But honestly, it is pretty damn good.
I think what I like most about this is that I have no idea where it is going to take me. The story is pretty open-ended and I am fairly certain this is the first time this topic has been tackled. I look forward to continuing on with the series, as everyone I know who has read it has nothing but good things to say about it. I sure hope that little Ampersand meets a nice little female monkey friend!
When I first stumbled upon Y:The Last Man I remember thinking two things. 1.) What a cool concept for a story 2.) This will either be amazing or a sexist piece of shit. Well, I checked out a couple reviews online and saw that Stephen King had once said that it was: “The best graphic novel I’ve ever read”. Now, that should not be taken lightly. Stephen King talks a lot about his love of comics and I am sure he has read more of them in his lifetime than I ever will in mine (unless I win the lottery and have all the time in the world and fulfill my dream. See above.) For him of all people to say that….that is truly something. Of course I had to read them!
I was not disappointed. I borrowed the books from a buddy of mine and he had the collector’s edition for the first one which I guess is the first 2 graphic novels. I think it is written brilliantly and the artwork is quite impressive. I was afraid that it would be a man’s version of women’s thoughts, being that a man wrote it. But honestly, it is pretty damn good.
I think what I like most about this is that I have no idea where it is going to take me. The story is pretty open-ended and I am fairly certain this is the first time this topic has been tackled. I look forward to continuing on with the series, as everyone I know who has read it has nothing but good things to say about it. I sure hope that little Ampersand meets a nice little female monkey friend!
March 29, 2017
I read this last year and decided to re-read it because I didn't know how to feel about the ending to Book Five.
This is such a fantastic series. It's a clever concept, the characters are so rich and compelling, and the art really works for it! Brian K. Vaughn wasn't someone I read a lot of before this series and this book is what converted me into a fan.
Let's start with the concept: all the cis men on the planet have died due to some unknown cause except for Yorick. Yorick and his monkey Ampersand. Yorick finds his mother in DC and she asks him to go find a cloning expert, Dr. Mann to figure out how to repopulate the earth. She also assigns a member of the Culper Ring, Agent 355, to get him there. The series goes over all the issues I wouldn't even think about. Of course, I know there are several male dominated professions but the page where they outline what's happened to the government in several countries, all the priests and rabbis are dead, the farming industry is still doing quite well, however.
There are several moments for this to be kind of sexist but by the fifth book, it's very much not. The idea is women need men to make more people and that's kind of it. It's a pretty progressive, fascinating message.
Anyway, Yorick is kind of a dick in the first book but you grow to love him. Agent 355 is one of the great loves of my life. Dr. Mann is brilliant and she becomes a really brace character. Hero falls in with the wrong people but she is a survivor.
This is just the first in the series so it's strange re-reading it and seeing how much they've grown. I adore this series and I'm nervous but optimistic about the TV adaptation!
This is such a fantastic series. It's a clever concept, the characters are so rich and compelling, and the art really works for it! Brian K. Vaughn wasn't someone I read a lot of before this series and this book is what converted me into a fan.
Let's start with the concept: all the cis men on the planet have died due to some unknown cause except for Yorick. Yorick and his monkey Ampersand. Yorick finds his mother in DC and she asks him to go find a cloning expert, Dr. Mann to figure out how to repopulate the earth. She also assigns a member of the Culper Ring, Agent 355, to get him there. The series goes over all the issues I wouldn't even think about. Of course, I know there are several male dominated professions but the page where they outline what's happened to the government in several countries, all the priests and rabbis are dead, the farming industry is still doing quite well, however.
There are several moments for this to be kind of sexist but by the fifth book, it's very much not. The idea is women need men to make more people and that's kind of it. It's a pretty progressive, fascinating message.
Anyway, Yorick is kind of a dick in the first book but you grow to love him. Agent 355 is one of the great loves of my life. Dr. Mann is brilliant and she becomes a really brace character. Hero falls in with the wrong people but she is a survivor.
This is just the first in the series so it's strange re-reading it and seeing how much they've grown. I adore this series and I'm nervous but optimistic about the TV adaptation!
December 23, 2016
I really loved this. For being 10 issues, this went by quickly. The artwork was great. But what really stands out the most is the plot concept. I've never really read anything like it. And I love that they show that a planet full of women would have their share of problems too. It's not some feminist utopia we are falling into here. I mean, there can't be a feminist utopia, especially if an entire biological sex has died for unknown reasons.
The only minor issue I have with this is Yorick, the "last man." He's likable but he can also be a raging idiot. Like the women that try to protect him and keep him safe from danger that is obviously around many corners just can't always seem to keep a lid on him. Like he jumps into situations that he could have just as easily walked away from because he's not used to being the only man in social situations. He gets himself into danger when he knows he may hold the key to understanding the male plague. I'm glad he's not perfect because then it would be boring and unrealistic, but I hope he gets himself together a little. At least he's funny and I like him overall. And his monkey Ampersand.
I can't wait to read more of this!
The only minor issue I have with this is Yorick, the "last man." He's likable but he can also be a raging idiot. Like the women that try to protect him and keep him safe from danger that is obviously around many corners just can't always seem to keep a lid on him. Like he jumps into situations that he could have just as easily walked away from because he's not used to being the only man in social situations. He gets himself into danger when he knows he may hold the key to understanding the male plague. I'm glad he's not perfect because then it would be boring and unrealistic, but I hope he gets himself together a little. At least he's funny and I like him overall. And his monkey Ampersand.
I can't wait to read more of this!
March 18, 2018
Loved this novel. The concept is one that gets brought up alot in scifi but this was amazing. Great characters if a little cliched, great writing, and cool artwork.
September 25, 2012
Introduction:
What would happen if you became the last gender (whether you are a male or female) on the face of the planet? Well, that is what we are discovering in Brian K. Vaughan’s Eisner Award winning classic graphic novel, “Y: The Last Man: Book One!” After hearing so many glowing reviews about this graphic novel, I decided to give this book a shot and man, was I blown away by the creative concept of this graphic novel! “Y: The Last Man: Book One” is definitely one of the most dramatic and creative graphic novels ever created!
What is this story about?
Yorick Brown was a twenty-two year old young man who had a job as an amateur escape artist. He was planning on proposing to his girlfriend Beth when all of a sudden, all the men and the male animals around the world started dying off when a mysterious plague hits the world and only the males with the Y chromosome are affected. Fortunately, only Yorick and his pet male monkey Ampersand survived the plague and now Yorick must find out more about the plague and try to save mankind while trying to find his girlfriend Beth who is on the other side of the world!
What I loved about this story:
The premise and Brian K. Vaughan’s writing: When I first heard about this book, I was thinking to myself about how would you write a book about being the last man standing on Earth? Brian K. Vaughan has done an impressive job at bringing out that aspect as it was done in an extremely creative and intense way! After reading so many books that deal with a post-apocalyptic setting, whether it dealt with oppressive governments (The Hunger Games) or crime ruling the city (Fray), “Y: The Last Man” was a truly unique case of a post-apocalyptic setting as it has it set up where all the men (including the male animals) of the world are wiped out, leaving only the women to occupy the world, which gives us a “what if” moment about what would happen if one gender is wiped out by an unknown force? I loved the way that Brian K. Vaughan really delved into the set up of this world as not only do we readers try to find out what caused the plague that caused the death of many men around the world, but we also see how the women of the world try to deal with the politics and the technology that were once occupied by the men. I also loved the main character Yorick Brown as he is extremely funny and optimistic, despite being the last man on Earth and I enjoyed seeing him trying to help the women who are trying to save mankind accomplish their goals and I loved the witty dialogue that Brian K. Vaughan wrote for all the characters in this book.
Pia Guerra’s artwork: Pia Guerra’s artwork along with coloring by Pamela Rambo and inking by Jose Marzan Jr., really brought out a dramatic feel to this story as the characters look realistic and the colorings really brought out bright yet intense feel to the story. Probably some of my favorite artwork in this graphic novel was of Yorick himself as he has brown wavy hair and also has a laid back look on his face that really made me feel for the character.
What made me feel uncomfortable about this story:
Probably the only problems with this graphic novel are that there is some strong language in this book like the “f” word and the “s” word and some disturbing content. The idea about a plague killing off the men in the world is a disturbing thought and could scare some readers who are uncomfortable about the subject of diseases spreading around the world.
Final Thoughts:
Overall, “Y: The Last Man” is easily one of the most CREATIVE, INVENTIVE and INTENSE graphic novels I have ever read and I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND this book to anyone who is a huge fan of Brian K. Vaughan’s works and love reading about post-apocalyptic worlds!
Review is also on: Rabbit Ears Book Blog
June 26, 2017
So what can I say? Ever read a book and like the underlying story but are so irritated by the author's views on certain issues that it detracts from the story? I try not to do that. That's why this silly mess of liberal nonsense gets three stars. There IS a cool story underneath the bloviating.
In 2002 a virus kills off all the males in the world. Only Yorick Brown and his male pet monkey have survived. A very cool and interesting concept. The rest of the story is spent on his hunt for his ex, his sister's hunt for him and the multitude of females with various beliefs, agendas and groupings. This is also very cool. Nice to see that in a world without men there is still violence. The artwork is decent and works well for this story. It has a slightly older style to it.
So what's wrong? *sigh* I understand that being a comic writer doesn't mean you have to know your real world material. But it would be nice. He states that 14 countries have women in ground combat and that none of the US forces nearly 200K have. Er what now? Of the two countries he specifically mentions (Spain and Germany)..considering the only combat they could have seen was as part of ISAF in Afghanistan- where the Spanish troops are constrained by their Parliament in engaging Taliban only after restrictive Rules of Engagement have been observed. The Germans? My fellow Marine SpecOps units operated with German SpecOps in Afghanistan combat missions. What females? So I would respectfully posit that females in the US military, even under the old "no combat" rules, saw way more "combat "(in their support roles) than all the European countries' females combined. Sorry I'll take the 200K US military females any day.
I didn't like any of the characters, except Agent 355. She is awesome. The rest are various degrees of really annoying. It is a book full of feminist tropes. Look if that's your thing-cool, it's a free country. It's not MY thing. Also seriously? The scene where the Amazons demolish the White House. With. Small arms fire. Vaughn does know those windows aren't decorative glass? Probably not. There are so many other stupid errors in here- from tae-bo being a valid combat style, to Agent 355 being shot in the shoulder by a SHOTGUN and acting like it was a .22 caliber wound (in reality-her shoulder is gone or hamburger meat depending on slug vs dispersal shot)..stuff like that is irritating. So yes the underlying story IS cool. The art isn't great but it works for me. The infantile basis of many of the dialogue is not so cool. Still I am fair- so this is a three star book. Some will really dig what he's saying. Others will just, like myself, appreciate the story and tune out the nonsense.
In 2002 a virus kills off all the males in the world. Only Yorick Brown and his male pet monkey have survived. A very cool and interesting concept. The rest of the story is spent on his hunt for his ex, his sister's hunt for him and the multitude of females with various beliefs, agendas and groupings. This is also very cool. Nice to see that in a world without men there is still violence. The artwork is decent and works well for this story. It has a slightly older style to it.
So what's wrong? *sigh* I understand that being a comic writer doesn't mean you have to know your real world material. But it would be nice. He states that 14 countries have women in ground combat and that none of the US forces nearly 200K have. Er what now? Of the two countries he specifically mentions (Spain and Germany)..considering the only combat they could have seen was as part of ISAF in Afghanistan- where the Spanish troops are constrained by their Parliament in engaging Taliban only after restrictive Rules of Engagement have been observed. The Germans? My fellow Marine SpecOps units operated with German SpecOps in Afghanistan combat missions. What females? So I would respectfully posit that females in the US military, even under the old "no combat" rules, saw way more "combat "(in their support roles) than all the European countries' females combined. Sorry I'll take the 200K US military females any day.
I didn't like any of the characters, except Agent 355. She is awesome. The rest are various degrees of really annoying. It is a book full of feminist tropes. Look if that's your thing-cool, it's a free country. It's not MY thing. Also seriously? The scene where the Amazons demolish the White House. With. Small arms fire. Vaughn does know those windows aren't decorative glass? Probably not. There are so many other stupid errors in here- from tae-bo being a valid combat style, to Agent 355 being shot in the shoulder by a SHOTGUN and acting like it was a .22 caliber wound (in reality-her shoulder is gone or hamburger meat depending on slug vs dispersal shot)..stuff like that is irritating. So yes the underlying story IS cool. The art isn't great but it works for me. The infantile basis of many of the dialogue is not so cool. Still I am fair- so this is a three star book. Some will really dig what he's saying. Others will just, like myself, appreciate the story and tune out the nonsense.
July 2, 2018
Y. Nothing more than a chromosome, and yet it's what makes the difference between men and women. In the world that Vaughan has created here, both live amongst each other, just like we do. Until –
Almost at least. Turns out the seemingly only surviving males on planet Earth are an unemployed escape artist named Yorick and his pet monkey. To him, the apocalypse couldn't come at any worse time, as he was just about to propose to his girlfriend over the phone. So while going down under and finding her becomes his priority, other women have different plans.
Oh well! Thankfully, Yorick is a typical Vaughan character, which makes him a wonderful protagonist: clumsy yet overbold, funny but awkward. The rest of the characters are nuanced and I can only praise the writing for creating such a diverse and interesting cast. And the scenario itself is just as intriguing, because what would happen if half of the population was to suddenly disappear?
The story has been called chauvinistic or sexist even by some, a thought that didn't occur to me while reading. I felt like it rather called out the questionability of the male-driven society we live in today without falling into the trap itself. And yes, certainly the question of whether the world would just go nuts without men is a valid one, but I believe so. And not because women couldn't function by themselves, but because there is no way that the wipe-out of 50% of the world's population would not cause a shift in power. There will always be people seeking profit for themselves, trying to benefit from unstable situations or simply push through their beliefs.
It is an interesting starting point for a comic book series and honestly one of the best stories I have ever encountered in this format so far. There is constantly something happening, there are surprises and turns of events, interesting thoughts and clever dialogue. I'm so into this.
Almost at least. Turns out the seemingly only surviving males on planet Earth are an unemployed escape artist named Yorick and his pet monkey. To him, the apocalypse couldn't come at any worse time, as he was just about to propose to his girlfriend over the phone. So while going down under and finding her becomes his priority, other women have different plans.
Oh well! Thankfully, Yorick is a typical Vaughan character, which makes him a wonderful protagonist: clumsy yet overbold, funny but awkward. The rest of the characters are nuanced and I can only praise the writing for creating such a diverse and interesting cast. And the scenario itself is just as intriguing, because what would happen if half of the population was to suddenly disappear?
The story has been called chauvinistic or sexist even by some, a thought that didn't occur to me while reading. I felt like it rather called out the questionability of the male-driven society we live in today without falling into the trap itself. And yes, certainly the question of whether the world would just go nuts without men is a valid one, but I believe so. And not because women couldn't function by themselves, but because there is no way that the wipe-out of 50% of the world's population would not cause a shift in power. There will always be people seeking profit for themselves, trying to benefit from unstable situations or simply push through their beliefs.
It is an interesting starting point for a comic book series and honestly one of the best stories I have ever encountered in this format so far. There is constantly something happening, there are surprises and turns of events, interesting thoughts and clever dialogue. I'm so into this.
August 7, 2020
This comic was at the same time both interesting, fast-paced, action packed and a good source of entertainment right at this moment in time (pandemic) but also: well, that's one way of looking at things...I guess -sort of a story line.
What I mean is, I guess someone could see it like that, that this is what could happen if all males suddenly died. But I'm thinking it's a very male view: "Uuu, uuu! I know! Women would be lost AND at the same time all these bad ass motherfuckin' chicks would run the show."
Really??
Where are all the fat, regular women who just wanna paint their toe nails?
Where are all the fat, regular women who run the show right at the mo with their running of the politics and healt care and...oh yeah, it's set in America.
The American politics with its Republicans and Democrats STILL play a part when all the males of the world are dead.
It's just a bore at this point, living in Finland when the government leaders are mostly female, it's hard for me to think that all would be chaos if men weren't around.
Sure, it doesn't make for a good comic but realism was thrown out the window when this story was thought up.
I know it's a comic.
I know.
BUT! All the good that it holds is the action:
It really sucked me in and got me to thinking about completely different things at this time in our lifetime. I enjoyed the story line so much, the fact that for some reason one man with his monkey (A MONKEY OF ALL THINGS!!<3<3<3) survive when all other males of all species die, that I want to read the next installment to see what happens.
What I mean is, I guess someone could see it like that, that this is what could happen if all males suddenly died. But I'm thinking it's a very male view: "Uuu, uuu! I know! Women would be lost AND at the same time all these bad ass motherfuckin' chicks would run the show."
Really??
Where are all the fat, regular women who just wanna paint their toe nails?
Where are all the fat, regular women who run the show right at the mo with their running of the politics and healt care and...oh yeah, it's set in America.
The American politics with its Republicans and Democrats STILL play a part when all the males of the world are dead.
It's just a bore at this point, living in Finland when the government leaders are mostly female, it's hard for me to think that all would be chaos if men weren't around.
Sure, it doesn't make for a good comic but realism was thrown out the window when this story was thought up.
I know it's a comic.
I know.
BUT! All the good that it holds is the action:
It really sucked me in and got me to thinking about completely different things at this time in our lifetime. I enjoyed the story line so much, the fact that for some reason one man with his monkey (A MONKEY OF ALL THINGS!!<3<3<3) survive when all other males of all species die, that I want to read the next installment to see what happens.
September 28, 2016
This was so good. My graphic novel love affair started and stemmed from my first experience ever with graphic novels, which was with the Saga series, which incidentally happens to be by the same writer as this, Brian Vaughn. The guy is a genius, so totally creative with talent up the wazoo. He's creator of so many popular series'...Lost, Ex machina, Saga, and now the first series I've come across to rival Saga...The Last Man.
As the story goes, one random morning, amidst all the normal every day happenings going on all over the world, totally and completely at random, every creature with the male Y chromosome drops dead, man and animal alike. Except for one lowly, totally unspecial guy and his pet monkey. What remains is a world in which 48% of the global population has been eliminated...which includes 99% of the world's landowners, 95% of all commercial pilots, 92% of all violent felons, 100% of catholic priests, Muslim imams, and Jewish Rabbi's, and 85% of all government officials...& Yorick. The world is left to the women who are all doing the best they can to pick up the pieces and move on and survive. There are those who believe this is an act of terrorism, those who think it's the end of the world, & those who think it's an act of God-a purposeful delivery from the stifling & oppression that women suffered at the hands of men. Anarchy and chaos reign, where the strong and the murderous seem to be clawing their way to the top and where what is left of the government...the secretary of agriculture being the highest ranking female official that remains... attempts, somewhat unsuccessfully, to garner some level of control. With all the different attitudes and beliefs coming to such fatal clashes and heads, Yorick, the seemingly sole survivor of the mass male extinction, is faced with danger coming from all angles. Some want to kill him, some want to fuck him, some want to protect him, some want to clone him, & some don't know what they want at all from him but despite his unwanted position as man kind's single remaining chance at survival and repopulating the earth, he's got an agenda of his own. To find his girlfriend and fiancé who at the time of the "plague", resided on the other side of the world in Australia.
It's totally a been-done-before premise, the whole last man standing thing...but with a slightly unfamiliar twist of women being spared. The characters are unique and the path Vaughn chooses to take the women is also not the expected. Women gangs, trannies, towns run by escaped cons...it's a world that I definitely wouldn't want to actually be in, but that I enjoy visiting for brief periods of time;) I am so diggin these story lines right now, and while Yorick himself might so far be the most uninteresting character, I'm still super excited to see where the storyline takes me and how all of the characters' stories develop, even Yorick!
Oh and did I mention, the art work is on point?
As the story goes, one random morning, amidst all the normal every day happenings going on all over the world, totally and completely at random, every creature with the male Y chromosome drops dead, man and animal alike. Except for one lowly, totally unspecial guy and his pet monkey. What remains is a world in which 48% of the global population has been eliminated...which includes 99% of the world's landowners, 95% of all commercial pilots, 92% of all violent felons, 100% of catholic priests, Muslim imams, and Jewish Rabbi's, and 85% of all government officials...& Yorick. The world is left to the women who are all doing the best they can to pick up the pieces and move on and survive. There are those who believe this is an act of terrorism, those who think it's the end of the world, & those who think it's an act of God-a purposeful delivery from the stifling & oppression that women suffered at the hands of men. Anarchy and chaos reign, where the strong and the murderous seem to be clawing their way to the top and where what is left of the government...the secretary of agriculture being the highest ranking female official that remains... attempts, somewhat unsuccessfully, to garner some level of control. With all the different attitudes and beliefs coming to such fatal clashes and heads, Yorick, the seemingly sole survivor of the mass male extinction, is faced with danger coming from all angles. Some want to kill him, some want to fuck him, some want to protect him, some want to clone him, & some don't know what they want at all from him but despite his unwanted position as man kind's single remaining chance at survival and repopulating the earth, he's got an agenda of his own. To find his girlfriend and fiancé who at the time of the "plague", resided on the other side of the world in Australia.
It's totally a been-done-before premise, the whole last man standing thing...but with a slightly unfamiliar twist of women being spared. The characters are unique and the path Vaughn chooses to take the women is also not the expected. Women gangs, trannies, towns run by escaped cons...it's a world that I definitely wouldn't want to actually be in, but that I enjoy visiting for brief periods of time;) I am so diggin these story lines right now, and while Yorick himself might so far be the most uninteresting character, I'm still super excited to see where the storyline takes me and how all of the characters' stories develop, even Yorick!
Oh and did I mention, the art work is on point?
July 6, 2016
While solidly good, Y lacks the magic, humor, and dialog of Brian K. Vaughan's later works. I'll also be an asshole and say I also didn't love the artwork. I know it's over ten years old now, but come on. The Deluxe Edition's paper was practically newsprint and I just wasn't impressed. It's not bad, it's just satisfactory, it's just there.
What Y lacks in some areas it makes up for with cheesy humor, violence, action/adventure, and, I have to say, preposterous "what if" appeal.
The first page, which includes the image above, shows a female cop threatening to kill herself because all the men are gone. Talk about hyperbole. I myself would have a panic attack and then resign myself to homosexuality. What else can you do?
This story reminds me of a cross between Lost (also written by Brian K. Vaughan) and Robert Kirkman's The Walking Dead. There isn't much going on but for the people. So it's a character driven narrative. I disliked Lost for the record, loved the Walking Dead, but some of these characters are a little dry or have that post-apoc archetype feel to them. The shy doctor. The lustful girl-next-door. The spy with too many secrets.
This book obviously deals with sexism, gender roles, and stereotypes. I can't say that I feel these characters are especially realistic. They do try to be. And as a writer I have trouble writing female characters, too. So I get it. I am forgiving. But some of the scenes play out in a completely predictable B movie kind of way. Like when Yorick learns the secret of Marrisville, Ohio he runs back to town and yells about it to all his friends. As I've seen in I don't know how many B movies. Then the protagonist makes a speech and storms from the room.
Even though some scenes, some characters are perhaps archetypical and play out unsurprisingly, this is a cool story whose end I would like to know. I kept reading. Ampersand the Capuchin Monkey adds comic relief. Yorick is that sort of 90s wise-cracking aloof loser character who happens to be an amateur magician. So there's meat to bite into. Just not as delicious and succulent as some people make it out to be.
So if you like post-apoc stories, tribal warfare, sex jokes, decent artwork, Capuchin monkeys, cheesy humor and good to sometimes very good dialog, give Y a try. 3.5 stars.
April 25, 2011
Pardon me while I flail about in fangirl mode, but OMFG and all that is holy, Y: The Last Man is totally a.w.e.s.o.m.e!!!! I didn’t think the graphic novel format would ever win me over entirely, but it’s happened - I’m in love - hook, line, sinker, fully, completely. Not only is this an addictive premise taken to the extreme reaches of the most fertile imagination, it’s brimming with fully fleshed out characters who live and breathe with histories, motives, strengths and vulnerabilities. The best part? This edition only collects Issues 1-10; I still have another 50!! to look forward to.
How’s this for a premise? – last guy on Earth is not alone, literally. Yorick is a hapless, near to agoraphobic, practicing escape artist, madly in love with a young woman a hemisphere away in Australia when a sudden unexplained plague hits the planet and kills every last mammal carrying a Y chromosome. Every last mammal that is except for Yorick and his pet Capuchin monkey Ampersand. Think it would be a laff riot to be the last guy on Earth surrounded by a few billion ladies? Think again gentlemen. Welcome to your new nightmare.
Vaughan’s world-building here post-plague is incredibly detailed and believable. With all men suddenly blipped out of existence women aren’t standing around singing Kumbaya (did you really think we would?) and the world does not become a better place. Far from it. Vaughan deftly explores the harsh realities that must be faced when such a monumental, unpredictable, counter-evolutionary shift happens to humans with no warning.
The graphics are superior; each character has their own unique look and the action is propelled along not just by Vaughan’s ripping dialogue, but by Pia Guerra’s sharp interpretation of the action. I love that I get so much story delivered on such a small canvas. I could have taken days to plow through a 650 page novel and not felt as sated or panting for more, the way I felt here after indulging in a mere 250 pages of colorful, comic book cells. That’s storytelling magic. I can’t wait for more!
My deepest thanks to my graphic-novel reading friends who kept throwing this series title at me for ages – I finally get it now!!!
How’s this for a premise? – last guy on Earth is not alone, literally. Yorick is a hapless, near to agoraphobic, practicing escape artist, madly in love with a young woman a hemisphere away in Australia when a sudden unexplained plague hits the planet and kills every last mammal carrying a Y chromosome. Every last mammal that is except for Yorick and his pet Capuchin monkey Ampersand. Think it would be a laff riot to be the last guy on Earth surrounded by a few billion ladies? Think again gentlemen. Welcome to your new nightmare.
Vaughan’s world-building here post-plague is incredibly detailed and believable. With all men suddenly blipped out of existence women aren’t standing around singing Kumbaya (did you really think we would?) and the world does not become a better place. Far from it. Vaughan deftly explores the harsh realities that must be faced when such a monumental, unpredictable, counter-evolutionary shift happens to humans with no warning.
The graphics are superior; each character has their own unique look and the action is propelled along not just by Vaughan’s ripping dialogue, but by Pia Guerra’s sharp interpretation of the action. I love that I get so much story delivered on such a small canvas. I could have taken days to plow through a 650 page novel and not felt as sated or panting for more, the way I felt here after indulging in a mere 250 pages of colorful, comic book cells. That’s storytelling magic. I can’t wait for more!
My deepest thanks to my graphic-novel reading friends who kept throwing this series title at me for ages – I finally get it now!!!
January 10, 2022
I'm starting to grow fond of Brian's way of story telling. Compared to SAGA (which I found mediocre), I like Y: The Last Man a lot more.
I really can't wait to find out WHY ALL MEN DIED except for Yodrick and Ampersand.
Overall the story and the characters feel very relatable... I love Yodrick's and 355's relationship and how it's developing.
The city full of convicts? Brilliant.
Yodrick's sister? Brilliant.
The art style? Brilliant.
It's also nice that the series overall is already finished and I love the Deluxe Paperback Editions!!!
I really can't wait to find out WHY ALL MEN DIED except for Yodrick and Ampersand.
Overall the story and the characters feel very relatable... I love Yodrick's and 355's relationship and how it's developing.
The city full of convicts? Brilliant.
Yodrick's sister? Brilliant.
The art style? Brilliant.
It's also nice that the series overall is already finished and I love the Deluxe Paperback Editions!!!
January 24, 2010
I refuse to read any other reviews on this series before I post this. Therefore, I may sound either stupid or prescient. Or maybe a bit of both. Personally, I am leaning towards stupid, but...
Friends have been telling me to read this series for quite a bit. They said "you like literary comics, so..." or "You're obsessed with end of the world plague sort of stuff that presents humanity in a different light..." or "you took women's studies classes in college, so you might find it interesting..."
Well, to be honest, I never read it because it was written by a man. No matter how idiotic I think the 'war of the sexes' can be, somehow I thought that a man could not write this series and make it serious, make it meaningful... Really, a man writes a story about the last man on earth? How original.
Flash forward to Christmas this year. A good friend of mine (who should not have gotten me a gift...) bought me this. And because a friend bought it for me, I had to read it. And...
What a fool I have been. I have maintained for a long time that good sci fi/fantasy/zomie/apocalypse fiction exists to make us examine ourself in ways that it is difficult for other literature to approach quite as directly. (And those who know me and my penchant for poetry and 'slice of life' prose know that I do not mean to belittle any other forms.)
And this book maintains that tradition. I have no idea where the series goes from here, but I am very impressed with this volume. There is a fantastic sense of history here, not only of this country, (I learned several things that I had never heard of from the revolutionary war period, especially) but of the world and how men and women are treated within it. I feel like I am a male that understands a good deal about gender dichotomy in this world and I have no regrets in saying this taught me a thing or two.
Maybe it is better that this story is written by a man -- because only a man could understand the idiocy of a man's place the way this author does. Again, I turn myself over to the gender 'war,' but there is a sliver of honesty there. There are so many moments in this book handled so deftly and subtly. In other hands, I'm sure they would have knocked you over the head or else simply gone over the head of many readers. With so many comic readers being male, perhaps a bit of a male viewpoint was needed to really shatter the male viewpoint.
That is not to say that there aren't some comic book story traditions that aren't upheld too rigidly and some cliche story elements that don't creep in... And that is where the stupidity or prescience creep in. Those of you that have read further into the story can laugh at my hope for this story or say that I saw this glimmer of brilliance despite the small cliches present. Either way, I am glad that I was 'forced' into reading this first volume. I will definitely be pursuing more. So far, I am impressed. I hope to remain that way.
Friends have been telling me to read this series for quite a bit. They said "you like literary comics, so..." or "You're obsessed with end of the world plague sort of stuff that presents humanity in a different light..." or "you took women's studies classes in college, so you might find it interesting..."
Well, to be honest, I never read it because it was written by a man. No matter how idiotic I think the 'war of the sexes' can be, somehow I thought that a man could not write this series and make it serious, make it meaningful... Really, a man writes a story about the last man on earth? How original.
Flash forward to Christmas this year. A good friend of mine (who should not have gotten me a gift...) bought me this. And because a friend bought it for me, I had to read it. And...
What a fool I have been. I have maintained for a long time that good sci fi/fantasy/zomie/apocalypse fiction exists to make us examine ourself in ways that it is difficult for other literature to approach quite as directly. (And those who know me and my penchant for poetry and 'slice of life' prose know that I do not mean to belittle any other forms.)
And this book maintains that tradition. I have no idea where the series goes from here, but I am very impressed with this volume. There is a fantastic sense of history here, not only of this country, (I learned several things that I had never heard of from the revolutionary war period, especially) but of the world and how men and women are treated within it. I feel like I am a male that understands a good deal about gender dichotomy in this world and I have no regrets in saying this taught me a thing or two.
Maybe it is better that this story is written by a man -- because only a man could understand the idiocy of a man's place the way this author does. Again, I turn myself over to the gender 'war,' but there is a sliver of honesty there. There are so many moments in this book handled so deftly and subtly. In other hands, I'm sure they would have knocked you over the head or else simply gone over the head of many readers. With so many comic readers being male, perhaps a bit of a male viewpoint was needed to really shatter the male viewpoint.
That is not to say that there aren't some comic book story traditions that aren't upheld too rigidly and some cliche story elements that don't creep in... And that is where the stupidity or prescience creep in. Those of you that have read further into the story can laugh at my hope for this story or say that I saw this glimmer of brilliance despite the small cliches present. Either way, I am glad that I was 'forced' into reading this first volume. I will definitely be pursuing more. So far, I am impressed. I hope to remain that way.
September 20, 2021
Unmanned (#1-5). The first issue of Y: The Last Man is an object lesson in how to start a comic series. It has a shocking beginning, and then backtracks to get to that beginning. It introduces a great central character who's distinct and interesting. It offers not just a mystery, but also a lot of potential answers for that mystery, which will be used as plot seeds throughout the series. After that, the first arc continues along as you'd expect, widening our cast of characters and putting our protagonists on a mission. What's most surprising is the humor, which is geeky and funny. Overall, this is a strong start that really makes you want to read more [8/10].
Cycles (#6-10). This second Y story reveals that the book is going to be a long road trip, and that it's going to embrace the episodic nature of comic-book arcs by jumping from place to place and time to time. The danger of that sort of thing is maintaining a throughline, but this first story knocks it out of the park by peopling the newest road stop with very human characters, by displaying a rather natural result of the Y plague, by bringing the story of Yorick's sister to a climax, and by putting that all into conflict with each other. The result is a great and emotional story [8/10].
Cycles (#6-10). This second Y story reveals that the book is going to be a long road trip, and that it's going to embrace the episodic nature of comic-book arcs by jumping from place to place and time to time. The danger of that sort of thing is maintaining a throughline, but this first story knocks it out of the park by peopling the newest road stop with very human characters, by displaying a rather natural result of the Y plague, by bringing the story of Yorick's sister to a climax, and by putting that all into conflict with each other. The result is a great and emotional story [8/10].
June 15, 2018
Y: Last Man Volume 1, Unmanned
It‘s the end of the world as we know it. Everybody with a Y-chromosome dies, except for Yorick and his pet monkey. And so begins his trip to find his lost love. On the way he picks up some travel companions and a lot of trouble—he provokes plenty of that trouble by not being the smartest cookie.
Artwork and plot are ok. The timeline ticking backwards and forwards is a nice gimmick, but got a bit confusing towards the second half of Volume 1.
I would have liked to see more of the early days after disaster struck and of how Yorick deals with his situation. It all seems very orderly and clean, when the story picks up two months later. I would have thought that it is still more chaotic after such a short time. Half of the world‘s population and gazillion of animals just fell over dead in a messy way. The place should stink to heaven and be full of diseases. Lots and lots of things should have stopped working. It should be mayhem...
At the end of Volume 1 I am somewhere between 3 and 4 stars. Onwards to Volume 2, Cycles...
*~*~*
Y: Last Man Volume 2, Cycles
Strabo, Greek historian: “that the right breasts of all Amazons are seared when they are infants, so that they can easily use their right arm for every needed purpose, and especially that of throwing the javelin and use the bow.“
We are either dealing with stupid Amazons or authors that didn‘t do their research.
Anyway, I liked this less than Volume 1. The man-hating Amazons didn‘t work for me, I didn‘t buy the Stockholm Syndrome thing and Yorick was pretty annoying, too. Homophobia. Stereotypes. Clicheed caricatures of women. And, seriously, the world is ending and all he wants is to travel halfway around the globe to find his girlfriend? And what is with the weird Israeli soldiers? And the statistics? And the preachiness? Yeah, not working for me.
Four stars for Vol. 1, two stars for Vol. 2, let‘s call it a draw. Not continuing.
It‘s the end of the world as we know it. Everybody with a Y-chromosome dies, except for Yorick and his pet monkey. And so begins his trip to find his lost love. On the way he picks up some travel companions and a lot of trouble—he provokes plenty of that trouble by not being the smartest cookie.
Artwork and plot are ok. The timeline ticking backwards and forwards is a nice gimmick, but got a bit confusing towards the second half of Volume 1.
I would have liked to see more of the early days after disaster struck and of how Yorick deals with his situation. It all seems very orderly and clean, when the story picks up two months later. I would have thought that it is still more chaotic after such a short time. Half of the world‘s population and gazillion of animals just fell over dead in a messy way. The place should stink to heaven and be full of diseases. Lots and lots of things should have stopped working. It should be mayhem...
At the end of Volume 1 I am somewhere between 3 and 4 stars. Onwards to Volume 2, Cycles...
*~*~*
Y: Last Man Volume 2, Cycles
Strabo, Greek historian: “that the right breasts of all Amazons are seared when they are infants, so that they can easily use their right arm for every needed purpose, and especially that of throwing the javelin and use the bow.“
We are either dealing with stupid Amazons or authors that didn‘t do their research.
Anyway, I liked this less than Volume 1. The man-hating Amazons didn‘t work for me, I didn‘t buy the Stockholm Syndrome thing and Yorick was pretty annoying, too. Homophobia. Stereotypes. Clicheed caricatures of women. And, seriously, the world is ending and all he wants is to travel halfway around the globe to find his girlfriend? And what is with the weird Israeli soldiers? And the statistics? And the preachiness? Yeah, not working for me.
Four stars for Vol. 1, two stars for Vol. 2, let‘s call it a draw. Not continuing.
February 18, 2017
I read this as part of the #GettingGraphic readalong I am hosting today and it was definitely a very cool concept. In this story we see all the men on Earth suddenly die out at the same exact time. No male mammals are left alive either. Pretty much everything with a Y chromosome is dead... except for out main character and his pet monkey.
I have to say I wasn't a big fan of the whiney main character here. He's rather too 'teenage' and headstrong for my liking which meant he gets into some rather silly moments. I think the book would have been better served with a slightly less irritating main character, but apparently he does get better as time goes by...
The women in the story however are excellent. Faced with the problem (?) of no men they all 'woman-up' themselves and become super bad-ass. I loved seeing the crazy Amazons and the hard-nut soldiers and ex-cons. So many great ladies all in one story - so for that reason alone this is well worth a read.
Overall I do want to keep on reading and I look forward to seeing what comes next. 3.5*s
I have to say I wasn't a big fan of the whiney main character here. He's rather too 'teenage' and headstrong for my liking which meant he gets into some rather silly moments. I think the book would have been better served with a slightly less irritating main character, but apparently he does get better as time goes by...
The women in the story however are excellent. Faced with the problem (?) of no men they all 'woman-up' themselves and become super bad-ass. I loved seeing the crazy Amazons and the hard-nut soldiers and ex-cons. So many great ladies all in one story - so for that reason alone this is well worth a read.
Overall I do want to keep on reading and I look forward to seeing what comes next. 3.5*s
July 29, 2024
Found this series in the 'Best Graphic Novels' list on GoodReads, it is a dystopian tale about the sudden death of all male living things, except for Yorick and his monkey, or maybe there will be others down the line? Anyway, we follow the quest of Yorick with a government agent and a scientist in their journey to find the scientist's lab data on cloning, so that together they can find a solution that will prevent the human race from perishing.
We do not know how this came to happen, it might be revealed later in the story, or it might prove to be insignificant to the plot, it all depends on where this story is heading, whether it will be about how the society and humantiy will survive in the absence of men, and all male things as well, or if the story about the apocalyptic event itself and how they will fight it back, finding the root cause and reverting everything back to normal.
The art is good, serving the purpose of illustration, and the dialogue is quite enough to seve the story...
MiM
We do not know how this came to happen, it might be revealed later in the story, or it might prove to be insignificant to the plot, it all depends on where this story is heading, whether it will be about how the society and humantiy will survive in the absence of men, and all male things as well, or if the story about the apocalyptic event itself and how they will fight it back, finding the root cause and reverting everything back to normal.
The art is good, serving the purpose of illustration, and the dialogue is quite enough to seve the story...
MiM
August 24, 2021
3.5 stars. This was tough to score. I mean it’s Brian K Vaughan so the writing is of course good. The pacing, the ideas/concepts all great. However there was 3 moments that took me out of the story for a moment. 2 more than the last one. The first two had a character doing something extremely drastic without proper back story or character growth to make me believe they would do those things. Just couldn’t buy into it. The last one just had me stop for a second and be like, “you flaming idiot! Really?” After following this character throughout the book and starting to get into the character, I just couldn’t believe he would be “that guy” and pull that crap. So this first volume is was really well written and plotted out with great artwork and imagination that had some big moments that I couldn’t get behind. Still looking forward to see what book 2 has to offer.
December 24, 2011
I’ve had this collection for a while, now, having bought it on a random whim right after my son was born. I have a bit of a soft spot for post-apocalyptic settings, especially disease outbreak scenarios. Maybe it’s my latent hypochondriac tendencies. Further, there seemed to be a lot of places to go with the idea of “the last man on Earth.” Having finished the first ten installments via this deluxe volume, I think I’m still unsure of what I think about it. I definitely enjoyed reading it, but I can’t decide whether it’s clever or smug.
The titular last man, a twenty-something named Yorick Brown, is about as a normal as you’d expect a young person named Yorick to be. He is an accomplished escape artist that has trouble finding and keeping a real job. He has accepted responsibility for training a helper monkey named Ampersand, for some reason, and is preparing to propose to his girlfriend Beth (who is currently on walkabout in Australia). One day, every mammal with a Y chromosome suddenly drops dead of a violent and bloody plague… except, apparently, Yorick and Ampersand. Suddenly thrust into a world where he is a curiosity, commodity, and marked man all at once, Yorick crosses a dramatically altered landscape in search of his family, and hopefully, a way to get to Australia and find Beth.
After the virulent misogyny that seems to keep ramping up in the Walking Dead books, I actually found the freely-displayed and open-for-dissection sexism in Y: The Last Man to be somewhat refreshing. Vaughan knows exactly what kind of powder keg he is playing with, so he doesn’t attempt to be subtle. The post-plague world is unfettered by the biological and sociological strictures of gender identity, and so every character archetype is loaded with contextually interesting baggage. Nurturing mother-types, strong female leaders, hysterical housewives, femme fatales, lipstick lesbians, butch lesbians, women who really want a man, badass woman soldiers, calm and rational mentors, and violent, avenging man-haters... they are all here, and they are all concerned with or have a stake in Yorick’s existence. It takes the unfortunately common trope of female characters in a story always being secondary to male characters, and makes it quite literal, which makes for an interesting exercise. It also provides a tense and suspenseful backdrop to the story, as Yorick must dodge the various attentions of those around him as best he can in order to simply get from one place to another.
There are a couple of problems with this book, though. First and foremost, Yorick happens to be an irritating douche. Now, I realize that this injects a bit of irony into the “last man” scenario, and removing that element would make this either a harem manga or a letter to Penthouse. Still, it was consistently hard for me to get behind Yorick, and every stupid thing he said or stupid decision he made pulled me out of the story just a bit. Moreover, I understand the purpose for playing with sexist stereotypes, but, uh, they’re still sexist stereotypes. The Daughters of the Amazon wanting to kill Yorick because DOWN WITH MEN seems like kind of a waste of thematic possibility (and I can't decide if there's any meaning to the fact that they've all burned the wrong breast off, or if it's just a pointless inaccuracy meant to drive people like me crazy). And being vastly outnumbered by women doesn’t really make Yorick throwing around feminine-specific slurs all that much more palatable, even if it’s setting-appropriate.
I don’t know, maybe I’m white-knighting too much. I just think that there is the potential for some exciting, intelligent stories, here, and it is being ignored in favor doing something easier. Oh well. The story is still quite readable, regardless, and is packed with exciting moments. Guerra’s art is vibrant and effective, if sometimes a little loose. The panel layout is conventional, and aids the story just fine. All told, this is a solid comic with an intriguing mystery at its heart: what exactly happened, and how did Yorick and Ampersand survive it? It’s definitely worth reading for comic and graphic novel fans, as long as you can take the gender politics Vaughan plays around with in stride.
The titular last man, a twenty-something named Yorick Brown, is about as a normal as you’d expect a young person named Yorick to be. He is an accomplished escape artist that has trouble finding and keeping a real job. He has accepted responsibility for training a helper monkey named Ampersand, for some reason, and is preparing to propose to his girlfriend Beth (who is currently on walkabout in Australia). One day, every mammal with a Y chromosome suddenly drops dead of a violent and bloody plague… except, apparently, Yorick and Ampersand. Suddenly thrust into a world where he is a curiosity, commodity, and marked man all at once, Yorick crosses a dramatically altered landscape in search of his family, and hopefully, a way to get to Australia and find Beth.
After the virulent misogyny that seems to keep ramping up in the Walking Dead books, I actually found the freely-displayed and open-for-dissection sexism in Y: The Last Man to be somewhat refreshing. Vaughan knows exactly what kind of powder keg he is playing with, so he doesn’t attempt to be subtle. The post-plague world is unfettered by the biological and sociological strictures of gender identity, and so every character archetype is loaded with contextually interesting baggage. Nurturing mother-types, strong female leaders, hysterical housewives, femme fatales, lipstick lesbians, butch lesbians, women who really want a man, badass woman soldiers, calm and rational mentors, and violent, avenging man-haters... they are all here, and they are all concerned with or have a stake in Yorick’s existence. It takes the unfortunately common trope of female characters in a story always being secondary to male characters, and makes it quite literal, which makes for an interesting exercise. It also provides a tense and suspenseful backdrop to the story, as Yorick must dodge the various attentions of those around him as best he can in order to simply get from one place to another.
There are a couple of problems with this book, though. First and foremost, Yorick happens to be an irritating douche. Now, I realize that this injects a bit of irony into the “last man” scenario, and removing that element would make this either a harem manga or a letter to Penthouse. Still, it was consistently hard for me to get behind Yorick, and every stupid thing he said or stupid decision he made pulled me out of the story just a bit. Moreover, I understand the purpose for playing with sexist stereotypes, but, uh, they’re still sexist stereotypes. The Daughters of the Amazon wanting to kill Yorick because DOWN WITH MEN seems like kind of a waste of thematic possibility (and I can't decide if there's any meaning to the fact that they've all burned the wrong breast off, or if it's just a pointless inaccuracy meant to drive people like me crazy). And being vastly outnumbered by women doesn’t really make Yorick throwing around feminine-specific slurs all that much more palatable, even if it’s setting-appropriate.
I don’t know, maybe I’m white-knighting too much. I just think that there is the potential for some exciting, intelligent stories, here, and it is being ignored in favor doing something easier. Oh well. The story is still quite readable, regardless, and is packed with exciting moments. Guerra’s art is vibrant and effective, if sometimes a little loose. The panel layout is conventional, and aids the story just fine. All told, this is a solid comic with an intriguing mystery at its heart: what exactly happened, and how did Yorick and Ampersand survive it? It’s definitely worth reading for comic and graphic novel fans, as long as you can take the gender politics Vaughan plays around with in stride.
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