Brian K. Vaughan

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 Book One

"In the summer of 2002, a plague of unknown origin destroyed every last sperm, fetus, and fully developed mammal with a Y chromosome, with the apparent exception of one young man . . . Now, aided by the mysterious Agent 355, the human male Yorick Brown must contend with dangerous extremists, a hoped-for reunion with a girlfriend on the other side of the globe, and the search for exactly why he's the only man to survive."--Book 1, Back cover.

Unmanned

Annika Arguemore

I honestly thought at first that the premise was too cliché, but it worked out pretty well, and it was interesting to see how things played out. It was quite hilariously witty in the process of showing you the things that were going on. I also liked how deliberate the order of the story was.

Michael Springer

In typical comic book male-centric fashion, this series wonders what life would be like if all men died spontaneously...except for one. 

I suppose if we're trying to put ourselves in the head of an early-nineties comic book reading teen, this might feel innovative. Unfortunately, I find that innovative in the world of comics is pretty much Iron Age for the rest of literature. How does Vaughan manage to make a series with gender issues at its center so bizarrely sexist? 

Example: In a world where all men are dead except for one, and the death of that one man will mean the end of humanity, VIOLENT CULTS OF FEMINISTS SPRING UP TO TRY AND HUNT DOWN MEN AND MALE SYMPATHIZERS. What is the motive here? There sure isn't one written into the plot, other than the one speech about social inequality between the sexes--and how the only way to escape this inequality is to KILL ALL MEN. 

Characterwise, I was exceptionally not impressed. Even the main character has vague motivations. As for the women, pretty much none of them function as anything but placeholders: the token love interest, the sister who has gone astray, the protective mother. IN A WORLD WHERE ONLY ONE MAN SURVIVED...apparently the world still revolves around that man. 

And here's where the cultural rant starts...

This is a symptom of thinking that is still prevalent in most of popular culture, although not to as great an extent in literature. F'rinstance, lets talk about movies: movies are a great medium for making political statements. Statements about social injustices, such as the way that women are objectified, sexualized, expected to live up to some bleached, shaved, makeup-smeared, surgically modified yet waifishly thin ideal that has been developed over centuries of patriarchal society...and how this objectification upon women is psychologically damaging--to men.

 

This poor guy above has been so mentally warped by Hollywood and advertising that he's incapable of developing a physical attraction to any of the normal girls he knows in real life. Let's take a moment to pitty him. 



Okay, we done? Good. Fortunately, a blonde porn star moves in next door, and immediately falls for him, even though he's intensely dorky, because, you know, it's what's on the inside that counts. But, I'm not just cherry-picking films here. I could point to this one:



Another example of an attractive woman with a *cough cough* career who ends up with a loser whose only redeeming trait is that he's willing to "raise" the baby...if sleazy frat boys without jobs can be said to raise babies. 

But surely this is a phenomenon in teen comedies?

Well, look at "romances."



Here's a fairly recent romantic comedy where a successful, relatively well-balanced woman who is portrayed as HORRIBLY DESPARATE for being interested in a neighbor....meanwhile, the character played by Gerard Butler mudwrestles with models on television, and has no interest in anything but one-night stands, yet this is understandable because of his childhood. This is a ROMANCE. Aren't these supposed to be geared more towards female audiences? It really bothers me that I'm more bothered by this film than any women I know. 

End rant. 

Okay, BUT, regardless of how inadequately this comic deals with gender issues, it at least TRIES to grapple with them, and it does a better job than any of the movies mentioned above. Perhaps by the end of the series, the author's portrayals of gender issues will become more interesting and sophisticated. This was an entertaining comic, and I plan on continuing it for at least a little longer...but I'll admit that I'm highly confused by the acclaim it has gotten.

Gavin

Girl on Girl

Y: The Last Man Vol. 6

Gillian Rose

Lynette Pedersen

So much stuff going on! I guess I have to read the rest to figure it out all out...

Y, the last man.

Tylar M

Izza

renee badenoch

Wow I really hated this book! I had had so many people tell me I should read it and I finally did and it does not age well. The premise that was sold to me was that the book was a feminist critique of a world where all the men die (except Yorrick, the titular "Y"). I was told it was a critique on how the world would have trouble rebuilding without men, not because of incapabilities of women, but because of the way that our current society is structured disproportionately in favor of men. It sounded like a great premise and then the execution was.... not good at all. 

It's incredibly jarring to read a book in a world full of women that somehow still features entirely around the one remaining man. The art in the book is incredibly male-gazey, almost every woman who is introduced is introduced in unnecessarily skimpy clothing (the first time we meet Yorrick's girlfriend she's in booty shorts and a bikini top, the first woman Yorrick meets after the plague that kills men is a supermodel with a boob-job in a crop top, the first time we're introduced to Yorrick's sister she's topless having sex in the back of an EMT vehicle... and the list goes on). 

The thing that really bothered me was the roving gang of feminists called The Amazons who are absurd straw-men for real feminist thought. The Amazons are essentially a motorcycle gang that runs around harassing people who are mourning men who died, and are hunting down Yorrick trying to kill him once they find out he's alive. The book seems to mock legitimate feminist critique of the patriarchy through the Amazons, who are portrayed as insane and violent. 

The book is also definitely a product of the early 2000's. There's a bunch of casual trans slurs, the R-word is used frequently, and a bunch of casual anti-Arabic rhetoric (and not just from the villains). 

I have been told this series is so great by so many friends of mine so I am begrudgingly going to read the next one in the series, but damn, this was a disappointment.

the last man : one small step : Brian Vaughn[...et al].

Nelson Zagalo

I loved the first volume of this series from Vertigo. Reminded me about "Flashforward" by Robert J. Sawyer, Although very different, the feeling of the disappearance of millions of people on the planet simultaneously throws our imagination into space, eliminates barriers, and opens us to the boundless speculation. What if, what if, what if....
Delightful narrative. In the field of illustration I didn't like the colouring, I might have preferred all in black and white. For the rest it uses a very standard way to tell the story visually.

Vol. 1, October 28, 2008, Collected #1-10

Alex Q

This is the series that really got me into graphic novels. Wish I thought of this storyline first.

Omar AlHashmi

3.8/5

Finally got a chance to read this book. It was fine, don't get me wrong. I am just not that big of a fan of post apocalyptic worlds. I feel like they are so overdone and fall under this generic arc that they all seem to vaguely follow. I am still going to continue reading and give it a chance, since the premise is good and I want to see how they go with it.

Pia Guerra

Jose Marzan

Cycles

Y: The Last Man Vol. 2

2.7/5

I have no idea why i'm not enjoying this as much as everyone else in the world. I feel like to me, if this comic was just transformed into a book it would be put in the young adult section. Which I can't stand to be honest. All the characters (especially the main one) just feel like whiny teenagers. It is so annoying. All of their dialogue is so cheesy and not what you expect these grown people to act like if they were in that type of situation. I dont know. I mean in comics there are two elements, the art and the writing. The art in this is very plain and the writing I really hate. The only thing going for it is the plot. The plot is good but again it gets dragged down by the cheesy writing. Obviously some people dont mind that, but I just cant handle it.

2/5

I can't continue this series any longer. I can't handle the writing. It feels so much like some of those cheesy young adult books that I can't bare to read. To most people it will be fine, and I feel like if you don't see anything wrong with the writing then you should continue on. But for me I just can't continue with it. Nothing is keeping me going.

"This work brings to a conclusion the hunt for Ampersand--the monkey who can unlock the mystery of the male-killing plague--as the last man on Earth and his companions finally reach Japan and discover the truth behind Ampersand's abduction."--Provided by publisher.

Kimono

Y, the Last Man

Jennifer Dieter

This series definitely improves as it nears the end. Much less misogynistic and more action and tying of loose ends.

Jelke Lenaerts

I'm having troubles with this series. I love the storyline and can't wait to see where it's going. I love the humour. Yet, there's one thing that bothers me so much about this series: it's so sexist. For a story that's about the last man on earth this is very female unfriendly. Like I said in my review for the last volume, I know people/women like this exist in real life but this series doesn't portray any other kind of women, the kind of women who don't want all men dead, the kind of women that populate most of this planet (I hope so, at least).

Uhm ... I don't really know what to say. 
This series is trying to be feminst but actually does the exact oppesite. I know that extremist like the amazons exist in real life but it's kind of sad that that's the only kind of women we really get to see.

Very intresting plot set up, can't wait to read the next volume. I have a feeling that I'm going to end up absolutely loving this series !!!

The Last Man

b.andherbooks

Chapter 3 finds Yorrick, 355, and the Doctor clashing with some Israeli soldiers and finding out there may actually be a few more men...in the universe. Laugh out loud funny and vibrant color illustrations make this a true reading pleasure.

Safeword

Y: The Last Man Vol. 4

I had a feeling the title "Safeword" would be taken literally, and I was not wrong. Poor Yorick, more misadventures and they still aren't in LA. More laugh out loud moments, great art work (especially the expressions), and awesome dialog. Why the hell isn't this a TV show?

the last man.

Is the weird magic shop engagement ring Yorick purchased for his girlfriend Beth the reason why he and Ampersand survived the plauge killing all the other Y chromosome's out there? This next adventure pits Yorick and crew against another bunch of crazy women. Continuosly snappy dialogue and colorful action sequences puts this graphic novel series on top.

After the long ride with this series, the ending made me so mad I threw the book. However, sometimes when a book elicits such a strong response it simply shows how strong the storytelling and character building is.

**Spoilers**
I really was glad to see Yorick did not end up with his original Beth (and for all of the reasons I thought this was a doomed quest to begin with). The lack of a neatly tied up ending also was strangley satisfying. Yorick as a crazy old man was pretty great.

Vaughan launches his graphic novel series with an interesting premise - what would happen if every male on Earth suddenly dropped dead with the sole exception of the protaganist and his Capuchin monkey? Apparently a whole lot of chaos, as various factions vie for control and power of a world in crisis. Gangs of "Amazons" who cut off one breast and who firmly believe all men died for a reason and celebrate it; the wives of dead Republicans who try to fight for the seats of their husbands in the now almost defunct Senate and House (why you say? Oh yeah, they were mostly men).

Fun, snarky, and with some thought provoking themes. I will definitely be reading the rest of these issues.

Ken Gagne

I read the individual issues of this comic as they were published and recently re-read the first five in this TPB for a book club. It's a melancholy experience to know everything that's going to happen before the characters do. Still an excellent and somewhat realistic look at what would happen in the aftermath and grief of every male mammal on Earth dying instantaneously.

Heather Killeen

I didn't like this as much as Paper girls or Saga, but it is still pretty clever. It raises some pretty interesting questions about society and human behavior with its crazy premise!

Y The Last Man Book One

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