What follows is a little more "Twilight Zone" than "Omega Man" and that's a good thing. Writer Brian Vaughan shows us he can switch gears and tell a different type of story without derailing the main plotline. The town of Marrisville, Ohio has a secret and Yorick and his motley crew are unwittingly caught up in it when the denizens of the town help them out. Marrisville's residents have a dark past which has been partially exorcised by the plague that killed all men...or has it?

Yorick's sister, Hero, and her Amazon sisters aren't far behind, another plotline that comes to a head in this installment of Y.

This story's not as strong as "Y: The Last Man--Unmanned," but it does a good job of continuing the story presented in the first installment and clarifying some of the themes that will apparently dominate this series.

Yorick is very much an "innocent abroad," not just a sole survivor but also an outcast, a pariah, and maybe an unlikely savior. "Cycles" was entertaining and thought provoking and I look forward to the next volume in the series, "One Small Step," due out in March 2004. The title should give you some clue as to what the story's about. Hmm. What goes up, orbits the Earth and must eventually come down?


The plot thickens ...   October 23, 2003
 7 out of 7 found this review helpful

This is the second story arc in the adventures of Yorick. He is literally the last man on Earth - all other men died in a second of mysterious causes. The story, which seems to be the ultimate male fantasy, is really a thriller boarding on horror. It's not a dream - it's a nightmare!
There are women, who consider the death of men to be the will of Mother Earth, and so they'll do anything to get the planet rid of the last one, then there are Israeli commandos, and ... oh, no, I won't spoil it for you!
Considering the premise, the tone of the story itself is surprisingly realistic, and the dialogue is superb.
This story is better in the collected form - this is the way to read Y, and not to read a chapter once a mounth.
Compaired to the first story arc, this one is less dramatic, but mostly because it deals with a smaller cast and scale.
There are talks of "Y - The Last Man" movie. I, personally, think it's too early to make a movie, 'cause the series has just started. And it shouldn't be a movie - a series of movies, or better a TV series.


This is a man's world   March 16, 2004
 4 out of 4 found this review helpful

"Y the Last Man" is consistently an excellent comic, and I think that along with 100 Bullets, it's Vertigo Comics' next big thing. The setting of "Cycles" is the world after a disease has killed all male mammals from the unborn to grown humans and animals. The only known surviving males are Yorick brown, struggling escape artist, and his pet monkey Ampersand.

"Cycles" goes on to show more reactions to a world without men and how society restructures itself. At the start; we find that pretty much all pilots are dead now and our protagonists are trying to barter their way onto a train to get to California. This sets up Brian Vaughan's clever, charming dialogue. For the most part, the dialogue is all perfect, it is often funny, when that's what Vaughan wants; or it can show a more serious side.

Pia Guerra's art is very good, it reminds me of the artwork in "Preacher". Not to say that Y the Last Man is as objectionable as Preacher is to some, but the style and facial detail reminds of Steve Dillon's work in "Preacher". Also, "Cycles" comes with like 8 pages of Guerra's sketches in the back, which are nice. My favorites are early pencil drawings of Yorick's bodyguard Agent 355, it's interesting to see how different the final product is.

I reccomend "Cycles" highly based on the great story as well as the spiffy artwork, It's short, although the next trade paperback "One Small Step" is supposed to come out very soon which means we can all get our fix of Y the Last Man.


A worthy sequel to a fascinating graphic novel   May 25, 2004
 3 out of 4 found this review helpful

As with the first "Y: The Last Man" book, both the art and storyline continue to be very good in "Cycles." The plot is extremely engaging with lots of interesting characters who continue to be developed as the series is progressing. Because the story hinges on a number of mysteries being revealed in the course of the book, I won't go into any spoilers here. Suffice to say, if you liked the first book, you won't be disappointed with the sequel. The dialogue is very clever and natural sounding - no stilted phrasing here. The book's action-packed pacing continues and remains riveting, with no dull moments in the book. Pia Guerra's artwork is extremely good, and I'd almost recommend the book solely on the art, if the storyline itself wasn't so engaging.

I really get the feeling that there's a much larger story that has yet to be revealed and I can't wait to see how things turn out. "Y: The Last Man" has an extremely thought-provoking plot that really makes you wonder how society/civilization would restructure itself (if it even could) if almost all the males of the species died.

I've just purchased the third graphic novel in the series because I liked this one so much.. The second book ends on a bit of a cliffhanger and I can't wait to see how it's resolved - and obviously, I can't wait to discover what the cause of the whole catastrophe was.


Book 2 of the series   January 29, 2006
 3 out of 3 found this review helpful

This collects issues 6 to 10 of the DC comic book series. Yorick, Agent 355 and Dr. Mann travel west across a decimated America toward Dr. Mann's bioengineering facility in California. The three are pursued by the cultish hyperfeminist militia 'Daughters of the Amazon' and secretive Israeli operatives. The pace, dialogue and artwork mirror those of the first five-issue volume. Fans of the first book will enjoy this one as well.